ilovefuzz.com

So, looks like I'm going to be playing guitar in a shoegazey band now! I'll be using my Hondo, which has one Super Distortion in the bridge, that can be coil tapped. And, I've already got a lot of pedals. I've been digging this big muff I have, but it's a little quiet. The Rat I have seems to be kinda too punk sounding (I might be wrong). I've actually been enjoying using a Meathead clone for fuzz. I've also got this BF-2 I've been digging on.

BUT

What am I missing? What should I give a shot? Who am I?

How're you looking in the reverb department? The Rat would probably be adequate with some verbz and delays.

more auto filter

Neil Halstead used to depend on a Rat in Slowdive. i tend to use a couple of different fuzzes so i have two launch stages. lately i like the Distortion+ or Tone Reaper running into the 3-knob Great Wall. so the Rat and the Muff could be just the thing.

i'd say that you also need a chorus that can slow down to a seasick MBV kind of swell, tremolo, some sort of delay, and a platey-sounding reverb with lots of dwell. maybe an envelope filter that does down-sweep. the classic 'gaze bands used a lot of cheap 80s stuff...a TR-2 and an RV-3 will get you more than halfway there. the RV-3 is 1989 in a box. you'll want another reverb as well, though, if i know you.

Get yourself a reverb with a reverse function, like the Hardwire RV-7. A synthy Fuzz, maybe the 2 knob Fuzzmonger and a Flanger or Phaser couldn't hurt either. Personally, I would use the new band as a justification to buy a bunch of new pedals.

if you research the classic 'gaze bands and their period setups, you'll find that the guitarists generally used stomps for fuzz (and/or distortion), phasing/flanging/chorus, and often for delay, and then ran into one or two digital multi-effect rack units like the Yamaha SPX-90, Alesis MidiVerb II (both of which Kevin Shields used) or the contemporaneous Korg units Slowdive used. the rack units were used for verbs, additional modulation, and what i like to call "stunt reverbs," i.e. reverse verb, the endless Slowdive cathedral verb, the weird clatter at the beginning of "Slow" by MBV achieved by running the Reverse Early Reflections patch on the SPX90 with the room size parameter maxed, etc.

Two words: Sea Machine.

Trust me, even if you "hate chorus'" it is uh-maze-ing.

Oh, and either the DMB Lunar Echo or a Mid-Fi Deluxe Pitch Pirate would be AWESOME on the delay tip.

theavondon wrote:I've actually been enjoying using a Meathead clone for fuzz.

It's funny you say this, I've got plans for a DIY pedal that I'm planning on calling the "MeatGaze".

You don't really neeed.... reverb. Add space by using complex chords or letting high strings ring out/drone. Then add reverb if needed. I'd say keep it punk with the Rat. There are so many current shoegaze-inspired bands that rely on delay/verb with fuzz why not take the swirlies approach and have raw ass guitar tones contrasted with super pretty cleans?

Not to put down the way other bands do it, I'm just offering a different route.

Oh, you know whats in almost every single one of my favorite shoegaze songs? A wah pedal. I don't feel like that gets talked about enough. Crazy fun expressive texture changing device.

EDIT: oh and like Jrmy said, some sort of wacked out modulation can be fun. The Seppuku Mind Warp as well as the aforementioned sea machine... maybe a pitch pirate. Lots of options. I use the Chorus function on my Dlx Memory Man. But even then... the same effect can be done by bending notes and chords while letting open strings drone. I mean... just treat your guitar like a whore and you should be good. Bend it over, touch it where it wants to be touched... then slap it across the face when it bites you.

But like tuffteef (i think) said, all you need is a big muffrat? and feelings.

PumpkinPieces wrote:
Oh, you know whats in almost every single one of my favorite shoegaze songs? A wah pedal. I don't feel like that gets talked about enough. Crazy fun expressive texture changing device.

MEDICINE MEDICINE MEDICINE



C

p.s. Though I can't make wahs sound good for the dick of me.

Turn the distortion on the rat down to like 10:00 and then run it into your heavy fuzz of choice. Trust.

I like having a spring reverb in front for them splashy plops.

But yeah, everyone else said what needs to be said.

CBA wrote:

PumpkinPieces wrote:
Oh, you know whats in almost every single one of my favorite shoegaze songs? A wah pedal. I don't feel like that gets talked about enough. Crazy fun expressive texture changing device.

MEDICINE MEDICINE MEDICINE



C

p.s. Though I can't make wahs sound good for the dick of me.

ALISON'S HALO ALISON'S HALO ALISON'S HALO

Yeah, although there's some MBV wah usage, what's getting me looking at the decade-neglected Crybaby is getting heavily into Medicine the last couple years.

I'd go for super-effecty sounding reverbs or not bother. Modulated verbs, shimmer-verb (octave-up pitch shift in a feedback loop of the digital delay lines comprising the reverb), "infinite reverb," reversed envelope stuff like in Alesis and SPX stuff. If not for that stuff, I'd rather get heavy-handed with delays, and amp reverb on top of that can mush things up too much (unless it just sounds brilliant -- try it despite what some forum jackass -ahem- tells you). I like delays that can self-oscillate and would pick that capability above a lot of other modern features. Especially if you're not doing reverb, two delays covering different fronts (clean and crisp/dirty and chaotic, say) is nice.

Pitchy stuff is my final frontier. It's essential to a lot of Medicine stuff (Midiverb) and followers have made a religion out of Boss PS-2's Mode 7.

Sweet tits. I've got my M9, and I've been using the plate, cave, and particle verbs on that. I also set the digital delay w/mod to be full wet mix, and full depth on the modulation, so it just bends my signal up and down in pitch, and I also have pitch vibrato on top of that, and the slow filter and other wah related jawn. I'll look into a more dedicated reverb (maybe), and I'll try the lower gain Rat into this meathead. I'm also getting a whole shitton more of different fuzz soon, so there's that. What's nuts is that when I turn on the Rat and the meathead, the meathead starts oscillating for some reason. So, cool side effect.

But, definitely keep the discussion going. I'm digging how everyone's interacting, and bouncing ideas off of each other, instead of just saying "Get an Alesis".

Yeah, I've always found lower gain RAT settings to be preferable... you turn it up too high and it just sounds like a Muff with less bottom end. I usually do gain to about 11 o'clock, and it still sounds really fuzzy, crunchy, and guitar-tone keepy all at the same time... though my favourite fuzz boxes are ones that say FUCK YOU to your guitar tone and make up their own sound.

C

PumpkinPieces wrote:You don't really neeed.... reverb.

Agree. Almost everyone seems to love the reverberation, but I'm more a fan of many many separate delays (and/or flangers). Whatever sounds good to you.