Fuzz Pedals

[lqdsnddist]

I think part of the charm of fuzz isn’t just the sound, but the history of the actual pedals, the enclosure design, the unobtainable NOS transistors in it, the skill of the guy who soldered it, et al. It’s the fact that the transistor started life in old Baldwin organ, wound up in a scrap heap and then was rescued and built into a fuzz and now makes glorious noise.

It’s part musical instrument, part collectible and part art.

No one seems to show off a collection of chorus pedals, but fuzz ? You can build them their own shelf and proudly display your mkI, mkII, mkIII benders etc

You can model or emulate the tone, and maybe even capture the dynamic volume pot interactions and more, but no amount of technology will be able to ever satisfy for the true lovers of fuzz lol

 

[jamongrande]

There are dynamic timbral qualities to a fuzz that make them really unique, in terms of how the sound evolves over time , and how the circuit reacts with other devices (e.g. pickups, volume knobs, buffers, etc.). I think there’s something inherent in the design structure of almost all modeling systems that can’t account for the later in particular.

That said, some of my favorite fuzz-like tones are actually amp models like the Tweeds and small fenders that get real nasty and quirky with extreme settings.

 

[orangenoise]

Had some fun with the ToneBender in the Axe. Check it out in this thread.

 

[Budda]

oh i never worried about fuzz history or art, i wanted supreme grossness haha.

 

[fetishfrog]

Use the send and return blocks to build a feedback loop within the fuzz. Use an expression pedal to control the return level. Careful as it can feedback very quickly.

Insert effects in the feedback loop. Delay and ring mod are a damn good time.

 

[blastbeatdown]

Modern metal? Treble booster.

Correct me if I’m wrong but that seems a lot like the Fortin Grind which is my go-to, cutting lows and boosting highs/upper-mids before the amp. I’ve never used it in conjunction with a fuzz though, so I will definitely give that a try

 

[Budda]

Correct me if I’m wrong but that seems a lot like the Fortin Grind which is my go-to, cutting lows and boosting highs/upper-mids before the amp. I’ve never used it in conjunction with a fuzz though, so I will definitely give that a try

Iirc the grind isnt quite the same thing.

Take the treble booster and put it in front of a few lower gain amps with a reasonably cranked power section and you may enjoy the clarity+gain feel of a more modern amp but with a bit of that vintage vibe. Im probably explaining poorly hahah.

 

[brainleaf]

Had a bunch of fun putting this tone together. Still miles to go, and ignore the mediocre noodling.

 

[cole lewis]

For people more into Muff style/Gilmoury style fuzz. The Maxon SD-9 model is absolutely fantastic for those kinds of sounds. My favorite pedal for smooth leads. It has that smoothness of a Muff and a big low end, but it sounds more controlled, tighter, For me it sounds better than a Muff especially when you are going for lower gain sounds and not the full on cranked thing.

 

[aens]

Posting this here since it can be left unnoticed in the AFX II Muff thread:

I finally found a realistic setting for 80’s Big Muff Deluxe (one of the holy grail muffs), which I matched to a real recording. It cleans up so good with volume knob: 1-2 clean, 3-6 fuzzy overdrive, 7-10 ripping fuzz. I was actually chasing the fuzzy overdrive sound, and it turned out other sounds were amazing as well. I mainly use the bridge pickup (high output), as neck pickup can get quite fuzzy.

As I said I mainly use the fuzzy overdrive setting, and when I want a mountain top lead I crank up the guitar volume. You can stack a Tube Screamer or another overdrive pedal after the fuzz if you want more gain. I used to have a hard time trying to stack other pedals with the PI Fuzz model, but with this setting it works wonderfully. Add a delay and you’re good to go. I use the Digital Vintage in front of the amp with a few tweaks. The sound I was trying to replicate also uses an octave down octaver with low mix, so try that as well in front of the fuzz.

Use an overdriven amp like Marshall JCM800 or JMP. I use a JCM800 with a self-made matching G12T75 impulse. Keep the sustain (Drive) low and at already around 1 the fuzz character starts to change, which is not desired for this particular sound. If it’s not bright enough, add some tone and vice versa. There’s plenty of gain even though Drive is at 0, so don’t worry.

Type: Pi Fuzz
Drive: 0
Tone 6.5
Volume: 9-10
Mix: 87 %
Low cut: 300 hz
Bass: 7
Diode: OP-AMP
Bias: -0.450
Add some middle frequencies if you feel like there’s not enough

I haven’t yet tried this against my real Big Muff Deluxe, but I kind of don’t feel like doing that. The real one is so noisy and the settings already match 100% with the record I was trying to replicate where I know a Big Muff Deluxe was used. I couldn’t be happier, thanks yet again Fractal

 

[austinbuddy]

Posting this here since it can be left unnoticed in the AFX II Muff thread:

I finally found a realistic setting for 80’s Big Muff Deluxe (one of the holy grail muffs), which I matched to a real recording. It cleans up so good with volume knob: 1-2 clean, 3-6 fuzzy overdrive, 7-10 ripping fuzz. I was actually chasing the fuzzy overdrive sound, and it turned out other sounds were amazing as well. I mainly use the bridge pickup (high output), as neck pickup can get quite fuzzy.

As I said I mainly use the fuzzy overdrive setting, and when I want a mountain top lead I crank up the guitar volume. You can stack a Tube Screamer or another overdrive pedal after the fuzz if you want more gain. I used to have a hard time trying to stack other pedals with the PI Fuzz model, but with this setting it works wonderfully. Add a delay and you’re good to go. I use the Digital Vintage in front of the amp with a few tweaks. The sound I was trying to replicate also uses an octave down octaver with low mix, so try that as well in front of the fuzz.

Use an overdriven amp like Marshall JCM800 or JMP. I use a JCM800 with a self-made matching G12T75 impulse. Keep the sustain (Drive) low and at already around 1 the fuzz character starts to change, which is not desired for this particular sound. If it’s not bright enough, add some tone and vice versa. There’s plenty of gain even though Drive is at 0, so don’t worry.

Type: Pi Fuzz
Drive: 0
Tone 6.5
Volume: 9-10
Mix: 87 %
Low cut: 300 hz
Bass: 7
Diode: OP-AMP
Bias: -0.450
Add some middle frequencies if you feel like there’s not enough

I haven’t yet tried this against my real Big Muff Deluxe, but I kind of don’t feel like doing that. The real one is so noisy and the settings already match 100% with the record I was trying to replicate where I know a Big Muff Deluxe was used. I couldn’t be happier, thanks yet again Fractal

Cool, will check out… Are you playing humbuckers or single coil bridge with this?!!

 

[aens]

Cool, will check out… Are you playing humbuckers or single coil bridge with this?!!

Humbuckers. I have vintage Gibson Dirty Fingers on bridge and T-Top on neck. Neck pickup is splittable to single coil, and I remember it being quite nasty.

I had to change the input to 1M+Cap since the high end was not there, but that’s also authentic to the sound I was trying to replicate. The guitarist used to have a 10-20 m long cable running from amp to pedalboard and to guitar since the amp (100W JMP with master on 4-5) was placed in the hallway outside of the studio space. Back in the 90’s and before no-one cared about impedance and other stuff, they just worked with what they had

Let me know if this works for you or not. I can send you my amps settings with the custom cabs I have. It’s a lot of fun!

 

[dr bonkers]

When I want fuzz, I always plug my guitar straight into my EHX Rams Head Big Muff with lower gain in front of the Fractal so that I have a fuzz that is reactive to a guitar's pickup impedance, which is the missing component of the Fractal models.

I use the Fractal fuzz or drive or EQ after that to change the character of the fuzz.

This works well for me.

 

[javajunkie]

When I want fuzz, I always plug my guitar straight into my EHX Rams Head Big Muff with lower gain in front of the Fractal so that I have a fuzz that is reactive to a guitar's pickup impedance, which is the missing component of the Fractal models.

I use the Fractal fuzz or drive or EQ after that to change the character of the fuzz.

This works well for me.

Interesting. I had not thought about "stacking like that or for that purpose. I will have to try that.

 

[javajunkie]

I think part of the charm of fuzz isn’t just the sound, but the history of the actual pedals, the enclosure design, the unobtainable NOS transistors in it, the skill of the guy who soldered it, et al. It’s the fact that the transistor started life in old Baldwin organ, wound up in a scrap heap and then was rescued and built into a fuzz and now makes glorious noise.

It’s part musical instrument, part collectible and part art.

No one seems to show off a collection of chorus pedals, but fuzz ? You can build them their own shelf and proudly display your mkI, mkII, mkIII benders etc

You can model or emulate the tone, and maybe even capture the dynamic volume pot interactions and more, but no amount of technology will be able to ever satisfy for the true lovers of fuzz lol

No one Would you like to see my chorus, flanger collection . That said, fuzz is something special.

 

[VegaBaby]

Would you like to see my chorus, flanger collection . That said, fuzz is something special.

I could join in with that !