NPD Euthymia Electronics Crucible silicon fuzz

[marqueemoon]

Thanks to everyone for their input and advice on my silicon Fuzz Face search.

After weighing the options I decided on this guy. It's a higher gain BC109C jobber.


My wife bought a mobile phone macro lens a while back, so here are a few gut shots.



I've got less than an hour playing on it, but it's definitely scratching that John Squire tonez itch. It cleans up in more useful ways than my Colorsound clone, and it has me using my much-neglected guitar tone control.

Conventional wisdom with a FF circuit is to crank the fuzz. I find that I like this backed off ever-so-slightly, but not so much that it starts to affect cleanup. With the guitar volume rolled back it has a nice chimey brightness.

I can see why fuzz becomes an obsession for some folks. It's never the same thing twice.

[Shadoweclipse13]

That's a nice, clean looking build! I'm glad you found something you dig! I definitely get the fuzz obsession and questing for the "perfect fuzz" as well. I've played a bunch myself and very few (if any) have truly had the sound that I've wanted in my head for years. I just grabbed a modern Tonebender clone, and I think I may be on the right track though

[marqueemoon]

That's a nice, clean looking build! I'm glad you found something you dig! I definitely get the fuzz obsession and questing for the "perfect fuzz" as well. I've played a bunch myself and very few (if any) have truly had the sound that I've wanted in my head for years. I just grabbed a modern Tonebender clone, and I think I may be on the right track though

Yeah, the sheer number of options is pretty daunting. I'd like to give a Tonebender a shot someday. The only fuzz sounds I don't really like are super gated and big n' wooly/doomy.

Now that I've been working towards a clean and articulate sound for so many years it's time to fuck it up.

[Shadoweclipse13]

That's a nice, clean looking build! I'm glad you found something you dig! I definitely get the fuzz obsession and questing for the "perfect fuzz" as well. I've played a bunch myself and very few (if any) have truly had the sound that I've wanted in my head for years. I just grabbed a modern Tonebender clone, and I think I may be on the right track though

Yeah, the sheer number of options is pretty daunting. I'd like to give a Tonebender a shot someday. The only fuzz sounds I don't really like are super gated and big n' wooly/doomy.

Now that I've been working towards a clean and articulate sound for so many years it's time to fuck it up.

You and I think the same for fuzz! I've tried Fuzz Faces (had a Sunface 109 a few years ago), and several Muff variants (Caroline Shigeharu, Vick V1 Triangle) and liked everything, but they weren't quite my style. The Tonebender I have now is a Magnetic Effects Solar Bender V3. It's a hybrid silicon/germanium fuzz, but to me it sounds more germanium, which is also something I'd been considering for a while.
Mike Herman's - Magnetic Effects Solar Bender
Mike Herman's - Magnetic Effects Solar Bender V3

[somanytoys]

Now that I've been working towards a clean and articulate sound for so many years it's time to fuck it up.

That’s actually a great way to put it. I’ve been doing a very similar thing. It actually makes a lot of sense to me, being able to get the best clean(ish) tones possible, then figuring out how to get the best of other sounds.

I don’t know if you’re talking about fuzz for guitar or bass or both, but it’s kind of amazing how different they can react with them - even just with different guitars & amps.

I tend towards OC germaniums, although I only have a few true fuzz pedals, most of what I have are treble boosters. I’m not sure what is in the few that I have that are silicon, but I do like the sound of them, and they’re easier to deal with on placement in the chain. They aren’t as warm as most ge, but they are very defined and cut through well.

The Dizzy Tones I have get fuzzy & splattery really quickly, and I also have a few UniDrive pedals that get some really nice tones as well. They usually go last in the chain to drive the preamp directly.

Congratulations on getting something you really like, it’s good to learn to use what you have well, but it’s also good to have & use something that you really like and/or is really versatile, it can be more inspiring.

[marqueemoon]

This sounds awesome with a JM. I don't think this is what Leo originally had in mind with lead and rhythm circuits.

[fuzzjunkie]

This sounds awesome with a JM. I don't think this is what Leo originally had in mind with lead and rhythm circuits.

Yeah, the rhythm circuit can bring out some interesting tones out of a bright and splatty fuzz. Some of the classics MBV fuzz tones come courtesy of Kevin’s rhythm circuit use.

Gold Tone pickups with the tone rolled back do a bit of the same.

[marqueemoon]

This sounds awesome with a JM. I don't think this is what Leo originally had in mind with lead and rhythm circuits.

Yeah, the rhythm circuit can bring out some interesting tones out of a bright and splatty fuzz. Some of the classics MBV fuzz tones come courtesy of Kevin’s rhythm circuit use.

Gold Tone pickups with the tone rolled back do a bit of the same.

Yeah. I definitely noticed that when I got my Colorsound clone. This has much more of a range of sounds when rolling off the guitar volume.

I’m excited to try it doubling acoustic parts with neck pickup/volume rolled back. I think that could be a really great rhythm sound.