I'm looking into something new to step on. I don't really want a pedal that's gimmicky or only good for one song (since I don't have money or pedalboard space) and was thinking of a fuzz.
But I have heard that fuzz sounds great while you're alone, and kind of gets lost in a band.
Who uses it regularly in a band setting? Is it something you use a lot? Right now I use two overdrives and occasionally a slapback delay. I play fairly classic rock, blues, funk
Meh.
I've always hated fuzz.
Natural sounding overdrive sounds much better.
There's only a very few songs that use it that I would play anyhow.
It seems totally useless for anything but one-note stuff, but it can sound kind of cool for that.
i only like it when i play bass.
"don't worry, i'm a professional!"
I use a little big muff pi and as previously stated it's really good for soloing or single note stuff. If you're looking for a nice distortion keep looking for something else, these do get lost in the mix, especially with more than one guitarist. It'll work only "ok" as a three piece. If you're into some of the Hendrix tones, a fuzz can get used a lot, but not exclusively. It wasn't the only tool in Jimi's toolbox. For some groovy 60's rock tunes, a fuzz performs nicely, as in "Spirit In The Sky" or "Bang A Gong". Fuzz is also a good tool on certain Red Hot Chili Pepper's tunes.
I use mine at different times just to achieve different tones, but it's not something I use or would want to use exclusively.
Meso, those were the tunes I was thinking of, along with a few other 60'-70'ss songs. (Hair of the Dog).
I've found even those old ones come more alive with a good, overdriven tube sound.
Although not original sounding...I think SRV brought some Jimi songs to life with a lot of overdrive as opposed to that fuzz.
Actually, meso, I am in a trio so I'm glad you mentioned that.
That was something I was thinking in the back of my head--that is might be more useful in a one guitar lineup.
I'm not very pedal happy, but I sometimes get a little tired of my own voice, so to speak, and am looking for a little makeup (to mix metaphors!)
Im thinking about this one
I am not a huge fan of 60's tone (I am a fan of the music itself), but I have liked some modernized versions of it from guys like like Jack White or John Frusciante.Originally Posted by Cygnus X1
Sometimes I think maybe I just need to be a bit more wild
I considered a different overdrive, but I already have 2.
I know I could have 10, but only hypothetically. My budget requires that I make the most of my money, and I figured a new sound might be a better investment.
Good point, NDRU.
Thinking of a cover of Newman's "Cars", but can't recall who did it.
Another great cover with heavy sound, but minus the fuzz is Voivod's cover of "Astonomy Domine". Not fuzzed, but certainly heavily overdriven
Good time to link it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hhP9ZGHTEQ
I use a Fulltone '69 Pedal (Fuzz Face clone) as my only dirt pedal (to be honest, I often use a Mesa/Boogie amp for od as well).
Last night I used it with my band with my 5E3 clone (and my Strat).
I was able to get a lot of different sounds with it- some old fashioned and dated, some more modern. We played a wide range of music- blues, roots rock, punk, Black Sabbath...
Like the 5E3, it's very responsive to the guitar's volume and my pick attack. With the guitar's volume backed down it becomes a good sounding overdrive with barely more gain than the amp alone. I will generally leave my '69 Pedal on for a whole song and adjust the guitar's volume for rhythm and lead.
The nice thing about it is that you can still tell whether I'm playing my Strat or Les Paul even with the fuzz cranked up.
I get heard in the mix just fine. It's all in how you use it.
When you choose a fuzz pedal, for the most flexibility, choose one that claims to be touch sensitive. For instance, a Tonebender MKII clone is nowhere near as sensitive as a good Fuzz Face clone.
It's true that it's not for everyone though. I also have a Tonebender MKII clone and a Fuzz Factory. I love them but don't have them on my pedalboard. They're both have more of an aggressive, over the top fuzz tone that doesn't clean up as well as the '69 Pedal.
Last edited by Don; 11-06-2009 at 06:01 PM.
Fuzz is VERY useful, but you have to know how to use it. It's not that it gets 'lost in the mix' (because you should be using it for soloing when you are louder than everyone else). The issue is it can sound raspy and harsh. The 'fix' for this is to put an overdrive with a tone control behind the fuzz to smooth it out... ;-)
Great point, Gris.
I'm addicted to my EQ pedal (or otherwise, actually using a home stereo 7 band right now...pre-then effects-then post).
That is one reason I liked the ProCo Rat.
The tone shaping was parametric, so it was easy to "shape" it
to live surroundings as opposed to home setting.
Gris, I think you're saying what I was trying to say as well. A fuzz can be very useful when used appropriately. Unfortunately, not everyone does that, and too often trys to use one as a dirt pedal to cover any and every kind of distortion tone. The fuzz is great when used in a solo, but when used as a generic dirt type box for chordal work it gets muddy and lost quick unless you clean it up somewhat by using the guitars volume to throttle back the input signal.
The other point you made is putting it in front of any other dirt pedals rather than behind them. A fuzz is typically tempermental to input levels, and a dirt box in front of it simply puts too much signal to the input. The result is mush. Placing a dirt pedal behind the fuzz helps smooth the harshness out. Sometimes even putting a wah in front of a fuzz is too much, especially if the wah has a built in boost capability.
And with respect to Don, a good fuzz can be employed as the only dirt pedal. As he suggests, you need to be very aware of how to use it correctly. He has the right approach, but not everyone I've seen or heard with a fuzz "gets it".
I was thinking about this while raking leaves today.
I should mention that I don't use a blackface Fender amp (I have two of them but don't use them often) so anything that I say about fuzz may not pertain to that type of amp.
My 5E3 clone is already fairly dirty sounding before I hit it with fuzz.
Although a lot of players compare the sound of the MESA/Boogie Express 5:50 to a blackface amp, it's really very different sounding. It's much warmer, fatter and has a Celestion speaker in it.
In other words, YMMV.
The fuzz I was thinking of has no jack for power supply, so by the nature of my pedalboard (as well as the instructions from Analogman) I would be placing it first in the chain so as not to leave it plugged in & waste battery power.
But that is interesting that you guys suggest using it with an overdrive. I wouldn't have thought of that.
Another question, anyone have insight into the differences between germanium & silicon?
yeah, silicon is more consistent - germanium is temp dependent, but a good germanium sounds smoother and more musical to me, YMMV.
ps - how does plugging a fuzz in first in chain conserve battery power? If it's plugged in, it's pluggd in, right...?
yes, but when I am done playing I'll unplug the guitar from the first thing in the chain
thanks for the info!
I love germanium fuzz. It just "feels" better.
It's a masochist kind of thing, I think (it has let me down on a super hot, sunny day).
My '69 Pedal is positive ground so I use a battery in it and unplug the input cable when I'm done. I actually have electrical tape over the power jack in case someone decides to be "helpful" and plug the power jack in on me (there's a spare on my daisy chain).
My BMF Fat Bastard is first in my chain. I use it to make my Strat and Tele fuller and, occasionally, to goose the '69 Pedal.
The Peppermint Fuzz I'm thinking of is Germanium. I tried the new Hendrix Fuzz Face (Silicon) and it was nice, but felt a little tame--buzzy & distorted, to be sure, but the other one sounded more unruly, in a good way.
I suppose if the weather is an issue I won't use it. It has a trim inside but that's not easily accessible. Anyway, I live in California, every day is 68 degrees!
It seems like most of you guys are talking about using the FUZZ as a type of overdrive and actually playing down the charm that makes a nasty old fuzz tone sound so great as an effect, and not just as another distortion.
Celebrate the Fuzz. set it up after your overdrive, or use it with no overdrive to keep it as nasty as you can. Use it very sparingly for a solo only sound in a few songs.
I agree with wilko.
Personally I fell in love with the nasty buzzsaw fuzz wonderfulness after I heard Jagged by The Old 97's and thought "What is that!?!". Turns out a low tuned Tele plus fuzz box equals this cool mean sound. You can't really hear it much here because all the high end is lost, but on the album it is glorious.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ivjn_J6jQWo
"The other Shaltanac's joopleberry shrub is always a more mauvy shade of pinky-russet."
"there's NOTHING WRONG with a live penguin, but...I expected a hamburger!"
That was my problem with my old Maestro Fuzz. The sound was nothing if not raspy and harsh. The gain knob seemed to work like a light switch, on or off. The tone knob just made the rasp more annoying.
No smooth in between sounds to be found. But I never tried it with an OD afterward. Actually, I swore 'em off after that first bad impression.
I've gotten spoiled on my Hoochie Mama followed by my TS9 when I need mo' dirt.
May have to try again now that I've been hipped to the secret.
Trust me, I celebrate the fuzz!
The reason that I choose fuzz over other devices is because it responds to my playing more. When I pair it up with my 5E3 clone I've got to highly touch sensitive instruments that complement each other.
I used to hate fuzz too, until I learned how to use one! They can be tempermental -especially germanium ones. The thing is how you set up your amp. Some people have two amps in their rig with one dedicated for fuzz.
I have a Sunlion fuzz (Analogman's Fuzzface and treble boost in one) and a Huckleberry fuzz. I use the fuzzface as a rythmn pedal most of the time. Riding the guitar's volume knob to get the shade of grit I'm looking for. I kick in the Beano boost (or od/clean boost) for solos.
Let me tell you, once you figure out how to fuzz you'll be hooked -especially in a three piece!
I have a Hucklberry fuzz too that I have set up for less fuzz, but as a boost for fuzzy leads.
Fuzz is awesome!
Fuzz is proof God love us and wants us to be happy. - Franklin
http://www.frankdenigris.com
Here's some "Fuzz":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1DDgNCLD84
Nice! That's not what I expected to hear, but actually very appropriate to the type of music I do.
I tried that Analogman Sunface. It was also pretty cool sounding.
But I haven't tried the Sun Lion
And of course I had to try this one...
it was okay, but it reminded me too much of my Boss DS1
I want to try this, I like the octave sounds, I just wonder if it's annoying to add more high end to your guitar
The octave thing is real fun.
I just bought a throwaway toy multi-effect unit that is getting to be real fun messing with. I get to try a bunch of different types of effects and pedals (whah, volume, rotary, etc) all for 100 bucks. I'm actually dailing in some very usable tones. I bought it because I needed a whah pedal for a gig I have coming up.
Now I'm convinced I'll be using it more.
Fuzz needs to be coaxed to get the tones, but they are so good, its worth the touble. Some of the best clean tones comes from a germ fuzz into an amp thats on the verge of dirt. Judisious use of the volume control is in order. London fuzz is one of the best.
http://www.mjmguitarfx.com/soundfiles.htm
CT.
I used to have a multi-thing. I got rid of it because of the hassle of programming it (plus I had no midi pedals for it) but I kind of regret getting rid of it.
I did try a different Octave fuzz (Wilson, maybe?) and it does sound cool. I just wonder if I'd use reg'lar fuzz more. I wish I could just drop $1000 on a few new toys, but...oh well!
I bought a little Digitech RP90.
It has tons of effects in a small package with a pedal on the side.
It has a decent gate, compression, overdrives, fuzzes, octaves, delays, reverbs, phasers, flangers. Use as little or as much as you want. Yeah, the factory presets are garbage, and programming is a PIA, but I've got it sussed now and have about 5 very subtle patches.
those do look pretty cool! listening right now...
so what made you go in that direction?
You play lead I guess? What kind of music? I know you have a Mesa also, so you have a very modern amp & a vintage style one.
I went to the store to buy a nice digital delay pedal. I could a digitech Digidelay for 100 bucks. I also had in the back of my mind that I should get a whah pedal to play some of the parts I need to play for the artist that I'm supporting these days. We've got some big dates coming up that will include some travel.
This unit was the same price, had all t he features of the delay stomp box PLUS all that other crap!
I had good luck with Digitech products in the past, they're a US company, and I figured I could dial down the obnoxious sounds into usable tones.
I used it at a fairly important gig this last Saturday night and did get compliments on the overall sound (I was called out for crappy phaser sound I got--that was my fault--I need to spend some more time on that patch. The Whah sound was right on. The tremolo with heavy Fender Reverb sound was very good.
Being that my amp is a vintage Deluxe Reverb, I can get great amp tones, then hit this thing just for extra "sauce" when I need it.
It's funny, I'm looking at spending twice that on a single effect. But we never seem to be satisfied with any of them (it's a neverending search) so I guess we might do well to go back to beginner guitar player logic--why not get 20 effects for $99 instead? It's a no-brainer!
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