Fuzz

Jon Light · From: Saugerties, NY

What are you liking these days?

Fuzz was always the least important effect for me. I was looking for very specific things in OD's but fuzz was just for 'over the top' and it didn't much matter to me what pedal it was.
I've been using a modern E-H Big Muff Pi for the longest -- first the large Wicker model and now the Nano -- and just recently I've come to understand why people look to mod them (or find something else.) The mid scoop really bothers me now. Sucks the focus & presence out of my sound.
I haven't paid much attention to new entries on the fuzz market in the last bunch of years.

So -- what do you like?
The JHS Muffuletta has my attention at the moment (plus a friend has a JHS artist discount....) but I'm interested in hearing about what other people are digging.

Dave Mudgett · From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee

In 1969, the only thing I could see anywhere to push my clean amps was fuzz or a clean boost. So I had both a EH LPB-1 (Linear Power Booster) and the original Muff Fuzz - each had a single pot and slide switch, and plugged directly into the amp. That, with an old Crybaby wah, was my intro to pedals. And I really liked it at the time - I had an old blackface Bandmaster that was totally clean, plus a solid-state Univox U65, again, very clean. And I didn't wanna be clean all the time. I did borrow a friend's (current build 69/70) Tonebender - meh, it just wasn't enough, I preferred the Muff.

I sorta fell out of fuzz pedals strictly in favor of pushing a small tube amp until about 10 years ago when I got a large Fulltone 69 and a Diaz Texas Squareface. Both excellent, but I hate that the 69 requires a reverse-polarity power supply. But they do sound good and have a fairly large degree of controllability.

I've gotten a few others since. I've tried a few Fuzz Faces of various eras over the years, I have always found them tempermental and too keyed to the guitar pickup. Sometimes they sound good but too often they didn't mate well. I got one of the Supro fuzzes about a year ago when someone was blowing them out. Pretty good, and pretty controllable. There are some others that didn't really make much of an impression on me.

One of my old buddies from grad school (played in a blues/rock band in Brooklyn around '66-67 or so) had his original Gibson/Maestro FZ-1A "Satisfaction" fuzz which wasn't working, so I took it to see what was going on. Battery was luckily only leaking a little bit and didn't molest the board, and there was a funky solder joint that I touched up - voila, it works great. This is a great fuzz - totally old school, raw and uninhibited. Volume, Attack, and nothing else. It's just a simple 2-transistor fuzz, as is the original Muff and Fuzz Face, but it's liked everything I threw at it so far, unlike the Fuzz Faces I've played.

And over Black Friday, I picked up an EH Triangle Big Muff reissue. With the right guitar, it's pretty cool. I really like it for slide guitar, and it's pretty nice for steel also. But it's also pretty over-the-top, and totally uncontrollable into an amp with any gain/distortion at all. Secret (for me) for this and a lot of fuzzes is to plug it into a super clean amp with low gain and lack of mid-scoop - pretty much high-fi. Otherwise, the noise and feedback is uncontrollable. It likes my Ampegs, which isn't a huge surprise given the prevalenace of Ampegs in New York back then. I'm glad I have one Strat with Kinman noiseless pickups. I may try a Ram's Head reissue at some point. The Triangle is a bit mid-scooped, but it doesn't bother me set up the way I described. The Ram's Head is generally considered to be a bit fatter sounding, the Gilmour freaks are all over these. The Russian reissue clips I've heard are pretty good too.

Another thing about fuzz is that I've never found two old-school fuzzes, even of the same make and model, that sounded exactly the same. Without a lot of control circuitry, you're sort of at the mercy of the transistors, especially the highly variable and frequently temperature-sensitive germanium ones. The newer fuzzes are more controllable, but part of what I want in a fuzz is that raw and more out-of-control sound.

Anyway, maybe more than you wanted to know ... but I have a lot of time on my hands these days. Laughing

Jon Light · From: Saugerties, NY

Jeremy Reeves · From: Chatham, IL, USA

Dave gives a really great overview, but a couple of minor points - the big muff is a 4 transistor fuzz and the fz-1a is a 3 transistor fuzz.

My favorite fuzz is the arbiter germanium fuzz face. I think of it as more of a dirty preamp, that reacts very dynamically to the guitar volume. I have a triangle muff clone that I love to use with a volume pedal. On pedal steel I came back to the old bosstone, which I like with the attack almost on minimum.

other honorable mentions - the germanium fuzzrite is really cool, sounds like a blend between 2 different fuzzes with the depth control determining the mix. rosac nufuzz is a silicon fuzzrite with a tone control, sounds kinda big muffish.

I think the key to fuzz is to buy used, and don't be afraid to try the same circuit several times. Sometimes minor component variations create big sonic differences.

Jon Light · From: Saugerties, NY

Thanks for bringing your experience, Jeremy. That's interesting, what you & Dave both say re: variability between 'identical' units. A wide plus or minus to the QC specs of transistors, I guess.

Steve Lipsey · From: Portland, Oregon, USA

The newish Fuzz Face mini is great for pedalboard space, and has the same circuit as the big one. Silicon, germanium, whatever you prefer, there are a number of models.
Their descriptions relate to which phase of Jimi Hendrix's Fuzz evolution they were used for...so you can listen to examples of all of them in the Hendrix catalog...I wanted the purist, early-Hendrix vibe and went with germanium, which also is touch (and guitar volume knob) sensitive...
So if you like that smiley face thing, there's how to do it. And the new ones have a 9v society, unlike the original big ones, which are battery only...
And now, of course, the band I just bought the Fuzz Face for wants me to play dobro...no need for fuzz....go figure...
Here's the demos and history of all:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7ZzkH0RZws
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Williams S10s, Milkman Pedal Steel Mini & "The Amp"
Ben Bonham Resos, 1954 Oahu Diana, 1936 Oahu Parlor

Jack Stanton · From: Somewhere in the swamps of Jersey

Fozz Tone Machine! 'Nuff said....

Mike Schwartzman · From: Maryland, USA

Jon Light · From: Saugerties, NY

I just stumbled upon an odd duck and, finding a good price on a used one at a retailer, I ordered it.
Fender The Pelt Fuzz. Never heard of this thing. Spent a bunch of time with some Youtube demos and impulsively bought it. It's a silicon fuzz with some nice versatility. That's somewhat important to me. Not a one trick pony and nicely controllable although it can be dialed in somewhat frazzy (I love the idea of unpredictability & mayhem but that's not what I'm seeking here).
Importantly, it has a 3-way mid control (cut/flat/boost). That's a big deal for me.
This one caught me by surprise. A Fender? Say wha?

Stephen Abruzzo · From: Philly, PA

Kind of partial these days to the MojoHand Iron Bell and the Wampler Velvet Fuzz. I use them for mild-moderate fuzz in conjunction with the sustain from the Barber Tone Press compressor.
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Four Pettingills and a Clinesmith Aluminum. Fender Blues Junior. Quilter Mini-101.

Dave Mudgett · From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee

Jeremy Reeves · From: Chatham, IL, USA

Dave Mudgett · From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee

I guess I stand corrected again, thank you. I'd swear I have seen an actual early FZ-1 with two, and I've seen that confirmed online. But I can't find any evidence of that now.

There is a fair amount of misinformation out there on the Maestro fuzz, and I sure don't want to contribute to that. A pretty good account of its history here - https://sites.google.com/a/davidmorrin.com/www/home/trouble/troubleeffects/maestro-fuzz-tone

That would fit with my memory lapse - there were apparently two versions of the FZ-1B - V1 with 2 transistors and V2 a complete redesign with 4. Maybe it was a V1 FZ-1B I actually saw.

Fuzz pedals, especially the early ones, have a definite mystique about them. I also have seen articles stating that Richards used an FZ-1A on Satisfaction. I think it had to have been the original issue FZ-1 due to timing of release of 1A, late '65. I'm pretty sure the 1A I have now was procured in '66.

Jeremy Reeves · From: Chatham, IL, USA

yeah there's tons of misinformation out there! It's only recently that we are starting to really see what's true with these early fuzzes.
Gibson shipped about 5000 FZ-1 fuzztones in 1962. They sat on shelves until the Stones did "Satisfaction" in 1965. After that all the FZ-1 sold out and Gibson started shipping the FZ-1a, which they made around 40000 units.
The FZ-1a used different transistors and only one AA battery, compared to the FZ-1.
I've read lots of stories of people heating up their fuzztones to get the sound they wanted from it. That's kinda funny because you read about people putting their germanium fuzz faces in the cold to get a better sound from them.

Ken Metcalf · From: San Antonio Texas USA

I have box full of pedals and just got this Mosferatu.
I like the Golden Cello and Solar Flare.
They work better with a humbucker Pickup in my opinion.
The Mosferatu hits it pretty good with a little more tone control and a touch more transparency.

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MSA 12 String E9th/B6th Universal.
Little Walter PF-89.
Bunch of stomp boxes

Ken Metcalf · From: San Antonio Texas USA

Kicked the Mosferatu on a couple times at a gig yesterday.
That is some serious heavy distortion.
I like it.
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MSA 12 String E9th/B6th Universal.
Little Walter PF-89.
Bunch of stomp boxes

Travis Brown · From: Florida, USA

I have bought or built most of the classic fuzzes, and I have found I generally like the nastiest, most 'fuzzy' ones. Some of them, like the Big Muff, have so much gain they veer toward distortion pedal territory to my ear.

Current fav:
Roger Mayer Axis Fuzz (I think this pedal shines a bit more with humbuckers, but I do use it with single coils as well)

Close 2nds:
Tone Bender Mk I (homebuilt)

Other favs:
Foxx Tone Machine (like the Big Muff but with killer octave!)
Maestro FZ-1A
Ampeg Scrambler (epic gnarly octave fuzz)

I'll add that fuzz pedals are hugely dependent on amp choice, even more so than guitar choice. I typically use a Fender or Vox emulation in my Line 6, and I run them slightly crunchy before I kick the fuzz on.

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