So, I dug out an old fuzz......

[Jbnaxx]

I never been a big fuzz user, but have been reading a bunch of posts about fuzz lately. Every time I have tried to use fuzz, it just sounded like a big mess in my hands. I took out the only Fuzz I have... A Seymour Duncan Tweek Fuzz and started giving it another go. It still seemed a bit harsh by itself, but it really is kinda nice when I play it into a OD pedal (Bad Monkey) to smooth it out.

Is the OD a good pedal to play it into?..... or does a compressor or something else work better?

 

[11 Gauge]

Is the OD a good pedal to play it into?..... or does a compressor or something else work better?

I don't think I've ever put a fuzz into a comp, but yeah, fuzz into OD can work out very well.

In particular, IMO some of the old school fuzzes don't sound great with a BF/SF Fender amp, but once you add the OD, it can sound quite good!

One of my favorite combos is a Jordan Bosstone into a Boss OD-3.

 

[65 Champ Amp]

“It really is kinda nice”...

You answered your own question.

 

[drmordo]

In the late 60s, fuzz pedals were played into a cranked tube amp. If you play with your amp completely clean, an overdrive or amp-sim-pedal set to distort will help the fuzz quite a bit.

 

[loopfinding]

Seems to just be a silicon FF type with some switchable high pass filters.

The thing with fuzz is they usually sound better into a driven amp, which smooths it out. Gets you to “amp crapping the bed” territory faster than actual amp crapping the bed. So no wonder you like it into a drive with some hair that you’re overloading.

The only fuzz that “does the thing” into a clean amp is the muff, but it’s kind of a boring one, since it just does the one trick, and doesn’t really respond to the guitar.

Keep it, but consider using an attenuator for lower volume amp breakup, and then push it with the fuzz.

 

[4pickupguy]

With my Fuzz Faces something like the Bad Monkey where you can tame some lows while adding some mids works really well. Just a tiny bit of drive on the OD is enough.

 

[Jbnaxx]

I'm still enjoying the fuzz. I swapped the Bad Monkey for a MXR Il' Torino. It is a light drive/boost with BMT controls.....less mids. It can be more transparent, but it doesn't effect the fuzz as much either. I like the darker, smoother tones more than the spikey ragged tones.

 

[Killing Floor]

Stacking fuzz and OD is always a good idea.

 

[DisharmonicDark99]

Yeah there's nothing wrong with running a fuzz into an OD pedal, makes sense when you think about running a fuzz into an amp that's cranked up and got some of it's own gain and drive in the signal. Similar concept. And if it works for you then it's a good idea!
I was running the SD La Super Rica fuzz into the Pickup Booster pedal and really getting good results from that.
Gave it a more hot souped-up tone without really altering the sound and quality of the fuzz tone itself.

 

[northernguitar]

When running OD after fuzz, what settings work best on the overdrive?

 

[Si G X]

When running OD after fuzz, what settings work best on the overdrive?

That would massively depend on the amp, fuzz and what you want the end result to be.

I can't think of an answer other than 'lowish' on the overdrive knob, which is true for stacking any kind of drive pedals, or you'll soon end up with a screeching mess.

...unless of course you have the fuzz low, then you can push the drive more

.... it depends, honestly you are in the best position to answer your own question, just try it.

 

[Skyhook]

Is the OD a good pedal to play it into?

I've ran my Big Muff Pi into a TS808.
Mostly because I was too lazy to change to an "approved" pedal order.
The resulting sound was harsh and fart-y but not entirely unusable.

 

[northernguitar]

That would massively depend on the amp, fuzz and what you want the end result to be.

I can't think of an answer other than 'lowish' on the overdrive knob, which is true for stacking any kind of drive pedals, or you'll soon end up with a screeching mess.

...unless of course you have the fuzz low, then you can push the drive more

.... it depends, honestly you are in the best position to answer your own question, just try it.

Thanks for the reply. I LOVE running my Rangemaster treble booster into a Russian muff. I haven’t tried any kind of OD after a fuzz. Time to experiment!

 

[Si G X]

@northernguitar .. a better way to think about it is to think of the OD like an amp, fuzzes usually sound really different depending on what amp they are going into, by going into an OD you are essentially changing the character of your amp into the character of the amp and OD.

So it can be really effective if your fuzz doesn't sound how you like into your amp, even with the drive at it's lowest you are basically EQing the fuzz sound, which can make it radically different.

 

[Edgar Allan Presley]

One of my favorite combinations is a fuzz face (Fulltone '69) into an orange squeezer compressor (Chicago Stompworks). It sounds huge.

 

[David Barnett]

I dug out an old fuzz yesterday, a red Dunlop germanium Fuzz Face. I haven't touched it in at least two years. Before I plugged it in, I opened it up to put in a new battery, but the old battery was still perfect. That never happens.

 

[paulblackford]

With Fuzz Face-style circuits, I've had luck running an optical comp into a fuzz (nice overdrive tones), running a boost into a fuzz ('muff-like' wall of sound), and with running fuzz into an overdrive (smooth fuzz tones). You can do a lot with an EQ into a fuzz, as well.

 

[Lotek]

I picked up a Fredric Unpleasant Companion, Its said to be a clone of the Shin-Ei fuzz from the 70's It's shrill, noisy, grindy, evil fuzz. I tried for weeks to figure out how to use it, no luck. Then I put it first in my signal chain, into Keely compressor, into a Boss DB-2. I now love it.

 

[David Barnett]

I picked up a Fredric Unpleasant Companion, Its said to be a clone of the Shin-Ei fuzz from the 70's It's shrill, noisy, grindy, evil fuzz. I tried for weeks to figure out how to use it, no luck. Then I put it first in my signal chain, into Keely compressor, into a Boss DB-2. I now love it.

One trick for really shrill, noisy, grindy evil fuzz is to turn the tone on your guitar right down. Or if you have an Esquire, use the mud switch. If the pedal makes lots of harmonics, it doesn't really need any from your guitar.

 

[northernguitar]

I picked up a Fredric Unpleasant Companion, Its said to be a clone of the Shin-Ei fuzz from the 70's It's shrill, noisy, grindy, evil fuzz. I tried for weeks to figure out how to use it, no luck. Then I put it first in my signal chain, into Keely compressor, into a Boss DB-2. I now love it.

Those old fuzzes like to be hit dead on…a buffer in front is a nono. I find a lot aren’t designed with high gain humbuckers in mind.