ilovefuzz.com

I've been researching and buying for quite awhile now and I think I've got a final board set up. Except some of it is still on a list while I'm waiting for a good sale or deal. But in the meantime, what do you think. I should have most of these pedals in about a month though. Been saving up.
I have a Fender Stratocaster and an Egnater Tweaker 40 if you were wondering.

Barber Tone Press>ZVex Fuzz Factory>ZVex Instant Lofi Junkie>MXR M-117r>Earthquaker Sea Machine>Young Pedals The Looker>smallsound/bigsound fuck overdrive>Volume>Strymon El Capistan>Solid Gold FX Super Surf>Boss TU-2

There ya go. I play a lot of Modest Mouse/John Frusciante style music and I like lofi, warpy sounds sometimes. And as you can tell, I like my modulation before my dirt. Actually, I love it there. It makes the distortions all texture-y and sounds great with leads. And I'm not a distortion guy at all, really. I like it in one or two songs, and I like the tiniest bit on all the time or enough to add a little chunk.
Let me explain some of the pedals.

Tone Press>Versatile compressor.

Fuzz Factory-I'm not too sure yet, I know I want some type of fuzzy/gainy boost for solos in louder songs so I assumed a fuzz would work. And I hate watching fuzz/distortion/overdrive videos because I can only take so much in-your-face gainy playing at once but this seems pretty versatile and it could provide for a lot of fun to mess with. I'm just wondering if there would be a better option for my needs. But before, I had a Big Muff with a tone wicker that sounded awesome before another dirt pedal but I hated it by itself. When stacked, you got this awesome fuzzy lead tone that was just trying to rip into a clearer tone. Whatever dirt I had after it seemed to hold back the tone from sounding complete. I don't know if that's a good explanation or not. I have an example on my youtube (in my signature) around 5:20 on the video "Song 2." It's pretty low quality and from a long time ago but that's what I liked about it. I just hated it by itself.

Lofi Junkie-Great warpy sounds. I love vibrato.

MXR Flanger-I love this flanger. I owned one about a year ago and sold it because I was looking for more. I still haven't found a flanger (or phaser) to replace this. I'll be getting another one definitely. I used it for settings like the ones at the end of the PGS video. Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful.

Sea Machine-Awesome, fun chorus. Some pedals have a better sounding chorus tone but with this one, you can get some great ethereal sounds with all the knobs on this guy.

The Looker-If you haven't heard of it, look it up. It looks like the best tremolo money can buy. For a long time, I wasn't sure what flanger I wanted but this one has so much going for it. I'm just still on the fence about whether I want a tremolo enough to buy one or not.

fuck!-I never heard of this pedal until I started using this forum. But it looks like it could fit what I want. Currently, I use a Boss DS-1 with the drive knob to zero. You still get plenty of gain on that setting though. But when you play softly, you get some nice, barely distorted dirty sounds that sound like they were recorded terribly. I love it. With the fuck's switch, I think you could get some similar tones, especially with the help of the threshold knob. I get most of my distortion from my amp but I think this could help me out. An example of this is on my youtube on "Dark-Echoey." But the fuck seems like it could do much more than that trashy low-distortion sound. The biggest problem about a DS-1 is that it has too much gain for my taste and as soon as you turn it on, you lose all kinds of low end. I haven't owned many distortions but I've stuck with that one because I can get those low quality sounds from it.

Volume-...yep.

El Capistan-Why would you not want one?

Super Surf-Recently, I have fallen in love with spring reverb and this guy seems like he has the best spring sound out of any other. I like my reverb kinda low on my sound but just for some atmosphere but this sounds awesome when turned up too. And it has a tone knob! Which I find completely necessary on a reverb so you can a long trail that doesn't get in your way.

Tuner-Everyone needs a tuner. Especially if you go between standard and open D like I do all the time. Anyway, I usually keep my tuner at the beginning of my chain but I've heard that fuzzes (particularly the factory of fuzz) like to go first. I don't know if a tuner would mess with a fuzz at all so I just put it at the end of this list. And I would probably have another tuner, at least the TU-3 on this list but I got mine TU-2 for like $30 a couple years ago so I'll just keep it.

That's it. Any input or advice? I'm really excited to get all these together but want some other opinions on it first. Be watching my youtube in the future if you want to see any of these!
Also, I'm not purposefully plugging my youtube channel, I just wanted to give an example of the sounds I was talking about. But plugging it is kind of an added bonus! And the videos I mentioned are pretty old and before I knew anything about recording (and I still don't) or had decent equipment (a decent amp). Most everything was recorded from my phone or my laptop into audacity or straight into movie maker. And I haven't made that many videos recently anyway. But whatevs, I'm mainly looking for suggestions pertaining to the fuzz and the OD. Maybe the trem or the reverb since those are both maybes on this list. And about the placement of the tuner in the chain. Let me know what you think about those and everything else too! Thanks!
And sorry about how long this is, I'm just so bored today and all I can think about is some new gear! I'm sure everyone knows how that is.

The only thing I would suggest is to be wary of the Fuzz Factory, because it tends to lose a lot of the low end of the guitar. For a similar oscillating fuzz, perhaps the AB-Synth by Fuzzhugger? If you don't need oscillation and just want a really versatile fuzz, then go with the Algal Bloom (also by Fuzzhugger).

I was looking at that one too but I couldn't find a whole lot about it.

For a different fuzz, maybe look into a Fuzzhugger Algal Bloom: it rips, but also can also be weirdly clear for playing big chords and not sounding like arse. Doesn't do the oscillating/gated stuff like the fuzz factory though, if that's important to you. If you like that stuff, go for a fuzzhugger AB-synth.

Nice bunch of pedals though, that looker trem looks very cool.


EDIT: the fact that we both said this is clearly a good sign.

Must be! And that tremolo is definitely very cool.

zRobertez wrote:I was looking at that one too but I couldn't find a whole lot about it.

huh?

...the Youtube demos - there are numerous - are a good source of information. Toms website also can be helpful, and the Fuzzhugger fx sub forum here on ILF.

Basically You need to know only one thing about it - where to order one.

All the clips of the Algal Bloom seem kinda thin but its probably just youtube. The Black Arts Pharaoh sounds pretty super awesome though. Any input?
And they play Money by Pink Floyd in the pgs video. What more could you ask for?

Yeah I echo the sentiments above, I've got a fuzz factory and it doesn't like playing with other pedals.

The El Cap does a lot of the same sounds as the LoFi from what I've heard. I suppose it depends on what specific sound you're going for.

ABSynth has way more gain than Algal Bloom, more than many metal guitarists need. Fuckloaofnastysaturatedgain! And pretty serious psycho-oscillating abilities.

Algal Bloom used to be called the desert rock/ stoner fuzz box of Fuzzhugger fx. Definitely NOT a muff variant - all Tom design are original and thumbs up for that - if You are looking for something like that (?). It can do A LOT of different tones, also some good sluggish, sludgy broken amp style fuzz, if You allow a little trebly sparkle in there. The low end definitely IS there, the clipping tone just is tuned to more classical od/fuzz so the upper harmonics are prevalent over the low end. But it's all around well balanced.

If You are looking for more bassy doom/ stoner toanz... check out Huger. That sounds like some serious fuzz for that kind of metal/rock.

Algal Bloom is NOT thin in person, so don't worry about that! The AB-Synth does have more gain though if that's what you're looking for. Plus craycray oscillation.

Yeah I have owned a fuzz factory and it is good for a few specific sounds, but I think an EQD Tone Reaper is a way better overall fuzz.

Also: Any fuzzhugger pedal would be awesome.

I think the premise that you could purchase these pedals and then just be done is fun, good luck with that!!!

And I do think you want a trem, I have always wanted to try a looker, pretty hooked on my empress at the moment but the looker seems awesome.

How is that egnater amp? I was conaidering getting the 20 watt one.

Oh and

The Fuzz Factory is great.

You could have two equally good fuzzes for just a bit over the same price.

snipelfritz wrote:How is that egnater amp? I was conaidering getting the 20 watt one.

The Black Arts Pharaoh looks to be what I'm looking for. It sounds great.
And I agree julius_deane, the lofi junkie might be a little too similar to the el cap. I have a Malekko vibrato that I love, I was just looking for something with a little more control but over the past week, I decided I like the vibrato just fine. It has a tiny high end roll off when you run it on 9-volts that can get lofi-y enough with just a bit of overdrive.
And snipelfritz, the Egnater amp is pretty awesome. You can get a whole lot of different tones out of it. It is plenty loud but it works fine at bedroom levels too. It is a little tough to get an overdrive sound out of it that isn't muddy but after you spend some time with it, it's not so bad. And it seems like the overdrive is just a little dark (hence the muddiness) for my tastes but it's easy to fix. I'm wondering if other tubes could help. I haven't had it for very long but that's what I've gotten so far.