ilovefuzz.com

limitations can be very good. usually I don't like options and more than EQ knob gets me stuck in tweak city

^ reading this and your sig is kinda funny.

I love that paramtric EQ. Until now I have not gigged the pedal but I'm really looking forward to tailoring the sound to different venues.
And honestly I don't know why there aren't more pedals with this sort of eq. Skully told me he had some ideas about that though...

I like fuzz pedals without EQ in their circuit. The more direct the fuzz circuit is, the louder and crazier things get.
Ever hear the v5 and v6 Muffs w/tone bypass? They're nuts.

A separate EQ pedal or boost stacks perfectly for both boost/cut/filtering/attenuation.

Something like the Fromel Shape EQ, which is based on the Ibanez(Maxon) PQ-9. Low shelf, high shelf, mid shelf OR parametric mids from 75hz-5600hz.
Or Frostwave Resonator

I think it's just tradition. I can't find a logical reason as to why fuzz tends to be simple in terms of tonal controls, and distortion tends to have more.

Definitely tradition rather than a legit reason. EQing before or after fuzz can change the sound in amazing ways and that's something more pedals should explore within themselves I think.

That said I prefer fuzz pedals with one tone control that are just RIGHT. Less time spent tweaking, more spent rocking out.

At the same time though, I often read people complaining about pedals with 4 knobs being too complicated and people wanting something simple. I don't know, I like having a lot of control, but then once I find a sound I like, I usually never change anything, and the knobs stay there for 3 years or so. So then I always feel like all that control is wasted. The only exception to that is shit like the Flanger Hoax, where the coolest thing about it is the constant tweaking.

goroth wrote:I think it's just tradition. I can't find a logical reason as to why fuzz tends to be simple in terms of tonal controls, and distortion tends to have more.

Because most fuzz circuits aren't designed to sound good with a whole bunch of changes to the EQ?

Because knobs are for wankers?

Because bitch I may be?

Its probably because an eq that can boost and cut is more complicated than most fuzzes from a circuit design standpoint. Obviously not all fuzzes but most transistor fuzzes and muff based things.
Personally I love pre and post eq.

D.o.S. wrote: Because knobs are for wankers?

As long as the controls make sense then more knobs = more better for me. You don't have to tweak em all the time just to prove that they're useful. I haven't touched the knobs on one of my Elements in at least 6 months, but I'd never have got the sound I like out of it without them (which is why I bought and sold like 20 distortions before finding the elements).
But I like to set and forget stuff. Doesn't matter if it is a 1 knob fuzz or a 15 knob monster, I'm not touching that shit during a gig. Too busy being metal, and too much risk for getting settings wrong.

I already have parametric EQs on both channels of my preamp that the pedalboard goes into.

If I need to tweak more than that plus a dozen fuzzes, well, there's always the rest of the rack.

As far as why they aren't there, same reason that TC is making a fortune selling stuff to people that are afraid of choices: less knobs costs less and is an actual selling point for some ungodly reason to people.

Most early fuzz circuits are dead simple and primative. Throwing in make-up gain for a passive eq could basically double the complexity of the circuit. And often the circuits are playing around with impedence screwiness for tone and might not play well with eq or eq may not play well with the screwiness.

You want more control? Use a G&L-style bass control in combo with your tone control on your guitar, and add a passive Vari-Tone-type mid notch in your guitar or in a pedal first in your pedal order. Pre-gain tone shaping is incredibly powerful and effective. It's a big reason the pickup market is so huge, IMO--people are looking to tailor their pre-gain eq for their specific rig.