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So, I am literally obsessed with fuzz. It's the only sound I want ever. So I was wondering, what gear(Amp, Pedals) would you recommend to get that heavy kinda splatty just thick as hell fuzz? Some examples would be the solo on "Little Lover So Polite" by Silversun Pickups, "Hummer" by The Smashing Pumpkins, "Thickfreakness" by The Black Keys, chorus part from "Pueblo" by Pavement. Just that heavy nice warm thick fuzzy sound. I'd like to know what you wise league of gentlemen and women would recommend to get to obtain said sound. I'd like to stay in the 500-800 range but really, price is no matter when it comes to those beautiful tones.

Hmmmm...There's a lot of different ways you can go with this.

Amp-wise:
How loud do you need? Are/will you be playing gigs with a band, or are you just looking for something for playing in the house. How important is portability? Do you mind lugging around a big 4x12" cab?
Most people will probably tell you all tube amps are the way to go. I'm one of those people.

Pedal wise, there's even more ways you can go. I'd recommend checking out some of the builders web-sites from the main page links.

What kind of guitar are you playing?

just get a big muff
and any amp will do in the end its all gravy
depending on ur tastes like glassy dry fender or jangly vox, or grindey mc marshall

sounds to me like you want some kind of Big Muff or Big Muff clone/Big Muff-related circuit, and a tube amp with Celestion speakers. there are literally dozens of options in both categories; your ears are the best guide to the differences between them.

tuffteef wrote:just get a big muff

Not, if you like treble. ANY treble.

I love muffs, but it's not a one-fuzz-does-all. I think it's a bit too smooth for what TS is looking for.

Well, either way, zack welcome to ILF, and welcome to the never-ending quest for tone.

perhaps...the Silversuns are rather more OTT than a lot of regular Muff tones, it's true. they use a lot of Devi Ever fuzz; her Hyperion or Shoegazer might be right up your street, Zack.

snipelfritz wrote:

tuffteef wrote:just get a big muff

Not, if you like treble. ANY treble.

I love muffs, but it's not a one-fuzz-does-all. I think it's a bit too smooth for what TS is looking for.

Well, either way, zack welcome to ILF, and welcome to the never-ending quest for tone.

Yep. It often needs a treblz boost or EQ mid hump to really stick out from the mix. Also, the russian muff can be too violin like for more aggressive rocking. Dwarfcraft Devices, Earthboud Audio, Robot Factory, McSpunckle, Black Arts Toneworks and many others have chosen to offer scoop/flat/hump mid switch or knob for exactly that.

I'd suggest using several different fuzzes to get some variety in there, but that's just me. For a splatty, bassy tones... there's a lot of pedals that do that. A sort of silicon fuzz face and a low end boost or a bass amp, for example works nicely, if You're after some classic fuzzy tones.

Or a Super Fuzz with an extra footswitch for scooped sound, some of the old Japanese models did that, like the coveted Ibanez Standard Fuzz (under many other brad names, too)- check out Verellen Big Spider for a good remake or ask the ILF builders to make You one Not as splatty as a si Fuzz face but can be, with sag control.

If You feel adventurous, I'd suggest check out Algal Bloom and AB-Synth for some serious low end retaining kick ass fuzz. Smallsound/Bigsound TAFM, too.

And if You want rough edged hard square wave fuzz, You probably want to play through a clean amp/channel. No matter tube or solid state as long as its clean, though tubes tend to start taking off with higher input. Tube amps sound, of course, a shit load harder and fuller than the solid states typically do, and the clipping is more naturally saturated. But if You've got more than one channel, You've got some variety to the tones.

snipelfritz wrote:

tuffteef wrote:just get a big muff

Not, if you like treble. ANY treble.

I love muffs, but it's not a one-fuzz-does-all. I think it's a bit too smooth for what TS is looking for.

Well, either way, zack welcome to ILF, and welcome to the never-ending quest for tone.

i missed the thickfreakness thing
wasnt it like a watchamacallit maestro thingo?

dude. I reccomend LSTR into Pharaoh! Every time I plug my guitar I find more HEAVY THICK Fuzz sounds with those 2! Just amazing!!

Seeing as he mentioned both Silversun Pickups and Smashing Pumpkins, he should definitely start with a Big Muff. Billy's and Brian's tones are basically defined by the muff.

I possess a Big Muff at the moment and to be honest, I just can't find a way to get that sound out of it. It's one of the new ones and I just feel like there's so much warmth missing, it doesn't have the balls I'm looking for. Amp-wise, I'd look for something I could play with my band but I'd settle for anything really. I'm using a Squier Classic Vibe Tele until my Fender Jazzmaster is all fixed up into a kinda meh Marshall MFGWhatever 30 watt solid state. I've been looking into Devi Ever extensively and Dwarfcraft is amazing too. Pretty much, this has given me a lot of places to start. Thanks for the enormous help everyone and long live fuzz!

Word to the wise: upgrading your amp will help you find your tone a whole lot more than getting another pedal at this point.

i built my own super fuzz and it nails the silversun tones.

Yeah, I'm looking at getting an Orange Tiny Terror combo. I got an old Kalamazoo Model 1 but it's far too rickety to maintain a consistent tone.

I found the Devi US to get a good silversun pickups sound on a lot of their songs including little lovers so polite.

Obviously a muff for SP...

For black keys stuff I like fuzzrites and russian muffs.

Shin-Ei FY-2 will get you a really splatty fuzz as well.