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Looking for a fuzz pedal that sounds good with EL84's. I've got a 20 watt H&K Statesman (Vox AC15-ish soundingamp) with EL84's that hated my beloved Tone Reaper , and I'd like to replace it with a non- Muff-style fuzz. I really like the basic tone of the amp and I have OD (ss/BS Mini) and Distortion (Electronix Buxom Drive) covered, so I don't need an all-rounder, just a biting fuzz. I used to have a Velcroscillator and loved it, but sold it before I bought the H&K, so I'm hesitant to replace it if it sounds like ass w/EL84's. Suggestions?

My Algal Bloom sounds great with my el84 amps. DBA Soundwave Breakdown and Apocalypse are both fantastic as well. Oh, and the Fairfield Unpleasant Surprise!

That said, all my el84 amps sound completely different than one another and take pedals so differently. The highest gain model (TH30) hates most every fuzz beyond a Pharaoh regardless of the crystal clean channel.

So far I have been playing ONLY EL84 amps

can only recommend the Fingerprint fuzz
Fix'd Fuzz is awesome, but watch out for bad pickups and take the time to tweak the trimpots (i didn't do these things a few months ago, luckily the Fix'd is back with me now)

my current favourites

I think that a lot of it has to do with the preamp over the power tubes. Try tube swapping some lower gain tubes in there to help prevent overloading the preamp and sounding like shit. 12au7s or 12at7s in V1 or so might really help to prevent it from sounding bad

new05002 wrote:I think that a lot of it has to do with the preamp over the power tubes. Try tube swapping some lower gain tubes in there to help prevent overloading the preamp and sounding like shit. 12au7s or 12at7s in V1 or so might really help to prevent it from sounding bad

5751 perhaps? Gonna give that a go in my Orange cuz it sports more gain than most anybody would ever truly need.

That's really good advice tho. I think the main reason all my el84 amps vary so drastically in sound boils down to how sensitive those tubes are to different preamp configurations.

5751 is not bad, but its just not a ton of gain reduction. Just 30% per gain stage it is used for so in V1 if your amp uses both stages cascaded each one would drop down 30%. However, it is a nicer sounding tube then a 12at7 which people sometimes describe as being harder (if that makes sense)

5751's usually do me well, gain matching with preamp tubes comes pretty close, too much gain and it either sounds too bright or too gainy, too little gain and it sounds dull and lifeless (I usually don't like 12AT7's that much, they can indeed be a bit stiff sounding while still dull and lifeless).
That said, EL84's themselves are sometimes also prone to "bees in a can" type sounds, usually because of a certain bright cap, though it really depends what circuit the amp is based on.

I never use more than a boost or Black Forest with the gain channel and only if I have it set to a more low gain crunchy sound. Otherwise is sounds like pure ass with fuzz/drive, blocking distorion madness, just unusable.

that said, I usually just run the gain channel alone and pretty hot, then set the clean channel on the edge of breakup.

Thanks for the suggestions so far, I'm probably going to try an Algal Bloom before I swap out tubes. Anyone tried an IE Oxide or a Malekko B:Assmaster with an AC-15 or AC-30?

Rob Fossil wrote:Thanks for the suggestions so far, I'm probably going to try an Algal Bloom before I swap out tubes. Anyone tried an IE Oxide or a Malekko B:Assmaster with an AC-15 or AC-30?

malekko assmaster sounds great with ac-15. also check out the maestro FZ-1S, sounds killer. fuzz face or clones like analogman sunlion sound really really nice. smallsound/bigsound makes a nice superfuzz clone, the Super Puzzle that is quite extraordinary.

good luck.

Been really enjoying a Skreddy Hybrid Fuzz Driver with my EL84-based amp. Not the fuzziest of the fuzz but sounds killer.

Holy Schnikes wrote: cuz it sports more gain than most anybody would ever truly need.

Not a real thing.

D.o.S. wrote:

Holy Schnikes wrote: cuz it sports more gain than most anybody would ever truly need.

Not a real thing.

When you're talking el84s, I feel like it's a real thing. Unless you like fizz, then it's def not a real thing.

vidret wrote:whenever i use it for i turn the gain down on the dirt channel and turn on the black forest in front of it, way better sound than the amp gain alone - but then again i might be able to run it at the same volumes you are, this one is in my living room in an apartment building.

Agreed. The Black Forest really fattens that dirt channel up, sounds crushing. It's super bright and shitty thru the clean channel but so is most everything unless you're running the gain high. Seems the TH30 really only loves dirt/fuzz/OD in the low gain dirty channel settings, def the sweet spot. The clean channel sounds super with mod and delay and verb and octave etc etc but man it's bright/harsh with fuzz cuz I run it pretty clean-ish. Works out like a 3 channel amp tho, cleans, crunch, then bring the heavy with the pedals.

There's so much volume on tap with that amp too. 30 watters bring volume like I never expected.