Fuzz pedals, what are you using?

[AmpliFIRE]

The WHSP is a GREAT fuzz IMO....so is the Little Big Muff. The KR Gypsy Fuzz is great as well...

 

[cibyl]

Had one of these for a minute -- just wasn't for me. Either it was too scooped sounding, ultra bassy or just harsh.

Best sounding Fuzz I've ever played through was a FoxRox Hot Silicon Fuzz. Really nice, thick fuzz tones -- wish I would have kept it. Hopefully I can score another one some day.

 

[crowguitar]

I love this Tonefactor Ultralord Fuzz.. Discontinued now but I thought its a great pedal. Can go from lightly fuzzed to crazy noise mayhem!

 

[jonny toetags]

Had one of these for a minute -- just wasn't for me. Either it was too scooped sounding, ultra bassy or just harsh.

Best sounding Fuzz I've ever played through was a FoxRox Hot Silicon Fuzz. Really nice, thick fuzz tones -- wish I would have kept it. Hopefully I can score another one some day.

You have some cool pedals cibyl....I still remember that pic of your pedals all on the floor and the Reeves. Sexy!

 

[stratotone]

I still say roll your own with a BYOC kit - a fuzz is so simple you'll be pissed off every time you see one for sale for more than $100.

Pete

 

[cibyl]

Had one of these for a minute -- just wasn't for me. Either it was too scooped sounding, ultra bassy or just harsh.

Best sounding Fuzz I've ever played through was a FoxRox Hot Silicon Fuzz. Really nice, thick fuzz tones -- wish I would have kept it. Hopefully I can score another one some day.

You have some cool pedals cibyl....I still remember that pic of your pedals all on the floor and the Reeves. Sexy!

Haha -- I have too many pedals, amps, guitars. I'm outta control.

 

[blackba]

Haha -- I have too many pedals, amps, guitars. I'm outta control.

Join the club

 

[gtrwun]

I use a Fulltone 70's pedal when I want a different flavor for a solo. Great pedal. I think you dont here a lot of fuzz talk on here cause it seems a lot of guys on here are into modded Marshalls and the variants, which are already full of gain. To me, a fuzz sounds best on a cleaner type amp, or maybe slightly overdriven.

 

[blackba]

Heard great things about the swollen pickle. The name is great too

The Pickle is great.
It gets a lot of flack because it's machine made, but I find my buddy's Pickle sounds better than my Musket.

edited.

Can you describe what you liked better about the pickle over the musket? I really liked the green russian big muff pi I had, so I thought the musket would be perfect, being as it is more flexible. The clips of the musket sound like what I am looking for. I need to find some clips of the pickle....

 

[jonny toetags]

Heard great things about the swollen pickle. The name is great too

The Pickle is great.
It gets a lot of flack because it's machine made, but I find my buddy's Pickle sounds better than my Musket.

edited.

Can you describe what you liked better about the pickle over the musket? I really liked the green russian big muff pi I had, so I thought the musket would be perfect, being as it is more flexible. The clips of the musket sound like what I am looking for. I need to find some clips of the pickle....

My favorite Big Muffs are old big box ones from the 70's/80's.
The Musket is a great pedal. It's well built, sounds great and very tweakable....i just find it sounds very 'modern'. And at sometimes it's even too tweakable.
I don't find it captures the old EHx tone.
The EHx Big Muff with Tone wicker does the old Muff tone better, imo, as does the Swollen Pickle.
That said, I like having the Musket around, i just don't use it when i want that vintage Big Muff tone.

 

[Telephant]

I've gone through a ton of fuzzes. I currently have:

Foxrox HOt Silicon
Analogman Sunface NKT275
Zvex Fuzz Factory
Roger Mayer Axis Fuzz
Frantone Peach Fuzz
Modded Russian Big Muff
Chicago Iron Octavian
Red Witch Fuzz God II

...And a few more I'm forgetting. I tried the RI Swollen PIckle and it fixes what I dont like about most Big Muffs: Way too scooped and muddy sounding. You can tweak the mids on so it really cuts through. For me though, I've learned that Muffs sound great for raunchy rhythm (think Melvins) but they really fall short for lead tones IMO. Which is where the Fuzz Face type excells.

My favorites are the Foxrox and the Sunface. The Sunface is killer for rhythm when you roll back your guitar volume a few notches. It creates a massive crunch, and with the volume full up its a huge singing lead tone that sustains forever.

I love the Fuzz Factory as well but its not very traditional sounding... You can tweak to sound similar sounding but it's way more aggressive. It's awesome for industrial/NIN sounds and cool velcro-ish and sputtering tones.

The Red Witch is really similar to the Fuzz Factory but a lot smoother.

Currently I use my Chicago Iron the most. It's like my secret weapon. I have the version where you can turn off the octave. the switch on my Foxrox gimped out almost a year ago and I havent fixed it yet. I need to though, because it used to be the end all be all of fuzzes for me.

 

[lordriffenstein]

I own and love the FoxRox Captain Coconut II, great fuzz and with different fuzz cards, you can switch them out and get a lot of different tones.

 

[slo100]

Over on the TGP, fuzz pedals often brought up, here on RT they are rarely mentioned. I am looking to get a SI fuzz face (Hartman BC108) and Big Muff type (Blackout Effectors Musket) fuzzes in the future. I may order the Musket today even.

Just curious what fuzzes you guys are using and how much you use them? If you use a multi-effects device, feel free to chime in....

If you use humbuckers the Hartman si or any other Fuzz Face style wouldn't be the best choice. Stick with Big Muff types or even better 2-knob Tonebender types

 

[blackba]

Over on the TGP, fuzz pedals often brought up, here on RT they are rarely mentioned. I am looking to get a SI fuzz face (Hartman BC108) and Big Muff type (Blackout Effectors Musket) fuzzes in the future. I may order the Musket today even.

Just curious what fuzzes you guys are using and how much you use them? If you use a multi-effects device, feel free to chime in....

If you use humbuckers the Hartman si or any other Fuzz Face style wouldn't be the best choice. Stick with Big Muff types or even better 2-knob Tonebender types

Thanks for the tip. I mainly play strats or Les Pauls. Any humbucker I have can be split, so I always have that option.

I do have a Hartman BC108 fuzz on the way.

 

[blackba]

My favorite Big Muffs are old big box ones from the 70's/80's.
The Musket is a great pedal. It's well built, sounds great and very tweakable....i just find it sounds very 'modern'. And at sometimes it's even too tweakable.
I don't find it captures the old EHx tone.
The EHx Big Muff with Tone wicker does the old Muff tone better, imo, as does the Swollen Pickle.
That said, I like having the Musket around, i just don't use it when i want that vintage Big Muff tone.

Thanks for the comments. The Big Muff Pi's I have owned are the green russian and NYC reissue. I preferred the Green russian, but stupidly sold that and then sold the NYC. I used to run my Maxon OD808 into the muffs to get more mids and help them cut a bit better. I think a modern muff tone would be fine for me, so I think I will still give the Musket a go, once its back in stock.

 

[jonny toetags]

My favorite Big Muffs are old big box ones from the 70's/80's.
The Musket is a great pedal. It's well built, sounds great and very tweakable....i just find it sounds very 'modern'. And at sometimes it's even too tweakable.
I don't find it captures the old EHx tone.
The EHx Big Muff with Tone wicker does the old Muff tone better, imo, as does the Swollen Pickle.
That said, I like having the Musket around, i just don't use it when i want that vintage Big Muff tone.

I think a modern muff tone would be fine for me, so I think I will still give the Musket a go, once its back in stock.

It's a great pedal.
And if you are getting it new it will most likely be the V2 with the updated mids.

 

[blackba]

Got my Hartman BC108 fuzz in and tried it last night. It sounds great, was doing some Pink Floyd, it was great. I hope I can find a Musket V2 in stock soon.

One critical question came up though. When I was in a band where we both had green big muff pedals, we never used them at the same time, too much fuzz. For those in 2 guitar bands, how do you handle the fuzz tones? Is it generally advisable for only one person to use a fuzz at a time (unless one is doing leads)?

 

[jonny toetags]

Got my Hartman BC108 fuzz in and tried it last night. It sounds great, was doing some Pink Floyd, it was great. I hope I can find a Musket V2 in stock soon.

One critical question came up though. When I was in a band where we both had green big muff pedals, we never used them at the same time, too much fuzz. For those in 2 guitar bands, how do you handle the fuzz tones? Is it generally advisable for only one person to use a fuzz at a time (unless one is doing leads)?

Muffs are mid scooped and aren't the best in band situations.
The only way to make them sound good is to hit them with a TS type OD or an EQ.

 

[Telephant]

Over on the TGP, fuzz pedals often brought up, here on RT they are rarely mentioned. I am looking to get a SI fuzz face (Hartman BC108) and Big Muff type (Blackout Effectors Musket) fuzzes in the future. I may order the Musket today even.

Just curious what fuzzes you guys are using and how much you use them? If you use a multi-effects device, feel free to chime in....

If you use humbuckers the Hartman si or any other Fuzz Face style wouldn't be the best choice. Stick with Big Muff types or even better 2-knob Tonebender types

I'd agree with this if we're talking about super high output humbuckers. But with anything under 14k my fuzzes sound glorious with my humbuckers. I took the JB out of my Les Paul's bridge because it was a little too hot for my fuzz (16k). I went down to a 13k pickup and it greatly improved the sound. Most of my humbuckers are n the 9k range though.

 

[Telephant]

Is it generally advisable for only one person to use a fuzz at a time (unless one is doing leads)?

Yes and no. If you're both running fuzz I would dial back the gain on the fuzz because in this case, less is more. You will still get the massive rhythm sound without being overly fuzzy. One guitar with a nice fat crunch and another with a huge fuzz sound always sound massive together though.