What's your opinion on the Boss FZ-2 Hyper Fuzz?

Benjy_26

25's Nemesis
I cruised the pawn shops on the way home yesterday and found an old, beat up Boss FZ-2. It has controls for volume, gain, treble and bass EQ, and 3 modes, Fuzz 1, Fuzz 2, and Gain Boost.

I can get it for under $20, and was just wondering what y'all think of it. Is it a cool pedal, or is it just a heavy silver paper weight?

Thanks in advance. :burnout:
 
Re: What's your opinion on the Boss FZ-2 Hyper Fuzz?

I've heard they're pretty good for some modern fuzz tones, but not so much for the vintage fuzz face type tones.
 
Re: What's your opinion on the Boss FZ-2 Hyper Fuzz?

It's a pretty cool over the top fuzz sound. The tone isn't usable in all situations, and it you will have a hard time coaxing vintage tones out of it, but it is possible to do so. It does the super fuzzed wall of distortion pretty well. It all depends on what you're looking for. I got mine for free and it's a nice pedal to have in my collection even though i don't hook it up very often. For under $20, i'd say it's a good deal, i've seen them go on ebay for close to $100 before.
 
Re: What's your opinion on the Boss FZ-2 Hyper Fuzz?

I refer to it as 'Nine Inch Nails in a box'.

It does the industrial sounding fuzz thing extremely well.
 
Re: What's your opinion on the Boss FZ-2 Hyper Fuzz?

I'd love to add one to my collection of fuzzes. I want to say it was based on old Japanese fuzzes, and you got a great deal for $20. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't there a bit of an octave effect going on with it? Not classic, but a cool option to have once in a while.
 
Re: What's your opinion on the Boss FZ-2 Hyper Fuzz?

I would buy it! Fuzzes are a "niche" tone for the most part, and each fuzz box is a self-contained tone on its own!

Hell, I bought my little Muff Fuzz in the late 1970's for $15! A twenty dollar bill ain't worth much these days.

BUY IT!
BUY IT!
BUY IT!
:D
 
Re: What's your opinion on the Boss FZ-2 Hyper Fuzz?

Personally I think it is best fuzz pedal going. I'm not into all those clones of the two transistor and three transistor models that litter the "boutique" market. The Hyper Fuzz 2 is a real beast, Just listen to Dopethrone by Electric Wizard, That is the sound of an SG into the Hyper Fuzz into a plexi or other older Marshall. It also features a very useable gain boost that can be flat or like a treble boost, bass boost or both at once.
Stephan Carpenter is also a Hyper Fuzz 2 user (or was on the first four Deftones albums).
It makes fuzz purists sick, It isn't an Octavia clone but can get into those areas but with a lot more gain and clarity and it doesn't sound like a Big Muff, It can approximate one of the IC based Big Muff's though with a bit of tweaking and going much easy on the gain.
If you see one going cheap I'd advise you to definitely buy one (or more) as they are not longer made and used/second-hand prices are rising. So you have the potential to get a killer fuzz and also make a tidy profit if you really can not find a place for one in your own setup.
If you want a Hyper Fuzz 2 but without hunting one down for peanuts or paying the going rate that people in the know are asking for them then I can highly recommend picking up a Behringer Super Fuzz SF300 as it's the same thing just in an inferior housing, However for £20 it is really impossible to fault. I have a few of each. They're the fuzz pedal for player's that aren't fuzz addicts
Obviously all just my extremely humble honest but subjective opinion FWIW, All the best :)

Just quickly scanned ebay, There are a few for $210 + $15 shipping/postage, So yeah they've gone up since I last bothered to check!:firedevil
 
Re: What's your opinion on the Boss FZ-2 Hyper Fuzz?

It's ok, but not in the same league as a Fuzzface and not much like a Swollen Pickle either. Over the top is a good description of the Fz2.
 
Re: What's your opinion on the Boss FZ-2 Hyper Fuzz?

I ended up snagging one shortly after this thread was originally posted for a little more than $20 but a whole lot less than the eBay prices. Also got a FZ-3 as well. Are they as awesome as my Analogman Sunfaces or Skreddy Big Muffs? No, but they are a unique sound for single song, especially for some sonic annihilation.
 
Re: What's your opinion on the Boss FZ-2 Hyper Fuzz?

I agree with what you posted. I have both the FZ-2 as well as the Behringer Super Fuzz SF300. Both are excellent fuzz pedals. They sound the same. The boost is a bit more noisy on the SF300 but it can be cleaned up.
 
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Re: What's your opinion on the Boss FZ-2 Hyper Fuzz?


I'm able to clean the tone up a enough on the boost of the Behringer by adjusting amp guitar and pedal. It also depends on how I'm using it. Headphones, into amp, into a portable record unit, etc.
 
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