Sag control on basic fuzz face

[Ginsly]

Is it hard on a pot to be inserted that close to the source voltage? I stumbled upon a thread the other day where people were lamenting all of the pots that would die an early death being used in this way! I've seen this solution over and over, so I can't imagine it would be that hard on pots. I'd love an informed perspective on this - although I agree with @Big Monk, it seems like 9 times out of 10 a transistor bias control would be a targeted way of achieving what most are looking for in a "power starve" control. Bosstones excluded.

 

[jwin615]

Sure, but a “sag” control doesn’t simulate a dying battery.

I think we had this discussion in the forums a couple years ago and a proper battery simulator circuot has more parts than the Fuzz Face does!

Yep. You need to current limit it as well... In short.
Ole Mr Ohm rears his ugly head again.

Exactly. It’s basically a a global bias control but I personally don’t want to play with the bias on Q1.

I see no benefit either. It's pretty much a clean amp/buffer anyway.
Since you're (generally) no where near saturation... Not much benefit

I have seen a little bit of sweet spot if you bias the second stage hot, then add a global starve. But it's tricky and dependent on each transistor...
Found it in production, or without breadboarding each circuit isn't viable. A PITA in other words.

 

[jwin615]

Is it hard on a pot to be inserted that close to the source voltage? I stumbled upon a thread the other day where people were lamenting all of the pots that would die an early death being used in this way! I've seen this solution over and over, so I can't imagine it would be that hard on pots. I'd love an informed perspective on this - although I agree with @Big Monk, it seems like 9 times out of 10 a transistor bias control would be a targeted way of achieving what most are looking for in a "power starve" control. Bosstones excluded.

Modern pots are rated for more than the current ta fuzz pedal will use.
They're not rated for watts + beer.
Audio + beer... Okay.
You do have to be careful in design as well to keep audio and DC off the same pot. You'll get a wonderful near speaker destroying scrape sound if not.