10 fuzzes to rule them all!

[phantasmagorovich]

1. Toneczar Vault. I love high gain fuzzes and nothing seems to sound similiar.
2. Wren & Cuff Box of War.
3. Dr. Scientist Frazz Dazzler
4. Spaceman Sputnik
5. Metasonix Scrotum Smasher
6. Death By Audio Apocalypse
7. Wattson FY-6 (Superfuzz)
8. Zvex Fuzz Factory
9. Wren & Cuff Tri Pie 70
10. Ampeg Scrambler

You are going to get along nicely with Univalve.

[goroth]

Hey Tris, can you tell a bit more about how you are using the caracol? I've been intrigued for ages but hardly understand the description, and Adam's videos never jibe with me. Sorry Adam. I've totally bashed him for it before..

My list, in no order:
1. Fuzzhugger Velcroar
2. Fuzzhugger Arc Flash
3. Dr Scientist Frazz Dazzler
4. Jordan Bosstone
5. Fairfield Unpleasant Surprise

Just outside that top 5 are the Algal Bloom, Copilot Mantis ii, SSBS 4545. But if I had to be brutal and keep it to 5, they wouldn't get a look in. I like the fuck OD too much as an OD to include it in a fuzz list. Unless I custom ordered a double fuck, one set to crackly OD the other set to everything maxed.

Hmm... Brian...

A few more fuzz reflections:
I haven't played enough Muff - only really given time to a Musket, and it was nice, but didn't grab me.
I've never played a Fuzzface.
Don't have enough experience with 60s fuzz. I've been so focused on building up my gig board that it just hasn't been on the cards for me. But now that the gig board is in a relative state of harmony I'm going to have to do some experimenting!
Want to play a PWM fuzz.

My list will become more definitive once I sort out a few of my fuzz deficiencies.

My first fuzz: Arc Flash. It's always going to be my first love.

[univalve]

Bump!
I haven't been in the fuzz game as long as a lot of y'all but here's my list so far (in alphabetic order, the underscored ones are in my collection):
1. Anarchy Audio HM-2 (so heavy, grinding, pounding and fuzzy)
2. Copilot FX Orbit / Freakshow FX HiRay / Smallsound Bigsound Blargg O Tron O Tron (my favourite freaky, nasty, brassy leadsynth type of fuzz)
3. Copilot FX Caracol / Fairfield Circuitry The Unpleasant Surprise (the coolest low gain octave up fuzzes I heard)
4. D.A.M. Red Rooster / Mooer Pure Boost (sometimes just (post) boosting your drive with some fat low end is more than enough to make things go fuzzy)
5. Fulltone '69 MKII (my favourite Fuzz Face so far)
6. Ghost Effects Warmjet V (lots and lots of textures, from long sustain to short attack, from garage sounds to nice and full, lofi sputters, you name it, it's there, probably my favourite true fuzz so far)
7. Hexe Electronics Bitcrusher III / Iron Ether FrantaBit (nasty, nasty, nasty, they have a very dirty and trebly octave up type of fuzz but they can give some subtle lofi type of degrading to your signal as well)
8. Homebrew Electronics UFO (such a great Tone Machine, fatter and nastier than most others I tried and the octave is on a footswitch)
9. Infanem Second Voice V1 or V2 / MI Audio Pollyanna / Subdecay OctaSynth (some of the deepest, nastiest and meanest octave down fuzzes out there)
10. Mellowtone Wolf Computer (definitely my favourite oscillating fuzz till now, great leadsynth sounds but can do a lot more as well)

cool list!
Did you get the Warmjet already from Ian?

[Tristan]

@Chankgeez:
Whaha, you bet, it was mostly meant as an either / or sorta deal though, I'd be happy with any one of those from the different categories.

@sonidero:
No Lab Ratchet?

@goroth:
I have a custom Caracol coming in so I'll get back to you on that, with the regular one I was using it after my main distortion mostly.
I'd set it up to get these strange kind of low gain broken octave up and weird exotic instrument type of sounds and then boost it with my Homebrew Electronics Big D which is my main distortion to get into the nasty octave up fuzz distortion sounds, it sounds great and works really well, same with the Unpleasant Surprise really, only the custom Caracol I have coming in might be able to get more of those exotic instrument type of sounds that's why I went for it.
Luckily my friend Marijn from Digitaar stocks a lot of Copilot FX so I got to try most of them out, in all honesty I also think the video's don't really show the true potential and sound quality that lies inside of those little boxes of wonder.

I know what you mean with the Muff, uni showed me an interesting angle on that one and what to play with it but ultimately it's not for me I think.
As for 60's garage fuzz, in my opinion the Warmjet V can do that but it also gives you so much more, if you want something a bit more hardcore 60's garage then there's lots of other ones to check out offcourse.
My HiRay sorta does a PWM fuzz if you use a volume pedal in the expression input I think, I can send it over to you so you can try it out if you like, same for the Warmjet V when it gets here.

@univalve:
There seems to be quite a few similarities in our lists indeed.
My Warmjet V is not here yet but Ian is working on it so I'm already dreaming!
I'm sending your pedals back to you today, thanks for lending them out to me man, without that and your recommendations I hadn't found the Warmjet V nor the Wolf Computer!

[univalve]

Glad i could help, Tris!

[Sardocasm]

1. Toneczar Vault. I love high gain fuzzes and nothing seems to sound similiar.
2. Wren & Cuff Box of War.
3. Dr. Scientist Frazz Dazzler
4. Spaceman Sputnik
5. Metasonix Scrotum Smasher
6. Death By Audio Apocalypse
7. Wattson FY-6 (Superfuzz)
8. Zvex Fuzz Factory
9. Wren & Cuff Tri Pie 70
10. Ampeg Scrambler

You are going to get along nicely with Univalve.

Huzzah for the love of Metasonix craziness.

[rfurtkamp]

I don't need ten. Counting dirt boxes in general in this category, since I see other HM-2 and other mentions.

Ampeg Scrambler (any of the modern clones are fine, don't care)
Fender Blender (original, RI, clone, don't care)
Devi Test Pattern (which has to be cloned these days, since it's not in production and hasn't been in a long time, an absolutely essential piece of kit for me now
Roland Bee Baa (clone, original, don't matter, I miss my old one badly and it's on my list to get another)
MXR Blue Box (original, RI, clone, who cares)
Boss GL-100 (technically not a fuzz, but an entire 2 channel rack preamp, it gets HM-2 and everything else Boss of that era in one box and gets super-splatty with rack-headroom when pushed)
ART SGE Mk2 (digital distortion from the first generation of digital distortion. Nasty, ugly, bright, everything terrible from the late 80s in one box, and you can reverse gate verb it. Definitely not a primary distortion but on the second amp, hell yes)

Those are my only *essential* ones. I love my other couple dozen and then some...but those are the ones I would buy immediately again after say a fire.

[Ro_S]

Ampeg Scrambler (any of the modern clones are fine, don't care)
Fender Blender (original, RI, clone, don't care)
Devi Test Pattern (which has to be cloned these days, since it's not in production and hasn't been in a long time, an absolutely essential piece of kit for me now
Roland Bee Baa (clone, original, don't matter, I miss my old one badly and it's on my list to get another)
MXR Blue Box (original, RI, clone, who cares)
Boss GL-100 (technically not a fuzz, but an entire 2 channel rack preamp, it gets HM-2 and everything else Boss of that era in one box and gets super-splatty with rack-headroom when pushed)
ART SGE Mk2

What do you like especially about the A/Scrambler and the F/Blender?

I'd love a Roland Bee Baa clone. Anyone know or recommend any decent clones?

[rfurtkamp]

Scrambler it's the combo of blend and mean, very responsive to different guitars/pedals/etc in front of it. It just sounds like me. The octave effect at this point is an extension of what I'm playing, I know when it's going to come and what it's going to do, and literally think around it sometimes.

Blender is similar but more fuzz than octave - it's my general purpose gain with the added bonus of the octave in some situations.

Both these pedals share their ability to exist with other pedals, which is an essential part of my board, but there's just something about both that works for me- combo of clarity and punch and how I play.

I'm just an octave up fuzz guy when it comes down to it, and not a BM-derived fan in most cases. I also have played Fender and Fender-voiced amps for years, and these pedals work very well with them.

Doesn't hurt that both sound very pleasant (or not, if that's what I'm gunning for) with a little tape compression and the Space Echo preamp.

[Chankgeez]

I'd love a Roland Bee Baa clone. Anyone know or recommend any decent clones?

I tried out a Black Cat Wee Buzz recently and thought it sounded fantastic. Not a straight clone, but pretty versatile for what it is.

[Chankgeez]

I'm gonna steal a page from Tristan's playbook and modify/alter my list.

I never explained 'em anyway. So, I guess now's as good a time as any.

Take Flight Pedals The Goose/Fairfield Circuitry Four Eyes - both fuzzes with crossover distortion/filter built-in. Sounds great stacked into another fuzz. Supremely versatile. The Fairfield is better as an EQ. The Goose oscillates and has octave up.

Basic Audio Fuzz Mutant (Os Mutantes fuzz)/Creepy Fingers Os Mutantes Fuzz - because Os Mutantes. I think it's an extremely versatile circuit. Very wide range of sounds available. Supposedly loosely based on a Fuzz Face, but I think it's way better. I like the BA just a little bit better than the CF, it has more character.

IdiotBox Death Ray Frequency Mangler/SubDecay Noise Box Both are awesome envelopey scrambly goodness. The Noise Box is a little more versatile. I pretty much use them in similar applications. I like playing rhythm through fuzzes like these.

Sanford and Sonny BlueBeard Fuzz/Black Arts Toneworks Pharaoh/Blackout Effectors Blunderbuss - favorite tweaked modernesque Muffs.

Earthbound Audio Centurion - favorite silicon fuzz at the moment. (I've also been wanting an Ape Blaster and a Dirge SSStampede though.)

Basic Audio Gnarly/Basic Audio Squarewave+/Basic Audio Wildcat - the Gnarly's just a stupendously sounding versatile fuzz. The Sq'wave+ and the Wildcat sound amazing stacked.

Ghost Effects Silicon Pep Box/Ghost Effects Warmjet V - I've been loving the Pep Box and wanting to be lovin' the Warmjet. They sound so great. Pep Box is instant Sixties garage rock in a box.

Jordan Creator/Wren and Cuff The White Elk - Both copies of early Big Muffs. Sound out of this world. The right sounding Big Muff is pure sex.

Jordan Bosstone - because Pete Cosey

[rfurtkamp]

Agree on the Squarewave+ and Wildcat combo, it rocked.

Only had the cash for one thing in the tourbox so I went with what was something I *didn't* have elsewhere or could stand alone.

Wildcat is still on my list though.

[Chankgeez]

Yeah, I definitely encourage picking up a Wildcat. It's a little more limited than some other fuzzes, but it just sounds so great. I use it a lot with either the fuzz all the way up or with it all the way rolled off. It sounds fantastic that way as a raspy boost.

[Big Mon]

Fuzzhugger Pipe Amp-the tones of unrestricted mobility...
Fuzzhugger Phantom Octave-I always seem to come back to it.
Devi Ever Soda Meiser with Chaos-another repeat offender
Fuzzrite clone, by Jero-I love him and his work
Shit-Ari there yet, don't trip over that synth- I've spoken in riddles, yet said too much
TheSyle-Green Filter-If I ever find one, I'm going to shrink my dick to where it'll fit in the input. Filtered, Fuzz'd Dickstortion
McSpunkle Gnomey-gnomez!-It just does so much!
Devi Ever US Fuzz- yet again, a repeat offender
Devi Custom Twin-GZ/Bit with chaos and maybe a Rocket-style trem. Probably not gonna happen, but I dream big (See The Syle Green Filter)
Roland Jetphase-pretty much unobtainium, because I wouldn't shell out that much for a pedal. I won't, I won't...will I????...

Phantom Octave, Devi US, Devi OK, Fuzz Huger, Square Wave voice on Ehx Micro synth, Lab Ratchet, Meth Shark Fuzz (built by Jero; clone of Devi ND/DN/TP/AE/05), Foxx Tone Machine, Jordan Bosstone (for the same reason as ChankerZ), Fuzzhugger Pipe Amp. I change my mind a lot.

[rfurtkamp]

Yea, I want one, it being fed scrambly-nasty feedbacking fuzz was glorious.