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!
