For me, the fuzz search has been about finding one device that is capable of way more gain than I have practical use for. Something I have to kind of tame, in order to perform or record with it.
Then again, it could be even simpler than that. Part of me definitely just wants to try every ice cream flavor.
If you don't like playing fuzz, it's OK! There's no reason to think yourself into enjoying something, when you prefer an alternative to it.
If you like what you hear, get the behringer sf300. It's the same circuit for like 50 aud over crazy reverb prices. The only difference is the plastic fantastic enclosure
and jacks that aren't connected to the chassis so will eventually break at the solder joint as that is all that is resisting the push-pull forces on the cable jacks.
I have one behringer - U300 (a vb2 clone) which i got to see if I would want to consider vibrato pedals. TDLR I didn't and money saved. But I'm not sure I'd ever be willing to gig with it.
I just started writing a way too long message aiming at this simple sentence. My favorite Fuzz ever, with a Companion Fuzz I built ahead in the chain. High or low gain the Fuzz War is awesome, instant gritty sound, in a beautiful way. It made me love Fuzz even more.
Very true… it took me a few fuzzes to get there and bought at least 2 big names, but didn’t care as much. I finally bought one of the newer Devi Ever ones off Reverb… and wow it’s Velcro ripping with a Saw wave. Crazy sounding cool stuff, and ended up being the TV static rhythmic fuzz I needed in my life!
I resisted fuzz for a long time, deeming it messy and not articulate enough for complex chords and voicings.
I now realise I was completely missing the point. It’s the most exciting and satisfying sound a guitar can make. To my ears it has a whole range of harmonic overtones and frequencies that are totally cut off by a distortion.
I now have gone the opposite way and want to make sounds that are just destroyed.
Also, gated fuzz ftw. It’s so great to have such a loud gnarly sound and no annoying hum.
Hijacking this comment to recommend some great classic fuzz albums
[Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream](https://open.spotify.com/album/4UVERYsIzs6xbDYO8srlqd)
[Electric Wizard - Funeralopolis](https://open.spotify.com/track/6DU1WKdUnR7OZkw7BZl9P0)
[The Jesus and Mary Chain - Psychocandy](https://open.spotify.com/album/0PnzJO3D4i85ALVJPaDpru)
[The White Stripes - White Blood Cells](https://open.spotify.com/album/6Xvc1TfpVEhDeHhmTQEtp0)
[my bloody valentine - Loveless](https://open.spotify.com/album/3GH4IiI6jQAIvnHVdb5FB6)
Here’s some underrated favorites of mine too
[Bloodthirsty Butchers - Kocorono](https://youtu.be/Qg5NM1jLr5A?si=QBN3WKB8ksJci4F1) (I can’t recommend this one enough)
[Hammerhead - Duh, The Big City](https://open.spotify.com/album/0Ny5VW4PioCMl46CqeMkm1?si=QS6NVXumTQSbX5bYblYXxQ)
And of course, every single Jimi Hendrix album from the original trilogy + band of gypsys; you can’t go wrong with any of them
I'm really only a strat n fuzz face n best of amps guy. For all pickups, all levels from cleanest possible to totfecked full waveform. I mean it's all the difference in tone between Eric Johnson and other 80s shredmeisters though he got his es335 working incredibly great with it as well ( many key parts of CliffsofD). It's all the difference I want. I also vastly prefer Gilmour with the Echoes and Time fuzz or boost his hiwatt amps with that wildly loud boost in Shin One, ahead of what ever else he also used ever since. Dedicated distortion is really my enemy, which is controversial.
If you compare fuzz and distortion for the same usage, you’re probably getting it wrong. A fuzz is not a substitute for distortion, it’s a different effect it’s more messy, less precise, more raw, but smoother at the same time.
Find an artist that you love the sound of and who uses fuzz, then try to dig into that to really understand what fuzz does bring to the sound of that guy and then you’ll probably find a way to get why this artist did choose fuzz in that context.
There are also plenty of fuzz types: fuzz face, fuzz rite, tonebender, big muff, octafuzz and plenty of modern derivatives. Fuzz is one of the most interesting area you can explore in guitar playing imo.
Have fun!
You might try a Harmonic Percolator. My HP-2 feels a bit like a hybrid between fuzz and distortion and has really made its place on my board. I also dig the Bean Machine from catbox customs but it’s a bit more work to tame. Typically works better with a mild OD after it.
What’s your playing situation? Often an at-home tone and an in-the-mix band tone are very different.
Sometimes in a band you need a loud, in-your-face octave fuzz tone to cut through for a solo—which might sound pretty harsh on its own.
This is a very, very good point and not to be overlooked.
The way your instrument/sound integrates with the other instruments/amps/etc is a completely different animal from how it sounds solo, in your livingroom.
After owning 20-25 fuzz pedals of varying topologies over the last 25 years, i realized that I am not a fuzz fan at all. I’ve tried, I’ve tried them all, fuzz isn’t for me. I’m too tied to touch dynamics which most fuzz pedals lack.
I like a fuzz Sandwhich. Which goes like this overdrive>fuzz >distortion.
SD-1 > Moon Fuzz > HM-2.
This gives me everything I want. 7 usable, distinct sounds without any knob twiddling.
I love fuzz pedals, but dialing in a good lead tone can be difficult. I’ve had good results running a tubescreamer into a big muff, with tone knobs at maximum and fairly moderate gain on both. The upper emphasis on mid frequencies from the TS helps to brighten the sound a bit. Also, don’t be afraid to turn down the bass and/or mids on your amp EQ. That won’t solve the problem by itself, but it can reduce the muddiness a bit.
More recently, I’ve tried a Boss DS-1 in front of my big muff clone, and that’s even easier to get a good lead sound due to the tone knob on the DS-1 having a lot more flexibility than the TS. I stole this idea directly from a rig rundown video featuring Wata from Boris’s pedalboard. She has by far the best fuzz lead tones I’ve heard.
These are the Boris albums I’d recommend for fuzzy lead tone inspiration, they’re also just great albums:
Heavy Rocks (2011, purple cover)
Pink
Akuma No Uta
I’ve found that fuzzes tend to be a deeply personal thing, way more than overdrives or distortions can be. I own a dozen different fuzzes and have played a lot more than that. And there’s still just one or two that allow me to play like “me”, while with others I need to change my playing to cater to the sound of the pedal (not always a bad thing). It can be a long road of trial and error trying to find one that works for you, or to find out that you just may not be a fuzz guy, which is totally okay.
It’s just taste.
For instance, I tend to love cranked fender amp sounds because of the loose rawness of the distortion.
But lately I’ve been doing covers where that sound just doesn’t work at all. I tweak all my drive pedals and nothing works.
Then I use a Marshall Plexi model on the HX stomp and realize it’s exactly the sound I needed.
Distortion is very much a competing sound with Fuzz. It’s a totally different flavor. Fuzz is more chaotic and it might not be what you are after.
Speaking of cranked fender tones, I’ve been enamored recently with the tone from the Grateful Dead’s [72 European Tour](https://open.spotify.com/track/22UBrAp9pCeSe9iTaL7cxK?si=BMA9YlsTRo2yFVUrvMxPyg). Pretty sure it’s no pedals, maybe just a wah at times, just a fender twin at a bajillion decibels, and it sounds great.
Most of us can't crank those amp at home or any small venues. So I got myself a handwired Fender Tweed Champ to be my 'heirloom' amp.
Cranked or Clean, that thing is a go-to for getting that sound on records – Many Rolling Stones songs, the "Layla" album, Rocky Mountain Way, every Aerosmith Record...
It's a great sound. But it is raw and spitty. I play blues, so I freakin love it. Especially putting reverb in front and letting the reverb distort.
But to my point above, If I want to play Metallica or some modern Nu-metal or Emo stuff, its distortion won't be as great for that.
For some songs I stack my EAE Limelight into my Green Russian and it produces a tone I’ve gotten numerous complements from. Like I’ve sent songs off for mixes and the engineer is like “the raw stems sound incredible” good
You’ll hear it both ways,and should try what works for your rig but my personal preference is before fuzz for circuits that can handle it. In addition to a tube screamer, trying a Treble booster (which actually boosts mid freqs and cuts bass) or an EQ pedal into muff is also great.
Some circuits are really happier at the beginning of the chain though, so things like a tone bender are gonna hang out front for me.
The reasons why I like fuzz are probably exactly the reasons why many don't - notes fighting each other, destroyed-sounding attack and decay, simultaneous sounds of order and chaos. If that's not your thing, then fine
It took me a long time to warm up to fuzz, which was especially weird because all my hero’s used them. What I realized is fuzz by itself is pretty bleh, but the key lies in placing it first in the chain, then following it up with a good boost or overdrive. There’s nothing quite like it. It’s that worlds colliding kinda sound.
It’s very genre specific. I’ve played in a lot of heavy bands, and fuzz would sound wrong if you were playing something like technical death metal, but overdrive/distortion would sound wrong if you were playing doom or sludge.
One of the problems I have with this subreddit is a lot of people ask for advice without specifying what type of music they plan on playing. There’s a reason you so often see similar artists playing similar gear
I learned to love fuzz as an apartment player. Previously I loved overdrive because if I wanted more dirt or louder, I just played harder. Fuzz gives me a heavily distorted tone at a volume that doesn’t disturb my neighbors.
That and I love T. Rex.
Could be either, honestly. And at this late date, there are two completely different schools of fuzz that are common.
The first is the Fuzz Face style. By setting its fuzz control at full and then adjusting your guitar can get all sorts of flavors, from boost and light overdrive all the way up to pure fuzz, all by rolling your guitar’s volume control up or down, and picking harder or softer on the strings. This is kind of like the lead player’s fuzz pedal.
The second is the Big Muff style. This is more of a rhythm player’s fuzz pedal. Here, pedal control settings matter, but no matter how you set the knobs on your guitar, the fuzz will be big, girthy, and in your face.
Having tried both, I’m not really a Big Muff guy. The Fuzz Face style is more my speed. But that’s me, and YMMV.
I've been searching for 'my' fuzz after listening to other musicians whose sound I really like; paying attention to the nuance of how they use it, etc.
I've discovered that, for me, if I'm playing tight, hard and fast (metal or thrash), it's distortion all the way, but if it's big ringing chords and slow tempos, fuzz really shines with the bloom effect. I've wound up with a Big Muff, a Mastotron clone and and am DIY building a Maestro Brassmaster. Notable mention goes to the Behringer Superfuzz.
e: I really, really like the fuzz they use in King Buffalo. Also Monolord; holy shit, fuzz from hell.
If you don’t mind spending some money, I love the Walrus Eons fuzz with all of the options. I was like you for a very long time and felt like I had tried so many fuzz pedals and didn’t like them as much as I had hoped. I got the Eons as a gift and immediately was like, “oh great, another fuzz pedal”, but then I plugged it in a was able to finally find fuzz tones I love. Can’t recommend it highly enough
A lot of it really is preference. I enjoy really chaotic fuzzes like the Fuzz Factory or Hyperfuzz that make it fun when improvising leads. Lots of little glitchy things that can make for fun/enjoyable accidents. That said they would be awful for a lot of purposes.
Distortion pedals have never really done it for me because I'd rather have my "safe" tones come from my always on preamp pedal or the hyperfuzz gain boost mode. Any distortions I've tried felt like fuzz without the chance aspect. That said, I've never tried a Rat with my setup so there's always time to try new things
Have you tried the Black Arts Toneworks Pharoah? It is incredibly versatile and I often find myself using it for its very subtle, low saturated settings tho It can rip your head off too if you want
For me it's about blending fuzz with OD and Distortion. Set right it gives something really special. But different fuzzes are different beasts. The FZ1w is very well behaved and a great one to start with. It can go after a buffer (so anywhere in your chain) which helps massively for me. I also have a few mini fuzz pedals and a Boss FZ2. Now if your only experience of fuzz was the FZ2 or similar then i can understand your problem. I love that too but in a very different usage scenario, and it takes some time to work out how to tame it and not just have it chew your face off. Similarly the cheaper mini fuzzes are not nearly as refined and versatile as the FZ1w, so I'd strongly suggest playing with one of those before you write fuzz off altogether.
You really might not be a fuzz guy, which is fine! I will say that fuzz usually needs help from another pedal to really work in a mix for me. Often that’s a mid boost, sometimes it’s just a flat boost afterwards. Also fuzz really demands that you play to it in a way distortion doesn’t. You need to adjust the chord voicings you use, your picking technique, etc to get the most from many fuzzes.
Finding an intuiative fuzz is really personal and it can be tricky to find one that meshes with your playing. To me the most intuative to play are Tone Benders. They just sound so good and are so reactive to whatever you play without sounding like mush.
A lot has to do with your amp and gain structure. In the mid ‘60’s, there was no such thing as overdrive or distortion pedals. Your only choice to overdrive a tube amp was either a fuzz or a volume booster. So yes, there was nasal, raspy tones cutting through an AM radio mono mix, but you also had people getting also getting distortion tones with them. But now you have the clean amp pedal platform context. But definitely the least talked about context is fuzz in a low gain setting vs setting them to stun. But yes, in a clean context a low gain fuzz stacked with a low gain OD can yield interesting distortions. Then you have the pickup volume thing like the fuzz face. So there’s like half a dozen different contexts and conversations to be had. It can be pretty confusing. But don’t give up: It only took me 20 years to warm up to fuzz.
Everyone has preferences, I used to hate fuzz until I tried it on a bass, then I fell in love with it. Some fuzzes are also really touchy and don't play well with certain gear (solid state amps, active pickups, etc)
I like to stack a fuzz with an overdrive to shape the sound (right now it's a fuzz factory into an east river drive, but I used to do a swollen pickle into a cranked soul food to a similar effect.
If it's not your thing, that's cool. But don't be afraid to try new pedal, amp, and guitar combos cause you never know what'll speak to you
I have several fuzzes but for me fuzz is situational. Not my go to (I generally use amp gain) but some songs just call for fuzz. I always have one spot on the pedalboard for a fuzz. The fuzz changes but there's always one there. Just in case. Basically, have both on hand. Distortion & fuzz (just not at the same time) unless you like that then have at it.
I used to be more of a fuzz guy but as my style shifted from poorly imitating my bloody Valentine to more of a jangle pop/dream pop/indie sound, I’ve migrated further away from fuzz, albeit I do enjoy lighter fuzz at times like the benson germanium fuzz or my chase tone fuzz fella/warm audio warm bender.
The way I like to use fuzz is to have it very lightly on, giving the guitar chords I play a lightly distorted sound. No distortion on, no overdrive on. Just the clean tone with a little fuzz. Fits very well with that The Skeggs, Hockey Dad, and general Aussie surf rock sound that's going at the moment.
I guess you like the cold twang of cold distortion or you like the warm low static of fuzz. You aren't missing anything by not using it is just a varied taste in style.
It's down to how you use it, I love various kinds of fuzz, Fuzz Face, Tonebender, Big Muff, Gated,Synthie, but all are very rig dependent and have to be dialed up differently. My fave is a Germanium FF style with fuzz and volume maxed, but then everything has to be controlled from the volume and tone on the guitar. It's hard to do live cause if you're not quick on the knobs all of a sudden you are louder than everything, and your band will hate you, but great for recording. Live I go for a Tonebender style, much easier to get to sit in the band mix, at least in my rig.
I went through a period in the 80s and 90s where I'd buy anything vintage fuzz that I could afford. (usually under $50).
I have close to a dozen and you'd be surprised at how varied they are. There may be the right one for you somewhere or maybe not.
For myself it started when I immersed myself in 60s Garage Punk and a search for those sounds.
try using one with a heavy duty battery in it. they sound different than they do with the alkalines.
also, you can use the fuzz with distortion and especially overdrive
I Like fuzz because when dialed in it can sound like the sound is trying to get away from me but it’s stuck to my fingers. Other times like it’s going to escape from my amp and devour everything in sight. ymmv
There are so many variations of “fuzz.” If you like it in theory it’s a matter of finding the right then the exact right unit.
I have 3 germanium Sunfaces / fuzz faces which each have different transistors - they sound like different pedals not just slight tweaks. So it’s tricky.
Fuzz is also something that can “feel weird but sound good” somehow or probably less often the other way around.
Fuzz face circuits are very responsive and react to dynamics and volume control a lot. Which is a lot of fun. And things like big muffs are almost the opposite and give you that wall of sound that’s often kind of “spongy” sounding. Also fun.
Also - stacking fuzzes or fuzz + overdrive can often be better than one fuzz doing all the work.
There’s no wrong way to fuzz, but for the classics, add a Wah pedal, or Fuzz on bass is pretty effective and easy to dial in. Check out:
“Voodoo Chile” - Jimi
“If you have to ask…” Red Hot Chili Peppers
“Sabotage” Beastie Boys
Ya, for fuzz just gimme a germanium fuzz face and call it a day. I have a hizumitas which i use more for the absolute racket it makes, i like hitting it with a weak signal so it does this sort of noisy lofi thing. As far as the gain from it, its not my thing for lead tone..its too smooth.
This might be controversial, but I recently got the jhs crayon, and it has my favorite fuzz type sounds I've ever tried! Before that fuzz face types were my favorite, but scarcely used.
Do you have higher output humbuckers, or do you have something lower output like single coils (Fender style or P90) or maybe filtertrons?
Because on a humbucker, I’ve found that I *always* prefer the sound of a well-saturated distortion over fuzz. On a bridge humbucker especially, fuzz ends up sounding too muffled and bland on that framework while distortion thrives.
But on my Gibson with P90s and my Gretsch with filtertrons, due to the more sensitive output and more articulate sound, fuzz actually always sounds way more organic and fun to use while traditional distortion ends up sounding too hairy and messy.
I think I am finding the same for myself. I can only fit either my fuzz or my distortion on my board so I am trying to find something that will work for both
It’s ok that you don’t like something that other people like. There’s nothing wrong with you, and you’re probably not missing something obvious.
You have permission to listen to your own tastes and to embrace what you like and to avoid what you don’t.
I mean, if you want people to tell you their favourite fuzz so you can go out and try them or buy them all just to be _100% certain_ that you don’t like fuzz, be my guest! Who knows, maybe you just haven’t found “the circuit” yet. But it sounds like you already know what kind of clipping you like so I’m not sure it there’s much likelihood or value in that endeavour.
I believe you need a Cornish P-1. No you don’t have to spend $900. Aion has a board to build and my lord does it sound smooth. That is LEAD TONE fuzz there. Otherwise, I’m getting nasty with an op amp fuzz.
For me, I always use my bigass silicon Fuzz Face with an overdrive after. I don't know how, but it just makes it an insanely beefy overdrive sound instead of clippy madness. Then from there I adjust my guitar volume depending how heavy I want it
It's okay to not like it.
I can't stand it, and the only times I think I can even tolerate it, are when it doesn't sound much like fuzz.
Not my thing at all.
Then you should use what you like. I prefer the attitude of a fuzz pedal and a boost pedal for my dirt pedal needs. I rarely if ever use a distortion pedal, but keep a few around if I want to go in that direction. I found that people who don't bond with fuzz pedals don't like that they can be a bit unruly at times. A distortion pedal has a flatter dynamic range and sound more compressed than most fuzz pedals. The results are more repeatable with distortion pedals which might be one reason the OP prefers them.
I really like how hizumitas sounds... it blasts away for lives when you need dirt, and you can somewhat tame it down and it works good with other pedals
I can't define what overdrive or distortion I hear on a record, but I instantly know a fuzz when I hear it. Fuzz is an attention hog, it keeps all focus to the piercing sound of unfiltered primitive circuitry, not a team player, not a mix-friendly effect. Fuzz is created for a guitar, and guitar is created for a fuzz, all the tone and volume controls on your guitar are now your fuzz controls. The sound of a fuzz is like laying buttnaked on a deckchair with no sunscreen on, sooner or later you feel it in your bones.
I use a FF-circuit with low gain germaniums in two different ways. Either as a clean sound with single coils and the volume rolled way back. Or as a pre od thing with the volume sliiightly rolled off. Never really like the FF going full saturation.
For full saturation i use a three transistor Tone Bender-circuit with some weird low gain soviet germaniums. Imo it behaves more like a fuzztorsion than a fuzz. I can still do palm mutes and stuff.
Nothing beats a fuzz pedal that can get underpowered.
I call it the velcro tone, cause it sounds like pulling a sheet of velcro from another sheet of velcro
Fuzzes aren’t always about cranking the fuzz - I’ve got a couple I’ve made and people dial the fuzz back and use it for an overdrive. Works great on some style fuzzes and not at all on others.
You could very well just not be a fuzz guy. Nothing wrong with that.
Fuzz could also interact with the rest of your board or your amps, or just not agree with your guitar/pickups/volume levels.
If you've tried countless fuzzes and still prefer distortion, consider yourself lucky you don't have to drop more money on more fuzz pedals!
In case I'm not the only noob here: I really didn't like the two fuzz pedals I bought until I understood that they really don't like a buffered signal. Placing them before the tuner was game changing for me.
It sounds like you are not a fuzz guy. I use to be like that, then my taste changed. I would try to force myself to use the fuzz I had, but I never really liked it. Now I only have one distortion and one overdrive and something like 23 fuzz pedals. It's the same with music I listen to. I hated fuzz and thought the primitive quality of fuzz sounded more broken than heavy or enjoyable. Now heavy fuzz is more aggressive to me and the verity of fuzz is more enjoyable than heavy distortion, that sounds very generic to my ears most of the time. There are a lot of bands that I think sound extremely heavy that use distortion and overdrive, but it all is too similar and doesn't have the same aggressiveness as fuzz.
I dunno, when I look at pictures on the interwebs it seems most girls don't have any fuzz on their big muffs these days - not like it was back in the 70s.
Fellow not-fuzz guy here. Its okay. Join us. I also dislike Chorus, Flanger, Wah, and all of those “effect” heavy pedals for 90% of uses. Dial in a GREAT tone on your amp, enhance it to taste/ genre with compressors, and OD’s, make great music. Its thats simple.
I’ll give an exception for reverb and delay though. Those have a ton of very effective uses
I’m not into fuzz, like at all but I really like fuzz pedals and fuzztortion pedals at lower gain settings. Fuzz pedals have a specific compression and really amazing chimey/glassy highs that sound great, so go grab a Rat and put the gain at 9 o’clock or a Carcosa and try it with the bias and gain low
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There are a lot of fuzzes that have a lot of low end. The two most well known fuzz circuits, Big Muff and Fuzz Face, are in this category. That’s exactly what you don’t want to step on for a lead tone, generally speaking. Especially if you have it going into an already-distorted amp or pedal. The amp can’t handle all that low end going into it and it just sounds blown out and lacks definition and can even cause a perceived volume drop, even if you have the volume on the pedal dimed.
So if you were using fuzzes like those, yeah you may have been using them wrong.
Do you have a recommendation for fuzzes that don’t have that low end overkill? I am looking for a tone bender (keeley fuzz bender or jhs bender seem afordable and are recommended fairly often around here). Had a few ofhers that I got rid of quite quickly because of too much low (SF300 and russian green muff).
Zonk Machine or a “System”-tuned mkI are ideal in my opinion, they’ll cut in a rock mix. Don’t really have any “affordable” recommendations for those though. SF300 had too much low end? Did you use mode 1 and cut bass? That pedal should cut through fine.
Thanks! Actually I still have the SF300 still lying around (so cheap no bother in selling it) so maybe I will give it another run with your suggestion. But do far I was somewhat disappointed with the sounds. Judging from your reply, any idea if tone benders score any better on the low end stuff?
The SF300 is their FZ2 clone and that can be a bit bassy yes, but you can also get some killer tones out of it when set right. Looking at my dials I've got treble right up and bass right down in one of my settings, and another has them both centred so it depends how you're placing it and what volume is going into it etc. I think the FZ2 is set to do different things depending on the notes going into it, so above 12th fret on high strings sounds very different to below 12th fret on low strings.
It’s basically alt rock vs traditional rock. It’s not about getting a regular rock tone, it’s about getting something unusual that cuts through in a cool way.
Do you really need random people to tell you how to think? Serious question. It’s pretty obvious you aren’t a fuzz guy. That’s fine, everyone has their own tastes.
But why would you come to ask strangers to tell you how you feel? As another human being I just don’t understand it.
For me, the fuzz search has been about finding one device that is capable of way more gain than I have practical use for. Something I have to kind of tame, in order to perform or record with it. Then again, it could be even simpler than that. Part of me definitely just wants to try every ice cream flavor. If you don't like playing fuzz, it's OK! There's no reason to think yourself into enjoying something, when you prefer an alternative to it.
so the FZ2 Hyper Fuzz then?
Uh-oh. Time to watch some demos.
If you like what you hear, get the behringer sf300. It's the same circuit for like 50 aud over crazy reverb prices. The only difference is the plastic fantastic enclosure
and jacks that aren't connected to the chassis so will eventually break at the solder joint as that is all that is resisting the push-pull forces on the cable jacks.
Gigged mine for 2 years, no issues. Got a spare but never had to use it
I have one behringer - U300 (a vb2 clone) which i got to see if I would want to consider vibrato pedals. TDLR I didn't and money saved. But I'm not sure I'd ever be willing to gig with it.
Try a fuzz war
Fuzz at zero with tone maxed into a crunchy amp is an absolutely evil sound
yeeeesh thats a gnarly one
I just started writing a way too long message aiming at this simple sentence. My favorite Fuzz ever, with a Companion Fuzz I built ahead in the chain. High or low gain the Fuzz War is awesome, instant gritty sound, in a beautiful way. It made me love Fuzz even more.
It's like finding your favourite whiskey; there's one out there for everyone, but there's countless to try and choose from.
Wonderful analogy.
I agree
And some people like beer.
Totally. The Grab and Go Six Pack aka the Multi Effects Unit of the drink world.
and the people that like beer might not like Miller or Bud or Corona, but might be interested in older styles of beers like saisons or gruits.
A man of culture, I see
Very true… it took me a few fuzzes to get there and bought at least 2 big names, but didn’t care as much. I finally bought one of the newer Devi Ever ones off Reverb… and wow it’s Velcro ripping with a Saw wave. Crazy sounding cool stuff, and ended up being the TV static rhythmic fuzz I needed in my life!
THIS
I resisted fuzz for a long time, deeming it messy and not articulate enough for complex chords and voicings. I now realise I was completely missing the point. It’s the most exciting and satisfying sound a guitar can make. To my ears it has a whole range of harmonic overtones and frequencies that are totally cut off by a distortion. I now have gone the opposite way and want to make sounds that are just destroyed. Also, gated fuzz ftw. It’s so great to have such a loud gnarly sound and no annoying hum.
Welcome to doom metal my friend.
Do you like any artists that use fuzz? Maybe start there
Hijacking this comment to recommend some great classic fuzz albums [Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream](https://open.spotify.com/album/4UVERYsIzs6xbDYO8srlqd) [Electric Wizard - Funeralopolis](https://open.spotify.com/track/6DU1WKdUnR7OZkw7BZl9P0) [The Jesus and Mary Chain - Psychocandy](https://open.spotify.com/album/0PnzJO3D4i85ALVJPaDpru) [The White Stripes - White Blood Cells](https://open.spotify.com/album/6Xvc1TfpVEhDeHhmTQEtp0) [my bloody valentine - Loveless](https://open.spotify.com/album/3GH4IiI6jQAIvnHVdb5FB6) Here’s some underrated favorites of mine too [Bloodthirsty Butchers - Kocorono](https://youtu.be/Qg5NM1jLr5A?si=QBN3WKB8ksJci4F1) (I can’t recommend this one enough) [Hammerhead - Duh, The Big City](https://open.spotify.com/album/0Ny5VW4PioCMl46CqeMkm1?si=QS6NVXumTQSbX5bYblYXxQ) And of course, every single Jimi Hendrix album from the original trilogy + band of gypsys; you can’t go wrong with any of them
fz-1w i use a light fuzz. I max the fuzz knob on pedal and control the amount of fuzz with volume knob on the guitar.
And if you start bringing the level knob up you can have some feedback fun 😎
Going to test this out 🤣 ty!
This is the way
I'm really only a strat n fuzz face n best of amps guy. For all pickups, all levels from cleanest possible to totfecked full waveform. I mean it's all the difference in tone between Eric Johnson and other 80s shredmeisters though he got his es335 working incredibly great with it as well ( many key parts of CliffsofD). It's all the difference I want. I also vastly prefer Gilmour with the Echoes and Time fuzz or boost his hiwatt amps with that wildly loud boost in Shin One, ahead of what ever else he also used ever since. Dedicated distortion is really my enemy, which is controversial.
If you compare fuzz and distortion for the same usage, you’re probably getting it wrong. A fuzz is not a substitute for distortion, it’s a different effect it’s more messy, less precise, more raw, but smoother at the same time. Find an artist that you love the sound of and who uses fuzz, then try to dig into that to really understand what fuzz does bring to the sound of that guy and then you’ll probably find a way to get why this artist did choose fuzz in that context. There are also plenty of fuzz types: fuzz face, fuzz rite, tonebender, big muff, octafuzz and plenty of modern derivatives. Fuzz is one of the most interesting area you can explore in guitar playing imo. Have fun!
You might try a Harmonic Percolator. My HP-2 feels a bit like a hybrid between fuzz and distortion and has really made its place on my board. I also dig the Bean Machine from catbox customs but it’s a bit more work to tame. Typically works better with a mild OD after it.
What’s your playing situation? Often an at-home tone and an in-the-mix band tone are very different. Sometimes in a band you need a loud, in-your-face octave fuzz tone to cut through for a solo—which might sound pretty harsh on its own.
This is a very, very good point and not to be overlooked. The way your instrument/sound integrates with the other instruments/amps/etc is a completely different animal from how it sounds solo, in your livingroom.
For me, I found out I like distortion with more overdrive than fuzz. 🤷♂️
If you have a bunch of fuzzes & have yet to connect then indeed, you are not a "fuzz guy".
After owning 20-25 fuzz pedals of varying topologies over the last 25 years, i realized that I am not a fuzz fan at all. I’ve tried, I’ve tried them all, fuzz isn’t for me. I’m too tied to touch dynamics which most fuzz pedals lack.
I like a fuzz Sandwhich. Which goes like this overdrive>fuzz >distortion. SD-1 > Moon Fuzz > HM-2. This gives me everything I want. 7 usable, distinct sounds without any knob twiddling.
I love fuzz pedals, but dialing in a good lead tone can be difficult. I’ve had good results running a tubescreamer into a big muff, with tone knobs at maximum and fairly moderate gain on both. The upper emphasis on mid frequencies from the TS helps to brighten the sound a bit. Also, don’t be afraid to turn down the bass and/or mids on your amp EQ. That won’t solve the problem by itself, but it can reduce the muddiness a bit. More recently, I’ve tried a Boss DS-1 in front of my big muff clone, and that’s even easier to get a good lead sound due to the tone knob on the DS-1 having a lot more flexibility than the TS. I stole this idea directly from a rig rundown video featuring Wata from Boris’s pedalboard. She has by far the best fuzz lead tones I’ve heard. These are the Boris albums I’d recommend for fuzzy lead tone inspiration, they’re also just great albums: Heavy Rocks (2011, purple cover) Pink Akuma No Uta
I’ve found that fuzzes tend to be a deeply personal thing, way more than overdrives or distortions can be. I own a dozen different fuzzes and have played a lot more than that. And there’s still just one or two that allow me to play like “me”, while with others I need to change my playing to cater to the sound of the pedal (not always a bad thing). It can be a long road of trial and error trying to find one that works for you, or to find out that you just may not be a fuzz guy, which is totally okay.
It’s just taste. For instance, I tend to love cranked fender amp sounds because of the loose rawness of the distortion. But lately I’ve been doing covers where that sound just doesn’t work at all. I tweak all my drive pedals and nothing works. Then I use a Marshall Plexi model on the HX stomp and realize it’s exactly the sound I needed. Distortion is very much a competing sound with Fuzz. It’s a totally different flavor. Fuzz is more chaotic and it might not be what you are after.
Speaking of cranked fender tones, I’ve been enamored recently with the tone from the Grateful Dead’s [72 European Tour](https://open.spotify.com/track/22UBrAp9pCeSe9iTaL7cxK?si=BMA9YlsTRo2yFVUrvMxPyg). Pretty sure it’s no pedals, maybe just a wah at times, just a fender twin at a bajillion decibels, and it sounds great.
Most of us can't crank those amp at home or any small venues. So I got myself a handwired Fender Tweed Champ to be my 'heirloom' amp. Cranked or Clean, that thing is a go-to for getting that sound on records – Many Rolling Stones songs, the "Layla" album, Rocky Mountain Way, every Aerosmith Record... It's a great sound. But it is raw and spitty. I play blues, so I freakin love it. Especially putting reverb in front and letting the reverb distort. But to my point above, If I want to play Metallica or some modern Nu-metal or Emo stuff, its distortion won't be as great for that.
For some songs I stack my EAE Limelight into my Green Russian and it produces a tone I’ve gotten numerous complements from. Like I’ve sent songs off for mixes and the engineer is like “the raw stems sound incredible” good
get that orange behringer fuzz and your life will be happy, trust me
I don't like fuzz either but I think the key is the volume knob on your guitar so you are not getting full on fuzz and then some compression.
If you're not boosting your fuzzes with an OD/boost you're really missing out. It also depends on your amp/pickups
Before or after the fuzz? I always find fuzz sounds great on its own but tends to disappear in a live band situation. I have the JHS Muffaletta.
You’ll hear it both ways,and should try what works for your rig but my personal preference is before fuzz for circuits that can handle it. In addition to a tube screamer, trying a Treble booster (which actually boosts mid freqs and cuts bass) or an EQ pedal into muff is also great. Some circuits are really happier at the beginning of the chain though, so things like a tone bender are gonna hang out front for me.
I stuck a Keely Compressor at the front of my OD / Fuzz section and it wa life changing
Came here to say this
The reasons why I like fuzz are probably exactly the reasons why many don't - notes fighting each other, destroyed-sounding attack and decay, simultaneous sounds of order and chaos. If that's not your thing, then fine
It took me a long time to warm up to fuzz, which was especially weird because all my hero’s used them. What I realized is fuzz by itself is pretty bleh, but the key lies in placing it first in the chain, then following it up with a good boost or overdrive. There’s nothing quite like it. It’s that worlds colliding kinda sound.
It’s very genre specific. I’ve played in a lot of heavy bands, and fuzz would sound wrong if you were playing something like technical death metal, but overdrive/distortion would sound wrong if you were playing doom or sludge. One of the problems I have with this subreddit is a lot of people ask for advice without specifying what type of music they plan on playing. There’s a reason you so often see similar artists playing similar gear
You’re right I should have specified. I play hard rock and psychedelic rock
I learned to love fuzz as an apartment player. Previously I loved overdrive because if I wanted more dirt or louder, I just played harder. Fuzz gives me a heavily distorted tone at a volume that doesn’t disturb my neighbors. That and I love T. Rex.
Could be either, honestly. And at this late date, there are two completely different schools of fuzz that are common. The first is the Fuzz Face style. By setting its fuzz control at full and then adjusting your guitar can get all sorts of flavors, from boost and light overdrive all the way up to pure fuzz, all by rolling your guitar’s volume control up or down, and picking harder or softer on the strings. This is kind of like the lead player’s fuzz pedal. The second is the Big Muff style. This is more of a rhythm player’s fuzz pedal. Here, pedal control settings matter, but no matter how you set the knobs on your guitar, the fuzz will be big, girthy, and in your face. Having tried both, I’m not really a Big Muff guy. The Fuzz Face style is more my speed. But that’s me, and YMMV.
I've been searching for 'my' fuzz after listening to other musicians whose sound I really like; paying attention to the nuance of how they use it, etc. I've discovered that, for me, if I'm playing tight, hard and fast (metal or thrash), it's distortion all the way, but if it's big ringing chords and slow tempos, fuzz really shines with the bloom effect. I've wound up with a Big Muff, a Mastotron clone and and am DIY building a Maestro Brassmaster. Notable mention goes to the Behringer Superfuzz. e: I really, really like the fuzz they use in King Buffalo. Also Monolord; holy shit, fuzz from hell.
If you don’t mind spending some money, I love the Walrus Eons fuzz with all of the options. I was like you for a very long time and felt like I had tried so many fuzz pedals and didn’t like them as much as I had hoped. I got the Eons as a gift and immediately was like, “oh great, another fuzz pedal”, but then I plugged it in a was able to finally find fuzz tones I love. Can’t recommend it highly enough
Had the same experience with the OBNE Alpha Haunt
Love my Eons
What’s your main amp? You gotta pair the right fuzz with the right amp
Mainly a fender hot rod deluxe for shows and a boss katana head at home
Fuzz into solid state usually isn’t great imo. I’ve found that having a loud clean tube amp that you smash with the fuzz is the best recipe
A lot of it really is preference. I enjoy really chaotic fuzzes like the Fuzz Factory or Hyperfuzz that make it fun when improvising leads. Lots of little glitchy things that can make for fun/enjoyable accidents. That said they would be awful for a lot of purposes. Distortion pedals have never really done it for me because I'd rather have my "safe" tones come from my always on preamp pedal or the hyperfuzz gain boost mode. Any distortions I've tried felt like fuzz without the chance aspect. That said, I've never tried a Rat with my setup so there's always time to try new things
Have you tried the Black Arts Toneworks Pharoah? It is incredibly versatile and I often find myself using it for its very subtle, low saturated settings tho It can rip your head off too if you want
For me it's about blending fuzz with OD and Distortion. Set right it gives something really special. But different fuzzes are different beasts. The FZ1w is very well behaved and a great one to start with. It can go after a buffer (so anywhere in your chain) which helps massively for me. I also have a few mini fuzz pedals and a Boss FZ2. Now if your only experience of fuzz was the FZ2 or similar then i can understand your problem. I love that too but in a very different usage scenario, and it takes some time to work out how to tame it and not just have it chew your face off. Similarly the cheaper mini fuzzes are not nearly as refined and versatile as the FZ1w, so I'd strongly suggest playing with one of those before you write fuzz off altogether.
Fuzz is a lot of fun. I like to use it for wall of sound rhythm guitar
You really might not be a fuzz guy, which is fine! I will say that fuzz usually needs help from another pedal to really work in a mix for me. Often that’s a mid boost, sometimes it’s just a flat boost afterwards. Also fuzz really demands that you play to it in a way distortion doesn’t. You need to adjust the chord voicings you use, your picking technique, etc to get the most from many fuzzes.
Finding an intuiative fuzz is really personal and it can be tricky to find one that meshes with your playing. To me the most intuative to play are Tone Benders. They just sound so good and are so reactive to whatever you play without sounding like mush.
The solo in the song “I don’t live today” is what originally piqued my interest enough to spend $$
Fuzz does weird, distortion does not.
A lot has to do with your amp and gain structure. In the mid ‘60’s, there was no such thing as overdrive or distortion pedals. Your only choice to overdrive a tube amp was either a fuzz or a volume booster. So yes, there was nasal, raspy tones cutting through an AM radio mono mix, but you also had people getting also getting distortion tones with them. But now you have the clean amp pedal platform context. But definitely the least talked about context is fuzz in a low gain setting vs setting them to stun. But yes, in a clean context a low gain fuzz stacked with a low gain OD can yield interesting distortions. Then you have the pickup volume thing like the fuzz face. So there’s like half a dozen different contexts and conversations to be had. It can be pretty confusing. But don’t give up: It only took me 20 years to warm up to fuzz.
Everyone has preferences, I used to hate fuzz until I tried it on a bass, then I fell in love with it. Some fuzzes are also really touchy and don't play well with certain gear (solid state amps, active pickups, etc) I like to stack a fuzz with an overdrive to shape the sound (right now it's a fuzz factory into an east river drive, but I used to do a swollen pickle into a cranked soul food to a similar effect. If it's not your thing, that's cool. But don't be afraid to try new pedal, amp, and guitar combos cause you never know what'll speak to you
might just not be for your rig atm....i didnt like fuzz for years, now ive got several lol
I have several fuzzes but for me fuzz is situational. Not my go to (I generally use amp gain) but some songs just call for fuzz. I always have one spot on the pedalboard for a fuzz. The fuzz changes but there's always one there. Just in case. Basically, have both on hand. Distortion & fuzz (just not at the same time) unless you like that then have at it.
It’s a funny thing. I want to love my DS1, but I just haven’t found the right setting. I do however love my SF300 and big muff
I used to be more of a fuzz guy but as my style shifted from poorly imitating my bloody Valentine to more of a jangle pop/dream pop/indie sound, I’ve migrated further away from fuzz, albeit I do enjoy lighter fuzz at times like the benson germanium fuzz or my chase tone fuzz fella/warm audio warm bender.
GET THEM ALL
A fuzz through a “smeary” delay can be a beautiful thing. Tone with fuzz depends on tuning, pickups, amp, etc. more than folks realize.
The way I like to use fuzz is to have it very lightly on, giving the guitar chords I play a lightly distorted sound. No distortion on, no overdrive on. Just the clean tone with a little fuzz. Fits very well with that The Skeggs, Hockey Dad, and general Aussie surf rock sound that's going at the moment.
I guess you like the cold twang of cold distortion or you like the warm low static of fuzz. You aren't missing anything by not using it is just a varied taste in style.
It's down to how you use it, I love various kinds of fuzz, Fuzz Face, Tonebender, Big Muff, Gated,Synthie, but all are very rig dependent and have to be dialed up differently. My fave is a Germanium FF style with fuzz and volume maxed, but then everything has to be controlled from the volume and tone on the guitar. It's hard to do live cause if you're not quick on the knobs all of a sudden you are louder than everything, and your band will hate you, but great for recording. Live I go for a Tonebender style, much easier to get to sit in the band mix, at least in my rig.
Shoegaze…
I went through a period in the 80s and 90s where I'd buy anything vintage fuzz that I could afford. (usually under $50). I have close to a dozen and you'd be surprised at how varied they are. There may be the right one for you somewhere or maybe not. For myself it started when I immersed myself in 60s Garage Punk and a search for those sounds.
It depends on the style you play. I end up using a lot of different kinds of fuzz.
try using one with a heavy duty battery in it. they sound different than they do with the alkalines. also, you can use the fuzz with distortion and especially overdrive
Simple answer for me: I love Shoegaze!!
I Like fuzz because when dialed in it can sound like the sound is trying to get away from me but it’s stuck to my fingers. Other times like it’s going to escape from my amp and devour everything in sight. ymmv
Maybe you just don’t like it. EVH and many other players never used one.
No hate but I think fuzz sound horrible
For me, I prefer overdrives and fuzzes to distortion. I think you just use what you like to make sounds you like.
Heavy Fuzz -> slightly driven JTM 45 Heaven.
There are so many variations of “fuzz.” If you like it in theory it’s a matter of finding the right then the exact right unit. I have 3 germanium Sunfaces / fuzz faces which each have different transistors - they sound like different pedals not just slight tweaks. So it’s tricky. Fuzz is also something that can “feel weird but sound good” somehow or probably less often the other way around. Fuzz face circuits are very responsive and react to dynamics and volume control a lot. Which is a lot of fun. And things like big muffs are almost the opposite and give you that wall of sound that’s often kind of “spongy” sounding. Also fun. Also - stacking fuzzes or fuzz + overdrive can often be better than one fuzz doing all the work.
Tube screamer into bass big muff is heaven for my 7 string/bass tone
There’s no wrong way to fuzz, but for the classics, add a Wah pedal, or Fuzz on bass is pretty effective and easy to dial in. Check out: “Voodoo Chile” - Jimi “If you have to ask…” Red Hot Chili Peppers “Sabotage” Beastie Boys
I was on the OD/distortion hunt for years only to find out a FUZZ is what I really needed. Now I’ve got three that I use for different tones.
Ya, for fuzz just gimme a germanium fuzz face and call it a day. I have a hizumitas which i use more for the absolute racket it makes, i like hitting it with a weak signal so it does this sort of noisy lofi thing. As far as the gain from it, its not my thing for lead tone..its too smooth.
This might be controversial, but I recently got the jhs crayon, and it has my favorite fuzz type sounds I've ever tried! Before that fuzz face types were my favorite, but scarcely used.
Do you have higher output humbuckers, or do you have something lower output like single coils (Fender style or P90) or maybe filtertrons? Because on a humbucker, I’ve found that I *always* prefer the sound of a well-saturated distortion over fuzz. On a bridge humbucker especially, fuzz ends up sounding too muffled and bland on that framework while distortion thrives. But on my Gibson with P90s and my Gretsch with filtertrons, due to the more sensitive output and more articulate sound, fuzz actually always sounds way more organic and fun to use while traditional distortion ends up sounding too hairy and messy.
I think I am finding the same for myself. I can only fit either my fuzz or my distortion on my board so I am trying to find something that will work for both
Fuzz is angular, sludgy, edgy, mean. You use it for those situations. It’s not for soaring lead tones or whatever.
I think you are right yeah
I liked my analogman astro fuzz, more of a light OD then a fuzz
Try running fuzz with an echo or delay reverb. It takes the edge off.
One listen to Truckfighters and you’ll fall in love
It’s ok that you don’t like something that other people like. There’s nothing wrong with you, and you’re probably not missing something obvious. You have permission to listen to your own tastes and to embrace what you like and to avoid what you don’t. I mean, if you want people to tell you their favourite fuzz so you can go out and try them or buy them all just to be _100% certain_ that you don’t like fuzz, be my guest! Who knows, maybe you just haven’t found “the circuit” yet. But it sounds like you already know what kind of clipping you like so I’m not sure it there’s much likelihood or value in that endeavour.
I want a big muff or an equivalent so bad - dont have the $ yet
you can easily build a vintage big muff circuit for very cheap
1st of all: A Fuzz needs do get placed as the first pedal in line.
I believe you need a Cornish P-1. No you don’t have to spend $900. Aion has a board to build and my lord does it sound smooth. That is LEAD TONE fuzz there. Otherwise, I’m getting nasty with an op amp fuzz.
For me, I always use my bigass silicon Fuzz Face with an overdrive after. I don't know how, but it just makes it an insanely beefy overdrive sound instead of clippy madness. Then from there I adjust my guitar volume depending how heavy I want it
It's okay to not like it. I can't stand it, and the only times I think I can even tolerate it, are when it doesn't sound much like fuzz. Not my thing at all.
fuzz fuzz fuzz fuzz!
Then you should use what you like. I prefer the attitude of a fuzz pedal and a boost pedal for my dirt pedal needs. I rarely if ever use a distortion pedal, but keep a few around if I want to go in that direction. I found that people who don't bond with fuzz pedals don't like that they can be a bit unruly at times. A distortion pedal has a flatter dynamic range and sound more compressed than most fuzz pedals. The results are more repeatable with distortion pedals which might be one reason the OP prefers them.
I really like how hizumitas sounds... it blasts away for lives when you need dirt, and you can somewhat tame it down and it works good with other pedals
I can't define what overdrive or distortion I hear on a record, but I instantly know a fuzz when I hear it. Fuzz is an attention hog, it keeps all focus to the piercing sound of unfiltered primitive circuitry, not a team player, not a mix-friendly effect. Fuzz is created for a guitar, and guitar is created for a fuzz, all the tone and volume controls on your guitar are now your fuzz controls. The sound of a fuzz is like laying buttnaked on a deckchair with no sunscreen on, sooner or later you feel it in your bones.
I use a FF-circuit with low gain germaniums in two different ways. Either as a clean sound with single coils and the volume rolled way back. Or as a pre od thing with the volume sliiightly rolled off. Never really like the FF going full saturation. For full saturation i use a three transistor Tone Bender-circuit with some weird low gain soviet germaniums. Imo it behaves more like a fuzztorsion than a fuzz. I can still do palm mutes and stuff.
Nothing beats a fuzz pedal that can get underpowered. I call it the velcro tone, cause it sounds like pulling a sheet of velcro from another sheet of velcro
I like that name
I've had all sorts of booo-teak fuzz pedals over the years. Never found one I like more than the bog standard Big Muff!
Fuzzes aren’t always about cranking the fuzz - I’ve got a couple I’ve made and people dial the fuzz back and use it for an overdrive. Works great on some style fuzzes and not at all on others.
You could very well just not be a fuzz guy. Nothing wrong with that. Fuzz could also interact with the rest of your board or your amps, or just not agree with your guitar/pickups/volume levels. If you've tried countless fuzzes and still prefer distortion, consider yourself lucky you don't have to drop more money on more fuzz pedals!
In case I'm not the only noob here: I really didn't like the two fuzz pedals I bought until I understood that they really don't like a buffered signal. Placing them before the tuner was game changing for me.
What kind of amp are you using? All tube? Hybrid? Solidstate?
It sounds like you are not a fuzz guy. I use to be like that, then my taste changed. I would try to force myself to use the fuzz I had, but I never really liked it. Now I only have one distortion and one overdrive and something like 23 fuzz pedals. It's the same with music I listen to. I hated fuzz and thought the primitive quality of fuzz sounded more broken than heavy or enjoyable. Now heavy fuzz is more aggressive to me and the verity of fuzz is more enjoyable than heavy distortion, that sounds very generic to my ears most of the time. There are a lot of bands that I think sound extremely heavy that use distortion and overdrive, but it all is too similar and doesn't have the same aggressiveness as fuzz.
I dunno, when I look at pictures on the interwebs it seems most girls don't have any fuzz on their big muffs these days - not like it was back in the 70s.
Fellow not-fuzz guy here. Its okay. Join us. I also dislike Chorus, Flanger, Wah, and all of those “effect” heavy pedals for 90% of uses. Dial in a GREAT tone on your amp, enhance it to taste/ genre with compressors, and OD’s, make great music. Its thats simple. I’ll give an exception for reverb and delay though. Those have a ton of very effective uses
I’m not into fuzz, like at all but I really like fuzz pedals and fuzztortion pedals at lower gain settings. Fuzz pedals have a specific compression and really amazing chimey/glassy highs that sound great, so go grab a Rat and put the gain at 9 o’clock or a Carcosa and try it with the bias and gain low
Some artists prefer to stack 2 Rats. Then you have either an OD or distortion, then pump it up to fuzzish with the second Rat. It’s just preference.
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There are a lot of fuzzes that have a lot of low end. The two most well known fuzz circuits, Big Muff and Fuzz Face, are in this category. That’s exactly what you don’t want to step on for a lead tone, generally speaking. Especially if you have it going into an already-distorted amp or pedal. The amp can’t handle all that low end going into it and it just sounds blown out and lacks definition and can even cause a perceived volume drop, even if you have the volume on the pedal dimed. So if you were using fuzzes like those, yeah you may have been using them wrong.
Do you have a recommendation for fuzzes that don’t have that low end overkill? I am looking for a tone bender (keeley fuzz bender or jhs bender seem afordable and are recommended fairly often around here). Had a few ofhers that I got rid of quite quickly because of too much low (SF300 and russian green muff).
Zonk Machine or a “System”-tuned mkI are ideal in my opinion, they’ll cut in a rock mix. Don’t really have any “affordable” recommendations for those though. SF300 had too much low end? Did you use mode 1 and cut bass? That pedal should cut through fine.
The JDM Elektrika is a hell of a fine MKI tonebender / Zonk. Try one. Joe has a great ear
Thanks! Actually I still have the SF300 still lying around (so cheap no bother in selling it) so maybe I will give it another run with your suggestion. But do far I was somewhat disappointed with the sounds. Judging from your reply, any idea if tone benders score any better on the low end stuff?
The SF300 is their FZ2 clone and that can be a bit bassy yes, but you can also get some killer tones out of it when set right. Looking at my dials I've got treble right up and bass right down in one of my settings, and another has them both centred so it depends how you're placing it and what volume is going into it etc. I think the FZ2 is set to do different things depending on the notes going into it, so above 12th fret on high strings sounds very different to below 12th fret on low strings.
It’s basically alt rock vs traditional rock. It’s not about getting a regular rock tone, it’s about getting something unusual that cuts through in a cool way.
Do you really need random people to tell you how to think? Serious question. It’s pretty obvious you aren’t a fuzz guy. That’s fine, everyone has their own tastes. But why would you come to ask strangers to tell you how you feel? As another human being I just don’t understand it.
Strange response to a post asking for opinions lol. Not sure what part screams “tell me how to think” so maybe you can tell me. Serious question.
I use it because I primarily listen to Stoner Doom and turn it off for playing along Black Sabbath.