hehasthejazzhands
Groupie
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I feel like the only person in the world that likes the sound of the MXR Blue Box with the blend dimed as a fuzz pedal lol
The Fuzz Thread
- Thread starter James Freeman
- Start date
Dave Lewis
Roadie
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- 361
This Fuzz get a fair bit of use here.
That reminds me: I need to chase down a Reuss Evil Twin MKII.
creative360
Roadie
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- 161
Back in the pre-Kemper day, twelve or thirteen years ago, during my version of the un-winnable tone quest—meaning that while waiting for some of the real, expensive shit to arrive, I put a good guitar a good amp and a bunch of Joyos to work for the fun of it and that was probably as great a tone as I ever got going forward, but I guess that’s not the point—along with everything else I tried, I got a fancy custom tonebender from a builder in England that was absolutely delicious. It wasn’t the super trendiest one of those guys, but maybe the second or third tier. Still no joke in terms of dollars. For whatever reason, along with so much else, I let it go. Honestly there were just certain things I felt were too expensive and flashy to live under foot on a stage. I still have a Basic Audio fuzz in the drawer, the famous one that everyone raved about at the time. It’s very good but definitely not the same as the one I let go. When fuzzes are right, for me anyway, they don’t even sound like a pedal they just sound like the true embodiment of your guitar and amp. How’s that for poetry. Anyway ever since I traded Analog Mike my old, broken big muff (with all the original paperwork which is why he was interested ) for a KOT, I’ve been planning on getting a Sun Face. The way I use fuzz in general is more like a cool near glorious death tweed or Valco from the 50s.
For whatever reason I only ever found out about the cool limited runs of those Fulltones way after the fact. They sound great.Fuzz is weird. There’s definitely something to be said for the legendary stuff, but then you’ll find some weird little thing at a yard sale that slays. And as for broken record posts, it’s pretty insane what you can pull out of the Kemper fuzz.
Also, it’s true that fuzz is the great misunderstood route to great tones. From what I read on the forums, and probably even how I chased it for a while, I think people are often turning to drives when we’re after something that is really a job for a fuzz.
For whatever reason I only ever found out about the cool limited runs of those Fulltones way after the fact. They sound great.Fuzz is weird. There’s definitely something to be said for the legendary stuff, but then you’ll find some weird little thing at a yard sale that slays. And as for broken record posts, it’s pretty insane what you can pull out of the Kemper fuzz.
Also, it’s true that fuzz is the great misunderstood route to great tones. From what I read on the forums, and probably even how I chased it for a while, I think people are often turning to drives when we’re after something that is really a job for a fuzz.
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SillyOctpuss
Shredder
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Elf
Roadie
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- 322
Fuzz Face™ | General Guitar Gadgets
generalguitargadgets.com
Transistor Pair - The Fuzz Face PNP, "All-American"
New England's source for guitar pedals, pedal parts and electronics.
The transistors were $15USD then they are $40 now!
SillyOctpuss
Shredder
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- 2,038
Fuzz Face™ | General Guitar Gadgets
Transistor Pair - The Fuzz Face PNP, "All-American"
New England's source for guitar pedals, pedal parts and electronics.smallbear-electronics.mybigcommerce.com
The transistors were $15USD then they are $40 now!
View attachment 35103
I'd assumed you went with silicon because you said late 60s fuzz face.
Transistor prices are nuts these days, I've been salvaging from old broken 60s audio gear now because the prices for NOS stock are crazy.
I also haven't seen a GGG board in ages, good boards but their offboard wiring is a pain compared to madbean, aion or fuzzdog.
Elf
Roadie
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- 322
They are! I haven’t built a pedal in years, but if I do I’ll check those places out, Thanks!
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- 9,953
The red one is a Lovepedal Red Dragon, pretty sure the other ones are identifiable enough.
The Dover Drive technically isn’t a fuzz, but the germanium version has enough fuzz in it to be in the pile.
Iron Bell and Patriarch are Gilmour Muffs, Civil War-ish. I need to compare them since I got the Patriarch as it’s been a while since I’ve used the Iron Bell, but I can definitely say the Patriarch has a ton more variation in it and can cover a lot of Big Muff ground.
The EJ Fuzz Face I need to plug in again. I remember it being rather dark. I can’t honestly say I use it enough to warrant keeping, but EJ and the Fuzz Face is what turned me into a gear nerd when I was 11, it’s more of a memento to me than anything. I also got it for a too-good-to-be-true price that’ll most certainly never happen again.
I’m actually going to be selling the Red Dragon and the ‘70, I never even think to plug them in and the GE Dover pretty much does what I was hoping I’d be able to get out of the ‘70.
SillyOctpuss
Shredder
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That's good description of the EJ. I found mine to be really dark as well. I definitely preferred the blue hendrix version they did, it had a really nice top end and cleaned up really well for a silicon FF.
Sascha Franck
Rock Star
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- 6,492
So, which of the fuzzy bunch is the best contender for a buffered environment?
dronerstone
Shredder
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I'm sure there's others, but I love my Twin Bender's impedance knob. No matter where you put it, it's always tweakable to sound legit without getting too splatty (unless you want that).
SillyOctpuss
Shredder
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Probably a big muff or tone bender.
dronerstone
Shredder
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Yeah, Muff circuits should usually behave fine anywhere in the chain. Benders can be trickier, depending on which kind/what clone it is.
dronerstone
Shredder
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Awwww... The TZ2, is that the little raunchy bastard that sounds very much like a Superfuzz?
Sascha Franck
Rock Star
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Tried a Big Muff with my old pedalboard and didn't like it.
I possibly should've mentioned that I'm not looking for a particularly "classic" tone.
Had an eye on the VS Audio Pandora, which explicitely seems to be made for a buffered environment, but i'm not sure whether it cleans up enough at higher gain settings. Nice featureset, though. Here's a testride from Mr. Ronquillo:
SillyOctpuss
Shredder
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Where is the buffer in your chain? Up front after the guitar or further back? If its after the fuzz you'll get away with a lot more, I quite like a buffer after a FF, it usually brightens them up in a nice way.
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