Wut fuzz am I looking for?

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Re: Wut fuzz am I looking for?

Post by Ghost Hip »

Sounds pretty similar to an Earthbound Audio Centurion, to me.
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Re: Wut fuzz am I looking for?

Post by Tristan »

frigid midget wrote:
Tristan wrote:What kinda amp do you have again?
Fender ToneMaster head, and a jcm 800 4x12.
Vox AC15C2 for home noodling and backup.
And a traynor YBA-1 that's gathering dust. It's probably my favorite amp, but it's dire need of new tubes and a full checkup, and I'm too lazy and stinchy to take it to a tech :facepalm:
I'm not completely sure with those speakers but I think the Vox will probably give easier access to the sounds you're hearing in that vid.
What have you got there in terms of fuzz / distortion / boost pedals?
I think a good experiment would be to take the Vox to the rehearsal room, cook it a bit and slam it with whatever dirt boxes you have to see what you can come up with, then compare it with your favourite pedals / settings from that run into the Tonemaster, that would actually be my first step.
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Re: Wut fuzz am I looking for?

Post by frigid midget »

Tristan wrote:
frigid midget wrote:Not quite the same either, but similarly evil sounding in it's own way:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bbaun1zDCJs

Sludgy downtuned riffs starting at around 2:00

I still like the rumblefuzz a bit more, but the baby thunda should be lots easier to come by. Anyone care to weigh in? Or sel me their baby thunda? :p
Too weak in my opinion, I played the ECT and it just doesn't feel like you're slamming your guitar if you know what I mean, suffers from a common Muff syndrome.
I guess people fall into one camp or the other, there's the guys who feel like the ECT, LSTR and some older EHX Muffs etc. are the heaviest things on earth and there's guys who don't think so, for the latter group there's Muff variants like for instance the Pharaoh and EFE 6618 which just have way more immediate punch and attack at the loss of some gain and low end rumble.
From what I hear in that clip the Rumblefuzz also falls more into the latter category, mind that it's probably more a feel than a sound question, for me some pedals just feel weak when I play them because they don't punch me in the gut right away when I hit my guitar.
Yeah, when comparing both clips I came to the same conclusion. I'm sure the ECT/BT is a lot of fun, but it's not really as similar as I thought at first. Nice sounding way downtuned sludgy riffs tend to make almost any fuzz pedal sound menacing. Though that rumblefuzz really seems to combine the super heavy fuzziness with the kind of extreme saturation I imagine you could get from a cranked pharaoh + rat combination.

The vox wouldn't work for that particular band I'm wanting the new fuzz pedal for. It just lacks the low end, and clean headroom, that the half stack has. Plus, I like the distortion channel as well. I keep the vox at home most of the time, and take it with me to jam with my buddy, for more mellow tunes.

I'm picky when it comes to dirt pedals. Well actually I'm not, I'm usually happy as long as I can do really bassy and fuzzy tones, with lots of grit/hair on single notes as well. Strickly single coils by the way, that's sometimes a challenge too I suppose. Cutting through a loud mix is something a LOT of otherwhise awesome fuzz pedals struggle with imo. Anything that's too close to a traditional BMP or Fuzzface kinda generally falls short in that departement imo. It depends on the amp to some extend, but I've been through enough different amps to consider that sort of like a rule for me.

After buying/flipping a stupid amount of dirt pedals over the years, the only one that stuck with me that ticks all the boxes: Boss FZ-2 :idk:
Other than that I keep a Red Witch Fuzz God II around, which is too rad to let go, but it doesn't get a whole lot of use. My only non-fuzz pedal, that I like to combine with a good portion of amp dirt: Crowther Hotcake. Dark and thick as hell, it just doesn't do high gain on it's own, or at least not without sounding overly muddy and muffled.
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Re: Wut fuzz am I looking for?

Post by Tristan »

Seems like we're in the same boat, I totally agree with you man.
How about a HM-2, or a full range Rangemaster maybe (got to get the amp cooking a bit though).
Maybe a modded Tonebender MKI with more lows.
The Harmonic Percolator is awesome too but probably not heavy enough on it's own.
A Buzzaround or Dizzy Tone might be too distortion like and not fuzzy enough, the fuzzy artefacts are more in the highs and I suspect you want those fuzzy artefacts more in the lows (same with me) which in my experience is not an easy thing to get right.
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Re: Wut fuzz am I looking for?

Post by univalve »

EFE black acid maybe?
There will be the particle series someday that is a decent bit cheaper than the Big Box stuff.
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Re: Wut fuzz am I looking for?

Post by frigid midget »

PumpkinPieces wrote:Sounds pretty similar to an Earthbound Audio Centurion, to me.
Dunno, checked a couple clips...I don't hear it :idk:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QS9SP-iTT8c
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Re: Wut fuzz am I looking for?

Post by Tristan »

Awesome pedal but it's too distortion like right (like the Pharaoh), misses some of that fuzzy edge in the lows?

The Okko Black Beast maybe:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rez4e4UzxE[/youtube]

Other than that I'm with univalve, EFE is the only stuff I tried so far that really brings this fuzzy character in the lows while remaining enough gut punch, if only it weren't so motherfucking expensive.
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Re: Wut fuzz am I looking for?

Post by frigid midget »

Thanks! In the very unlikely case that I happen to find a good deal for either a VFE Black acid or an Okka black beast...It'll be mine :excellent:
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Re: Wut fuzz am I looking for?

Post by Tristan »

EFE = Emanating Fist Electronics
Black Acid (really big box though)
Frequency Sustainer 6618
;)
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Re: Wut fuzz am I looking for?

Post by resincum »

the 6618 sounds SO GOOOOOOOOOOOOD
highly recommend copping that one if you get a chance.
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Re: Wut fuzz am I looking for?

Post by frigid midget »

vidret wrote:it's REALLY REALLY hard to tell when it comes to fuzz/od/dist anything when you haven't played 10-20 amps yourself and know how different types of fuzzes would typically react with them.

the dwarfcraft ECT and pharaoh both slam a clean amp really well, SLAM. it doesn't sound very good when it's fully clean, i feel both of them lacks. they feel like they're "almost" there, but not really - but then there are the fuzzes that go balls out into a clean amp (frazz dazzler for example) and sound great, but when the amp starts to cook/gets driven you have to turn the fuzz down a bit or you're just entering square wave city.

or you can stack them into a clean amp, which is basically like having a slightly overdriven amp and one pedal.

all the variations with the amps reaction makes it even harder of course, i think you have to look at *uses* for the pedal/sound.
play out, need to cut in the mix and play loud? yeah, pharaoh/ECT/revelation/overdrives are awesome.
play at home and need a good sound at a low volume into a clean amp? i'd go frazz dazzler or just something with more gain, or go into the dirty channel of my amp to get just a hair o that preamp gain.

Rant. I think people need to start showing how high the volume is when they demo something, or people watching need to realize it might be pretty fucking loud and won't get all those characteristics at lower volumes (not specifically talking about the demo at the start of thread)
Totally agree, on all accounts. I just now checked the clips of Rumble Fuzz on the Spaceman effects website. The pedal was sold out ages ago, but the webpage's still there. Anyway, the "full gain, P90 bridge" clip, which I guess comes closer to my setup than that first yt clip with the les paul...It sounds super lame in comparison :s

The low end is still there, but that super saturated fuzzyness isnt. Just goes to show, so much depends on the partical signal chain, the guitar, amp. What you said, basically. I know how hugely different my pedals sound through my different amps, or even through the same amp, but at different volumes...So looking for the perfect fuzz pedal based just on random online clips...Is like looking for a needle in a haystack, blindfolded :facepalm:

Anyway, sounding great at home just for myself, isn't that important to me. It's easy enough to sound decent at lower volumes. Depending on the dirt pedal in question, it can be a little less easy when the volume goes up, and like I said...When there's a handful of other loud musicians onvolved, the real challenge starts.

My FZ-2 isn't even all THAT special, at home at practice volumes. It shines when it's at an unholy volume, cutting trough a bussy mix. That's imo the kind of circumstances when the good fuzz peds get seperated from the great ones.

I definitely FINALLY have to try a pharaoh or revelation. The standard ECT would be too big for my board, but the baby thunda does the same basic thing, right?
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Re: Wut fuzz am I looking for?

Post by Dandolin »

Maybe check out a Roland Bee Baa clone? Stomp Under Foot Son of a Bee has a mids knob to help with the disappearing act, and with that you can dial in some damn noice low mid growl to pour syrup on your low frequency honey. MO, but that circuit does huge low end without loss of clear attack better than BMP derivatives. But, if the builder is too faithful to the original, the scoop is too overwhelming--no cut, no joy.

Also, I don't know WTF the OKKO Black Beast is (its got 2 opamps plus BJTs in it--I've never seen anything like it, but it has taken over my board--pure awetasm. It just brings moar of everything in my rig (KT88 amp, Sovtek slant top 2x12)--bass, articulation, fuzz edge on the Kaputt knob ranging from sandstorm rip to foldover kazoo. Excane's demos sold me, but the Burgs one is interesting because he showcases a bit of the pedal's multi-personality dimension. Seriously articulate on dense chords--this thing covers a lot of ground.

People be sleeping on this one. I don't know if it is colossal enough for your needs, but it is great for getting LARGE in a mix.
Last edited by Dandolin on Mon Feb 22, 2016 12:10 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Wut fuzz am I looking for?

Post by Tristan »

I definitely agree on the Pharaoh, I have univalve's BAT collection here to try (Black Forest, LSTR, Pharaoh, Revelation, Ritual) and the Pharaoh is easily my favourite and probably also the most versatile of the bunch (the Black Forest is great too though).
I think for me it's good enough and gets close enough to not spend the extra dough on an EFE pedal.
Tried again yesterday to make sure but with about these settings it should work:
Hi / Lo switch = Hi
Clipping switch = Ge
Tone = almost completely down (where there's still enough definition)
High = almost completely up (where there's not too much presence so you loose the lower fuzzy artefacts)
Fuzz = above 3/4 (where the gain and clarity really increases, the non fully open setting actually brings out more artefacts in my experience)

I can't and won't vouch for the ECT / Baby Thundaa though as I'm quite sure it's not what you're looking for.
In my opinion it has too much of a generic / Russian Muff feel to it and doesn't have the kind of punch I think you want, as an example it's very much closer to the LSTR than to the Pharaoh.
good deals with: the_brow, phantasmagorovich, alexsga, DarkAxel, goroth, The Wood Wizard, Tendollarcat, vbps, monkeydancer, intothegroove, Brobee
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