can I measure your fuzz, please?

[AC128]

Hey guys.

I bumbed this thread to request a few specific pedals to measure:

- Maestro Fuzz Tone
- Big Muff
- Orion Gold Fuzz
- Analog Man Sun Fuzz

If you have access to any of those (or other cool pedals) and can spare a few minutes, pm me please.

thank you.


You can view what's been added to the data bank so far here.


Hi.

I'm becoming more and more curious about the subtle and not so subtle differences in the sonic universe we call fuzz.

After building a few pedals (kits!), buying from eBay etc. I was looking for a way to have a visual (and possible more objective than hearing) reference besides the obvious one (plugging them in and scaring my cat out of the room)

I came up with a sound file that if processed through a (dirt) pedal, tells me quite a bit about it's most crucial characteristics:

- clip 'type' (I don't mean diode vs transistor etc, but the shape - it goes from fattened sine over triangle-ish to all kinds of square with different edges and pulsewidth, and then there are some really odd ones...)
- frequency response from 20Hz - 20kHz (quite interesting, sometimes a 'bassy' pedal doesn't really have more bass then a more linear one, just fewer highs)
- output level

The soundfile consists of a sine tone, which shows the type of distortion, a sine sweep from 20-20kHz to measure the frequency response and of white noise, another way to get a reading of the frequency range of the pedal.

What I want to do is build a database containing as many different fuzzes as possible, containing the info about the pedal (see below) as well as a picture of the processed sine wave:


and the frequency response as a graph like this:


All this information will of course be accessible for everyone.

This is where you come in

I uploaded the 'sine sweep noise' wav file here: http://www.4shared.com/audio/BoqtBoiC/S ... Noise.html (~4,5MB)

you set up your fuzz with your fav setting and feed it the wav file while recording the raw (pedal direct to soundcard) output, please record in 24Bit 44.1kHz.
You might want to mute your monitoring for this - it sounds nasty, and not the good nasty...

then you email me the recorded file along with some information about the pedal you recorded.


Thanks1

[AC128]

wish list (incomplete)

everything your wonderfully sick minds dreamed up so far. If you developed a pedal yourself - great, I'd love to dissect it (sonically...)

generic:
Fuzz Faces in all shapes and sizes
Big Muffs, again all eras, types, clones
Rats
DS-1, also with mods
SD-1, also with mods
Tube Screamers, also with mods
Maestro Fuzzes
Tonebender Fuzzes

slightly more specific:
all the great stuff on fuzzhugger.com

more specific:
MJM London Fuzz
Mad Professor Red Fuzz
M-Audio Neo Fuzz

pedals I have:
Ampeg Scrambler
Ampeg Scrambler clone - tonepad.com
Ibanez SF5 60's Fuzz
Ibanez CD5 Cyberdrive
Exar Squeezer
Fuzz Face germanium - pigeonfx.com
Fuzz Face clone germanium - musikding.de
Fuzz Face silicon - diyeffect.com
Fuzz Factory clone - musikding.de
Fuzz Factory clone - diyeffect.com
Digitech Bad Monkey circuitbent (now: Mad Donkey)
Dimaveri OD circuitbent (now: Clusterfuck)

[Schlatte]

Whoa... pretty ambitious project you are planning there... Would it be OK if I would do this with the pedals I designed and built too? Or does it have to be a Pedal from the houses of the big companies?

Greetings!

Sorry.. I couldn't resist to attach this.. it just fits perfectly

[eatyourguitar]

Well there are a few things i would do differently. You should be using an impedance transformer or a reamp box to feed the sine into the pedal. All the tests should be done on the same equipment. I think 24bit 96k would be better. Remember the nyquist theory. Even though it may be inaudible, there could be some high frequency stuff happening in some pedals. Like a click with very short duty cycle less than 1%. I really like what you are doing and i hope you keep doing it.

[AC128]

Whoa... pretty ambitious project you are planning there... Would it be OK if I would do this with the pedals I designed and built too? Or does it have to be a Pedal from the houses of the big companies?

Greetings!

Sorry.. I couldn't resist to attach this.. it just fits perfectly

haha, Barack almost looks like Nien Nunb...



thanks.
i'd actually prefer to do this with the kind of pedals you describe, that's where the interesting stuff is! Screw Dunlop, Boss & Co.
Although at some point these more 'readily available' pedals might serve as a point of reference, since they are so common and well known.

[AC128]

Well there are a few things i would do differently. You should be using an impedance transformer or a reamp box to feed the sine into the pedal.

ideally, yes. they are more expensive than your standard DI box, tho...

All the tests should be done on the same equipment.

ideally, yes, but unrealistic.

I think 24bit 96k would be better. Remember the nyquist theory. Even though it may be inaudible, there could be some high frequency stuff happening in some pedals. Like a click with very short duty cycle less than 1%.

dunno. I see what you are saying, but in all my years of mixing and producing, I yet have to find a convincing (audible) argument for 96kHz. Especially with guitars.

I really like what you are doing and i hope you keep doing it.

hey, thanks!

[Narwhal-Industries]

This is a great idea.

[AC128]

3 downloads so far! awesome!

[Bassus Sanguinis]

Oh yes I really like what You are doing. I'm not promising anything but I'll see if I can spare a few moments for this project.

[Narwhal-Industries]

Sent files

[AC128]

Sent files

6 very different sounds from one pedal

[Narwhal-Industries]

Sent files

6 very different sounds from one pedal

Thanks for letting us participate in such a cool experiment. I'm looking forward to seeing the results of some other pedals. If anyone would like a Barnacle Fuzz we do have them in stock. Also I believe one of our dealers has some on Ebay.

[multi_s]

you should also generate a frequency domain graph of the sine response no? very easy to see what harmonics its generating instead of staring at the time domain version, which while interesting, dosn't as easily give insight into what sort of overtones are happening.

edit:

it may also be interesting to run the sine test at a few different amplitudes. Ive looked at a few different fuzzes on scopes that give some extra shape characteristics when you feed it larger signals. (the bazz fuss comes to mind).

[ARC Effects]

Impulse responses ftw

[eatyourguitar]

Impulse responses ftw

I have heard some IR's that sound like really fast tone sweeps. or are you talking about the gun shot one?