[fretzel]

A question was posed to me by @butterknucket.

“What kind of fuzz sounds are you looking for?”

What a great question. And one that is difficult to answer. Well at least for me it is.

Out of all the sounds I hear in my head, Fuzz has been the hardest to have come to fruition. It can be the most temperamental of pedals as well.

I will try and list what I have tried in no particular order. I will say that I believe I like fuzz Face style pedals more than Big Muff. I find the Muffs too big and wooly for my tastes. There is a joke in there somewhere but I can’t quite put my finger on it.

Boss FZ5- while there were some good sounds in it, there was something lacking.
Skreddy LMDM I had this for a week thanks to CMCRAWFORD. I liked it but it was a little too gainy for me.
Diamond Fireburst-same as above.
FF silicon fuzz-can’t remember but didn’t keep
FF Jimi Fuzz Mini-just wasn’t it and it was fickle with pedals in front.
Wampler Velvet Fuzz-good but wasn’t it.
Tech 21 boost fuzz-was hoping this would be the one when I had it. I liked that it had a sag feature. In the end the clipping was too harsh for me.
Keeler Push Fuzz- I liked this one. Had some good sounds but had an underlying hiss I didn’t like.
Fulltone 69 and Soul Bender. Good pedals but not IT. the 69 needed more.
Two Fox Roxx variants,
Visual Sound Angry Fuzz-I thought was very good.
Danelectro French Toast. Good as well.

All the above just were not “IT”!!!

There have been others but I can’t remember them all. Had a Muff ages ago as well. Now for what I currently have.

Pigtronix Disnortion. Quite like it. I prefer the mid range type settings. But.......it’s so big to put on a board. I may fork out for the mini.
Keeley Fuzz Head-on my board. Like it but lacking a bit. Want more of that saggy feel.
Cusack Screamer Fuzz-replaced the fuzz head for a bit. Love the concept as I feel a TS smooths our fuzz and helps add some sag type feel.
Ibanez 850 Fuzz Mini-definitely like. Gain knob could use some more range. Pretty much like set below 9 o’clock. But volume and tone have to be cranked to be close to unity.
Caline Puffer Fuzz-based on a silicon FF if I recall correctly. Played with an 18v peer supply it is very good. But opens up a can of worms adding another power supply.

My latest addition is the Dover Drive. Hoping it’s the answer but we will see.

So, what am I looking for. A smooth fuzz that is mid focused with sag. Nothing too gainy but has to have enough. I want to be able to dial it up or back as I don’t want too little gain either.

Looking at the list above and knowing that I missed some makes me think that this may be a sickness. LOL.

 

[butterknucket]

Have you tried any of the ZVex stuff?

 

[fretzel]

No. I have had some interest though. Although I don’t think the fuzz factory would be my thing I wouldn’t mind checking it out. Mastotron seems interesting too.

 

[CathodeRay]

Looking at the list above and knowing that I missed some makes me think that this may be a sickness. LOL.

I think I'll need a transfusion; can I relate to this!
When it's that elusive, I've taken one of the pedals that nearly gets to 'it' in terms of sag & dynamics (not easy to find), and custom mod it to taste in terms of upper end warmth, tightness, gain & harmonics.
PM me if you ever decide to go this route 'cause it sounds like a blast fretzel.

 

[butterknucket]

The Double Rock or Box of Rock might be to your liking.

The Double Rock can be set to two Box of Rocks cascading into each other for a very unruly distortion sound.

The Fuzz Factory can do some high gain sounds as well that are very distortion like, but with still a bit of fuzz character.

 

[Budda]

What about the empress fuzz?

My only experience with fuzz is on the crazier side of things. Though a fuzz setting on my FX8 into chuck's JMP was a thing of stoner glory.

 

[fretzel]

PM me if you ever decide to go this route 'cause it sounds like a blast fretzel.

I see that you’re in the GTA. I may have to take you up on that someday. The 850 could be a good platform as it sounds good and are inexpensive. The 850 OD is on sale at L&M.

 

[fretzel]

I should point out as well that I like my drives going into a slightly broken up amp. Most just sound too harsh to my ears otherwise. I will even stack on top of that. So I very much like cascading drives. Have a lot of double drive pedals.

The empress stuff is appealing as well. Wouldn’t mind trying the multi. A little pricey though.

 

[butterknucket]

In my experience, fuzz pedals need to be played LOUD to get the sounds in your head.

 

[Budda]

I should point out as well that I like my drives going into a slightly broken up amp. Most just sound too harsh to my ears otherwise. I will even stack on top of that. So I very much like cascading drives. Have a lot of double drive pedals.

The empress stuff is appealing as well. Wouldn’t mind trying the multi. A little pricey though.

Do you mean the Heavy? That thing is a blast. We used it on our last LP.

 

[fretzel]

 

[fretzel]

In my experience, fuzz pedals need to be played LOUD to get the sounds in your head.

I feel like playing the Variac fuzz loud may give it a chance to shine. Wife just had shoulder surgery and will be home for a couple months. The way things sell on kijiji I will probably still have it. LOL

 

[butterknucket]

I've never tried one, but the Ehx Graphic Fuzz is a bit of an oddball but might be what you're looking for.

 

[CathodeRay]

The Crazy Horse may also be worth looking at re: cascading drives.

 

[fretzel]

The EHX, while I like the idea it is as big as the Disnortion. I checked out the crazy horse online. If I recall it was too wooly for me. I saw the company throwing some shade at MXR on one of their variac fuzz vids. LOL

I like what I hear from the Oxfuzz. There is another fuzz that’s name is escaping me that I liked as well. Both from vids though.

 

[mhammer]

I've never tried one, but the Ehx Graphic Fuzz is a bit of an oddball but might be what you're looking for.

The Graphic Fuzz applies the dynamics at the input to the output, something that would normally be absent with any sort of diode-and-op-amp-based fuzz/distortion. That sort of touch-sensitivity is probably more in the wheelhouse of folks looking for a more expressive overdrive. Folks looking for fuzz generally want something that deliberately removes dynamics.

One of my favorites is the venerable Shin-Ei FY-2 Companion. I have made a bunch, and currently still have 4 or 5 of them, each with slight circuit variations to try out some ideas.

I still put in a vote for the recently-issued Fender Pelt. The "Bloom" control (which may well be a variant on "sag", with another name) is nice. And I will also add the Chase Bliss Brothers pedal, which allows for combining, mixing, and cascading two channels, giving a little more variation than a King of Tone, though perhaps less than a Multidrive.

This week, I hope to finish wiring up a pedal I made for myself with an FY-2, a Jordan Bosstone, Boss OD-1, Tonebender MkII, hot-rodded Green Ringer, and MOSFet booster on board. Six kinds of push, each with their individual gain/fuzz and volume, and a 6-position rotary switch. It's nice to be able to make things that don't exist commercially.

 

[butterknucket]

I still put in a vote for the recently-issued Fender Pelt. The "Bloom" control (which may well be a variant on "sag", with another name) is nice. And I will also add the Chase Bliss Brothers pedal, which allows for combining, mixing, and cascading two channels, giving a little more variation than a King of Tone, though perhaps less than a Multidrive.

This week, I hope to finish wiring up a pedal I made for myself with an FY-2, a Jordan Bosstone, Boss OD-1, Tonebender MkII, hot-rodded Green Ringer, and MOSFet booster on board. Six kinds of push, each with their individual gain/fuzz and volume, and a 6-position rotary switch. It's nice to be able to make things that don't exist commercially.

I listened to a demo of that Fender pedal and thought it sounded horrible, and I love fuzz.

Could you make me a Tonebender and Companion fuzz?

 

[Destropiate]

I have a Deluxe Big Muff and it's pretty great. It's pretty versatile, can go from vintage tones to heavy. It did the trick for me.

 

[davetcan]

I like to keep it very simple. My faves have been an Iron Bell and a Vick Audio Rams Head.

Special mention to the Muffuletta.

 

[fretzel]

I like to keep it very simple. My faves have been an Iron Bell and a Vick Audio Rams Head.

Special mention to the Muffuletta.

Oh ya. I had the iron Bell. At the time it wasn’t for me.
I was eyeing a Vick Audio for a bit on Kijiji but missed it. Another one made locally is the Southampton Boosted Fuzz that intrigues me.