If you’ve ever reamped a guitar track and thought, “Why does this feel off?”—you’re not crazy. You’re just hearing the truth. Most reamp boxes get the level right but miss something crucial: the way a guitar actually behaves as a signal source. Real guitars aren’t just voltage—they’re complex, high-impedance sources that interact organically with pedals and amps. That’s why reamped fuzz pedals often sound fizzy or stiff, and why DI signals lack the nuance of a real chain. The Pretender is my answer to that problem—a passive, deceptively simple tool that “pretends” to be a guitar pickup, restoring the feel of playing live through an amp. For the experienced DIYer - this is an upgraded version of the Jack Orman's Pickup Simulator. It offer's less noise, more options and a carefully tailored frequency response. And it can drive a longer cable with less losses and cable sensitivity - yet retaining the frequency response. With just a handful of components, you can sculpt tone, fix impedance mismatch, and unlock more from your recordings than most plugins ever will. This guide gives you everything you need to build it yourself—from schematic to wiring to practical tips. It’s cheap, it’s tweakable, and it’s honestly kind of fun. Let’s get back to signal chains that feel like music.

Here you will find the detailed guide with schematics and wiring diagrams so you can build one yourself!