EHX Green Russian Big Muff Pi fuzz noise after EHX Bass Balls (but not before)

[umbe1987]

Hello everyone.

This is my very first thread on this website and I am a noob on pedal effects, so please don't be too rude if my question sounds silly

I have 3 pedals in my pedalboard: 1) EHX Bass Balls (the old version with the black switch for the distortion), 2) Digitech Bass Driver, 3) EHX Green Russian Big Muff Pi fuzz

I tried yesterday to chain them like this (from my bass to amplifier):
Bass Balls > OverDrive > Fuzz

As soon as I engaged the fuzz, a super loud noise was coming out of the amplifier, so loud that the pedal was not usable.

However, when I tried to switch the positions of the Bass Balls and the Big Muff the noise stopped.
Fuzz > OverDrive > Bass Balls

Do you know if it is normal?

Thank you!

 

[ole Jason]

EHX muffs are pretty noisy if you have the sustain and tone turned up. The noise is still there when it's behind the Bass Balls but the filter on the Bass Balls isn't open so it's cutting out the noise. The easiest workaround without changing anything would be to engage the muff as you start playing instead of turning it on ahead of time.

 

[umbe1987]

Thank you @ole Jason for your feedback!

Sorry, maybe I may be missing your point.

It seems from my experiment that when the muff is placed before (in front of) the bass balls there is no such noise.
And when it's after it (behind) the noise is so loud I cannot engage it, even when the bass balls is turned off.
Is it normal? I understand that if it's loudy I should use it only when I am playing it, but it feels so uncomfortable, as it is almost unusable like this (I need to make sure to turn it off everytime I don't need it).

Again, sorry if I did not get your point.

 

[umbe1987]

So I tested the pedals at home, and here are some interesting findings.

Apparently, the amplifier of the studio I was yesterday had something wrong.
Luckily, the pedals are working just fine with my audio card, in both positions.

So I guess next time I will skip that room

 

[cheapbasslovin]

So don't be surprised if this interaction comes back again some time down the road. Pedal interactions are weird and complex, and especially with older pedals like yours there's all kinds of filter and impedance interactions that will cause *a thing* under some circumstance but *no thing* under others.

I say this not to discourage you, but just a heads up to be ready and not surprised if it comes up again.