Fuzzwell Effects tourbox (DONE!)

[Snufkino]

jwar was added to the list late, and due to the route I worked out he's next.

[Jwar]

OK! So here's my thoughts as a bass player and a player in general.

I'll start with the pro's for all of them and then the cons.

Pro's-
sleek design
simple color scheme
clear labels (for effects names)
good build quality
good sound quality
small foot print

Cons-

No led's
no dc jacks
no labels on what the knobs do except one pedal

OK.

So the FY-1-super trebley, almost ear piercingly so. This was my least favorite as a bass player. I tried it with both passive and active mode on one bass, then switch to another. Kills all lows. It's super loud though and has some gnarlness to it. Overall I couldn't use it because of how much it kills your low end.

Orpheum-great tones in some settings, again low end get destroyed in others and it becomes a bit sputtery. Now it does sound cool like that, but ultimately only usable for me in one setting. I'm assuming one knob is volume and the other is gain. With the gain turned down and the volume up, it sounds great on bass. With the gain turned up past noon, not so much.

Maypole-this is one I could actually see myself buying. It sounded great with both my basses even with the toggle in different posistions. There were some settings that caused it to kind of sputter, but it sounded good. Retained low end pretty well and overall was my favorite. Plus it stacked well with my Ezekiel.

I did stack all of these together and the FY-1 kill the tone of the other two pedals. Not sure if that's just the type of pedal it is or maybe the way I had them in a chain. Very interesting.

So it was fun checking them out.

If I bought any of them, I'd want an LED and a dc jack though. Those a must for me. Overall great stuff and I can see them being especially useful for guitar players.

[D.o.S.]

Any other updates on this?

[Strange Tales]

I think Lord Resin of Cum has the box right now.

[resincum]

yeah dudes I'll get that out to Inconuucl tomorrow or thursday! package came out of no where

[Snufkino]

I snuck Jwar onto the list late in the day, then Thurburmingus had it for a few extra days to use at a gig I think so it's going a little slower than expected, but here's the list in order of rest of the recipients:
(I organised it starting in the north west going south, east then up to the north east.)

Inconuccl
Echoraven
BoatRich
Strange Tales
DoS


All the feedback has been useful, so thanks for all who are taking part.

In other news, I'm getting closer to sinking some money into making a few more new types, with screenprinted enclosures. I might even try a kickstarter page to try and raise some money if there's enough interest since there's no local business grants available

I also wanted to make up a couple of new circuits, a Silicon Maypole (Fuzz Face) and something a bit more sexy and ended up making a dual pedal. Very happy with how it's turned out. Just waiting on the LED bezels then I'll put it up for sale

[Tristan]

What it is?

[Snufkino]

Barnes & Mullins Fuzz Unit. More versatile than I thought too. I'll definitely be making more in the future.

[Tristan]

Nice, does it sound like a muff, is it more on the fuzz or more on the distortion side and you added another footswitchable circuit with some knobs right?
I'm not curious, not curious at all.

[Snufkino]

The extra footswitch and knobs are just for the silicon fuzz face. For the B&M, Low gain and high tone yields vintage fuzz tones and high gain and low tone is more like a distortion/muff tone that's got nice and lean lows. I think in a blind audio comparison with some muffs, you'd be able to tell it was the odd one out, although from memory it sounds a bit like an IC fuzz (I think) with a nice midrange.

Audio clips

[Tristan]

I checked it out now, or at least the Faustone Fuzz Unit, it sounds a bit weird to me as if the distortion isn't completely cutting the clean signal and it has some strange raspy midrange which makes it sound less smooth but more in a distortion like manner.
They say it's related to a Jumbo Tonebender but that one sounds quite a bit smoother and more fuzzy to me.
Cool build though, yours seems to sound better than the Faustone throughout the whole range.
I bet it won't last long till someone snags it from your B/S/T.

[Snufkino]

Thanks. There's no magic mojo with my build though, I used commonly available transistors and got the "ideal" hfe ratings as close as I could. I had some pots and toggles wired up to experiment with certain component values, but just ended up going with the stock circuit.

[Tristan]

Well it sounds good, if it ain't broken don't fix it.

[D.o.S.]

Thread needs more clips.

[resincum]

pending inoculousus' approval, I might be able to get some clips in today, if not it'll be on it's way to him within a couple of hours!

here we gooo

FY-1 - really like how the notes bloom/decay. I like riffing with it, but really enjoy hearing those notes die off/reveal swaths of sounds underneath. I heard it die into soft crackles/as well as ocean waves when being driven. very raspy/treble heavy when being driven tho (and that's into a dark amp using the rhythm circuit on my vmjm). also loses loads of low end. sounds good with chords, but probably excels at those single notes. with the filter down, it sounds like your playing in a tin can. insanely harsh and trebly, I couldn't do much with that setting with my guitar but it can definitely be abused for soundscape purposes. (the footswitch is dying on this thing :/)

Orpheum: compared to the FY-1 it is very dark/damp sounding and excels when being pushed (imo). the lows are there and the octave mixes in a way where it sits under the signal instead of blended, until you get into the further right territory. it sounds thick and has a lot of sustain with the octave set low. the more you mix in the octave, the more strangle sounding the fuzz gets. it takes over when the octave is maxed and eats some volume, but there's still loads on tap to compensate. a bit more about the octave..when set low it's kind of like a soft laser but gets tinny the more you mix in. loved it on the softer side. I don't know if the battery is dying or if it's a feature of this type of pedal, but it kind of sounded like a sputtery trem fuzz when letting the notes decay on some settings, similar to the divine hammer.

Maypole: WOW. not exactly sure what the middle and right knobs do, but they are interactive and can make this fucker ROAR. this just might be my favorite fuzz that I've tried so far. was A/Bing with my dan muff for a minute ultimately, they're different beasts, but I really love how this thing cuts. it's such a well rounded fuzz. can go from clean/massive boost to a ripping face melter. probably played the same riff through this thing for an hour. this one blew it out of the park for me.

the batteries were loose in all of the pedals, I've opened them up and stuck them on as tight as I can, hopefully they remain like that!

no LED/9v jack is a bummer. I understand they're supposed to be vintage styled replicas, but I think it'd be a welcome update

all in all, thanks for the opportunity! calling dibs on that maypole if it's a possibility