Fuzz Pedals And Buffer Order 

Once again, you deserve waaay more subscribers..this and other ones video are about common topics but it's hard to find good and simple explanations on the internet! Keep on doom mr. fuzzlord!

I knew there was a buffer / fuzz issue, but don’t think I’ve ever seen a demonstration before. Only 5 years late to the video but lots learnt. Thanks so much 👍

So many articles and videos out there asking "what order should I put my pedals?" But you nail it - there is a preferred way, however, you gotta put in the time and experiment to find what you like. And oh that tone! Lovely!

This was a simple & helpful video! A little over a month ago I had gotten myself a MXR Deluxe Bass Fuzz & the Fulltone ABY-ST (which has two switches to engage buffers for either channel A or B) & had my little set up for my bass rig as Squier Jaguar (Active) > MXR Bass Fuzz > Morley Bad Horsie Wah > Fulltone ABY-ST > Orange OB1-300 (Ch. A) + Ashdown MAG 300 (Ch. B). I noticed a loss of both my signal & the presence of the fuzz when hooking everything up & engaging the fuzz to run through both my amps. Now since then I have delved into learning about buffers & some proper pedal order (since I recently got into using pedals for close to a year now). This video being a part of my continuous learning. Really helped me gain a better understanding with the order of dirt pedals & buffers for their order & purpose of each. Thanks man! Keep on rocking!

I actually liked the sound of the buffer before more. My favorite fuzz would have to either be my Russian reissue muff and my doom stick. The only buffers I’m aware of are my TU-2 and my Hendrix mini wah.

I have two fuzz pedals on my boards: a JHS 1973 London Bender & a JHS Muffaletta. Covers all the bases. The Bender is awesome!

Earthbound Supercollider for fuzz ... buffer in Korg pitch black tuner ... buffer in TC sentry gate - buffer pedal at end of chain .... I am happy 🤘🔥🔊

I've been playing with a Little Big Muff after my drive pedals (Proco Deucetone Rat and Blues Driver) for years, I've got a couple of buffers before those (Boss Cs-2 and a Digitech Whammy), I only learned about traditional fuzz placement and their relationship with buffers recently. After experimenting with where I put the Muff, I put it back where I always had it, after my Rat. It won't be to everyone's taste but I like the extra crispy bite it adds to the fuzz tone. Which goes to show there's really no wrong way to arrange your rig, only your ears will tell you what's right for you. For example I recently put my reverb before my tremolo and delay instead of at the end of the chain and it was like an awakening!

walrus eons is my fav. because of versatility and handy small dimensions

I got like 8 buffers.... but my fuzz is glorious! thanks for another great vid Fuzzlord!

I only own one Fuzz pedal, the Boss FZ-5 and I love it. I use the octave setting into a dirty Orange and get a nice Hyperfuzz type of tone. And I’ve got a Boss TU-2 and GE-7 on my board, so probably just two buffers. Thanks for the great content Jason!

What I love about this video is the lack of judgment: as always, do what you like! My favorite fuzz is currently a RambleFX Twin Bender, and I have about four buffers after it. It's always first in the chain, but every so often I throw a compressor in front of it when I want it to sizzle on a recording that I won't be turning my guitar volume down for. When I do that, it's always a Keeley Compressor Plus.

Another great and informative video Jason!! Whenever that fuzz cranked..Wow! And I agree with another who posted, you deserve waay more followers on this channel!! Also, I purchased your FUZZLORD beard oil- smells great and works great!

Thank you!

Right now my favorite fuzz is by BAT, the LSTR. Just my bands style of fuzz. However at home or jamming with side project I like your FTW666. 1 buffer- keep it as tight as possible.

Count me in as another crazy person that likes the buffer first in this video. Did not expect that. Great video by the way... just subbed.

I love your content so much! I’ve had this question for a long time, but it’s hard to find a simple and wise explanation. Thank you!

The big muff doesn’t mind a buffer before it??? Sweet!! All my worries are gone lol. Thank you!!

Great video! I love my Cloven Hoof. I know I have at least two buffers on my board. Thanks to you I now know I have them in the wrong location.

My favorites so far are my stone deaf kliptonite and fig fum. I also love my keeley fuzz head, but its on the borderline of actually being a fuzz, i think, but its beautiful and lush sounding.

First of all....+1 for the Bongzilla riffage! And also thanks for making this vid. Very helpful!

Stumbled across your channel when researching the Fuzz->Wah or Wah->Fuzz issue with my new fuzz pedal. Great video! Subscribed! And hello from Sherwood OR!

My TU-3 is the only buffer and my favorite fuzz on my pedal board is the FTW666 by Fuzzlord Effects!

Muy muy muy bueno! You have a new suscriptor! Cheers from Argentina!

I experimented, first the conventional way which was good but I have a Drop Tune and Big Muff Pi that I used to use a Mosky Pure Buffer after but I like the way the buffer sounds before them so that's how I roll! And I also have another Mosky buffer at the very end of my regular board. I also checked various ways to stack a vintage Echoflanger, Polyflange and Polychorus all of which are notorious tone suckers, and what works for me is to still have 1 buffer at the front, another right before the Echoflanger and after the Polyflange and that's it. If I add another buffer at the very end like my normal board then it just doesnt sound good.

I think I have 4 buffers currently, the reason is I have been strugling to combat grounding issues, in a setup with a split out clean signal and a pedalboard to amp signal. I am within short time moving my setup to a newly renovated part of the house, where I should get propper grounding and ground protected circuits so hopefully I can dial back on the number of buffers and play more around with the direction of the signal chain.

Favorite Fuzz-Analogman Sunlion NKT red dot. 3 buffers on my board. I bought a TU3 today and was curious about where to put it, being that it has a buffer. You have answered my question sir Fuzz! Thank you!

Great video! Let’s see... I currently have four boss pedals (TU-3, GE-7, DS-2, JB-2) in my chain, plus an EHX Soul Food (very nice buffer in there, with the option to switch to true bypass) and a Behringer SF300 Super Fuzz. There’s also a Strymon Timeline and BigSky and a Mooer Ocean Machine, which are all buffered as long as the effects trails are active. So, that would be six to nine active buffers, sir! BTW, DS-2 into muff sounds awesome. Try it!

Cheers from Brasil!! Now i´m testing this! A BIg Muff > Artec Classic Fuzztown > Fire ultimate distortion (Brazilian HIgh Gain) > Mooer Baby tunner > Boss Ge-7 Eq( To help cut through the mix) > Digitech Digital Delay x-series > A Handmade Brazilian Phaser/vibe. So. Maybe two buffers? (Boss and Digitech).

I have 3 buffered pedals on my board: DOD Grunge > Boss BF-2 > DS-1. My tuner is true bypass at the end.

My favorite fuzz pedals are Swollen Pickle, Pharaoh and Fuzz Factory. For doom sound I use the first two together. I think that I don't have buffers on my pedalboard. I just googled, yeah, no buffers, but if I needed I can always turn on buffered bypass in my TC Electronic pedals.

Thank you for this video and advice. I Just finished building a new pedal board and ran into issues running a buffered boost before my fuzz and had to swap them to get a good tone out of both. This helped make sense out of the issues I had. I have 2 buffers on my board, I think

Currently one buffer from crybaby. And my current fuzz pedal is Donner Stylish Fuzz true bypass - good and cheap mini pedal.

I currently have 3 active buffers on my board. Polytune, tube screamer, tumnus deluxe. When I get a boss bd2 it'll be 4. Favorite fuzz is big muff triangle/rams head.

cool video man. nice

fav pedal on my board: Joyo Voodoo Ocatve Fuzz with the caps mod. is sit someware in the middle of the board. will switch it to the front tomorrow. think i have 2 buffers. tuner with buffer and noise gate with buffer. maybe 3 if the big muff pi tone wicker have one... but now i have no clue how set the board strait!?! current layout: tuner behringer trash - noisegate boss ns2 - compressor TC force field - overdrive TC tube pilot - fuzz joyo ocaver fuzz - fuzz big muff tone wicker to an marshall jmp1 with a gmajor 2 behind...

The buffer before fuzz has more high frequences and bright.

Proco Rat2 is my favorite and only fuzz, several distortion, 1 JHS buffer after rat but before everything else. No boss pedals

I bought a fuzz face-ish pedal and was wondering where in the chain it's best to put it at. Problem is i liked the heavier tone with buffer first, but i also like the cleanup rolling down volume pot with buffers after. I use a analog/midi controller. Or I put my Pitchfactor after my ODs or i'll live with a buffer before the fuzz. *I think my buffers are: Eventide Pitchfactor Boss GE-7 Fuhrmann booster'n'buffer (only buffers when ON) Eventide Timefactor

Great video. I had j rockett icon (buffered) in front of my fuzz pedals but I didn't like it. Then I put a transparent overdrive in front of the fuzz pedals and didn't like that much either. What works best for me is putting an EQ pedal first after my wah and modulation pedals, then another EQ after the fuzz pedals to shape the sound to my liking. My favorite fuzz right now is an electro harmonics Rams Head muff reissue which along with the eq's sounds incredible. I just use any good tube amp on the clean channel and it sounds good to me.

Great video. I’ve heard this over and over, but never demoed with a really heavy tone. Makes a huge difference for me! Thanks as always, Jason. I’ve always had this sound-the closest I’ve gotten is a Boss DF-2 into a solid state Acoustic 134. That was more for hardcore and metal. Amazing sound. I used a Line 6 XT Live in a doom band and it was cool, but problematic. Very easy to dial in too much low end and generally too many options. I like to tweak my sounds but with all the amps, cabs and effects it’s overwhelming. Plus both sounds start with buffers. Neither cleaned up very well with the volume knob. I got a Carcosa fuzz and everything changed. I put that before the XT Live and suddenly my tone is massive, dynamic and the volume knob controls the gain. It was an epiphany. From there I started to learn about gain stacking. I now have the Orange Micro Dark. Totally different kind of tone. Much less processed, more raw and dynamic. I’ve decided to embrace this and make it my sound. So far I’m really liking it just cranked into a 4x12 with no pedals, but I’m always looking for any ideas. This amp has an effects loop, so there are a lot of possibilities for time based stuff. Anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks for making videos. They're quite informative! My current favorite fuzz is an EHX Big Muff Deluxe. I put a Tubescreamer-type pedal in front to give it a push (Horizon Devices Precision Drive). I have an Earthquaker Erupter that I really like, it's just not as versatile as the muff. I read somewhere that it's a fuzz face with a circuit that converts the impedance before hitting the fuzz circuit so you can put it anywhere on your board and it sounds good. In my experience, though, it really doesn't like to be boosted. Right now I think I've got 2 buffers on my board. 1 in a Behringer EQ700 (clone of the Boss GE-7), and 1 in my TC Electronic Polytune 3 that you can switch off if you want. I try to make sure there is always at least 1 buffer, but not too many.

helpfull video and channel,, how about buffered pedal before and after fuzz pedals? (4 buffered pedals)

My favourites are Fulltone '69 for more expressive stuff and Wren and Cuff Eye See Pi for all out destruction. I use two buffers: one is a Catalinbread Belle Epoch Deluxe with EP style preamp always on (technically works like a buffer) and then a Boss TU-3. Both are after fuzzes, and TU-3 is my last pedal on the board.

Great comparison, just what I was looking for.

I just finally found a fuzz for my amp. I had found an amp years ago that was pleasing for playing cleans and natural breakup after a couple of missteps (expensive learning curve) but.....a big but....this amp didn’t like fuzz or overdrive(exception was a cheap joyo tube screamer clone) -but not the sound I was going for. Years later (literally last week) after trying this and that, I bought a used Analogman modded Fuzz Face from the 90’s with a buffer and sundial. Presto....the amp finally liked what it saw on the input. The Undefined mush I use to have with fuzz- overdrive finally has that chainsaw tightness and definition. Hopefully someone may read this and help them keep an amp they have grown attached to. I had bought a Valco circuit with the 6973 tubes for just this reason and it loves fuzz or overdrive circuits-any....they all sound great with it but the cleans on that amp can’t touch the Ampeg. Every tool has a purpose, some can have more but it’s been a harder road than finding a guitar I can get along with. Who knew? I don’t know if I’ve even seen a pedal with the buffer option or advertised as such. Like your channel-were finally getting the content we need. Cheers!

I still love that white Greco SG. Just gorgeous.

Very useful. Thank you!

Good thing I remembered this video, I just got a DOD Bifet Boost 410 with a switchable buffer... Haven't used the buffer yet but damn is this a dirty boost!!!

Great show, you deserve Way more subscribers

My favorite fuzz-EHX Nano Big Muff PI. At the moment only 2 buffers (may change at anytime), that's a Boss Super Overdrive and Boss DD7 delay.. The DD7 is running through the effects loop on my amp.

I have the Sarcophagus and have one buffered pedal(adjustable).

Which of my fuzz pedals I have on my board? All of them. 😉 Thanks for the clip, I kinda like the splatty sound of the buffer into the fuzz ....

I only have a G-fuzz then a low gain drive then a clean boost then a higher gain drive. The last drive is switched to buffer mode. All of my other pedals are true bypass.

I have an MT-2 mainly for the buffer.

I always have just a buffered tuner, then have that first in the chain. It seems to work best at keeping the tone and fuzz/dirt true. I find having a buffer anywhere else just kills everything.

I keep meaning to dig out the early 2000s Jim Dunlop "Hendrix Classic Fuzz" I have to give it another play. It's supposed to be a Germanium fuzz face in an MXR-style box, but it always sounded good wherever I shoved it in the chain.

Skreddy Lunar Module Fuzz, plus a Boss Flanger and Boss Delay.

I like to use my old gear rather than buying new stuff, so my main distortion is still a Marshall Guv'nor pedal that I bought back in 1990 or -91. I'm thinking of adding a Boss Turbo Overdrive that has been laying around for years but I haven't yet decided where in the chain it will go. Building a new pedalboard right now so we'll se where it ends up...

Big Muff op-amp reissue sounds better in front of a buffer. Checked today.

Just subscribed... Too much good content to miss them ;) Now I only have one buffer, but I build all my pedals myself and they are tbp :) I have a buffer right at the beginning after my wah and tuner. Wah is modded to be tbp, tuner is Korg Pitch Black - one of the first tbp tuners out there. These days I'm thinking of swapping it with a TC Electronic Polytune 3 with the built-in switchable buffer. That would save me some space on the board while the BonaFide buffer is highly praised, so would probably not harm my signal chain :) As for the favorite fuzz pedal...? Dunno... I have a Russian Big Muff clone with some mods to get more from the mid / low-mid frequencies. I love that one, but I rather consider it a distortion, not a fuzz based on its sound. Recently I tried the Pharaoh from Black Arts. I used it for a while, but then I turned back to my trusty ole' Russian. I also used a KMA Fuzzly Bear clone for some time, it was good for solos. I use the Russian as the last distortion device in my pedal chain and used the Fuzzly Bear at the beginnig (at that time I didn't use a buffer yet). Actually even though we play psychedelic/stoner rock I don't use too much gain. My amp is set up to the edge of breaking up, but rather clean. I then have a light OD, a heavy OD and the Russian Big Muff. Recently I'm adding a TS9 clone at the beginning, but only as a boost, drive is set to minimum, volume to maximum. I have found that - at least for me - the quality of the distorted sound is much more important than the amount. I mean a gutsy, snarling sound, rich in mid and low-mid frequencies is essential, and the actual amount of distortion is less important.

My favorite and only fuzz pedal is the Stoned Grasshopper from Wilson Effects. I have a Behringer TO800 and a Behringer VD400, and I believe they are buffered.

Ok, my tuner is definitely getting moved. I'd been wondering why my diy fuzz didn't sound better

Jason man I've got my groove on that Greco SG. Boss FZ-5 & asap coming Fuzzlord FU-2 coming soon. 2 Buffers TU-2 Tuner included.

Great video! I don’t think I can say whether or not it’s “my favourite”, because I haven’t tried very many different fuzz pedals, but Tall Font Muff kicks ass! TU-2 and RE-20 is at least 2 buffers. Not sure about my overdrive. Cheers!

Isn't another reason to use a buffer with a fuzz is so that it plays nice with a wah?

Favorite Fuzz: MXR Super Badass Variac Fuzz. Stupid name, crazy good fuzz with a very wide spectrum of sounds and I love em all! Buffers: pretty sure I just have 1 buffer on my board... but who really knows???

Jason, this might not be your thing, but I am looking for either a crossover DS/fuzz pedal, a Roland Bee Gee pedal variant, or a video about using a boost/OD pedal stacked with a fuzz pedal --perhaps an OD, boost, and a fuzz stacked together. My aim is geared toward a tone type for death-doom metal as opposed to 'doom.'

Lots of buffers on my board! Rat (I think true bypass) into HyperFuzz, then overdrive, phaser, term, delay, reverb (all Boss). Still sounds great’

My favourite fuzz right now is the Greenhouse Effects Sludgehammer, and I got 2 (Boss TU3 &EHX Oceans 11) or 3 buffers depending on what modulation pedals I got.

But what about wireless systems? Aren't most of them buffered as well? Can you unbuffer a signal?

My favorite fuzz pedal I have is the ZVex Fat Fuzz Factory. I know I have a lot of buffers on my pedalboard (I have a shoegaze setup lol). Not 100% because some pedals are a mystery to me but I have maybe 10 buffered pedals.

Favorite fuzz on my pedalboard is Ox Fuzz 2

Wow, thanks, things are just more cleraer and have much more sense to me. great video, also, it means that if i have a boss tuner, i can use it as a buffer? or it'd better if i get a buffer?

I run my gain pedals through a buffered loop/gate, and I have a Boss delay at the end of my chain.

My fuzz is a Fig Fumb...I have 2 buffers: a JHS/The Prestige Clean Boost after the fuzz, and a Belle Epoch before last in the chain.

I am going to be adding in a Swollen Pickle and Big Muff Nano to my chain and I think I will have to rework my entire board. lol. Is there anything I should pay attention to when ordering the fuzz pedals? I use the pickle for a lighter fuzz and the nano for a more punk-esque sound. Is it the same rule that applies to stacking overdrives? Like, the one that has more gain goes second?

This guy is like the Mr. Rogers of death metal

Currently experimenting with an HM2 before my Dunwich DA120 Overdrive...which is definitely my favorite pedal if not my RC booster. I suppose it's buffered by my HM-2 but I don't mind the tonal changes, and the HM2 cuts like a chainsaw (saw that coming) as a boost before the DA120! I aspire to have a Fuzzlord effect live on my board soon, based on what I've heard I think the Drone Machine could very well end up being one of my favorites!! I would love to know more about whether chaining buffered pedals can affect the tone even further, if you can "unbuffer" a signal with another pedal, and lastly I wonder if my amplifier will respond differently to high vs. low impedance signals...

if i put Behringer Super Fuzz (SF 300) after Boss Super Octave (OC-3) its work?

Where does a compressor fit in to this? Also, that Void Master is awesome!!! As for some fave fuzzes, the Fowl Sounds Flannel Overlord and the Big Muff Pi opamp reissue are my go to's at the moment.

How many buffers on the board.. well 6 in the off position I guess. Ibanez TS9 and SM7 and a boss tuner. But also true bypass pedals use buffers when activated.. right?

So why don’t you have a boss G-7 EQ So you can modify the signal

Just subscribed 👍

Can I run a boost with a low level to make up for the mismatched impedance problem for those fuzzes or for my treble booster?

Great video, and informative for people just starting to build a pedalboard. Is it true that if you place a classic style fuzz, like a Fuzz Face, several true bypass pedals removed from a buffered pedal that helps? I have a Fuzz Face clone that is maybe 4 true bypass pedals away from my Boss CS-3, which is the first in my chain. It seems to sound ok. I’ve also noticed my Big Muffs (I have 4 on my board... I may have a problem, lol) seem to play nice with just about everything else on my board.

My favorite fuzz is my berringer super fuzz an my little big muff

I have a Boss DD-7, an EHX Oceans 11 and an EHX Germanium Big Muff. I like shoegaze shit and I found that it sounded the nicest with my reverse reverb first, the Muff second and finishing with the Boss pedal. Perhaps it's because of the buffer that it sounded nice? Didn't even know that there was such a thing as buffers so if I'm having tone issues I'll try and see where I put my DD-7 next time ^^

Anyone know why my Behringer SF300 removes noise from my Fuzz Factory if it is in front? I think the SF300 has a buffer, but I'm not sure.

Univox Super-Fuzz (clone), Germanium Big Muff pedal. I plug my guitar into a GEC9 pedal switcher. The fuzz sit at the front before any other pedals on my GEC9. I don't know if the GEC9 is buffered though, I don't think it is. No idea though. After that I have a bad monkey overdrive. Next I have a GT10 that's hooked into the GEC9 using 4CM. After the return from my amp on the GEC9 is a Lester G by EHX. I then stereo out from the GEC9 to my 2 amps with a Stereo JamMan looper in between. So, the GT10 is definitely a buffer. No idea about the bad monkey. I dont know about the Lester G but I'd never put it in front of Fuzz. I will need test out the bad monkey pre and post fuzz to figure out if it is buffered. If the GEC9 is buffered, that would be a hassle. I can't say I have noticed anything though. Great video by the way. Thanks.

Is just simple jfet boost working as a buffer? I mean like Tillman boost or Alembic Stratoblaster

Boss Tu 3: Tuner and boost, all in 1.

Dumb question y’all…if my NYC Big Muff Pi is the last dirt pedal before my MXR Micro Amp and the EHX Metal Muff is before the Big Muff, do I need a separate buffer? My “on all the time” pedal is the Soul Food(buffer switch on) and after that is the SD-1 to “juice” the Big Muff. Thanks!

I put my fuzz pedal all the way at the end, right before my phaser, that’s my last pedal before the amp

A bajillion buffers

I don’t actually have a pedal board, I run my Epi SG junior through a Zoom GM-400 then into my amp. I assume since it’s an amp simulator, there could be some buffer circuitry in there, maybe?

so I'm building a DAM dragonfly(a ff mixed with a tone bender) where would I place that with my Rangemaster?

Any advice on getting a first fuzz pedal? I have a Rat already but looking at a pharaoh type of fuzz that retains my guitars tone to some degree.

Thanks for the video, would you put a Fuzz Factory in front or after a buffer?

Lol apparently I have 3 buffers!! Really digging my Big Muff w a boost running before and after it, I can’t decide on which is best for me.