zvex.com

biohazard · Joined: 04 Jul 2004 Posts: 58 Location: UK

Hi, I know that Matt Bellamy from Muse has a FF built into three out of his 5 Manson guitars that he owns. However, on the three that he has FF's built into, only tw knobs are on the front of the guitar. There have been various rumours that Manson's have removed the other three standard pots and replaced them with trimpots. However Manson's themselves have told me that pots different to the ones Z-Vex supplies on his FF's cannot be used because the FF is such a sensetive thing that it won't work properly or at all if different pots are used. They say that all 5 original pots are on the FF board when it's in the back of guitars. So whats the deal here? Are trim pots being used? I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has the exact Matt Bellamy FF mod on their guitar and any information on this would be very much appreciated. Thanks.

biohazard · Joined: 04 Jul 2004 Posts: 58 Location: UK

Is there no one out there who can answer this thread please?

zvex · Posted: Wed Jul 07, 2004 2:41 pm Post subject:

do a search in here. there are already lots of posts about muse and bellamy.

mrblackbat · Joined: 20 Apr 2004 Posts: 154 Location: Lancs, UK

If I remember rightly from the pictures I saw, it's the original pots built into the back of the guitar, I'll try and find the pics, cause the website I saw them on is down......

zvex · Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2004 5:53 am Post subject:

here's a pic of one of his guitars (inside guts)

the green pots mounted on the pickguard are original ff pots. the others have been replaced with trimmers and are mounted near the yellowish board inside.

biohazard · Joined: 04 Jul 2004 Posts: 58 Location: UK

Ok, I undrstand that they definately use the two original pots for the two on the front of the guitar. But I don't know what trimmer pots are used to replace the other three. Apparently Z-Vex, you have a really sensetive circuit there and it doesn't like different components very much. This is according to Manson's, and this is why I am struggling to find some trimme pots myself to use for the FF.

ellasian · Joined: 08 May 2004 Posts: 289 Location: wales UK

Biohazard - Unless you are really rather gifted, I think I would leave that well alone. Shocked

All it needs is some bolagnase(spelling?) source and its a rather nice Italian meal!!!! Wink

_________________
Give my a soldering iron, and I can turn you tube screamer into a......... paperweight.!!!!!!!

biohazard · Joined: 04 Jul 2004 Posts: 58 Location: UK

There is nothing difficult about replacing some pots. All I need to know is what pots to use. Manson's tell me they don't change the pots so I think they are hiding the fact they did it on Matt's from me. Thats why I would love to talk to someone who has that mod, or an electronics engineer since Manson's tell me the FF is a sensetive circuit when it comes to using different pots. They told me they tried some different pots of the same value but the FF didnt work or didnt function properly with the different pots. But I also don't know if Manson's tried the right value pots, but didn't use Linear Taper for example. The FF pots are Linear and Manson's might not have known this. So i'm slightly confused but damn well determined to find the answer some way or another.

ellasian · Joined: 08 May 2004 Posts: 289 Location: wales UK

I see, if you just want to put an FF inboard on a guitar why don't you just mount it on the back of a pickguard and wire it between the input and the guitars electrics?. Then replace the carling stomp button with a switch!
That is bound to work. On the other hand, if you want an exact copy of Mr Bellamys' rig show Zachs' picture to a tech and tell them what you want it to do.
_________________
Give my a soldering iron, and I can turn you tube screamer into a......... paperweight.!!!!!!!

biohazard · Joined: 04 Jul 2004 Posts: 58 Location: UK

I know how to wire it in, I know everything that will need to be done when I fit the FF into my guitar. All I don't know is if they standard FF pots can be replaced at all with trimmer pots and if so, what trimmer pots to use.

zvex · Posted: Fri Jul 09, 2004 9:35 pm Post subject:

obviously manson's replaced the original pots with trimmers in that guitar. the originals are the green ones inside, and the trimmers are the black thingies by the yellow board on the back cover of the guitar. i don't know why there's an extra trimmer there... perhaps they did a mod of some kind to pre-set the way one of the exernal pots works. at any rate, there shouldn't be a problem replacing the fuzz factory pots with trimmers, but there certainly is room for trouble whenever you put a high-gain device on an open board inside of a guitar body, especially in bypass mode.

biohazard · Joined: 04 Jul 2004 Posts: 58 Location: UK

Ah ok, thanks Zach. So as long as the trimmers are the same value as the original, and Linear Taper maybe, the same as the originals, then there shouldn't be a problem. I might just try that then at some point. I didn't quite understand what you meant by the last sentence of your post, the part about troublem putting high gain devices on open board etc.