How many fuzzes/distortions is "enough"

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peterherman
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How many fuzzes/distortions is "enough"

Post by peterherman » Thu Jul 23, 2020 7:30 am

I know, I know...
Image

BUT STILL
I have a Klone, EHX Crayon, Whirlwind Gold Box, Big Knob Rat Pak, a One Knob Fuzz clone, and an SHO clone all sitting on a shelf.
I have a Zoom PD-01in the "to trade" pile.
I have a Black Petal/Spiral FX Black Rose and an EHX Russian RI on the board.
There's a Bixonic Expandora out for delivery today.

AND YET
I'm looking at Red Llamas/Anderton Tube Sound Fuzz derivatives and MkIII/IV Tone Benders.
And the EWS Fuzzy Drive
And the MXR Brown Acid

:fp:

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Re: How many fuzzes/distortions is "enough"

Post by peterherman » Thu Jul 23, 2020 11:47 am

After posting, I remembered three or four more that aren't even out on the "maybe use this sometime" shelf.

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Re: How many fuzzes/distortions is "enough"

Post by Caddy65 » Thu Jul 23, 2020 11:56 am

One of either is one too many, IMHO.

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Re: How many fuzzes/distortions is "enough"

Post by marqueemoon » Thu Jul 23, 2020 1:21 pm

As far as how many I “need”, a good Klone, a Rat, and a good silicon Fuzz Face variant covers all the bases for me.

I’ve been moving away from dirt pedals and towards low watt amps I can run hotter and kick with a boost.

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Re: How many fuzzes/distortions is "enough"

Post by s_mcsleazy » Thu Jul 23, 2020 2:07 pm

how many dirt pedals do i own...... let me go count. 15. honestly. i could realistically do everything i need to do with a rat, klon and a boost...... but it's good to have options.
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Re: How many fuzzes/distortions is "enough"

Post by burntumber » Thu Jul 23, 2020 4:53 pm

I have a Visual Sound Route 66, and Jekyl & Hyde. both have the same ts808 circuit.
Ibanez Overdrive (really a ehx green muff)
EHX cockfight has a fuzz with bias knob.
EHX Attack Decay, muff inside
EHX NYC Muff
Dwarfcraft Great destoryer. Like a muff with a starve knob
Fuzz Face.
Whirlwind dist +
DOD gonkulator, which is really a RAT with a ring mod
RAT.
Bass Soul Food.
Digitech The Weapon, has an od, dist, radio distortion settings
Caroline Wave Cannon
Danelectro Blue Paisley od.
Boss V-wah, has a load of different drives and dists.

and 11 different delays.

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Re: How many fuzzes/distortions is "enough"

Post by fuzzjunkie » Thu Jul 23, 2020 5:27 pm

I feel like I need a few levels of dirt.

1- a dirty boost/fuzzy overdrive
2- a low gain fuzz
3- a high gain fuzz
4- a statement fuzz - zippering-reedy-crumbled-Velcro-Gated-octave - a one-trick pony or all-of-the-above, doesn’t matter, just something that stands out with a signature sound.

So for that I have a few options, but usually it’s something like a :
1- Rangemaster / Colorsound Overdrive Boost
2- Fuzz Face
3- Mk-4 Tone Bender
4- Mk-1 Tone Bender

Mostly I stick to options 1 & 3.

But I still keep a Big Box Rat, Op Amp Muff, Bee-Baa, and a Mk-2 Tone Bender around. Also a Lovetone RingStinger that has a lovely octave fuzz on it.

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Re: How many fuzzes/distortions is "enough"

Post by carron » Thu Jul 23, 2020 5:58 pm

Well I currently have two pedalboards with dirt pedals.

On the “Large” pedalboard I use three dirt pedals.
-Blackout effectors “Musket Fuzz” - kind of a big muff with a lot more tone control and versatility, and crucially a knob to boost the mids.
-Walrus Audio “Mayflower Overdrive”. A transparent type light to medium overdrive that has both treble and Bass controls and stacks well with pretty much anything. I tend to use it either with its tone eqd flat or with a mid scoop. It can also do clean boost really well.
-Way Huge “Green Rhino Overdrive. This is a very tweakable tube screamer type light overdrive with extra controls for boosting the bass frequency. It can do creamy mid humped overdrives very well, and has a very musical compression that I really like. Stacked with the Mayflower I can get heavy overdrive and after the fuzz gets you “smoothed” violin-like sustained fuzz.
The order: Musket Fuzz then Mayflower and then Green Rhino.Very versatile combination of three dirt pedals.

On my mini board I have two dirt pedals.
Rocket Archer. A Klon clone. You know what a Klon does and it is awesome
A Boss SD-1 overdrive I extensively modded. It is smoother and with more gain than stock.
The Archer runs into the SD-1.

I sold every other dirt pedal I had recently bought (all my gear was stolen three years ago, long story). So none in the shelf. Let’s see how long I can resist without buying another dirt pedal. I may need to bring a RAT back into my life.

For context, I play mostly Shoegaze/dream pop/ alternative and post rock.

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Re: How many fuzzes/distortions is "enough"

Post by peterherman » Thu Jul 23, 2020 6:30 pm

fuzzjunkie wrote:
Thu Jul 23, 2020 5:27 pm
...
3- Mk-4 Tone Bender
4- Mk-1 Tone Bender

Mostly I stick to options 1 & 3.

But I still keep a Big Box Rat, Op Amp Muff, Bee-Baa, and a Mk-2 Tone Bender around. Also a Lovetone RingStinger that has a lovely octave fuzz on it.
What do you use for a Mk 4? I've seen plenty of 1, 1.5, and 2. A few 3s. At one point I had a Lumpy's Tone Shop bender built and labeled "This Machine Kills Fascists" but I don't remember which circuit.

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Re: How many fuzzes/distortions is "enough"

Post by fuzzjunkie » Thu Jul 23, 2020 7:20 pm

peterherman wrote:
Thu Jul 23, 2020 6:30 pm
fuzzjunkie wrote:
Thu Jul 23, 2020 5:27 pm
...
3- Mk-4 Tone Bender
4- Mk-1 Tone Bender

Mostly I stick to options 1 & 3.

But I still keep a Big Box Rat, Op Amp Muff, Bee-Baa, and a Mk-2 Tone Bender around. Also a Lovetone RingStinger that has a lovely octave fuzz on it.
What do you use for a Mk 4? I've seen plenty of 1, 1.5, and 2. A few 3s. At one point I had a Lumpy's Tone Shop bender built and labeled "This Machine Kills Fascists" but I don't remember which circuit.
I have 2.

A Solasound that is a D*A*M limited addition with fancy germanium transistors and a turquoise case. The other is a Basic Audio Scarab Deluxe, which is usually described as a Mk-2, because it can sound like one, but the circuit is actually a modded Mk-4 with silicon transistors. The Scarab is what’s on my board because it’s smaller and can sound like a Mk-2 or a Mk-4 depending on the settings.

I think Lumpy mostly made Mk-2 and Mk-3, with a handful of Mk-1.5s. I think he’s similar to Monsterpiece in that he uses a weird naming/number system and it’s hard to tell. One of them had a Mk-2 that was a 1.5, for example.

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Re: How many fuzzes/distortions is "enough"

Post by stevejamsecono » Thu Jul 23, 2020 7:40 pm

Depends how you play, I guess?

Initially I did clean amp > overdrive > distortion

Then I finally got to hear a cranked amp, and it became

cranked amp > boost, and then after awhile cranked amp > mid boosted low gain od when I needed more cut

Then I got into a project that required a bit more tonal variation, so right now I'm on a gain search and the board is now

edge of breakup amp > compressor > midboosted low gain overdrive > distortion

As long as it doesn't distract from playing and it makes you play comfortably and confidently, I don't think it matters how many are there. For me I start to loose focus if I have more than 3-4 pedals, so I personally try to keep it down if I can.
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Re: How many fuzzes/distortions is "enough"

Post by shoule79 » Thu Jul 23, 2020 8:57 pm

I usually have a lower gain OD on my board and a fuzz/distortion feeding into an amp slightly breaking up. However I have a problem and have too many dirt pedals.

J Rockett Archer
Keeley Loomer
DOD 250
JHS Morning Glory
JHS Kilt
JHS Angry Charlie
EQD Plumes
Fulltone Fulldrive 2
Fulltone OCD
Proco Rat
ZVex Fuzz Factory
Boss SD-1
Boss DF-2
Boss HM-2
Boss HM-3
Boss MT-2
Boss BD-2
Boss OD-2
Boss FZ-3
Boss DS-1
EHX Soul Food
EHX Op amp Big Muff
Tech 21 XXL

The really sad thing is that I sold a couple this past week too.

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Re: How many fuzzes/distortions is "enough"

Post by Shadoweclipse13 » Fri Jul 24, 2020 2:38 am

I've had a ton of different drives in the almost 20 years I've been playing (though so many were bad because I was a bad player :D). I can't even remember some of them, but here's what I remember:
DOD Distortion (early 2000s red one, Supra?)
DOD Grunge
Visual Sound Jekyll And Hyde
Keeley Fuzz Head (had 2: one standard, one hot)
Boss Blues Driver (Keeley-modded)
EQD Terminal fuzz
Vick Audio V1 Triangle Muff
Analogman BC109 Fuzz Face
EQD Palisades
Arc Effects Soothsayer
Magnetic Effects White Atom
Smallsound/Bigsound Mini
Cusack Bass Fuzz Screamer

Here's what I have now:
Catalinbread Naga Viper
Magnetic Effects Solar Bender
EQD Westwood
Magnetic Effects Lonely Robot
EQD The Dunes
EQD Plumes

In my years of playing, I've discovered that I really love both the RAT and tubescreamer circuit, though I prefer something unique (not the standard/original of either). Same goes for fuzz. I think I tend to like modern variants of things. I could probably live with just my Naga Viper and EQD Westwood and be happy, but I love having different flavors of things.
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Re: How many fuzzes/distortions is "enough"

Post by tune_link » Fri Jul 24, 2020 5:24 am

Is there such a thing as "too many"? :shifty:

I personally have been through a ton of different ODs and fuzz pedals and distortions over the years. I guess a comprehensive list would look like this:

Boss HM-2 it was stolen after a show in the 90s by some shitheads and I sadly never replaced it

Bubble Font 90s era Russian Big Muff (x2) - used in a harsh noise/shoegaze solo project I did for about 10 years, I was very abusive to them in live shows and they didn't make it out the other side....major regrets but I blew up my first Ampeg V-4 in this same era and that was worse for me.

Now I'm in a somewhat more song based shoegaze band and I like to cascade different circuits for tonal variation so I generally have at least four dirt pedals on my board at a given time. These are the ones I've had over the last 5 years, asterisk for ones on my current board:

Russian Big Muff (big black box reissue)
2000s era big box NYC Big Muff
EHX Russian Reissue Big Muff
EHX Op Amp Reissue Big Muff
EHX Big Muff w/ Tone Wicker
Stomp Under Foot Amherst '76 (J Mascis Muff clone)
Stomp Under Foot Pumpkin Pi
EHX Rams Head Reissue Big Muff
DBA Interstellar Overdrive
EHX Hot Tubes Overdrive
EQD Terminal
EQD Spires
EQD Fuzz Master General
Idiot Box Dungeon Master
Frost Giant Electronics Massif
EQD Dunes
EQD Westwood
some weird shitty sounding no name Rat clone I got real cheap
SolidGoldFx 76 Fuzz Plus
Behringer Super Fuzz

Greer Moonshot Treble/Mid Booster*
Xotic EP Boost (do boosts count?)*
Greer Burning Goat Overdrive*
Devi Ever Rocket*
EQD Hoof*

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Re: How many fuzzes/distortions is "enough"

Post by fever606 » Fri Jul 24, 2020 5:44 am

Ive had one (or more) of just about everything, but at some point I realised that certain dirt/combos work for me while other do not. I occasionally try out others... some stick, most don't.

Currently using the following regularly, though there are a couple more options hanging around:

V3 Big Muff
Sovtek Tall Font Muff
Univox Superfuzz (black & grey)
MXR Distortion+

Also typically have a Micro Amp around for boost. I've never tried a Klon(e)... :ph34r:

Biggest regret? Selling the Pigdog Vulture Touring. That was a fantastic boost.

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