New Fuzz

[viivian23]

Right now, I have a dunlop fuzz face which I don't like very much. Could anybody recommend me a 60s styled fuzz?

[Jellyroll]

Maybe an example of the fuzz sound you're after would be helpful. Even 60's style fuzz is a large, varied world of sounds.

[garytelecastor]

+1
V23 find a YT vid that has the tone you are looking for.

[vjf1968]

There are as just as many fuzz boxes as there are stars in the sky. Well not quite that much but it would help if you had particualr sound you are after.

Here are a couple of fuzz boxes that you can start with
-Ashbass FuzzBrite: This is a clone of the Ed Sanner designed FuzzRite pedal from Mosrite. Like most other fuzz pedals it is an "on or off" proposition. Mahoney pedlas also makes a clone called the BuzzRite.

-Voodoo Labs "Superfuzz": This is a basically a Jordon "Boss Tone" with added circuitry. Mahoney makes one too. But it is called the "Boss Tone"

-Perscription Electronics "Yardbox": I think this is a copy of the Sola Sound Tonebender. Think Jeff Beck era Yardbirds.

-Death By Audio has the "Fuzz War"-This is a cool pedal becuase yyou can adjust the style of fuzz by turning a knob. There is an internal gain pot inside to match your pickups.

-Watson Electronics "Fuzz": This is basically the Univox "Superfuzz"

There is always www.buildyourownclone.com and you can get a kit or have one pre-assembled and save some cash instead of spending money on "boutique" fuzz pedlas.

[hannigan]

I have been diggin the swollen pickle fuzz mk2 by Way Huge which is now Dunlap,
Very tweakable and sounds good stacked with another dirt box like a rat.
But for that sixties sound test play an SFT catalinbread OD. It will get you there.
What amp are you plugging into?

[mojoming]

Look into a Bone Bender with the new kill knob. It pretty much covers all the "60's Fuzz" sounds that you can think of. Their MKII or Das Fuzz with it might be another option for you.

[viivian23]

Originally Posted by hannigan

I have been diggin the swollen pickle fuzz mk2 by Way Huge which is now Dunlap,
Very tweakable and sounds good stacked with another dirt box like a rat.
But for that sixties sound test play an SFT catalinbread OD. It will get you there.
What amp are you plugging into?

Im using a 68 Fender Dual Showman. I guess I was sort of going for something between like clapton, trower, or hendrix Thanks for all the input I will check out all of these pedals. Fuzz War looks reallly cool

[Telesavalis]

Fulltone 69, Fulltone 70, Plum Crazy Fuzzy Lady, Analogman Peppermint Fuzz or Sunface...
you can listen to shootouts between all of them on YouTube...look for Gearmanndude.

[viivian23]

Originally Posted by Telesavalis

Fulltone 69, Fulltone 70, Plum Crazy Fuzzy Lady, Analogman Peppermint Fuzz or Sunface...
you can listen to shootouts between all of them on YouTube...look for Gearmanndude.

I dont really like gmds clean tone (over yt anyway) and to me most of his demos sound the same. I do think its awesome that he sounds like jack black though.

[EunosFD]

For some variety in one box the Barber Trifecta might be worth a look:
http://www.barberelectronics.com/trifecta.html

Here's a PGS review vid of it fwiw:


The MI Audio Neo Fuzz is pretty versatile too with a lot of tone shaping ability:
http://www.mieffects.com/NEOinbrief.htm

...and a PGS vid:

[11 Gauge]

Originally Posted by vjf1968

There are as just as many fuzz boxes as there are stars in the sky. Well not quite that much but it would help if you had particualr sound you are after.

Considering that the vast majority of fuzz designs are built mainly on the foundation of a previous one, it's almost silly how many different ones there are.

But there are a few criteria than are critical to determining the right fuzz, IMO.

First is silicon or germanium? Neither one is superior, but they do excel at very different things. And germanium has many limitations that silicon does not, from a practicality and performance point of view.

Second is the gain level, and any additional circuitry used to add more clipping. A Big Muff will always have a ton more clipping than a silicon Fuzz Face.

Third is octave or no octave. And it isn't clear cut - some non octave fuzzes will have a bit of it going on. So I guess it's more a question of none/some/lots.

Then there are a myriad of other criteria to consider. What gear are you using with it? Certain guitars and amps don't marry well with certain fuzzes. Also - do you want to adhere to the original technology? This typically means no buffered input, "positive ground" can be a source of headaches with power supplies and pedalboards, and no "pulldown resistors" usually results in switch pops that can be irksome. Many of these have to be the first pedal in line, and many run on batteries only.

...Germanium circuits benefit immensely from having an external bias control, since they are temperature dependent.

When you get down to brass tacks, you'll typically find that most fuzzes are built around only a handful of original designs, namely the Arbiter Fuzz Face, the various Tonebenders (by different companies), a few key octave fuzzes, and then all things that are basically variations of the Big Muff.

Another important consideration - tone control or no tone control? Many fuzzes are fine w/o them, others are nearly useless, IMO.

Just scribble down a list of your tonal desires, the gear you use, and practical considerations that must be adhered to. A fuzz that will work for you will probably rise to the top of the cream in the process.

And it obviously wouldn't hurt to try before you buy, as much as is possible. This probably isn't an option if you're going for a $400 MkII Tonebender replica, but there are lots of germanium Fuzz Face clones that you can pick up used, and flip 'em if they don't do the trick...

[telecat33511]

Big Muff, if you're looking for the fuzz
IMHO

[tjk3052]

I was wanting the same thing and ended up building the GGG Fuzz kit. There are several different versions you can build from the same PCB and you can experiment with transistors. I built the version thats like a Fulltone 69 and with help from this site (11 Gauge) and others I was able to tweak it to exactly what I wanted.

[andrenighthound]

danelectro cool cat fuzz. 30 bucks true bypass and GREAT TONE!

[viivian23]

I dig that Barber fuzz

[Axis29]

Love my Fuzz Head, but it may not exactly be a 60's style fuzz... I find it the best of both worlds with a flick of the switch... It doesn't get all splatty, but it breaks up into fuzzy germanium goodness nicely.

I leave it on almost all the time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_iBNBWu80c