Re: What's so great about fuzz pedals?
Great replies guys! Thanks for educating me.
It's def. one of those 'acquired' tastes in guitar tone. Seems like fuzz is indeed used a lot! I didn't realize it could be used that subtle as well.
I liked how the black crowes and srv used it as a solo boost, very tasteful and most important, not too much!
I like the idea of the rat pedal, which one is that specifically?
The fuzz face seems like a cool addition to my pedal board too but is there something to look out for when using it in the fx chain?
Well, first things first...a Rat is not a fuzz, it doesn't sound like a fuzz, it doesn't act like a fuzz...it's a distortion pedal.
As for a Fuzz Face they are full of quirks but most fuzzboxes are...
You can't use active pickups with a Fuzz Face you can run a stock traditional wah pedal into them and you can't run them after buffered pedals even if the buffered pedal is off. Also, the FUZZ control on a Fuzz Face is rather useless, the way to get a good sound form one is to run the FUZZ knob on 10 and control the level of fuzz form the guitar using the guitars volume control.
Also, germanium fuzzboxes, and more so Fuzz Faces than any other are tempeture sensitive and will act all crazy if they get too warm or too cool so a clone with a bias control is very helpful, however if the bias control is on teh inside of the pedal you'll have to stop playing, open the pedal up and tweak the bias or the sound will turn to crap and if it gets hot or cold enough it'll just shut down.
Fuzz Faces are also know to lack voluem, part of that has to do with bias issues and getting one that biased correctly or one wiht an adjustible bias will help a lot.
As for silicon Fuzz Faces they are not sensitive to temp issues but they sound very diferent...it's not a bad soundm, not at all just different from the old germanium ones...they have way more gain and more top end and some of them can be a little harsh sounding.
That said the active pickup, wah and buffered pedal rules still apply to silicon Fuzz Faces.
Original 60's Fuzz Faces are hit or miss in terms of tone mostly due to the lack or ransister matching and bias issues and they cost $1000 or more a pop, good ones can go even higher. A high quality clone if your best bet.
MJM makes the London Fuzz both in silicon and germanium, neither are dead stock FF clones but very close and very good. There is also the Oxfuzz which can be had in both Ge and Si versions. You can get the Diaz Sqaure Face which is what Cesar Diaz used to build for SRV...they are also not dead on clones but very close and have a cool sound. Last there is the AnalogMan Sunface which is top of the heap IMO...Mike offers the Sunface with 8 different options for transisters...6 Germanium and 2 silicon and one of the Ge options inclused real mid 60's NKT275' which are what came in all the Arbiter Fuzz Faces from the 60's until the switch to Si trannys. As for good Si versions to add to the Sunface, MJM, and Oxfuzz there is also the new Dunlop Jimi Hendrix Fuzz Face...smokin pedal as well, easy to get and not too much money.
There are loads, and I mean loads of Fuzz Face clones out there today but these are the only ones I would bother with if you want a killer sonding pedal...there are a few more good ones to be had from small builders but you're looking at something north of $350 and IMHO they are not that much better...in fact IMHO the NKT275 Sunfaces are as good as it gets!
:chairshot
