10 fuzzes to rule them all!

[dubkitty]

did i do this before? i'm not waiting for 10 pages to load to find out.

in no particular order:

1. MXR Distortion+. oh yes it is.

2. Tone Bender MK III. CMC Effects clone. a bit more rambunctious than my old Tone Reaper.

3. Buzzaround. CMC Effects. he altered the circuit by adding a master volume knob, which allows you to draw out additional gain combinations that were too quiet with the standard circuit. i love this thing to bits. it's better than the Sound Shank i used to have.

4. Fuzzhugger Algal Bloom. Tom made a small-box version for me. it was stored for ages...when i did the 17-item Great Fuzz Shootout (for five available single-sized slots) it came back. it's almost impossible to make it sound ugly, even when you push the controls to the extremes. you don't hear about them much nowadays, but you should. to use that over-used term, it's a really musical fuzz.

5. Fuzzhugger 3-knob Great Wall. This is the only GW exactly like this in existence. i looked it up: Tom built two small-box 3-knob GWs in single-width enclosures painted by Ben Nerison with different controls on each, so as far as i know this is the only one ever made. i really should have him make me a backup, because it's literally irreplaceable and it's one of the two cornerstones of my dirt sound along with the D+. one is least gainy, one is most gainy, and the others fill the space between.

6. Tone Machine. Danelectro 3699. sick sick SICK. too crazy for my board, but too great to sell. i don't even use the octave switch because it's already in Daft City without it.

7. Fuzzhugger Velcroar. i have a big-box Velcroscillator, but it's not quite the same as the tiny one i sold like a fool. with the Roar all the way left it sounded just like Rust Never Sleeps. all you need is a good octave divider. i have a standing alert on Reverb and eBay for "Fuzzhugger" just in case one pops up. if you have one laying around...

8. Stomping Stones Virus. i just got this as a ILFSS gift. it's both a remarkably versatile grainy overdrive and a batshit crazy fuzz with octave and ring mod tendencies. i have no idea at all what the circuit's like or where it might derive from, but it's the most interesting fuzz i've seen in ages.

9. Devi Ever White Spider. perhaps Devi's most useable pedal, it's a one-stop shop for shoegaze racket. Kevin used one. that's how i wound up here...i saw a photo of his pedalboard with the WS on, Googled it, and wound up here because Tom had briefly made a authorized version of the WS. i also wound upon the end-stages Devi Ever forum, which was a thing. quite a few things, really, and you never knew which thing on any particular day.

10. 3xfx Fatman. this is another dip into the Rust Bucket, one of the first devices i bought after seeing it on ILF. it's been stored for years because i remembered it as being terribly noisy, but it really isn't. goes nicely between the D+ and TB in terms of gain with a smoother quality than either. and it has a tone control. all fuzzes should have a tone control because so many are essentially high pass filters. this one is unusual in that rather than the standard army green finish it has a royal blue enclosure which is much nicer to look at.

i don't care for a lot of the popular options. i've never gotten along with Muffs, Rats are too noisy, and Fuzz Faces don't excite me. i'm selling my Blues Driver, MK II Bender, Catalinbread germanium Fuzzrite and Katzenkönig, and W&C Tall Font Russian. and sputtery voltage starving and oscillation don't work for me. if you arrange this list in gain order i think it makes a straight line from quiet to insane.

i still miss my pair of Marshall Guv'nor II pedals. they sounded great on their own, were perfect oscillators in a feedback loop, were built like tiny tanks, and when one was run into another with the gain matched the result was this amazing dynamically compressed sound that sustained for weeks (i got that idea after reading that Bob Mould used to chain Distortion+ pedals in the studio with Hüsker Dü. it sure sounds like he's doing that on Zen Arcade.) i should get another. IIRC some were built in Taiwan and or Korea and later ones in India; the India box i had sounded noticeably less good.

[gila_crisis]

1. Earthbound Throat Locust (my main to rule them all HM2 clone)

2. MASF Epilepsy (the most brutal and berserk noise-oscillo-fuzz available on earth)

3. BSRI Audio TFZ (I think this is based on a buzzaround, so many cool tones in this one, and huge low-end as well)

4. Lastgasp Art Laboratories 046 Sooper Fuzz (my main-to-go Superfuzz, voiced with a super cool mid-grind flavour, and can also go nuts and oscillate)

5. Earthbound Audio Supercollider (IMHO the best BM with extended EQ section out there)

6. Electrograve Ripper Fuzz (I suppose this one is based on an old Roland BeeGee, very BM like tone but with a character of its own, and served with a heavy/brutal noise gate circuit added in the mix)

7. Holy Island Audio & MASK Audio STOP! (a sick pedal collab, totally dethroned the MAYBE, the Yes fuzz inside this STOP is totally a rotten version of the original circuit, but in a good way)

8. Holy Island Angel Teeth (this is kind of a cool utility/swiss-army-knife of a pedal: covers all you may need, be it overdrives, distortions, fuzz, octaup in a very compact format)

9. Sounds From The Void Gorgon Fuzz (modern take on a Roland BeeBaa, with expanded controls and tone sections, from spaghetti bonanza up to sludgy walls of doom)

10. Spiral Electric FX Custom Black (custom Black fuzz, based on my love for the Allora, voiced to have more bass gain aka sludgier tones than a standard Black, this one set the base for Tom to what after became the stock Black Mk2)

Honorable mention: Dwarfcraft Devices The Great Destroyer (I got it few weeks ago, so still in the learning phase, but lots of cool tones and noises in this box, maybe not as heavy as I was expecting, but very cool in case I need something like a MASP Epilepsy, but not as brutal and with more control).

[Jero]

8. Stomping Stones Virus. i just got this as a ILFSS gift. it's both a remarkably versatile grainy overdrive and a batshit crazy fuzz with octave and ring mod tendencies. i have no idea at all what the circuit's like or where it might derive from, but it's the most interesting fuzz i've seen in ages.

Just seeing this, happy belated ILFSS, glad you're enjoying it! Appreciate the kind words!

[dubkitty]

every home should have one.

[oldangelmidnight]

A bump from 2019 seems like yesterday but did you know that 2019 was 5 years ago? That's half a decade. Most of us will have 14 5-yearses.

1 The first fuzz that felt right to me was a Muff and my favorite is the "47" triangle variant that Laowiz built in a dual I have.

2 The Mask Audio Maybe is a perfect crazy octavey gated fuzz.

3 EAE Surveyor is my low-gain dirt machine of choice.

4 A Rat boosting a Muff is the rock and roll lead sound I love. Black Mass 1312 does the job.

5 Malaise Forever Golden Guillotine after reverb sounds like post-rock to me.

6 Black Mass Missionary Fuzz v2 does this bassy blown-out thing I haven't heard anywhere else.

7 Sometimes you want an HM-2 and when I want an HM-2, I reach for Throat Locust.

8 I haven't played a filter fuzz better than Laowiz Cyst Mode.

9 I cherish my Fuzzhugger Sonic Bloom. It gets some of those late-period Lou Reed pushed amp sounds.

10 The pedal that taught me how to love fucked up fuzz was the Spencer Amps Subzombie so I'll put it on this list.

[the_bright_undead]

1. Spooky Tooth - this pedal has the weirding way. i think it's got a great name....it comes off sounding angry, but once you learn to find the tones underneath, there's a haunting quality to some of the octavey sounds inside. it's also a little miniature book of fuzztones, ending with all knobs cranked and your amp sounding better than it ever could.

2. Spiral Allora - this pedal is my go to for sludgy sounds or more experimental sounds. i usually think of 'versatile' pedals as devices that do many things well, but nothing exceptionally well. the Allora is both, it's very adaptable and can serve many roles, but sounds totally unique.

3. Basic Audio Fuzz Right (ge) - all around best fuzzrite, best garage fuzz IMO.

4. Laowiz Sinews - my favorite buzzaround so far, with my Jimmy Behan 4-knobber coming in a close second. I love how gated and raunchy the Sinews can get just by rolling the volume down two notches on my guitar.

5. Catbox Customs Bean Machine - my favorite love letter to the harmonic percolator, also, best paint job. i really need to try a V2 with the oscillation options

6. EAE Halberd - not really a fuzz, but a great drive that can become a fuzz when pushed that way. the halberd solved my 'i can't find the drive i'm looking for problem' because it sounds great by itself, stacks incredibly well, and the buffer on this pedal actually works great running into a lot of different fuzz pedals. definitely a pedal whose strength for me is how it blends into a larger board and somehow finds a way to enhance everything else going on around it. plus there's some great fuzzy drive tones that get kinda close to a Greg Sage sound.

7. MAE Titan - muffs are always the hardest fuzzes for me to bond with, this one has been my favorite so far

8. Dead Air Feral - personally my favorite Rat out there, sounds great at both low and high gain, but especially cool sounds to be found in the lower gain regions

9. EQD Dreamcrusher - my first fuzz, a bit plain for my tastes these days, but it taught me that all you need is two knobs and LOUD, and opened the portal

10. DOD Gonkulator - sort of an honorary mention, not my favorite ring mod, but it's a very dirty one and a ring mod ought to be here somehow

[oldangelmidnight]

Are you using the + version of the Feral? I've been wanting to give that a try.

[the_bright_undead]

Are you using the + version of the Feral? I've been wanting to give that a try.

no, I’ve got the standard version, but given how great this one is, I’m sure the + is better, especially with more clipping options. I’m not quite sure what the clipping pot does on mine exactly, tbh, because I always keep it fully ccw, which I believe is standard rat clipping.

I haven’t tried a 1312 and the only reason is, I like the feral enough that it’s kept me from buying other rat variants.

glad to see the missionary on your list, it’s a beautiful beast!

[Blackened Soul]

I can't believer I never posted...

1. Sovtek Big Muff π Bubble Font.. I got new @ GC when I was 17.
2. Henretta Engineering purple octopus, I was given a prototype one for a name suggestion when they were working on the pedal, it's my go to octave up.
3. Katana Sound Super Bass Fuzz, was by main fuzz for years, usually ran it with the octave off.
4. last gasp art laboratories tone ax, best rippy uber modern fuzz
5. TYM Mud Fuzz, single knob, heavily gated muff!
6. HAO The Roar, I've owned like 4 of them.. still have at least 1..
7. last gasp art laboratories Super Oscillo Fuzz 88
8. Big box RAT - because!
9. Fuzz Hugger Phantom Octave - I have mine in a dual pedal with a Greatwall Fuzz!
10. Mellowtone Wolf CPU - only one on the list I no longer have.. such a cool pedal!

+
last gasp art laboratories Green Monster - the real brown sound!
Tru-Fi Octavia
Dwarfcraft - Shiva
M.A.S.F. Epilepsy
Elk Wau Fuzz
Guyatone tz2
Guyatone FZ-2000

[Jero]

Are you using the + version of the Feral? I've been wanting to give that a try.

Haven't tried the Feral yet, but I got Will's Project V recently. Really cool fuzz with lots of character. I'm sure his Rat is great.

[Disarm D'arcy]

1. Blackarts Toneworks Pharaoh

2. OP-AMP Big Muff

3. Infanem 141G

4. Infanem Driving Notion

5. Boss HM-2

6. Boss FZ-3

7. OBNE Haunt

8. Green Russian Big Muff

9. Ram's head big muff

10. Triangle big muff

[sutarappa]

likin gila_switzer's language.

In order of goddamn what. Bass concern.

Earthbound Audio, Supercollider
Earthbound Audio, Throat Locust
Mountainking Electronics, Megalith
Dwarfcraft Devices, The Great Destroyer
Blackout Effectors, VS Twosome
Fuzzhugger, Fuzz Huger
DenTone Alien Hate Fuzz
Idiotbox, Blower Box
Wounded Paw, Battering Ram

This world's gonna change.

[Burrito]

Going to go off pedals i own, in no particular order:

1: Creepy Fingers Harakiri (super fuzz)
2: Creepy Fingers Ramalama (rams head muff)
3: Castledine Supa MK1
4: Fulltone Octafuzz V1 (octavia?)
5: Stomp Under Foot Silverfish (rams head w/ octave)
6: D*A*M (EFE) TYGR
7: Wren & Cuff Box of War bb (Civil War muff)
8: Reeves Facet FF (BC183 fuzz face)
9: Seeker Face (NKT fuzz face)
10: Creepy Fingers Balch (gated fuzz)