Distortion or Fuzz?

[beggar_guitar]

I know these are two different animals. Perhaps two different sides of a really dirty coin.

I'm more of an overdrive guy. Love pushing the tubes and getting that break up.

But I am starting to play with other dirt boxes.
I have a Big Muff Pi and it is pretty cool. But it is Huge! If I could move it to a smaller housing it might have a shot at staying on my board. From what I understand this one falls somewhere between Fuzz and Distortion.

Which one do you reach for? What would you recommend?

Some FYI
I play an HSS strat and an AC15. More of a classic rock and blues player. High gain is fun but not something I ever use anymore.

[baritone]

Re: Distortion or Fuzz?

I have a bunch of overdrives, distortions, and fuzzes. A few years ago, I was on a really light overdrive trip, and for the last few years, I've been working on squeezing classy sounds out of heavy rock to metal distortions. The Keeley-modified RAT seems to blur the lines between distortion, overdrive, and fuzz (if you are looking for versatility). The Muff doesn't handle chords nearly as well as the Rat, but the Rat does saxaphonish single-note lines better than the Muff (to me).

The Boss Mega Distortion has been my favorite dirt box for a long time, since it has OD and rock dist. sounds which can be played alone or layered up for multi-stage metal distortion. This pedal sounds awesome with solid state amps and better with tube amps.

[subanots]

Re: Distortion or Fuzz?

As fun as a fuzz can be, I prefer a good distortion pedal. You can do more with them.

[beggar_guitar]

Re: Distortion or Fuzz?

Between my Fulldrive, Dynacomp and EQ I can have multiple shades of boost. So I'm not really needing versatility as far as function. But if I can get a decent range of tones that would be nice.

Playing with my Big Muff is fun. I mess with some old school rock tones. Think Sabbath. But really like it for some lead tones and single note stuff. But it feels like a one trick pony. If it were in a smaller housing I could handle it but I kinda hate having so much real eastate taken up by a pedal I will rarely touch.

[drew_half_empty]

Re: Distortion or Fuzz?

I'd get a good silicone fuzz face, like the blue dunlop hendrix fuzz

That one sounds a lot like my russian muff, maybe a little clearer and tonally "even"

I mostly rock overdrive too--IMO true "distortion" is only really good for certain types metal--everything else you'd be better off with overdrive or fuzz


*edit*

dammit i just realized you were looking for something smaller than the big muff--the dunlop really isn't any smaller. BUT! The boards in both the muff and the fuzz face are tiny, you could easily rehouse them. There's probably some boutique guy makin small silicon fuzz faces but i can't think of one right now. I guess there's analogman but I'm not sure if he even does silicon, I mostly just hear about his germanium ones

[AlexR]

Re: Distortion or Fuzz?

You could always try to get a Large Beaver from BYOC. Small case and great tones. If you're not a soldering guy then the Canadian distributor sells them prebuilt.

[Chickenwings]

Re: Distortion or Fuzz?

For smaller size get a little big muff! or for versatility a little big muff with tone wicker. Or a pickle - heaps of sounds in there....or a pharaoh. Im looking at a pharaoh, but i have been using my (even less versatile than a muff) NKT fuzz face for some recording in the last few days and its doing what i need. I guess its not really super important that the fuzz can do a lot of sounds, because as you already mentioned, you have other textures of drive, distortion at your disposal at your feet. As long as it can do one or two killer sounds you are laughing.
Maybe just rehouse your NYC big muff in a smaller enclosure, and add a tone bypass and wicker switch to it. That will only cost a few bucks, add 3 more timbres to your disposal.So all youd need is youd need an eclosure, and two 3p3t toggle switches. Plenty of info around for installing it.
Failing that...sell me your NYC muff and just buy one of the smaller pedals metioned above!

[xntrick]

Re: Distortion or Fuzz?

If you like the Big Muff Pi you'd also like the Swollen Pickle though that may also be too big for your board, i only wish the SW had more of a raspy sound. The breakup i get from my byoc treble booster is very nice, gives me a nice crunch sound without a lot of compression.

[thespricket]

Re: Distortion or Fuzz?

I don't like using "Distortion" pedals. I've got two ODs and a Fuzz in between them. If I do want a heavy distorted sound I'll use the two overdrives together.

[drpietrzak]

Re: Distortion or Fuzz?

Skreddy ScrewDriver is my nearly always pedal. Amazingly dynamic and perfect (for me) just breaking tones. High gain lead type tones I use a Civil War from Stomp Under Foot. Another I like is the Keeley Fuzzhead and the Les Luis.