Fuzz Always On

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MC3
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Fuzz Always On

Post by MC3 » Thu May 30, 2019 8:04 pm

Hello, not sure if this is entirely thread-worthy but I'm curious

Does anyone on here play with a Fuzz Face (or any other fuzz that cleans up nicely) as something you get all your dirt sounds from? I'm talking in the style where you leave it on and ride the volume for your cleans to breakup to full on fuzz. I'm interested in this because for whatever reason I have this idea in my head that I want to strip my gear down to a minimum, and I'm wondering if it's worthwhile for me to look into.

I'd try it myself but the only fuzz I have (or really have much experience playing) are muff-style circuits, which don't seem to do the whole "clean up" thing as well as others.

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Re: Fuzz Always On

Post by somanytoys » Fri May 31, 2019 6:14 am

I don't exactly leave mine on all the time and ride the guitar's volume knob, but I guess I could, at least some of the time.

One of my boards has a germanium fuzz first (because germanium pretty much has to be first), and then after an eq the signal splits and I have a Barber Gain Changer on the low gain LTD setting in one chain and a Barber BUSS on the Burn Unit setting (not overly gainy) in the other chain. They're there to give the signals some definition from just clean (no dirt), and I'll kick on the fuzz to get heavy distortion, usually with the Barbers on but not always.

I don't leave it on because when I don't have those on and I'm going for other sounds, I want the clean volume up to push the other types of pedals at the right level, like the Infinite Jets, Realizer, etc.

I think you'll need a decent fuzz to be able to do that, not sure if silicon cleans up like that or not, but germanium usually does - it may depend on the type of circuit, too. You may also want to stack something with low gain with the fuzz after, to be able to boost the clean signal when you have the guitar volume down (just a thought), and/or use an eq after the fuzz, that should help define both your clean and your fuzz sounds down the chain.
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It's a boost booster, to boost your boost - it makes your tone much muchier.

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Re: Fuzz Always On

Post by MayTheFuzzBeWithYou » Fri May 31, 2019 9:14 am

I tend to have one of my Fuzzes on throughout a whole song and either have a guitar with Dual Volume controls - where I set one lower than the other - to have a rhythm and a lead tone to easily switch between - or I use the Jaguar‘s Strangle Switch or an equally (thin) set up boost (DBA Super Fuzz War in the „John Dwyer Mode“in my case) - this works really well with my Blackout Effectors Fuzz Bear (Tonebender MKII) and with the Voodoo Lab Superfuzz (Jordan Bosstone) - but not so good with the Fuzz War itself (which is also a bit Muff style).

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Re: Fuzz Always On

Post by MechaBulletBill » Fri May 31, 2019 9:50 am

I can tend to leave old school fuzzes on and just use the guitar vol - fuzzface, vox tb, fuzzrite

things that are too compressed (muff, tonebenders, gated fuzzes) don't work that way ime

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Re: Fuzz Always On

Post by MC3 » Fri May 31, 2019 1:27 pm

Thanks for the replies everyone, quite helpful.


@somanytoys
The thing I'm the most worried about is a large drop in volume when rolling back. is the difference THAT big when rolling back using something like a germanium fuzz face (what I think i'm leaning towards, probably a Fulltone '69 mk2)? I'm perfectly cool with trying to set my base "clean" sound as a rolled back fuzz, but when I go to 10 will it be ear bleeding? I'm also guessing this depends on the fuzz of choice too.

@MayTheFuzzBeWithYou
that setup with the "Dwyer" settings and the strangle switch sounds cool, I'd love to hear it.

Like I said, I'm leaning towards a Fulltone '69 mk2 (easily accessible, fairly cheap, seems to be well liked), but Tonebender-style fuzzes seem to be popping up in this thread as well. Anyone got some good suggestions (both fuzz face and tonebender, I like what I've heard from both)?

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Re: Fuzz Always On

Post by fuzzjunkie » Fri May 31, 2019 6:50 pm

Some Tonebenders will clean up a little and others not at all. There are at least 5 different types and another two that are variations, even more varied than the Big Muff family tree.

The only one in Fuzz Face territory for cleaning up is the Mark 1.5, which is a two transistor fuzz like the Fuzz Face, and is probably the original in that style, the rest have at least three.

The volume control on the pedal will set the output level. The volume on your guitar will interact with the pedal impedance and the gain control. A proper Fuzz Face won’t get much louder or quieter when used this way, just cleaner and brighter versus fuzzier and darker/wooly. The added chime counteracts any volume drop to a degree.

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Re: Fuzz Always On

Post by somanytoys » Mon Jun 03, 2019 9:36 am

MC3 wrote:
Fri May 31, 2019 1:27 pm
Thanks for the replies everyone, quite helpful.


@somanytoys
The thing I'm the most worried about is a large drop in volume when rolling back. is the difference THAT big when rolling back using something like a germanium fuzz face (what I think i'm leaning towards, probably a Fulltone '69 mk2)? I'm perfectly cool with trying to set my base "clean" sound as a rolled back fuzz, but when I go to 10 will it be ear bleeding? I'm also guessing this depends on the fuzz of choice too.

@MayTheFuzzBeWithYou
that setup with the "Dwyer" settings and the strangle switch sounds cool, I'd love to hear it.

Like I said, I'm leaning towards a Fulltone '69 mk2 (easily accessible, fairly cheap, seems to be well liked), but Tonebender-style fuzzes seem to be popping up in this thread as well. Anyone got some good suggestions (both fuzz face and tonebender, I like what I've heard from both)?
Well, I don't know about a lot of different fuzz pedals, only what I use (mostly Jext Telez Range Lords, Dizzy Tones or Keeley Black Glass pedals). Fuzzjunkie probably has better technical info about this, but for me to get a clean tone, usually it takes rolling back the volume a decent amount, like at least 1/3 of the way, if not more (I'm talking pretty clean tone here, no real fuzz artifacts).

What I meant was a drop in the overall signal that's pushing other pedals, with the guitar's volume knob rolled back. The fuzz pedal itself will be fine with rolling the volume up and down, as Fuzzjunkie said.

Mostly I guess it depends on what other pedals you have "downriver" from the fuzz. Some effects and pedals will adjust to the lower volume/signal with no problem, but others will not, they will be starved and won't behave as intended. For those types of pedals (if you have any), I think the difference will be very noticeable, as opposed to turning off the fuzz and going full tilt into the other pedals, especially ones that need a full signal.

For my chains, I just turn the fuzz pedal on when I want fuzz, and turn it off when that's not part the sound I'm after or it will disrupt the purpose of other pedals. My fuzz is always first, before the chain splits into 2 chains, so when the fuzz is on, it feeds both chains and amps, so it's going to affect everything.

But you may find that it works for you, especially if you don't have any pedals afterwards that can't adjust well with the lesser signal - it could work out perfectly.
-David

It's a boost booster, to boost your boost - it makes your tone much muchier.

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Re: Fuzz Always On

Post by Maggieo » Mon Jun 03, 2019 10:13 am

I swear by my Yardbox.
The controls function as follows. The Volume controls the lever output; Tone is a combination treble/bass adjustment; Fuzz allows the user to select the intensity of fuzz, with the counter-clockwise position being the maximum fuzz. The fuzz will not alter the output from minimum to maximum. The Gain also controls the output level of the pedal and can be used to increase the intensity and attack of the tone itself. When in the minimum setting (clock-wise), the clarity and character of the guitar tone will be most noticeable (a Strat will still sound like a Strat). When in the maximum gain position (counter-clockwise), the sound will most closely approximate the original Sofa Tonebender. The gain can be used to dial in the user's personal preference.

Although the Yardbox works best in smaller amps, with the addition of the gain control, it can be matched up to today's larger, louder amps. The pedal also works well when used at lower guitar volume settings, allowing the user to control the tone from the guitar to achieve dynamics without that woofy-compressed sound. A truly versatile fuzzbox that awaits the user's imagination.
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Re: Fuzz Always On

Post by MechaBulletBill » Mon Jun 03, 2019 10:43 am

fuzzjunkie wrote:
Fri May 31, 2019 6:50 pm
The only one in Fuzz Face territory for cleaning up is the Mark 1.5, which is a two transistor fuzz like the Fuzz Face, and is probably the original in that style, the rest have at least three.
Italian/vox TBs are two-transistor too.

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Re: Fuzz Always On

Post by MC3 » Wed Jun 05, 2019 1:38 pm

Thanks for the replies everyone

Just sold some pedals I wasn't using and will be heading to CME shortly to try some different stuff out.

If all goes well and I find someting I click with, I may be trimming down my board to about 3-4 pedals (minus tuner), which I am super stoked on

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Re: Fuzz Always On

Post by JVG » Thu Jun 06, 2019 10:46 pm

If you get a Fulltone (which i thoroughly recommend), i suggest getting a “Blem” one direct from the Fulltone website. They are significantly cheaper, and the cosmetic blemishes on the ones i have bought were all so trivial you would struggle to find them.

Cheers!
J.

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Re: Fuzz Always On

Post by somanytoys » Fri Jun 07, 2019 6:23 am

I've never played any of Fulltone's drive pedals, but the 3 Fulltone pedals I have (Supatrems and Truepath)are awesome and are built like tanks.
-David

It's a boost booster, to boost your boost - it makes your tone much muchier.

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Re: Fuzz Always On

Post by JVG » Fri Jun 07, 2019 7:46 am

So true.

Most Fulltone pedals are ugly (to my eyes) but very high quality and built to last. They are also more reasonably priced than many of the boutique brands.

I have a few and love them.

Cheers!
J

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Re: Fuzz Always On

Post by MC3 » Sat Jun 08, 2019 1:43 pm

JVG wrote:
Thu Jun 06, 2019 10:46 pm
If you get a Fulltone (which i thoroughly recommend), i suggest getting a “Blem” one direct from the Fulltone website. They are significantly cheaper, and the cosmetic blemishes on the ones i have bought were all so trivial you would struggle to find them.

Cheers!
J.
Great tip man! If I do go Fulltone I will for sure do this

Thanks!

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Re: Fuzz Always On

Post by RuffiansFC » Mon Jun 10, 2019 8:45 am

I can with my germanium fuzz face if I'm not using compression. not so much with any silicon versions. It can be done, but it sounds more harsh that the Ge version. I don't do it as often as I could, because my compressor is almost always on. when using my more Frippy rig, my buzzaround clone is always on unless I need a pristine clean tone.

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