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If you had to choose a fuzz....

Josh James

By Josh James
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Josh James

Josh James

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I just wanted to know what everyone's favorite fuzz is. I'm currently using a Fulltone Catalyst, but is it really a fuzz?

 

 

I use to own a russian muff, but it cut the mid's a ton and was useless in a mix.

 

 

I'm mainly a rythym and some lead and I've been looking at a few different one's, any favorites out there?

 

 

 

J

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SGSpecialguy

SGSpecialguy

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I have a Fulltone 69, had a fuzz face, analog man fuzz face, big muff, but my favorite without a doubt is the Keeley Fuzz head, its a fuzz/overdrive. its got a silicon/geranium switch, I like the geranium, picked it up off ebay for about $150, GREAT pedal !!

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DAS44

DAS44

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I have now discovered fuzz...thanks for the video. That cleared up a lot of why my sound isn't as' date=' uhm...fuzzy?

I'm serious, the nubness never ends here Dx[/quote']

Haha Izzy, trust me I know less about pedals than you.

 

I have one, just a looped pedal. I do know that luther drives kick *** though.

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SweetMarie

SweetMarie

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Currently it's my Fulltone OctaFuzz - one of the newer ones with a switch for the octave. The fuzz effect is very tweakable and the octave is probably the best Octavia clone out there.

 

But when I want to get out there - the AshBass FuzzRite is a MossRite Clone any will give me that buzzy, spitting "Psychotic Reaction" buzzsaw sound...but it's not for everyone.

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Josh James

Josh James

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Hmmm, that Bolin fuzz is pretty nasty. Well, the catalyst has alot of different tonal options for sure with the bass/mids and treble knobs. The fulltone 69 is pretty nasty, but is out of production and pricey! I guess the catalyst is suppose to be Fulltone's answer to the Keeley Fuzzhead?

 

 

J

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FirstMeasure

FirstMeasure

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Haven't tried out the MXR 108' date=' but I do like the Swollen Pickle. Very versatile, as far as fuzz goes, but you have quite a few tonal options.[/quote']

The MXR 108 is basically an Arbiter in a Square Box. Not a very Modern Voiced Fuzz, but that's it's charm IMO.

 

When I think of Fuzz I think, "Old Fashioned Distortion". So the older and Less Tweekable the sound, the better. I can totally understand why folks would want more versatility out of their fuzz, specially if you want to bring it into more modern sounding music.

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Twiz

Twiz

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I have an American Big Muff. I like it, but I don't use it very often. -I like using it for doing solos, or getting feedback. I really want to check out one of those fuzz boxes from Fulltone.

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Josh James

Josh James

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Yea, the catalyst can get pretty fuzzy for sure, which is cool. I can get a really good Lenny Kravitz type fuzz tone with this and the burstbucker 3 in my LP. As far as Black Key's type of fuzz, I'm not sure...but I think you could get close by cutting the mids? Really, with the fulltone catalyst, you have to figure out how you are going to use it in a live setting, do you want a fuzz, a OD or a blean boost? It works best with amp's with alot of clean headroom ie Deville 4x10, anything with el84's you have to do some adjusting to make sure it dosen't become mush. I use it as a fuzz because I already have a great OD in Keeley BDriver, but really all these high end pedals work best with a bigger/more clean headroom type of amp in my experience.

 

J

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Josh James

Josh James

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Yea, the fulltone catalyst can get pretty fuzzy for sure, which is cool. I can get a really good Lenny Kravitz type fuzz tone with this and the burstbucker 3 in my LP. As far as Black Key's type of fuzz, I'm not sure...but I think you could get close by cutting the mids? Really, with the catalyst, you have to figure out how you are going to use it in a live setting, do you want a fuzz, a OD or a clean boost? It works best with amp's with a lot of clean headroom ie. Deville 4x10, anything with el84's or hotter running power tubes you have to do some adjusting to make sure it dosen't become mush. I use it as a fuzz because I already have a great OD in Keeley BDriver, but really all these high end pedals work best with a bigger/more clean headroom type of amp in my experience.

 

J

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RichCI

RichCI

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I have a mess of fuzz pedals (mostly Fuzz Face clones) and this is what I can tell you...

 

You either use fuzz with your setup or you don't. That is, every fuzz pedal I've ever used cuts back your highs and mids a bit so you have to tweak your amp to use fuzz. When you do that, your regular sound (with the fuzz pedal off) will sound brighter if you've tweaked it for fuzz. So, if you're going use fuzz, the best way to clean it up is to roll back the volume knob on your guitar.

 

The best compromise to get around what I just described is to use a fuzz built with silicon transistors as they're brighter than germanium (old style) transistors. As for my favorites, I like the Analogman Sun Face NKT275 (germanium) and the Foxrox Hot Silicon (silicon, obviously). The Sun Face is my absolute favorite if you're going to dedicate to fuzz, but the Hot Silicon is my favorite for switching in and out of fuzz and it's probably the more practical of the two, especially for playing live.

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Blackie

Blackie

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.............My ME-70 has like 10 fuzz, ODrive and Distortion in it..........more than enough to replicate about any single pedal, plus every other

common effect...........so in the long run it is a big money saver as compared to individual pedals.

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Blackie

Blackie

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Buying a multifx unit is definately way cheaper but it doesn't sound nearly as good as the real thing.

 

I am going to have to disagree on this...the real thing ?.....The Roland company which is Boss have led the way in

guitar pedal technology for years and their efx whether individual or in a bundled multi-unit stand right up to any

other pedal manufacturer there is. The real thing I have most assuredly and the Boss ME-70 is a bad as$ machine.

 

Look linking 57 pedals in a chain mihgt have been cool back when I was learning about such things.......what I learned is it is a big pain and apt to be the weak link in the chain.

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Dub-T-123

Dub-T-123

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Well when it comes to fuzz or just about anything I wouldn't consider Boss to be the best or even very desirable but that's just me. Also personally I've never had the need for 50 effects so linking 50 pedals up wouldn't really be a problem for me.

 

I see the real thing in terms of pedals as being a good analog unit. The kind of thing that multifx units try to emulate. Emulate as in a digital copy that is not real.

 

To me, the difference between digital and analog is like the difference between tube and solid state. There is no comparison IMO and I'd rather have 5 good pedals that I would use a lot than a multifx unit with 500 patches.

 

With that being said digital effects are much better now than how they used to be. It's personal preference I guess.

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Josh James

Josh James

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I agree with Dub, the multieffects pedals usually sound stale to my ears, but in the end, do we think most people will know whether we are using a original fuzz face or a multieffects unit? Yeah, the fuzz sounds best with a brighter amp, but the catalyst you can dial in even with a hotter,darker amp.

 

 

 

J

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