Back in 2002, I published an article about pickup simulators in the Lab Notebook. The simple circuit can be built in a small metal box with in and out jacks and used as an “unbuffer”…
This means that the output of a buffered pedal can be converted to have the characteristics of a guitar pickup, and it will react with the circuit following it as if the circuit were being driven directly by the guitar – in other words, un-buffering the buffered pedal.
The article in the Lab Notebook has another version of the pickup simulator (unbuffer) that includes volume and tone controls. This will allow you to roll back on the volume to get the same interaction as from the pickups/volume.
It’s completely passive; no battery or power supply jack is required.
Put this circuit in a small metal box and remove the buffered effect of your pedals!
I play a stratocaster 90% of the time but I also have a parker fly… I use the circuit from your original pickup simulator article between my parker and whatever follows it… with the “un-buffer” volume rolled back to 7 or 8 it works wonders for making my parker play nice with my fx and whatnot. I also use it with my stratocaster any time I’m forced to use a wireless system lol. Thanks for pursuing the idea further… it’s a circuit that I’ll use until the end of my days 🙂
Hi, I am intending on building the 2006 updated version of this circuit, so I can put it before a Wooly Mammoth fuzz effect. However as I play bass guitar, I was wondering if any of the component values need adjusting? I’m not sure if bass and guitar pickups “look” the same to other circuitry!
Thanks.