# Official Fuzz Pedal Thread???



## Okay Player (May 24, 2020)

A recent post by @Alex made me think that I've seen/heard of more than a couple people on this forum who are going through a gamut of fuzz pedals in an attempt to find "the one". So I thought that it might not be a bad idea to have a thread where folks around these parts can share their stories of what fuzzes they have tried, which ones they're after, how various pedals interact with various rigs. Anyone have warm and fuzzy thoughts they'd like to share?


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## keto (May 23, 2006)

Well, we have a world class expert in their history, construction, etc. right here on board, @mhammer .

I have built I think every possible variation or close of both Fuzz Faces and Big Muffs, plus tons of others, Tonebenders, Bosstones, yada yada.

Ive entirely switched to bass, and the 3 I own any more are all Muffs. An original with tone removal switch that was an important gift to me, the current reissue of the IC Muff is great, and a nasty rough but glorious homebuilt IC Muff.


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## bzrkrage (Mar 20, 2011)

Oh futz, where do I start? (Watching)


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## Alex (Feb 11, 2006)

Some of my favorite recordings are lathered with fuzz but for me, it seems to be a challenge or I simply don’t know how to play them. My faves tend to be Muff like and here’s a list of some of the fuzz units I’ve tried;

SolidGoldFX Lysis: really liked this unit and found it very musical. 

EQD Hoof: same as the Lysis, excellent unit

King Tone Mini: The unit sounded really good but no taper when rolling off the volume on the guitar. It’s a on/off unit (fuzz face)

ThorpyFX Fallout Cloud and The Veteran: the fallout is a versatile muff and sounds killer. The Veteran is a low/medium gain fuzz and also excellent. I would own again these units.

Vemuram Myriad: incredible amount of headroom and loudest unit. There is not a lot of taper with the volume knob and it’s either loud or quiet. With a cranked amp, it sounded so good but pretty average at lower volumes. 

AnalogMan SunDial: with the bias and fuzz cranked, sounded really good but I found it to do one thing very well and that’s it.

JHS Crimson: good unit and still own it. Price is right. 

Lovepedal Believe: octave up unit. Worst pedal I’ve owned. I thought it was broken. A friend had one and loves it and proves the subjectivity in tone and more importantly how the units react with a given rig.

Catalinbread Octapussy: great sounding and my favorite of the octave up units. There is a lot of depth in the design of the unit despite only 3 knobs.

Shin-ei Companion: great sounding like the Octapussy but pricey. 

I’ve recently purchased a JAM Pedal Rattler which is a distortion unit and based on a RAT. It really blew me away. It gets close to fuzz tones and my search for fuzz units continues but for now, the Rattler is going on my board.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

For me, it's not matter of finding "the one", any more than I think there can only be "one sandwich". They all have their individual flavour, although some fall short of their attempted goals. Personally, I'm just curious about what this or that circuit does.


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## zdogma (Mar 21, 2006)

I too have owned many fuzz pedals. I tend to gravitate to things that have octaves or overtones but I like most of them. 

*Vintage Fuzz:* Probably the Analogman MK 1.5 tone bender is my favorite, and the BC109 SI Sunface
*Octave Fuzz:* Octron, any Foxx Tone Machine clone ( I have one from Mark Hammer, its excellent)
*Muff:* EQD Hoof, and maybe slightly prefer Cloven Hoof, Wren and Cuff Caprid and TF Russian
*Gated: *Fuzzolo, Basic Audio Fuzz Mutant, Cornish NG-3
*Best ever, won‘t sell it unless I’m living in a dumpster: PTD ROTOBONE*

I think the Rotobone trumpet sound is so unique-but the pedal also does superb vintage Ge/Si fuzz and is a killer fuzzy overdrive as well. I also like that you can run it into a clean amp, any rig and with any guitar-single coils, HB all sound great.


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## DaddyDog (Apr 21, 2017)

Oddly, I don't play much music with fuzz, but I'm constantly watching YouTube demos. Some of the sounds are just so great.

Boosted Fuzz from Southampton Pedals in Guelph (he used to be a forum member, where did he go?) - I really like the variety this pedal can get. I have it set for a really creamy 60's style. Think Heart Full of Soul.

10AM Fuzz from KO Amps in North Bay - has a cool octave toggle.

Schralp Fuzz from ShoneswoodFX in Regina - a pretty aggressive trebly fuzz but works nice for solos in a song that already has heavy distortion.

I once had The Leviathan from Wampler. Didn't know how good I had it. Should have kept it.


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## DaddyDog (Apr 21, 2017)

May I add that I once had the SM-15 from Sanford Magnetics. Stupid big enclosure that only ran on battery, but a gorgeous natural fuzz. At the time, I had no idea that germanium transistors are known for sounding like crap when too hot. The SM-15 sounded fantastic at the rehearsal room. The first gig with it was outdoors in the late afternoon. It sat in direct sun for about 30 minutes. Then at sound check, it went in the crapper. Lesson learned, the hard way.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

DaddyDog said:


> May I add that I once had the SM-15 from Sanford Magnetics. Stupid big enclosure that only ran on battery, but a gorgeous natural fuzz. At the time, I had no idea that germanium transistors are known for sounding like crap when too hot. The SM-15 sounded fantastic at the rehearsal room. The first gig with it was outdoors in the late afternoon. It sat in direct sun for about 30 minutes. Then at sound check, it went in the crapper. Lesson learned, the hard way.


Once upon a time, Ge-based fuzzes tended to rely on battery power, whether because no one was using external power supplies, or because of the difficulty of explaining polarity to musicians. These days, however, we have the benefit of charge-pump chips. Among the many things they can do, besides increasing supply voltage from +9VDC to something appreciably more, is that they can turn a positive voltage into a negative one. This means a person can use a "normal" 9V external supply and Boss-type power jack, to feed the pedal/circuit, and the charge pump allows it to pretend that the circuit is being powered by a 9V battery flipped around "the other way".

There CAN be ways of managing temperature consequences in germanium units. For instance, this one was posted on the DIYstompbox forum nineteen years ago. I've never employed the circuit, but the goal was to automatically correct for what happens o temperature-sensitive components, using components that AREN'T temperature sensitive.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

zdogma said:


> *Best ever, won‘t sell it unless I’m living in a dumpster: PTD ROTOBONE*
> 
> I think the Rotobone trumpet sound is so unique-but the pedal also does superb vintage Ge/Si fuzz and is a killer fuzzy overdrive as well. I also like that you can run it into a clean amp, any rig and with any guitar-single coils, HB all sound great.


The Trombetta Rotobone is Paul's take on the Jordan Bosstone. Much like the million variants on the Tube Screamer and Fuzzface, the Bosstone is also highly amenable to interesting mods and additions that can transform it into something else. Simply increasing the value of the input capacitor yields octave-down in some settings. Then there is the "trumpeting" effect. Very pleasingly flexible circuit. Paul has done a nice job.


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## bzrkrage (Mar 20, 2011)

My “go to” fuzz (atm) is the Wampler Velvet Fuzz.
Plays well with others.... as “Andy’s clean tone” ..... will show.


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## BobChuck (Jan 16, 2012)

I went through every type. FuzzFace, Bender, Muff, etc... 
Dunlop, EHX, Analogman, MJM, King Tone, etc...

I'm a FuzzFace guy.

My all time favorite, and recently new to me: Dunlop Bonamassa (Big Copper Version).

Keep in mind, my Monty V is loaded with Lollar Imperial High Wind.
I use my guitar volumes a lot to get different textures and that Bonamassa unit gives me everything I want.


Amazing clean tone from 7 to 8 (on the volume knob)
Great dirty tone to smooth distortion from 8 to 9
And fuzzy tone to full blown from 9 to 10

I sincerely can't stop playing this fuzz...even got myself a living room rig 😈


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## Granny Gremlin (Jun 3, 2016)

Muffs were always a thing that sounded better when other people used them. Think it's just too loose for me.

I have a FuzzFactory I really like but it's so crazy I mostly use it as a signal generator (you can tune the oscillation to your desired pitch).

Recently built an UglyFace, which is basically a bare bones maxed out IC fuzzface and all you can control is the (optical) modulation after it. Not quite as unwieldly as the FF, and the modulation adds a nice dimension - I find it more useful as a guitar/bass effect.

One of my favoraite fuzzes is the Caroline Shigeharu, but that's probably because it's closer to a distortion than an all out fuzz.


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## zdogma (Mar 21, 2006)

For me the Fuzz Face is a bit too variable-it depends so much on the guitar, the amp and the other pedals around it. I LOVE strat into a Ge Fuzzface pedal into a cranked up amp-but it needed significant tweaking if you changed anything. You needed to adjust the input trim to make it work with humbuckers. It was dark and flat into a clean amp unless you boosted it with something after. It was dramatically influenced by the pedals around it, the power source and the temperature...


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## Okay Player (May 24, 2020)

Granny Gremlin said:


> Muffs were always a thing that sounded better when other people used them. Think it's just too loose for me.
> 
> I have a FuzzFactory I really like but it's so crazy I mostly use it as a signal generator (you can tune the oscillation to your desired pitch).
> 
> ...


As someone that plays Fenders through Fenders I tend to find Muff's a little dark for my tastes. Not that I don't like them, but I'll start playing one think "Man, this sounds great." Then switch to another fuzz that's just a little brighter and think "Ah, that's more better." Right now I'm really enjoying the Caroline Hawaiian Pizza. The controls aren't very intuitive so its just a lot of random knob fiddling, but I seem to like all the sounds that come out of it.


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## keto (May 23, 2006)

Okay Player said:


> As someone that plays Fenders through Fenders I tend to find Muff's a little dark for my tastes. Not that I don't like them, but I'll start playing one think "Man, this sounds great." Then switch to another fuzz that's just a little brighter and think "Ah, that's more better." Right now I'm really enjoying the Caroline Hawaiian Pizza. The controls aren't very intuitive so its just a lot of random knob fiddling, but I seem to like all the sounds that come out of it.


Fenders, speaking in general terms, that nice Fender clean is very scooped. Big Muffs are also very scooped. They do not complement one another, as you have found. It's not brightness or treble per se, it's mids (even if upper) you are missing. A Muff with a removable tone stack (adds back mids) works somewhat better with Fender style amps.


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## Okay Player (May 24, 2020)

keto said:


> Fenders, speaking in general terms, that nice Fender clean is very scooped. Big Muffs are also very scooped. They do not complement one another, as you have found. It's not brightness or treble per se, it's mids (even if upper) you are missing. A Muff with a removable tone stack (adds back mids) works somewhat better with Fender style amps.


Hmmm. Any specific suggestions worth checking out?


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## zdogma (Mar 21, 2006)

Okay Player said:


> Hmmm. Any specific suggestions worth checking out?


EQD hoof or Cloven hoof, the deluxe version of the wren and cuff Russian have that. In general the Green Russians have a bit more midrange compared to the ram’s head etc, but they’re still scooped.


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## Okay Player (May 24, 2020)

zdogma said:


> EQD hoof or Cloven hoof, the deluxe version of the wren and cuff Russian have that. In general the Green Russians have a bit more midrange compared to the ram’s head etc, but they’re still scooped.


I actually just sold a Hoof, wasn't really a fan. I think most of my Muffs have been Green Russian based. I quite enjoy the Russian Pickle


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## zdogma (Mar 21, 2006)

The Cloven Hoof is the Bright and crackly version-a bit more noise though. I kind of like the dark to bright thing that the Hoof can do-if you set it right it can go from muddy to clear depending on your playing dynamics. It is pretty setup dependant-the hoof was killer with my Friedman and Marshall Plexi-but they tend to be pretty fizzy into fenders or if the gain is set too high. As Keto mentioned, the EQ’s just dont mesh very well.


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

I have 2. one was a custom job from arcane analog. Mark II tonebender with oc81 transistors, and I also have the Animals pedal Fishing is fun as fuzz ( big muff civil war copy). The animals pedal sounds so much better with single coils than humbuckers and was a good deal as I found it on sale for less than 100 CDN. The one I really want to try but it is too far out of my price range is the Thorpy Mushroom/Fallout cloud. Saw it on TPS and it sounded freaking amazing.


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

This is a favorite of mine. Demo starts around the 1:30 mark.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Granny Gremlin said:


> Muffs were always a thing that sounded better when other people used them. Think it's just too loose for me.
> 
> I have a FuzzFactory I really like but it's so crazy I mostly use it as a signal generator (you can tune the oscillation to your desired pitch).
> 
> ...


You might want to try making one of these. As it indicates, it takes John Hollis' Crash Sync a few steps farther. I've made one with the envelope control and quite like it, but bean and I traded some notes and he went a little farther still. Haven't built this version, but it looks like it would be fun too. He hasn't yet updated the Madbean site with a layout, but a perfboard wouldn't be too hard.








This is a pretty decent demo of the basic Crash Sync. Adding the pulse-width modulation capabilities only improves it.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

sulphur said:


> This is a favorite of mine. Demo starts around the 1:30 mark.


I whipped up something like that in 2004. The Roseyray uses two distortions, one warmer and woofier than the other and the tone control blends between them. Since the two drives are cascaded, the second one is more intense than the first. The name "Roseyray" was inspired by the cheezy 1972 horror movie called "The Thing With Two Heads", starring Ray Milland and Roosevelt "Rosey" Grier. The IMDB synopsis reads "Doctors are forced to transplant the head of a dying, racist surgeon onto the body of a black death row inmate." Since the circuit employs, and mercilessly combines, two seemingly incompatible types of distortion, I thought the movie captured the spirit perfectly.


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## Granny Gremlin (Jun 3, 2016)

mhammer said:


> You might want to try making one of these. As it indicates, it takes John Hollis' Crash Sync a few steps farther. I've made one with the envelope control and quite like it, but bean and I traded some notes and he went a little farther still. Haven't built this version, but it looks like it would be fun too. He hasn't yet updated the Madbean site with a layout, but a perfboard wouldn't be too hard.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


The demo sounds a bit too band limited for me - nice and tight tho because of it. Cool but might be too niche. On the other hand it would probably take the modulation very well because of that. I'll try to remember this one and look out for a MadBean board; it's just a little too big for me to be arsed with tagboarding it. ... also I have so many other projects in the queue, including a few tagboard ones.


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## zztomato (Nov 19, 2010)

My favourite- the Rotobone is the _shit_!!! Tornita is also way cool.


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## Okay Player (May 24, 2020)

Here's what I've currently got in terms of fuzz':










I also had an EQD Hoof, and EHX Green Russian Big Muff (the newer nano sized one). I probably should have kept the Muff, but I got a really good offer on it and it's not like I can't get another one if I want. Hawaiian Pizza and Octafuzz are my 2 favourites of the bunch.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Granny Gremlin said:


> The demo sounds a bit too band limited for me - nice and tight tho because of it. Cool but might be too niche. On the other hand it would probably take the modulation very well because of that. I'll try to remember this one and look out for a MadBean board; it's just a little too big for me to be arsed with tagboarding it. ... also I have so many other projects in the queue, including a few tagboard ones.


I realize it's popular with many, but I avoid tagboard/vero/stripboard like the plague. I find the layouts hard to mentally translate into signal flow, which makes troubleshooting difficult. Plus they tend to take up more space than they really need to, and modding is more awkward.

When the Crashsync sweeps the pulse width it's a really nice filter-sweep effect.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Okay Player said:


> Hmmm. Any specific suggestions worth checking out?


When you come over to pick up your Bubblator, bring one of your Big Muffs or clones. I'll let you try my Muff mods on my pedals, and you can decide if it improves things. And if you think it does, we can do the mods to your pedal right then and there.


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## Granny Gremlin (Jun 3, 2016)

mhammer said:


> I realize it's popular with many, but I avoid tagboard/vero/stripboard like the plague. I find the layouts hard to mentally translate into signal flow, which makes troubleshooting difficult. Plus they tend to take up more space than they really need to, and modding is more awkward.


Exactly. That's why I only do small/simple circuits with tagboard/vero.


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## Okay Player (May 24, 2020)

mhammer said:


> When you come over to pick up your Bubblator, bring one of your Big Muffs or clones. I'll let you try my Muff mods on my pedals, and you can decide if it improves things. And if you think it does, we can do the mods to your pedal right then and there.


For the time being I'm without either of the pedals in question, but I'm sure one will come across my path again.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

No problem. You can still try out my modded muffs and see if the mods do something you consider useful.


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## Okay Player (May 24, 2020)

mhammer said:


> No problem. You can still try out my modded muffs and see if the mods do something you consider useful.


Sounds like a plan to me.


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## Okay Player (May 24, 2020)

I picked up a Fender Blender this week. This my friends, this is an interesting pedal. Of course the backwards input/output jacks are annoying but not an insurmountable issue.


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## fretzel (Aug 8, 2014)

Fuzz is definitely a journey. Not only are there so many different flavors of fuzz but so many factors come into play. Amp, pickups, volume level. Does it clean up when you back off your guitar? How does it stack. Does it play well with other pedals, etc?

Really like the Carcosa, EHX Germanium IV, Fender Pelt, Fuzz God 3 and the Keeley Mas Malo. While the Keeley isn't a fuzz per se, it can get you pretty close. Some nice ZZ tones in there.


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## Okay Player (May 24, 2020)

Alex said:


> I’ve recently purchased a JAM Pedal Rattler which is a distortion unit and based on a RAT. It really blew me away. It gets close to fuzz tones and my search for fuzz units continues but for now, the Rattler is going on my board.


I ended up coming across an inexpensive Rat 2 on Kijiji today and I'm honestly shocked by how good it is. I currently have the Distortion way up, and the filter backed off. How are you running your Rattler?


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## Alex (Feb 11, 2006)

Okay Player said:


> I ended up coming across an inexpensive Rat 2 on Kijiji today and I'm honestly shocked by how good it is. I currently have the Distortion way up, and the filter backed off. How are you running your Rattler?


The Rattler is first in the chain/loop followed by two overdrive units; one set for lead and one set for boost/medium OD and lead when both footswitches are engaged. Rattler (loop 1) - Nordland ODR (loop 2) - Protein (loop 3). I use a Quartermaster looper which keeps everything quiet and minimizes the tap dancing.


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## matt-griffin (Jan 17, 2021)

I absolutely went down a fuzz hole in 2020, and I’ve yet to return. Here’s a brief summary:

Fairfield Unpleasant Surprise: had been plying this for some time. Fun, weird, noisy fuzz, and surprisingly versatile. But wanted to start the tone quest and get away from gated.
Analogman Sunface, 2N germanium: went for the best straight out of the gate. Big and wooly, and really opened my eyes to volume knob cleanup and the world of tone available there. I love the way that the tone brightens up as the gain rolls off. But ... was still looking for more cutting lead tone and sustain and wanted to check out tone benders.
Thorpy FX Fallout Cloud: brief diversion into muff world when this showed up used at a local shop the one time I popped in during Covid times. It is definitely the finest muff clone I’ve played. But taught me muffs are not for me. Too much mid scooping, too smooth and regular in the gain structure, not enough character.
Analogman Sunbender MKIV: my first tone bender and holy moley, this thing rips. The MKIV has the lead tone I had in my head, with long singing sustain, and the tone knob is super versatile. But ... not much cleanup to speak of. You can’t have everything!
Chase Bliss / ZVEZ Bliss Factory: these came up as a limited deal on Reverb and I grabbed one before everything went sideways. This is what’s currently on my board. It’s very versatile. As a straight fuzz face it does great wooly tones, it can get wild and crazy like a fuzz factory can, and get some pretty cutting lead tones, but never achieves the serious long sustain and mid focus of the tone bender. The LPF is seriously cool, though.
Union Tube and Transistor Tour Bender: gain of a tone bender with the cleanup of a fuzz face? This one is in the mail and I’m hoping it’s the compromise I’ve been looking for. Fingers crossed! If not I may be going back to the MKIV because I just can’t get that tone out of my head.


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## keto (May 23, 2006)

fretzel said:


> Fuzz is definitely a journey. Not only are there so many different flavors of fuzz but so many factors come into play. Amp, pickups, volume level. Does it clean up when you back off your guitar? How does it stack. Does it play well with other pedals, etc?
> 
> Really like the Carcosa, EHX Germanium IV, Fender Pelt, Fuzz God 3 and the Keeley Mas Malo. While the Keeley isn't a fuzz per se, it can get you pretty close. Some nice ZZ tones in there.


I forgot and found my Carcosa the other day, I’ll have to run it again now that I have a guitar again. I enjoyed it and had it on my board a long time on bass, I loved how it could go OD/tight to big and angry.


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## cbg1 (Mar 27, 2012)

Thread came along at the right time... I salvaged the fuzz section from a Roland double beat years ago. I was going to go the pedal box to find it but got side tracked.... will try and dig that up tomorrow :


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## fretzel (Aug 8, 2014)

keto said:


> I forgot and found my Carcosa the other day, I loved how it could go OD/tight to big and angry.


I think it is a good fuzz that most would enjoy. Especially when you consider how difficult it can be to find 'your' fuzz. Priced right too.


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## Okay Player (May 24, 2020)

cbg1 said:


> Thread came along at the right time... I salvaged the fuzz section from a Roland double beat years ago. I was going to go the pedal box to find it but got side tracked.... will try and dig that up tomorrow :


I don't know what any of that is, but it sounds interesting and I hope to hear/see more.


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## Okay Player (May 24, 2020)

Anyone have any insight on what pricing on the Boss Waza Tone Bender is going to look like?


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

cbg1 said:


> Thread came along at the right time... I salvaged the fuzz section from a Roland double beat years ago. I was going to go the pedal box to find it but got side tracked.... will try and dig that up tomorrow :


The double beat is a *terrific* fuzz. Boss really should have reissued it as a Waza pedal. I made one and added three additional modes, because I had a 6-way rotary switch. Sold it to a guy in Vancouver, but preserved it for posterity here:


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## Seance (Jun 18, 2018)

mhammer said:


> John Hollis' Crash Sync
> 
> This is a pretty decent demo of the basic Crash Sync. Adding the pulse-width modulation capabilities only improves it.


I have a Your and You're made by Montreal Assembly (also based on the Crash Sync). 
Very fun pedal.


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## Paul Running (Apr 12, 2020)

Has anybody experimented with Ge transistors, specifically the AC 128. I was looking at a basic fuzz circuit that I am considering in breadboarding. Any thoughts about this design?


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

It's both hard and easy to go wrong with a Fuzz Face. Hard to go wrong because it is a proven time-tested design. Easy to go wrong because the transistors have to play along, and at this point in electronics history, with all your best players injured and out of play, the only players left on the bench are your 2nd and 3rd string players. Not that they *can't* make a great-sounding fuzz. Rather, the designated component values are predicated on expected properties of those two transistors, and if the transistors do not meet those criteria, the surrounding component values will require some tinkering.

That said, if you have scored some suitable AC128s (and some places, like Small Bear, sell tested-and-sorted pairs), I will recommend the following:

1) There should be a terminating resistor on the input to avoid switch-popping.

2) Many manufacturers are now incorporating charge-pump chips in pedals, so that a standard +9VDC supply can be used and converted to a -9VDC supply, internally.

3) Two decades back, Joe Gagan had a great idea of introducing variable bass content at the input. Works just like the Reverend/G&L Contour/Bass control. Two input caps in parallel - a larger and a smaller value, like 2u2 and 22nf. The larger value has a 500k variable resistor/pot in series, providing variable bypass for the full-bandwidth signal that includes bass. Maximum pot resistance gets a thinner sound.

4) The 100k resistance between Q2 emitter and Q1 base is selected to give a robust throaty fuzz. If one increases the resistance noticeably beyond 100k, one starts to move into the region of more glitchy "zipper" tones. I first stumbled onto this in the ZVex Wooly Mammoth pedal, which is a silicon Fuzz Face optimized for use with bass. Zach used a 500k pot, from what I understand, though 250k additional resistance beyond the stock 100k will get you a nice range of sounds. Note that, since the feedback resistance to Q1, and the Gain pot form a sort of voltage-divider for AC, the feedback resistance and Gain control interact, as is amply demonstrated by the video. The "Jenny" fuzz is a clone of the Jen Fuzz III, which is, in turn, a version of the Tonebender Pro Mk II, which is essentially a silicon Fuzz Face with an input buffer. The little slide switch in the video adds another 100k or so beyond the stock 150k. Not quite as "spitty" as the Mammoth, but some may prefer that.


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## mrfiftyfour (Jun 29, 2008)

My fuzz journey started with a black Russian Big Muff.
It was great for solos, but I couldn't fit it in anywhere else.
I still have it, but in need of repair. Never had a pedal disintegrate like this one has.
I believe it's worth some money on the used market.
I have been using fuzztortions like the Distortion+ and Rat for most of my playing years. 
I have an Earthquaker Devices Erupter that I think is just awesome for a one knob fuzz.
As a pre-Valentines day gift from my wife, I just got a SolidgoldFX Communication Breakdown.
It's a double pedal with a Tonebender MK 1.5 on one side with a MK 2 on the other. Can be used separately or together.
Super chewy fuzz and great dynamics, especially on the 1.5 side.
Lots of modern appointments to make the pedal very versatile. 
Check this one out


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