My prefered N.O.S. "Jimmy Page LZ-1" Fuzz Box

[Mike Eskimo]

Pedal/pickups sound amazing. Great clip.

Yet it always amazes me how people completely ignore that amp.

As someone who has owned both a Supro Thunderbolt and a 1624 circuit amp I'll tell ya what Don already knows : if you don't have those 6973 power tubes you're only ever gonna get close - not all the way there..

Thunderbolts are great amps but they are not the amp.

But when I got my 1624 - there it was.

Easily one of the 2 or 3 best amps I've ever heard/played through.

 

[mrmorrison]

I can email some pictures and a Schematic, maybe you could have one made?

Thanks!

 

[UserNotAvailable]

Schematic is up on my site Click, page1 its in the links on the left,
my signature/logo below goes to the site.

Its up so guys who may have the transistors can make their own - or commission a maker who has good sounding substitutes for Mullard OC81ds - it takes 3 of them
I got a feeling that the people who make the "Spaghetti Western pedal" Bigfoot FX will have nice matching transistors and my be interested in making one??
it eneded up being allot like a Tonebender MKII with a few slight mods. (its not A Maestro FZ1) as we first thought

 

[fuzzman93]

Hi everybody here,

I've got a 67 tele and i'm looking for the Page tone.
I'm not a professional,only a big Page fan !Maybe I'm just too many in late on this forum for having the modded schematic?I thank in advance the person who will send to me the schematic,
Regards

 

[UserNotAvailable]

So sorry, I had to shut down the " page 1 ", by request of the original pedals owner... I can offer it to my pre-paid Zepotone pickup owners/ customers only this is the deal we struck up .. but I cannot release it out to the General Public..
Only because there's still a slim chance that the original owner may clone some peds for profit...

 

[thebluesbarn]

What is the LZ1? Is it a version/mod of the Tonebender?

 

[His Majesty]

So sorry, I had to shut down the " page 1 ", by request of the original pedals owner... I can offer it to my pre-paid Zepotone pickup owners/ customers only this is the deal we struck up .. but I cannot release it out to the General Public..
Only because there's still a slim chance that the original owner may clone some peds for profit...

No need for it anymore as people have already nabbed the schematic, pics.

Whoever paid 4K for the ''original'' thinking it was made by Mayer and that it's a modified FZ-1 must be rather gullible.

The apparent links between this story and another which is rather similar is too close to be unrelated. The person who sold the supposed Mayer modified FZ-1 original in the other story seems to have been searching for page tone, modifying pedals on his own.

Seems likely that the ''original'' the collector bought is nothing but a slightly altered MKII, probably altered by the seller.

Oops!

Snopes should be on the case, both stories are so similar, but with slight variations on the theme.

 

[UserNotAvailable]

Whoever paid 4K for the ''original'' thinking it was made by Mayer and that it's a modified FZ-1 must be rather gullible.
:

Hold yer breath: --- here comes the shocker you don't need to hear - but oh well.. -

that "payee" was none other then Mr.Jimmy Page himself - he bought it from the guy who paid my friend 3,800.00 for it -
no telling what Jimmy had to pay..$$$$??
we were told Jimmy then reboxed it into the newer NOS box and it can be seen & heard on "It Might Get Loud" as there's a little part in the movie where you can see it. ( this is what I am being told)

 

[His Majesty]

Hold yer breath: --- here comes the shocker you don't need to hear - but oh well.. -

that "payee" was none other then Mr.Jimmy Page himself - he bought it from the guy who paid my friend 3,800.00 for it -
no telling what Jimmy had to pay..$$$$??
we were told Jimmy then reboxed it into the newer NOS box and it can be seen & heard on "It Might Get Loud" as there's a little part in the movie where you can see it. ( this is what I am being told)

Oh my, this bull**** just gets funnier and funnier.

 

[UserNotAvailable]

Oh my, this bull**** just gets funnier and funnier.

I want to believe its bull too... I can't confirm any info: so please don't shoot the messenger, I'm cool ok

however I did play the original pedal thru a nice Supro and i was convinced it was all tied into the Zep 1 era - felt like I was inventing LZ! in my living room -
it sounded EQ-ied like on the album - yet it was coming out of the amp in my house - it was one of the best tone experiences i've ever had - also the circut is not a FZ1 after all - it is in fact a slightly altered Mark 2 TB-
I did clone the pedal and its pretty close - I use it on my Youtube channel demos - I'm "60svibe" on Youtube -

If you have a better pedal or the correct pedal - it would be nice to hear some clips - Calling BS is easy enough.. proving anything is always been very difficult with old elusive guitar tones .. please don't rough me up too much, Ok... I'm just a fan of that sound like u

Don

 

[His Majesty]

Thing is, the LZ1 fuzz tone is fairly easily replicated with a standard MKII. It's not even used that much on the album. Noone has even nailed it totally because there is so much more to the sound than guitar, pedal, amp, same as any other guitar tone.

Your clip sounds good, and your playing is great too! But, fuzz wise there's really there's nothing especially more LZ1 about it than with any other MKII.

The cynicism has nothing to do with the sound of the pedal, just the story behind it. There is so much waffle related to Led Zeppelin and especially Page's gear. Seems a lot of people want to be the one who discovers the real secret. And people make money from spreading rumours etc etc.

The fact the pedal you have is a MKII just kinda sums this whole thing up.

All this mystery modified mayer FZ-1 talk, then when it finally gets revealed it's nothing but a slightly altered MKII. The alterations possibly being carried out by the original seller.

I have some questions about the supposed original. What enclosure was it in? Where did the notion that it was built by Mayer come from? How can a collector of fuzz pedals not realize it was a MKII all along?

There's just so many red flags in these tales, that it all becomes a bit of a farce. To me it seems like someone at some point has altered a MKII(maybe an original, or a total rebuild) and fobbed it off as being a Mayer built pedal in order to try and make some money.

 

[UserNotAvailable]

Thing is, the LZ1 fuzz tone is fairly easily replicated with a standard MKII. It's not even used that much on the album. Noone has even nailed it totally because there is so much more to the sound than guitar, pedal, amp, same as any other guitar tone.

Your clip sounds good, and your playing is great too! But, fuzz wise there's really there's nothing especially more LZ1 about it than with any other MKII.

The cynicism has nothing to do with the sound of the pedal, just the story behind it. There is so much waffle related to Led Zeppelin and especially Page's gear. Seems a lot of people want to be the one who discovers the real secret. And people make money from spreading rumours etc etc.

The fact the pedal you have is a MKII just kinda sums this whole thing up.

All this mystery modified mayer FZ-1 talk, then when it finally gets revealed it's nothing but a slightly altered MKII. The alterations possibly being carried out by the original seller.

I have some questions about the supposed original. What enclosure was it in? Where did the notion that it was built by Mayer come from? How can a collector of fuzz pedals not realize it was a MKII all along?

There's just so many red flags in these tales, that it all becomes a bit of a farce. To me it seems like someone at some point has altered a MKII(maybe an original, or a total rebuild) and fobbed it off as being a Mayer built pedal in order to try and make some money.

ahh thanks "he", was just a customer who turned friend, hes been on the JP 1 tone quest for years.. he convinced me then brought the equipment here for me to play - oh course I was in heaven! Supro Amp old wild distortion pedal - what a dream rig..
I forget what box he said it was originally in - possibly it was a old TB 2 box?

but at the time he had it in a Supra Fuzz Marshall box

I was pretty put -off by the story that page bought this pedal and used it on the movie - so I searched out when that movie was made and asked him when he sold it... but the dates lined up - but I own the movie and the pedal in the movie looks like a JMI clone to me and sounds like one --

I'm a fan of the early Yardbirds and Zep era Page tone while he used the Tele
I'm pretty close to it - but when you weigh in all the variables - including Transistors that vary batch to batch - tubes - strings - wood - magnet gauss - pickup height - recording mic placements etc.. it gets out there -

to tell u the truth I'm very impressed with Youtubes "Virtual Zeppelin" there is a guy who nails the licks - JUN626 is his name - http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=jun626+led+zeppelin&aq=0 I do not think he has anything too special - just reissue page-like guitars - and he is so on it - and its got to be his feel and fingers - kinda tells me gear is only like half of any puzzle - the rest is how much u got in u...???

Thanks for being so nice in your reply - I appreciate that allot
Don

 

[His Majesty]

I forget what box he said it was originally in - possibly it was a old TB 2 box?

but at the time he had it in a Supra Fuzz Marshall box

I was pretty put -off by the story that page bought this pedal and used it on the movie - so I searched out when that movie was made and asked him when he sold it... but the dates lined up - but I own the movie and the pedal in the movie looks like a JMI clone to me and sounds like one --

The pedal in the movie is neither an original nor a JMI, the close up shows it as a macaris/sola sound reissue which first came out in the 90's.

Anthony Macari said this over on the D*A*M forum in relation to that clip...

''I'm pretty DAM sure this is a 90s reissue now - I remember chatting to Lionel ( JP's tech ) when we made the reissue and I'm sure I sent one over - so most likely a Dick Denney made 1.5 in the MKII case.

U2 were in London last week recording their earthquake appeal track and Dallas ( who looks after the band ) came into the new shop to say hi - he remembers the pedal being used in the movie.''

 

[Sauniere]

The alleged Mayer modified MKII has a cap from input to ground. IMHO, Page simply used a early MKII, which lacked the .01uf cap from input to ground. If you watch live footage of Page performing "Dazed and Confused", either with The Yardbirds or Zeppelin, you'll notice his wah is placed between guitar and fuzz. Unless someone is going to claim Mayer also modified Page's grey Vox wah...A stock Grey Vox Wah will work in front of a MKII sans cap from input to ground or in front of a Supa Fuzz, which also lacked the same cap. If you follow this link ( http://www.stompboxes.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=196 ) and scroll down to the "short board" MKII posted by Stu, you'll see an early example sans cap from input to ground.

 

[El Reclusa]

So where can a fella find this schematic now? I think I might have some of the parts already (maybe)...and I need to put 'em to good use...

 

[freqdaddy]

Best fuzz EVAR!!!

Oh great, another Don Mare "the best fuzz ever" thread.

So, let's see... can we expect another 25 pages of anticipation and no details like the last time you had one of these?

No offense Don, I love you! Really. Stop teasing us dude and barbecue up some meat for us!

 

[ruger9]

So, for those of us who don't have $4000 for a "maybe" real one, which fuzz(es) currently available are based on (or clones of) the original? Any?

 

[His Majesty]

http://stompboxes.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=373&start=540

This post from the above thread shows that the guy who originally claimed to have Mayer built Jimmy Page fuzz pedal has said such a thing about atleast 3 different builds...

2 of them in the same enclosure!

I think this is proof that both of the circuits pictured in this thread are inside the same enclosure thus very likely to be from the same person claiming to have Mayer built fuzz. Look carefully at the big and smaller black markings on the enclosure to the bottom right of the boards in both pics.

The bigger black marking is in line with the right hand screw, the smaller marking sits somewhere between the centre of both screws, but closer to the board than the larger marking.

image removed
The above pic was sent to Dave with the claim that it was the mayer page fuzz in 2004 or so.

image removed
This pic is supposed to be the original mayer fuzz which Don Mare tried out.

Imo the person Trevor met is the same person Don Mare met and that this person has been trying for years to nail this page fuzz sound by modifying MKII circuits with varying degrees of success. Trevor saw and heard in person, just as Don Mare did, different versions of this modifiy till I nail it fuzz. For whatever reason(ego boost, money!?) he's passed a few of them off as being Roger Mayer builds. At the very least, he's gotten a good few OC81D's from Trevor and possibly a lot of money from one or a few gullible collectors.

Anyone agree?

 

[FrankB]

I have a replica or clone of an FZ-1
All Of the old led zep is in there.. Depending on the guitar you use.. I have it set up to run (biased) at 3v.
Ron wood used one here and there also..so did Keith Richards.
The tone of this is really unique. It always has a cutting high end, but the low end is where the magic is eith this pedal.. Rubbery spongey gooey.

 

[WaylonFan76]

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