I have a pretty nice pedal board, and I'd like to work in a new fuzz tone. I have a Big Muff pi op-amp, and it works just fine, but I'd like a different variety of fuzz. But the last three fuzz pedals I bought all had the same problem, and I can't figure out what's wrong. When the pedals have come, I tried them directly from my bass too the pedal, pedal directly to the amp, and I got this enormous buzz from each different pedal. The AC is a relatively new circuit, isolated from the rest of the house, and it gives no trouble. I run my amp through it, the PA too. The first two pedals were a Earthquaker Hoof, and Death By Audio Absolute Destruction. I sent them both back. I just got a Zvex Fat Fuzz Factory, and the same thing happens. I can cut out the buzz by turning the compression and the noise gate each almost to the max, but that makes just a tiny room for any sound at all to come through. After that, it sounds kind of like a real loud buzzer on top of what otherwise would be a very useable tone. I only want the pedal for playing live, and I don't care if it has a little noise. I'm not a freak about noise, but this is unworkable. But I'm starting to think perhaps the problem was not in the pedals all along, and I can't figure out what it could be. My cables are fine. All my other pedals work fine, and there is nothing unusual about the bass. There is no interference from lights that I can find. The guitarist in the band has tons of pedals, and all his work fine in the room.
