Frazz with active/passive electronics.

[Hector_G]

So I've had my Frazz Dazzler for a few months now.
I'm wondering if anyone has noticed a difference when using active vs. passive electronics with this pedal.
I'm sure some of you have read reviews about the Zvex Wooly Mammoth and how people state that the pedal does not play well with active guitars/basses. I'm not gonna drop over $300 bucks on that pedal, so I bought a clone. Sounds great. Fraction of the cost. With that pedal I notice a huge difference.
I have a Carvin LB75 that has push pull active/passive. There's an audible difference when played with active. Not as tight, kind of sputters the wrong way, difficult to explain. Cleans up very nicely when switched to passive.

With my Frazz, I notice a difference too. Not a HUGE difference, but still. See, the Mammoth clone just doesn't sound right with actives. The Frazz will behave differently with each.
Both ways has it's own unique fuzz characteristic. Maybe not noticeable to most people's ears, but to me, it matters a lot. Different nuance, gating, gain and tone. Both sound great.
With the actives on, it's a deeper tone (of course due to the onboard EQ on my bass) and a mellower tighter fuzz. With the passives it seems a little looser, fuzzier and brighter.

It's great learning this little trick with my pedal. LOVE IT. Again, it probably won't be noticeable to the casual listener. And it feels almost futile trying to explain to my guitarists. Good times.

[Gunner Recall]

I've got no solution for the frazz...but zvex corrected the active/passive issue with the $150 Mastotron, which sounds an awful lot like the wooly mammoth

[Hector_G]

oops... didn't mean for that to sound like a complaint against the Frazz.
I was only stating that the Wooly Mammoth (or clone) just doesn't sound too good with actives.
The Frazz however handles either one just fine.

I've been wanting to try the Mastotron, but I really think my fuzz needs are covered at the moment. I might end up liking that one too. And we all know what that means.

[Ryan]

Hey Hector, nice to hear from you!

That's a very interesting observation there, thanks for writing about it! It's something I wonder about a lot as I don't have any guitars with active pickups. (I wish I did though.. one of those Teles with EMGs). I don't design any of my circuits with terribly high input impedances, not too high but not too low, and that's more than likely what makes the Frazz play nicely with either style of pickups.

I definitely try to design for single coils and humbuckers and I'd really like to take actives into account too... I think they sound great too.

Do you find your Frazz cleans up better with active pickups? I know it's a pedal that doesn't really clean up at all in the normal sense of the expression, just curious how the actives handle that aspect.

[LowWatt]

I think this might be similar to the slight difference I was noticiing with the Frazz after a buffered pedal Ryan. An active pickup is basically a buffer.

It's a really subtle difference. With buffer = more solid bass and a more controlled and consistent fuzz. Without buffer = slightly spittier and a little bit less consistent sounding while sustaining chords or whatever. Like Hector said, both ways sound amazing, but there is a slight difference.

[Ryan]

Yessirs, I guess it just comes down to the tonal differences of various buffers in the path and how they really do have a tone of their own even if it's really subtle. Makes sense that a pedal like a Frazz would show off the differences too, there's a lot of signal gain in them.

The Frazz has its own input buffer too, it's necessary for the mix control plus I think the distortion section just sounds better being fed a buffered signal... it's beefier with stronger highs.

I'm still itching to get a guitar with active pickups... I'll probably be itchy until after Christmas though...

[LowWatt]

I'm still itching to get a guitar with active pickups... I'll probably be itchy until after Christmas though...

Me too. All my guitars are pretty tranditional, but there is something about the idea of actives and a Floyd that I think I could come up with some really new sounds with. Seems like a great platform for effects.

[Hector_G]

My apologies for my extremely delayed response.

But yes.. it's exactly as LowWatt stated. Couldn't have put it better myself.

Active- solid bass, consistent fuzz
Passive - spittier (great adjective)

Ryan, as you stated, "I know it's a pedal that doesn't really clean up at all in the normal sense of the expression".
You're right, it's doesn't quite clean up. It causes destruction at any level. But if I back off the volume on the bass, it's a happier and more pleasant destruction. (if you will). Just tightens up the gate and smooths out the fuzz to a nice synthy creaminess. Sometimes I run it into an envelope filter and it works great for that funky quack.

Ever since I noticed the differences, I feel the pedal has even more flexibility.
And the toggle switch is great. I can even switch it with my foot while I'm playing. Like a whole other pedal.