ilovefuzz.com

Hi ILF'ers,

I'm looking into getting my first Fuzzhugger (for a good part also thanks to our good friend Goroth, thanks man! ) and after listening to lots of clips and a lot of digging around ILF I still don't really know what to get exactly so I was hoping you guys can give suggestions to help me out.
So far from what I heard in clips I really like the Fuzz Huger and 1134 but I'd also like to get something a bit more versatile and crazy maybe (even more crazy? -> yes, please! ) so I don't really know which road to go.
What are your experiences with the Fuzz Huger and 1134, how do they stack with other pedals?
I think some people here have more versatile and crazy custom jobs with these circuits and I'd like to know which kind of sounds you can get out of them?
Or maybe if some people here have an AB Synth type pedal that's tweaked to sound more like the Fuzz Huger or 1134, could you tell me your experiences with it and the pro's and cons when compared to a more regular (well, what's regular about that hey) AB Synth?
Thanks!

I think magiclawnchair and sonidero need to see this thread (they own more FH than anyone else I can think of)

Thanks!
Those were two people I had in mind indeed.
There's got to be more people who have experience with older Fuzzhugger pedals and different AB Synths though, I think.
I did shoot Tom a mail too but that's only just a few days ago and I'm afraid my mail might not have had the most coherent story or idea, I hadn't checked out the older Fuzzhuggers yet when I sent it either so I'm not sure whether Tom could make something out of it.

Little bumpage!
After hearing the great new vid on it I might be going for a Suneater or Suneater Oscillator, anybody here with one of these?
I'm also still very curious about the older Fuzzhuggers like the 1134 and Fuzz Huger and custom or other variants thereof so if you can add some of your thoughts please do chip in!

Oh, me...

Ummm, I have all those listed... The Huger is Toms heavy wall of uuummmppphhh type Fuzz, the high and low are great and they can be switched out for MOAR LOUD... I have two versions, one regular and an Upper Huger with mids toggle... The toggle really helps if I'm switching between Baritone or Guitar but for just Guitar I use the regular one... It's the Pre-Doom-Bloom-Tom-Doom-Fuzz, kinda... The 1134 can do heavy but it's real good at getting spitty and splattery and it makes a nice "60's Fuzz Sound"... I also have two versions of the 1134, one regular 3 knob and an 1134 Lab Ratchet combo... The LR/1134 is my go to for velcro ol school shaggg fuzzz, it can get real nasty but also clean up with your vol or the knobs which most FH pedals are good at also... You can't go wrong with an Algal Bloom or a variation of one... I have a regular 4 knob Algal and a 5 knob one that added 2 LEDs, Germanium, and Dual Silicon modes... Tom can add oscillation or mid or bass toggles or different clipping options for anything so I would just ask and see what yall come up with... Give some examples of songs or sounds your looking for and I'll see if there is something else...

BTW I haven't unplugged my Dual Suneater since I got it, it's great alone or into anything...

Man! I had a great response going and my browser crashed & didn't recover it. Been trying for days to get back to where I was.

I've responded to the original email (anyone waiting for a response, I'm trying to keep up. And please email me any time!) but I wanted to say some stuff about related circuits. I've always advertised which fuzzes evolutions of the non-oscillating AB-Synth fuzz, but it's still caused some confusion.

The 1134 fuzz gave birth to the AB-Synth. The 1134 was super-overdriven, but had a dramatic Gain knob for clean up...that kept the 1134 in thinner, nastier, cutting-to-splatty territory. For the AB-Synth, the Gain knob was dropped in favor of the Fuzz knob, which lowers the overdrive level and opens up lows, and allowing it to get into thicker territory. The AB-Synth fuzz also has a sizzle overlay not found in the 1134 or subsequent variants...so non-oscillating AB-Synth variants are slightly higher-fi by nature

--The Great Wall added more lows, changed the clipping structure, and often added tone circuits. Lotsa versions.
--The Chalice was a really short-run (15ish) very close to the AB-Synth V1 fuzz, without the sizzle, and adding in the Gain knob.
--The Fuzz HUGER was a rename of the Great Wall (get it, huger, like more huge?...Some people called it the Fuzz Hugger or told me I made a typo on my own pedal. It caused so much confusion that I went back to the Great Wall name. Thus causing more confusion about what's what.

Well can't argue with the maker but my Huger is way different then my 3k GW or my 5k GW... There is no starve and the separate Bass and Treb. controls make it super usable for stacking...

Whatever you decide on I know you'll be happy with cause TOM HUGGER ROCKS!!!

Thanks for your replies guys!

This video is maybe a good example of what I want and what I don't want from a fuzz, in the 'big' mode it sounds cool but the 'tight' mode blows I think because it doesn't even sound like a fuzz to me:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwlGK1Xfd7w (sorry to make you listen to such boring guitar playing)
The sound could be even heavier and crazier for me though, the big mode on that pedal in higher gain (halfway and up) is sorta where it starts for me, I wouldn't mind some footswitchable oscillation or other madness either.

Some other sounds I like:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogJir4z6LqQ
(fatness + fuzzyness and artefacts in the sound, in this clip it's especially noticeable in the lower notes I think, I also like the riff sounds here)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5hzxqmDjoI
(trumpet style single note sound, I heard some Fuzz Face style pedals do this quite well as well, especially when they have a bias and/or pre/input gain control that can run quite hot, I like the chordal riff sounds here too)

I mostly have Youtube to go by for the Fuzzhuggers as there's not too many of them over here in Europe I think.
The reason I picked out the Fuzz Huger, 1134, also the Suneater and maybe the Lab Ratchet is because they seem to sound the nastiest and most blownout fuzzy to me.
Soni, I think I know what you mean with the difference between the Fuzz Huger and Great Wall, the Fuzz Huger just seems to be more full out on the fuzz side than the Great Wall as the Great Wall seems a bit tighter to me, if I can trust what I hear on the few clips that are out there.

I checked those out... I think a Lab Huger would be what you might be looking for...

sonidero wrote:Well can't argue with the maker but my Huger is way different then my 3k GW or my 5k GW... There is no starve and the separate Bass and Treb. controls make it super usable for stacking...

Well, you're right! The Great Wall (and the super-limited Huger and Chalice) evolved from the AB-Synth's fuzz, and have continued to evolve...each time with differences in low content, clipping structures, and controls. There are some dramatically different controls between versions, so you can go wayyyy out in directions that you can't on others. So some of these are debatably 30-50% different from the other. Each was the product of what I was into at the time (straight forward big fuzz, to super flexible...I'm sure I could build a 10+ knob Great Wall ).

Thanks guys!
Soni, do you mean a Lab Ratchet stacked into a Fuzz Huger or maybe the other way around?
I think the earlier runs of the Lab Ratchet had a similar tone stack setup like the Fuzz Huger so I guess that would make an interesting combo indeed, I don't know how it would sound though, does it get crazy and synthy maybe with the gate from the Lab Ratchet cutting into the Fuzz Huger's hugeness?
Another one I'm looking at is that custom Velcroar Duo Tom made, if I recall correctly it's a Suneater and Lab Ratchet duo pedal, unfortunately there's no clips of that anywhere to be found.
Tom, that makes sense, they all seem to sound a bit different in the clips, I also really like that 11 knob Greatest Wall you made, greater than great!

Some of my favourite Fuzzhugger clips.
Fuzz Huger: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drqR6XEQQak (just so damn heavy and fuzzy)
Lab Ratchet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgbCdXUgfvo (love the octave up and broken sounds here)
Lab Ratchet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yox11cXzuDI (love the textured fuzz sounds here)
Suneater: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQeIPCmNj34 (seems to be able to do the trumpet stuff and if this isn't Rock n Roll I don't know what is)
Velcroar Oscillator: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FD_t6P_aMU0 (love the oscillations on this one, from synth bass to nasty squeals)

I often thought of a lab ratchet and velcroar (now suneater) in the same enclosure, but it was someone else who actually did it . That would definitely take care of all your nasty, textural desires.

You're last round of questions prompted me to do some fuzzhugger stacking to see what happens. I don't have a suneater ( ), so I used my velcroar instead (older model, without the clip knob).

Velcroar->LR produced some cool results I wasn't totally expecting. Really filled the sound out, seemed to add some lows into the mix. Heavily gated setting on the LR produced some cool pulsing, glitchy tones with more body than I was expecting.
LR->Velcroar was cool, but really produced more variations of the two. I find there are some similar tones in the LR and the Velcroar, and it really just produced a wider variety of these tones.

One thing to note, the attack and compression of the Velcroar produces some strange sounds when stacking. Sort of pumping when you pick. My Velcroar has an added gain knob, which really helps in stacking. Not sure if this is a similar control to the degain toggle Tom added in the dual suneater that soni has.

I don't have a Fuzz Huger ( ) so I used my newest spec Great Wall (from inside one of my combo pedals ) instead...

GW->LR was definitely cool. lots of wild tones in there, super splat and nasty stuff. Some of the same pulsing/glitchy stuff as the Velcroar->LR, but all in all much nastier.
LR->GW was my favourite of all. Again, the throbby/glitchy stuff is there when you use the gate, but when stacked in this order you get some really cool harmonics popping out, some very dissonant, but very appealing sounds. The tone control does wonders in this setup, too. Really accentuates various harmonics/frequencies coming out of the LR.

If you're looking to go combo I would say LR->GW (or huger if Tom can do that still) gets the widest variety and some of the coolest tones. I think I might rearrange my board and make some use of these sounds. Only caveat here is if you get the level too high on the LR you will produce some really wild pumping on the attack, so you might want to keep the level on the LR down a bit. You can compensate for this by putting it in the loop of a clean hugger if you want.

One more note, if you put the LR second you probably won't get the octave up sounds when stacked (I didn't) so there's some added functionality with LR first as well.

As far as the older models go, I don't have any of those really. I'm not as OG Fuzzhugger as Soni or MLC.

Tom Dalton wrote:I'm sure I could build a 10+ knob Great Wall

I'm sure you have.

Oh wow that was a glorious post... I agree with everything...

I'm sad you don't have a Suneater or Huger too...

I wanna see what becomes of this...

sonidero wrote:I wanna see what becomes of this...

5 new fuzzhugger designs no one expected (including Tom)?

JuJo, thanks a lot for trying that all out and posting about it!
It seems there are many interesting combinations worth exploring so it won't be easy to make up my mind I guess.
With the pulsing, glitchy tones you mention do you mean more of a tremolo type of pulse with ticks, pops and clicks and the like or something else?
And the pumping sound that can occur when stacking with the Velcroar does it pop and click quite heavily?
The harmonics popping out on the LR->GW combo you're talking about is probably a feedback type of sound, isn't it?
Now I realise it's your video's from the Lab Ratchet and your 11 knob Great Wall I referred to in my earlier posts so thanks for those too.