"Ducking" fuzz when preceded by high gain

[colossus]

So, title kinda says it. I built a silicon meathead dark and it sounds great at the front of my chain, with somewhat low gain JM pickups going into it (Anitquity II), but if I precede it with any sort of boost or really any other pedal OR the slightly hotter PUPs of my Bass VI, it has a sort of "ducking" effect like it's being overloaded. This sucks as I love its tone but I just can't make it work with my Bass VI. Any ideas? Or am I just kinda stuck with it like this? I used this layout and BC108 trannies: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ov3RBMaH5sQ/U ... Fuzzes.png

And I should add that this seems to happen more with chords, especially chords lower in the register.

[eatyourguitar]

the meathead has low pass filters in it. this is why it sounds good. if your signal is too hot, the bass notes will be the first to get turned in to square waves. I never liked a boosted meathead but I think my Hfe was too high for the transitsors I used. I sold the pedal but if I had to do it again I would try an emitter resistor either on Q1 or Q2. maybe 100R on Q2 should do it. also, maybe if you build it with the fuzz control from the deluxe you can reduce the gain to hit the sweet spot.

and big shout out to Rhode Island yo!

[skullservant]

Yeah, it's kind of a Meathead thing. The Deluxe has more options though like EYG said

[John]

"Docking" fuzzies