Subdecay Flying Tomato + EH Graphic Fuzz = Awesome.

[elbandito]

So I received a Subdecay Flying Tomato Fuzz in the mail today and I was all excited. I plugged 'er in a rocked out for a while and it was goooood.
I decided then, that I would see how she played with some of her new brothers and sisters and I plugged in a couple of wahs, a Boss OC3, an SD Pickup Booster and my trusty 'ol bigbox Graphic Fuzz.

The Tomato absolutely hates my Crybaby. They sound like absolute shiite together, whether in HiZ or LowZ mode... the sweep was messed up and weird metallic sounds were emanating from my speakers and it freaked me out. She got along better with the Morley SS, but Morley wahs suck balls. All of them.
The tomato and the OC3, on the other hand, were fast friends, providing me with an hour straight of jammy goodness. These two were meant for each other.
Pushing the Tomato with the Pickup Booster didn't go as well as I had hoped. It kinda made the Tomato sound like a cross between it and a ProCo RAT. ew.

And now we come to the point of this post.

The Tomato and the Graphic Fuzz went head to head for about an hour, with little breaks here and there to rest my ears.
While my biggest complaint about the GF has always been that it isn't a real fuzz box (in that, it never got squirrely without help), once I played these two boxes back to back, I realized what makes the GF so awesome - it's clarity. Sure, it doesn't get wild like Fuzzface or a Muff but once you find a good EQ setting for your guitar, you can push it with a clean boost (SD Pickup Booster) and you get some good, clear, articulate fuzz.

The Problem: The flying tomato in LowZ mode, to my ears, is somewhat muddy sounding, even after tweaking the 'Hi' & 'Lo' mini knobs even though the fuzz cleans up very nicely with the volume knob. No good... I gotta be able to hear each note in a chord! In HiZ mode, it kinda reminds me of a Boss DS2 for some strange reason. Not that they sound the same but there's a similar characteristic in that sound that I can't yet place... No good! I hate the DS2.

The Cure? Stick a fuzzless GF in front of the Tomato in LowZ mode and get everything at unity volume. Turn on the Tomato for a little hair with guitar volume maxed, then kick in the EQ-only Graphic Fuzz...

The Result? Thick, Dirty, Modern fuzz with added Articulation!
Man, it was the greatest moment in my life.
Well I'm obviously exaggerating, but this tone is KILLER!
As far as guitar dirt goes, I think I've found my sound... for now, at least.

I just had to tell someone and who better to tell than ILF?
Have a great day!

[elbandito]

I suppose any EQ pedal stuck in front of the Flying Tomato would have achieved the same effect but I wonder why the GF sounds so good with the Pickup Booster in front of it and the Flying Tomato sounds so crappy...?

[iblamesummers]

i kind of want to know more about how the EHX Graphic Fuzz serves solely as an EQ. i tried to trade my acoustic guitar for one w/ someone on craigslist this summer and the deal kind of fell thru but i eventually want to have some sort of EQ. i would assume that the EHX Graphic Fuzz would sound great w/ a coupled w/ a lot of things.

what is the subdecay flying tomato anyway. i am not familiar w/ subdecay.

[metalmariachi]

Interesting.
Did you have the Cry Baby in front of the Tomato or behind?

MM

[elbandito]

i kind of want to know more about how the EHX Graphic Fuzz serves solely as an EQ. i tried to trade my acoustic guitar for one w/ someone on craigslist this summer and the deal kind of fell thru but i eventually want to have some sort of EQ. i would assume that the EHX Graphic Fuzz would sound great w/ a coupled w/ a lot of things.

I like the GF. The EQ is not the best one out there, but it was intended for the fuzz, first and foremost. The little ones sound pretty much identical to my ears, so try one out at yr local guitar store and let us know what you think.

what is the subdecay flying tomato anyway. i am not familiar w/ subdecay.

The Flying Tomato is a fuzz... http://www.subdecay.com/product.php?id=7
And there's some reviews and a vid here: http://www.google.ca/search?rlz=1C1CHMI_enCA319CA320&aq=f&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=subdecay+flying+tomato
ProGuitarShop.com used to have a very nice demo of it on youtube but they pulled it a couple of weeks ago.

Interesting.
Did you have the Cry Baby in front of the Tomato or behind?

MM

I had both the crybaby and the Morley SS in front of the Tomato. Wahs tend to act like volumes when you stick 'em behind the dirt.