How are you guys using fuzz pedals?

I really like the DOD Carcosa. Covers a lot of range. It just sounds good.
I like Big Muff pedals too. Pretty much like most fuzz pedals. Fuzz can mean a lot of things. It can get pretty extreme. Some amps can do fuzz with no pedals. Anyone into the Fuzz Factory ?
 
Sagging the voltage on the power supply is an option too. If you got a sag knob, find the right dying battery voltage for some sweet splatty goodness.
 
Sagging the voltage on the power supply is an option too. If you got a sag knob, find the right dying battery voltage for some sweet splatty goodness.
No sag knob.
My Barbershop has a sag knob, but not currently on my board.
 
No sag knob.
My Barbershop has a sag knob, but not currently on my board.
I used to run a FF style pedal on my bass board. I'd sag the voltage to 6 or 7 volts with a Voodoo Labs PP2+ and get some neat splatter. Then I got into Zvex pedals. Most of his fuzz builds have a knob to control the voltage into the pedal to get that sound.
 
I used to run a FF style pedal on my bass board. I'd sag the voltage to 6 or 7 volts with a Voodoo Labs PP2+ and get some neat splatter. Then I got into Zvex pedals. Most of his fuzz builds have a knob to control the voltage into the pedal to get that sound.
I know the Sundial knob is used for temp control and battery voltage loss if I read that correctly?
 
Just played roughly an hour with it.
It rips!
Sounds great with my delay and reverb, still not sold on it going into my vibe though.
Guitar full on it sounds great, rolling volume back it’s ok.
I like my OD’s rolled back much better. But that may be more of the amp character coming thru?

I can see why folks enjoy these.

Also, guitar full on and put switch into last position (Eldred mod) for that cocked wah sound, it’s ridiculous!
 
On a Ge Sunface when you roll back the volume knob you get some of the raddest clean toane ever

Might be a totally different ballgame with silicon
 
On a Ge Sunface when you roll back the volume knob you get some of the raddest clean toane ever

Might be a totally different ballgame with silicon
Devin
I have a feeling sooner rather than later I am going to order a Germanium version with the same options.
Seeing as I felt I should have originally, and my love of my Mythical OD in the Germanium setting…

But I feel much better about this one today. Man it rips!
Finally had more time with it.

Work, second gig trucking to Jersey once a week, Boy Scouts and my youngest’ last season of Little League now starting, it’s been a little hectic!
 
Devin
I have a feeling sooner rather than later I am going to order a Germanium version with the same options.
Seeing as I felt I should have originally, and my love of my Mythical OD in the Germanium setting…

But I feel much better about this one today. Man it rips!
Finally had more time with it.

Work, second gig trucking to Jersey once a week, Boy Scouts and my youngest’ last season of Little League now starting, it’s been a little hectic!
See if he still makes the BART. Had big Russian Germanium transistors.
 
The wife purchased me an Anoloman Sunface BC183 for my birthday. Has all the bells and whistles, meaning clean knob and Sundial and LED.
Its my first fuzz.
I went with the BC183 on Mikes recommendation after telling him I play dirty Marshall clones.
P90 equipped guitars.
Not really getting on with it, kind of sick of always dicking with the knobs.
Not into the noise if you crank the fuzz.

Ive tried unplugging my wah and put my tuner after it.
Have it going into a Deja Vibe, then VS Mythical OD, Analogman modded SD-1…
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Man there was a time where this was THE damn fuzz to get. I had one for a good while and lived it.

Not really sure why I sold it.

I generally always run fuzz into a crunchy broken up tone and just add as much gnarly as I want.
 
The guys that tend to make these sound the best to me are those old school one channel amp guys that use the Volume on the guitar to manipulate their tone

The early fuzzes generally have low input impedance, so they load the (relatively) low output pickups of the era. That means they're extremely reactive to the guitar output and volume changes. That's part of what makes them so finicky with equipment too, but also what makes them so interactive in the right setup.

The later ones have buffers which gets rid of some of the finickness but also looses a bit of that interactive nature. The Big Muff PI is a good example of that. That's probably why it sounds a lot more like what we'd later term a distortion pedal.

I do find both distortion and fuzz a little difficult to work with outside of NMV amplifiers myself. I've built a few dozen of them over the years for fun. You can get a pretty good sounding tiny little fuzz with a single 2N3904 and a couple of diodes in the feedback path, and with a beta of 300 or so, plenty of gain if you design it right.
 
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