How are you guys using fuzz pedals?

dcburn mk.ii

dcburn mk.ii

Well-known member
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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If you're going into a dirty amp, try turning the Volume full up, and add in the fuzz as needed. Go wah> fuzz> everything else.
 
These definitely excel going in to an already overdriven amp; kinda shit on cleans


Have you tried running it in to the amp by itself (no other pedals)?
 
Devin said:
These definitely excel going in to an already overdriven amp; kinda shit on cleans


Have you tried running it in to the amp by itself (no other pedals)?
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Devin,
Actually I haven't.
From what I read before I received it, I didn't think that was completely necessary.
I know it seems opinions go either way pre or post vibe...

I can easily try that though and will.
 
Yeah I only mention it because they are kind of sensitive and running it alone would at least allow you to know for sure if you dig the tone of the pedal itself


When I do run mine (well, mine is a Sobbat FB-1R which is basically just a MIJ germanium sunface) with other pedals I always plug my guitar straight in to the fuzz

They also sound best with the amp volume cranked up enough to start cookin IMO
 
Devin said:
Oh also, power it off a shitty carbon zinc battery (like Dollar General brand or whatever) if you aren't already

This really does make a pretty big difference
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I have read that.
I am powering it with my OneSpot Pro.
I have a few batteries though.
 
The BC183 is a silicon transistor ...

It shouldn't have the issues a germanium one can give you ....

I agree with you have to find a balance between the amps gain and the pedals gain .... unfortunately that usually leaves your amp setting for only that one sound ...
 
Yeah, I don't want or have the need to set my amp for just this one pedal, I'd rather sell it then and apologize to my wife lol
I may not be a fuzz fella! lol
Maybe put it on my "bullpen" board and use it with my Princeton...
 
I've built several Germanium Fuzz Face clones ..... a bunch of Tone Benders too ...

also my share of silicon variants ..... they all needed " that special set up " to get to that magical sounding point ...

when you get them dialed they are just plain awesome .... but I found you always have to give up a part of your regular sound to use them

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
 
I recently got into fuzzes- they are a different beast entirely, but super cool in the right contect. I don't like the 'wall of fuzz' but really dig it as an overdrive with some fur/ saturation goin' on into a moderately overdriven amp.

Make sure you don't have any buffered pedals in front of the fuzz. And even though it is a silicon fuzz the battery DOES make a difference- at least it did with my Dunlop Hendrix fuzz.

Analogman is a really well-regarded in the fuzz world, so you have a quality pedal.
 
griff10672 said:
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
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Agreed- a fuzz is really interactive with the guitar volume. Back it down to clean up the fuzz, and you'll fine a lot of 'shades' depending on where you run your volume.
 
I’ve also been getting into fuzzes a bit more lately and they are definitely finicky beasts. It’s also worth trying the SD-1 into the fuzz. That is a really cool way to run a fuzz.
 
Fuzz pedals tend to work best as the first pedal in your chain. Part of the magic of a fuzz is in the direct interaction between the fuzz and your pickups. They are sensitive to the impedance of the pickups, which changes with guitar volume knob swells, heavy handed attack, all that stuff. If you put the fuzz later in the chain, you effectively put buffers between the fuzz and the pickups, so you lose the direct interaction and the really cool stuff that happens with fuzzes is no longer possible.

Also fuzzes usually don't work well with active pickups because of an active pickup's built-in preamp.
 
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TheGreatGreen said:
Fuzz pedals tend to work best as the first pedal in your chain. Part of the magic of a fuzz is in the direct interaction between the fuzz and your pickups. If you put them later in the chain, that magic kind of goes away.

Also they usually don't work well with active pickups at all because of an active pickup's built-in preamp.
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Thorpy has a Fuzz Pedal now that has a transformer inside that replicates your pick ups .... it's suppose to negate all that ....

https://reverb.com/item/75660989-thorpyfx-tacit-blue-fuzz-pedal?bk=

It's a modified Germanium Fuzz face
 
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