Help me find my fuzz?

[Krunch]

Long-time lurker here (great forum!)... I'm hesitant posting this because I know the ol' "recommend me a fuzz" thing pops up way too often... but, oh well here goes...

I'm having fun with cheap Chinese pedals atm... but I am still looking for THAT fuzz tone I know it can be an endless search, but I do have an idea in my head of what I want (sorta)... It's just difficult to put into words?

I want that ripping/velcroey/buzzing/beeswarm sound... but smooth & good sustain - not choppy & abrupt & squelchy... Something that works very well with chords without turning to organic garden mulch. Something NOT bassy & woofy like a big muff/fuzz face etc, but nice cranking treble & mids. Like a gritty, crunchy distortion sorta thing... but fuzzy/buzzy. With smooth sustain. Ha ha. Like I said, difficult to put into words.

A lot of fuzzboxes seem to either be only suitable for psychedelic single-string leads - or, a big woofy muffy wall of bar-chord doom. I don't want that, I want a clean-but-dirty, smooth-but-abrasive fuzzstortion!! Lol. Where chords & notes are clear & don't get buried in mud & noise. I DON'T want any sort of high-octane/high-gain power-stack valve-crankin' distortion sort of sound either.

So, I "think" I can narrow it down to a silicon "modern" sort of fuzz - as opposed to a germanium "vintage" sort of sound... I think?

Can anybody make sense of this dribble & recommend me something? I need some assistance on my quest lol. I've spent hours trawling through Youtube reviews & music shops, I just can't seem to narrow it down?

[Jwar]

Fuzzhugger. That is all. No but seriously sounds like something Tom would make. I have a mega box of his right now and it does almost exactly what you're talking about, though I can't tell you the circuits because I forgot! LOL!!


That being said, you may not be able to obtain all those things at once. If so, let me know too!!

[fcknoise]

what jwar said. Check the Suneater out, or algal bloom even

[frigid midget]

Don't know if it's anywhere close to what you're looking for, but I'd say the Clusterfuzz might do the trick. I just know I'm gassing for one, cause I'm also after sometjing that's raw and smooth at the same time, with enough tweakability and no whooly muff-like boomyness nor any gated/harsh stuff...

[braaandooon]

Roland Bee Baa, or maybe a clone? Fits most of your criteria, may have to much booty though. It's my go too for swarming fuzzstortion with tons of sustain.

[frigid midget]

Roland Bee Baa, or maybe a clone? Fits most of your criteria, may have to much booty though. It's my go too for swarming fuzzstortion with tons of sustain.

Good call.

It went down a few spots on my little GAS wish list, but from the demos I checked, the BAT Black Sheep seems to be my favorite BAT pedlol...

[Iommic Pope]

Ape Blaster.
The clarity is astounding and the distortion is balls out.
Thank me later.

[kbit]

Ape Blaster.
The clarity is astounding and the distortion is balls out.
Thank me later.

Defintely check out the Ape Blaster.

You also might wanna look into some pedals based on the Harmonic Percolator. Raw but lots of clarity.

[sylnau]

Maybe Fairfield Circuitry Four Eyes.

[Eivind August]

Suneater

[ck3]

+ 1 for Fuzzhugger and/or a BeeBaa (or clone). I currently have a V2 Algal Bloom and Earthbound Audio Pale Mare (BeeBaa clone with multiple mods) in my fuzz arsenal, and both can generate buzzy, chord-friendly, sustaining textures with a little tweaking.

[Krunch]

Great suggestions, everybody! Thanks alot!

I'm still checking out this stuff, but I'm liking what I am hearing. I do already have a Bee-Baa clone, and I like it a lot, but it's just not nailing the tone I'm after. That Algal Bloom sounds great, what surprised me is that this circuit is just an Electra distortion running into a Bazz Fuss (I think)?? Man, that's something I could knock up myself!? Maybe DIY is the way to go? Hmm...

Will explore these suggestions more. The Ape Blaster looks great too, but gets expensive to order here in Australia...

[Iommic Pope]

Ah, you're down here....
Man, ILFer D-Day runs Electric Heat and is, like everyone around here, the best fucking dude to deal with.
So don't fret about product back up.
With the dollar at the moment none of your options are going to be ideal, but it's not the worst it's ever been.
It's cheaper to go directly through builders here than it is find stuff that's already been imported for retail.
Like Tym's is a great shop, but fuck him for the mark up he puts on things like EQD pedals.
You're way better off getting something from a company or builder direct.
Also, don't underestimate Tom's genius.
There are a few things in the Fuzzhugger catalogue that are sort of such and such a circuit, but they're hardly the same thing by the time he's done with them.

[The Mad Titan]

Ramble FX Twin Bender. Save yourself the trouble and just buy it now. My favorite fuzz for everything but nailing the Hendrix exploding amp lead tone which my Analog Man NKT275 Sunface nails. The Twin Bender comes surprisingly close to copping that with the fat switch on the MK I.V setting though, and does everything else you want far better than any Fuzz Face or Muff variant ever will.