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Question about fuzz pedals?


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I've always been more of an overdrive guy than a fuzz dude, y'know? Even back in the day, when fuzz pedals were all there were, I always tried to get a less distorted tone out of the ones I had.

But recently, I've heard some pleasing tonalities on the other end of the spectrum, kind of a ripping, tearing sort of sound that for lack of a better description, craps out as it dies.

I think I want to buy a fuzz pedal, but I want the most distorted, sour-sounding, rip-roaring, ear-offending, rawest, disgusting fuzz out there. I don't want it to be capable of producing even a hint of sweetness. No stinky ant bugle fizz either.

What do our experts in sonic mayhem & destruction recommend?

Always remember that you are unique. Just like everyone else.

 

 

 

 

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Hehhehhehh... I actually have one of these. Sounds like the smell of burning steel; indelibly stains the core tone of any otherwise decent and good sounding overdrive or distortion pedals that you might stack it into, or any clean, overdriven or distorted tube-amp. Kreeky weirdo fuzz. It will NOT "clean up" with your volume-control or your "touch". It's just WRONG. Made in Australia (I think- or maybe Japan?), I was not only fortunate enough to find one used in the US on Reverb, but also for a pretty reasonable price.

 

The Octavella Upper Octave Feeedback Fuzz, from Lastgasp Art Laboratories:

 

[video:youtube]

Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do?

 

~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~

_ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _

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Doing a little searchin', that Octavella that I posted about above here looks to be extremely scarce right now... sorry!

 

HEY- How did I forget?! Check out offerings here from Frank the Anvil (Frank Trofe) on Reverb; I have two fuzzes he made, one is the "Hey, Buddy!", based on the vintage Japanese Shin-ei FY-2 Fuzz pedals, and the other is one he custom made for me with cool custom graphics for dirt cheap, I feel he undercharged me and I owe him. He currently has a "Hey, Buddy!" listed there on Reverb, and a Fuz'd, that is a vintage Fender Blender Clone. I think that you would really dig the Fuz'd, given your mission-statement described above. His prices are so low that you could buy BOTH of those fuzzes and still wouldn't have spent what a lot of fuzzelry is going for these days...

Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do?

 

~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~

_ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _

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About 50 years ago when I was a teen living with Mom and Dad, I bought a Realistic stereo preamp for magnetic turntable cartridge, 2 RCA to 1/4" phone jack adapters and an RCA to RCA audio cable. I think all that junk was under $10. The preamp was a small black box with 4 RCA jacks - L & R inputs and outputs - and an AC cord for wall power.

 

I plugged my 65 Telecaster (metalflake purple with a green woodgrain contact paper covered pick guard) into the input of the left channel, used the RCA to RCA cable to go from the left channel output to the right channel input and then put the second RCA to 1/4" adapter on the right channel output and plugged it into my amp. This was beyond fuzz, if you filled a gigantic Waring blender with all the animals of the jungle and hit Frappe that might come close.

 

Plus, no knobs or adjustments, you could not coax a clean sound out of it. The bridge pickup was microphonic and then a G note an octave above the open G string would appear, playing other notes would cause 2 notes to come out that made no sense, with one of them descending and the other ascending. I realized later that I'd inadvertently created the worlds most distorted ring modulator.

 

My parents hated it, one day I came home from school and it was nowhere to be found. I'd run out of nightmare sounds to inflict on the world by then so I didn't really care and never got another one.

 

You might have fun with something like that, 2 cheap transistor gain stages pushed beyond square waves. No footswitch, no adjustments, you are either all-in or you are nothing. :)

 

Other than that I used a Bazz Box, a Fuzz Face, a Big Muff and a RAT. Of those, I liked the RAT the best but it's probably too smooth and musical for what you are seeking.

 

I recently bought a Roland Spirit 15 amp that has an "overdrive" jack that is pretty gnarly and the 8" speaker enhances the ugliness nicely.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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About 50 years ago when I was a teen living with Mom and Dad, I bought a Realistic stereo preamp for magnetic turntable cartridge, 2 RCA to 1/4" phone jack adapters and an RCA to RCA audio cable. I think all that junk was under $10. The preamp was a small black box with 4 RCA jacks - L & R inputs and outputs - and an AC cord for wall power.

 

I plugged my 65 Telecaster (metalflake purple with a green woodgrain contact paper covered pick guard) into the input of the left channel, used the RCA to RCA cable to go from the left channel output to the right channel input and then put the second RCA to 1/4" adapter on the right channel output and plugged it into my amp. This was beyond fuzz, if you filled a gigantic Waring blender with all the animals of the jungle and hit Frappe that might come close.

 

Plus, no knobs or adjustments, you could not coax a clean sound out of it. The bridge pickup was microphonic and then a G note an octave above the open G string would appear, playing other notes would cause 2 notes to come out that made no sense, with one of them descending and the other ascending. I realized later that I'd inadvertently created the worlds most distorted ring modulator.

 

My parents hated it, one day I came home from school and it was nowhere to be found. I'd run out of nightmare sounds to inflict on the world by then so I didn't really care and never got another one.

 

You might have fun with something like that, 2 cheap transistor gain stages pushed beyond square waves. No footswitch, no adjustments, you are either all-in or you are nothing. :)

 

Other than that I used a Bazz Box, a Fuzz Face, a Big Muff and a RAT. Of those, I liked the RAT the best but it's probably too smooth and musical for what you are seeking.

 

I recently bought a Roland Spirit 15 amp that has an "overdrive" jack that is pretty gnarly and the 8" speaker enhances the ugliness nicely.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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If you want an unapologetic Fuzz tone, in a compact pedal, I highly recommend Fuzzhugger - Fuzzhugger Algal Bloom

 

If you want some even nastier, the Subdecay Harmonic Antagonizer is your friend. It has a built-in Oscillator that blends with the extreme Fuzz. Evil-sounding.

 

For a budget Fuzzbox that will deliver unbelievably ugly sounds, look no further than the Behringer Super Fuzz. It's Behringer's copy of the discontinued Boss FZ-2 Hyper Fuzz, which sells for a few hundred bucks on Ebay, if you can find one. For $25, you almost can't afford NOT to get one. The Fuzz 2 setting is like nothing you've ever heard before, unless you collect old Shortwave Radios and run them through Amps with blown speakers with everything dimed out.

 

I have to mention the classic MXR Blue Box. No Ant Bugle sounds here, more like Godzilla or King Kong with intestinal distress. They're readily available, you might even find a good, clean used one at a yard sale price.

"Monsters are real, and Ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win." Stephen King

 

http://www.novparolo.com

 

https://thewinstonpsmithproject.bandcamp.com

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I have to mention the classic MXR Blue Box. No Ant Bugle sounds here, more like Godzilla or King Kong with intestinal distress. They're readily available, you might even find a good, clean used one at a yard sale price.

 

I love the Blue Box, but in light of the following...

 

I want the most distorted, sour-sounding, rip-roaring, ear-offending, rawest, disgusting fuzz out there. I don't want it to be capable of producing even a hint of sweetness.

 

...I present for your consideration, Jimmy Page's sweet solo from Led Zeppelin's "Fool in the Rain", starting here at about 3:50... ;)

 

[video:youtube]

 

Wampler Velvet Fuzz. Its a fuzz for people who don't like fuzz.

 

Great pedal, but actually very smooth and lovely... you can stack another aggressive fuzz into the Velvet Fuzz to smooth it out! :crazy:

Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do?

 

~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~

_ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _

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But recently, I've heard some pleasing tonalities on the other end of the spectrum, kind of a ripping, tearing sort of sound that for lack of a better description, craps out as it dies.

 

I think I want to buy a fuzz pedal, but I want the most distorted, sour-sounding, rip-roaring, ear-offending, rawest, disgusting fuzz out there. I don't want it to be capable of producing even a hint of sweetness. No stinky ant bugle fizz either.

What do our experts in sonic mayhem & destruction recommend?

 

Going back to the section I've highlighted (red-lighted?), that description makes me think there's either a Gate effect involved, or a Sag effect, like the sound of an old-school Fuzz with a dying battery. If you have a Voodoo Lab PP2+, you could experiment with a Fuzz plugged into one of the Sag Outputs, starving it for voltage?

"Monsters are real, and Ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win." Stephen King

 

http://www.novparolo.com

 

https://thewinstonpsmithproject.bandcamp.com

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I've always been more of an overdrive guy than a fuzz dude, y'know? Even back in the day, when fuzz pedals were all there were, I always tried to get a less distorted tone out of the ones I had.

But recently, I've heard some pleasing tonalities on the other end of the spectrum, kind of a ripping, tearing sort of sound that for lack of a better description, craps out as it dies.

I think I want to buy a fuzz pedal, but I want the most distorted, sour-sounding, rip-roaring, ear-offending, rawest, disgusting fuzz out there. I don't want it to be capable of producing even a hint of sweetness. No stinky ant bugle fizz either.

What do our experts in sonic mayhem & destruction recommend?

 

 

Did someone sayâ¦FUZZ?

 

I can"t post freely at the moment, but I have many suggestions I"ll post later!

 

That said, I"ll point out that companies like Death By Audio, IdiotBox, Fuzzhugger, Black Arts Toneworks, Dr Scientist, Spaceman Effects, Devi Ever and others make/made some sick fuzz pedals that may be right up your alley.

Sturgeon's 2nd Law, a.k.a. Sturgeon's Revelation: âNinety percent of everything is crapâ

 

My FLMS- Murphy's Music in Irving, Tx

 

http://murphysmusictx.com/

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In no particular order, some suggestions from:

 

Fuzzhugger

[video:youtube]

[video:youtube]

[video:youtube]

 

 

Dwarfcraft/Devi Ever:

 

[video:youtube]

 

 

Spaceman Effects:

 

[video:youtube]

 

 

Death By Audio:

 

[video:youtube]

[video:youtube]

 

 

SolidgoldFX:

 

[video:youtube]

 

 

Black Arts Toneworks:

 

[video:youtube]

[video:youtube]

 

Note: if you like those BAT also made a dual fuzz pedal called the Sarcophagus, which is made of a LSTR and a Pharaoh circuit in the same housing. You can choose to use neither, either, sending the LSTER into the Pharaohâ¦or vice versa.

 

 

IdiotBox:

 

 

 

Wren & Cuff

 

 

 

Third Man Records/Gamechanger Audio

 

 

 

Godlyke:

 

 

 

Note: I do not own ALL of these fuzzes, but I do own several of themâ¦and others besides. Those I don"t own are probably somewhere on my G.A.S. list. (Also including fuzzes not listed.)

Sturgeon's 2nd Law, a.k.a. Sturgeon's Revelation: âNinety percent of everything is crapâ

 

My FLMS- Murphy's Music in Irving, Tx

 

http://murphysmusictx.com/

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Gonna post this here and in the cool effects thread:

 

[video:youtube]

 

(This is based on the same pedal as the Wren & Cuff I mentioned above.)

Sturgeon's 2nd Law, a.k.a. Sturgeon's Revelation: âNinety percent of everything is crapâ

 

My FLMS- Murphy's Music in Irving, Tx

 

http://murphysmusictx.com/

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