Recommend me some fuzz

[i love sharin foo]

I had a Fuzz factory before, but I ultimately sold it because the Woolly Mammoth was more along the lines of what I wanted out of the pedal (I had both at the same time). It was like the Fuzz Factory was also a little too trebly for me and never had enough bass. The Mammoth is pretty much the opposite of that and as a bonus, you get a real tone control. There is also a "pich" control, which must rebias the transistors or something to allow you to get the gated tones that the Fuzz Factory does so well. I think of the Mammoth as the bastard child of a Big Muff and a Fuzz Factory. To me, that approximates it's sounds and abilities pretty.

I'm not trying to swing anyone's opinion of the Fuzz Factory or anything like that, though. I just wanted to throw my two cents in    I just could never find a use for a lot of the Fuzz Factory's tones.

Also, for a good, all around, super versatile fuzz pedal, I LOVE the Lovetone Big Cheese! I built one a while back and honestly, I think it sounds a little betetr than the real one I used to have. I bought a board off of JD Sleep and sourced everything else myself. It's somewhat tricky to wire it up to make it fir in a BB style enclosure, but I got it in there. I'll have to post pics soon.

Justin

[StevenO]

Howabout a fuzz factory with an EQ pedal? Wouldn't that solve a lot of the problems?
I've always wanted one, but I don't really have a use for it. Nels Cline makes me want one, I blame him!

[i love sharin foo]

I never tried an EQ with it. In my experience, an EQ always changed the core sound of gain pedals too much. Anymore, I like to find something that works well right off and doesn't take multiple pedals together to get the sound I'm looking for. OF course, you could try that and I'm sure it would help at least somewhat. I just realized ata certain point that the Woolly Mammoth was what I was secretly hoping the Fuzz Factory would've been.

I kinda wanted the FF because of some of Nels' playing too    But then I finally realized that he could make a Hondo through a solidstate Pignose sound GREAT, and then I gave up. Anymore, I don't buy anything unless I feel that it is appropriate for what I'm doing. I've passed up a lot of things that I was really wanting, but in the end it's proven to be a good decision.

Justin

[theswingincreeper]

I just bought a Dunlop JH-2 S "Jimi Hendrix System" fuzz and like it a lot so far. It has Germanium transistors and is nice and small, and also affordable. The sound is pretty much what I was looking for - that typical, '60s growling kind of fuzz, not as harsh as some of the others. Very quiet, too. I hardly ever play any of Jimi's music but can get quite authentic Davie Allan sounds with it, you know the "motorcycle" kind of sound. I know Davie used a Fuzzrite by Mosrite, if I ever happen to find one of those, I'd probably go for it, but right now this one is just fine. Can't wait to use it on stage in two weeks from now.

Regards, Joe

[jetset]

Well I got my BYOC Ultimate Fuzz - $80 slightly used but already built (a steal.)  Haven't had a chance to use it in a band situation yet, but I'm digging it so far. I also haven't played around with swapping out the transistors, but I did mess with the bias resistor iternal trimpot which can go from smooth to nasty fizzy.  I think I'm going to like this one a lot.
-J

[stratatak]

CHeck out the zoom ultra fuzz .. could get some of the weird ff tones , but more controlable ,& cheaper ..

I actually bought justin's ff , had it for a few months , and the lack of lows were killing me, sold it  .
Also , you could say goodbye to using your guitar's volume with the thing . With some settings if your g's volume is at "7" , most of your volume is gon , but if you zap it to 10 , the ff comes out of nowhere . I found that to be annoying ..

[CLETUStheFETUS]

It seems like the Zvex fuzz factory can do the most and has the best price. ever since they came out with the un hand paitned version. But too bad i want the painted one.

[stratatak]

It seems like the Zvex fuzz factory can do the most and has the best price. ever since they came out with the un hand paitned version. But too bad i want the painted one.

Yeha the unpainted ones = Vexter ...

GIve it a try maybe it'll work for you .

[aen]

The other guitarist in my band uses a Fuzz Factory occasionally.  It's quite tempermental and difficult to use live - either get's lost in the mix or makes dirty sounds when you''re not playing.  I tease him and call it the Fart Factory.

I just ordered a BYOC Ultimate Fuzz that has both silicon and germanium transistors to mix and match.  I'll report in when it's here.   I use a Big Muff, but it's often too gainy to be useful, and sometimes gets lost in the live mix even when loud.

Fuzz's are strange beasts.

-J

I also noticed that my Big Muff often disappear when I play in my band..I think mostly it's caused by the insane bottom end of that pedal..so I find that the best way to hear the real Big Muff sound is to turn its tone knob all the way on the higs..and solve the consequent volume decrease cranking the level and the gain..in that way you still have the classic violin sustain but now you can hear it!!...now I've started thinking that cranking the tone knob  is the best way to use my pedals and obtain good and of course audible sounds..maybe it could work with yours..

I ended up kicking my big muff off the board because of this.  I have a behringer clone that sounds better, AND stays present int he mix.


But i am jonesiong for a Truly Beautiful disaster from Effector 13...

[JazzBlaster]

I had a 69 fuzz face for a time, it was truely wonderful!