The mysterious 22k resistor in the Fuzzrite silicon fuzz

[vanguard]

So I just finished a Fuzzrite vero build and it sounds great. Many of the schems out there either leave the 22k at the end of the 2nd fuzz stage out completely, or its proper location is apocryphal.

When building, I just placed the 22k resistor as the wire heading to the depth pot. Since completion, I've discovered that the vintage ones likely had the 22k coming off the pot lug and to ground.

So my question is, as seen in the pic, would replacing the 22k resistor with a plain wire and then running a 22k from lug 3 to ground have a different result than the way it is wired as pictured?

Thanks!



And here's the schem I followed:

[nr372]

I'm not especially familiar with the fuzzrite circuit, but having the 22K in series with the second stage output will attenuate it a little, which may help to balance the volume between the two stages.

Placing the 22K from lug 3 to ground will attenuate the second stage more than your current setup, and will also act as a highpass filter in conjunction with the 2n2 output cap.
The highpass filtering is probably the important part, though I can't say exactly how it would sound compared to your current build.

If you like how it sounds now, you may want to leave it! Your build looks nice and tidy.

[vanguard]

I'm not especially familiar with the fuzzrite circuit, but having the 22K in series with the second stage output will attenuate it a little, which may help to balance the volume between the two stages.

Placing the 22K from lug 3 to ground will attenuate the second stage more than your current setup, and will also act as a highpass filter in conjunction with the 2n2 output cap.
The highpass filtering is probably the important part, though I can't say exactly how it would sound compared to your current build.

If you like how it sounds now, you may want to leave it! Your build looks nice and tidy.

Thanks a ton. Very helpful!

I currently have the 22k to ground, and it now yields that classic Fuzzrite treble-bomb fuzz. It definitely acts like the Jerms clone I once owned. Without the 22k, it behaved more like a standard big muff distortion pedal—nice cleanup, but without much weird/psychedelic behavior.