MXR Blue Box - As a Fuzz

[Silence Kid]

...Man, I hadn't pulled this pedal out in a while- But I never realized how cool it sounded as *just* a fuzz; blend all the way right or just a notch of octave for a bit of rumble, into my Vox AC4C1 set clean, sounds amazing- thick and creamy. With single coils the layered gate of the pedal really shows- steps down volume like a staircase for a 'spiral' effect to the decay.

I mean, the octave is the party trick but- anyone else ever feel compelled to use this as a 'daily' fuzz with the octave off or mostly off?

 

[Empty Pockets]

Re: MXR Blue Box - As a Fuzz

The Blue Box is one of my secret weapons. So many useful tones in that circuit, plus it goes well with other pedals.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Re: MXR Blue Box - As a Fuzz

Cool square wave tones. I used mine very seldom so I sold it years ago. But I never used it for anything but a fuzz.

 

[jeremy]

Re: MXR Blue Box - As a Fuzz

might have to check one out again, its been more than a decade since ive seen one

 

[Lucy Diamond]

Re: MXR Blue Box - As a Fuzz

I don't think I knew enough about tone when I had mine. (Almost 20 years ago)

I remember being very disappointed. I'm definitely willing to revisit that pedal but for the square wave thing, I prefer the control of the Red Witch Fuzz God II.

The guy who sold me my Blue Box told me to "treat it like chorus" so I started with it at the end of the chain.

 

[Francois]

Re: MXR Blue Box - As a Fuzz

Did not know.

It sounds like the VCO of an analog synth sret to square wave
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kxkYzh6TOc

Then you add an Auto Filter like a Maxon AF-9 and you have the VCF...

 

[Lovegun]

Re: MXR Blue Box - As a Fuzz

I had one but I sold it. It had that one great sound, but I could not find a useful tone for me. I think it differed in comparison to other octave fuzzes that it produced octave down when the others produced octave up. If it had more controls for the fuzz and the octave, then I might have kept it.

 

[GuitarStv]

Re: MXR Blue Box - As a Fuzz

The blue box fuzz has little to no decay and is very ON and OFF sounding to me. Cool for making weird glitchy electronic sounds (which the octave part seems to enhance even further), but not great for most of the stuff I like to play. I much prefer something like a big muff or fuzzface . . . there are just more usable sounds to be found there.

 

[Silence Kid]

Re: MXR Blue Box - As a Fuzz

The blue box fuzz has little to no decay and is very ON and OFF sounding to me. Cool for making weird glitchy electronic sounds (which the octave part seems to enhance even further), but not great for most of the stuff I like to play. I much prefer something like a big muff or fuzzface . . . there are just more usable sounds to be found there.

Bumping my own thread, I googled how to get a Melvins tone and found both my new sig. quote (ironic, given I just pieced together another Mustang) and the below pic:

Knew Buzzo at one point used a Blue Box, but figured it was only a one-song, noise-rock sort of thing (hence the DOD Buzz Box; ) didn't realize it's one of his actual fixtures. I guess the recipe is the bass OD (formerly Rat) into a compressor; then the Blue Box set with no octave, which is I assume served a stronger signal that won't decay out immediately. I approximated this by sticking my Fulldrive 2 in front of the Blue Box, and it pretty much works. Somehow I never got along with a Big Muff, but this is pretty tasty. Full circle, it makes sense to use this combo with a Fender Mustang as a lot of noise gets gated out.

 

[GuitarStv]

Re: MXR Blue Box - As a Fuzz

If I had to pick a sound that the blue box fuzz reminds me of, it would be 'glitchy 8-bit Nintendo game' . . . but maybe my settings just sucked. Glad to hear that someone loves it!

 

[Silence Kid]

Re: MXR Blue Box - As a Fuzz

If I had to pick a sound that the blue box fuzz reminds me of, it would be 'glitchy 8-bit Nintendo game' . . . but maybe my settings just sucked. Glad to hear that someone loves it!

It can definitely do that (mostly using the octave, which I don't tend to use. I actually have a Devi Ever pedal that does '8 bit' better )