Yep, I Hate Fuzz Pedals

U

UberMetalDood

New member
I love the fuzz sounds other people get with fuzz boxes, but I hate using them. I just got a Selah Misty Mountain fuzz kind of as a last attempt at trying out another boutique fuzz pedal, and it is a really, really good pedal. It's among the best I have tried, with the Selah or Bonamassa possibly being my favorites, but after tinkering with them they just bother me. I start to hate the tone. Then they do this kind of thing that sounds like there's an overpowered noisegate and they feel like you are playing one of those little battery powered micro amps with a low battery.

I'm not bashing fuzz pedals because, like I said, they sound great when other people use them. I just personally can't stand them. I also don't see the need for every boutique builder to make ten different versions of them. It seems like a new fuzz pedal comes out every week. I don't know. Maybe there is something I don't know about using them or maybe I'm using them wrong. The natural fuzziness of Orange amps pleases me, but anything more is just not appealing. I'm going to sell my fuzz and finally move on from trying to make one stay on my pedal board.
 
Re: Yep, I Hate Fuzz Pedals

Which Orange do you have? I know my OR-15 doesn't bond welll with some pedals, where my Mesa might sound great with them. I mostly play my Orange dry.....love its tone, though I am on the hunt for a nice verb pedal for it.
 
Re: Yep, I Hate Fuzz Pedals

I'll tell you why there's a billion fuzz pedals; they're dirt cheap to make. They're about the lowest part-count pedals you can find, especially Fuzz Faces. If you can tune a silicon Fuzz Face to sound relatively good, and then stick a tonestack on it you can can turn a huge profit on the parts. Just call it something lurid like "boner popper supreme" or something and paint it ugly.
 
Re: Yep, I Hate Fuzz Pedals

I dislike using them because it sounds muddy and not very smooth to my ears. Others have had way more success with them than I have (nearly any hard rock/heavy metal band from the '70s) but I don't like them for what I do.

Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk 2
 
Re: Yep, I Hate Fuzz Pedals

I completely understand. I have a Black Art Toneworks Pharaoh and it sounds great, is very versatile, and it's fun to play with, but I don't like using it for some reason. It's like the notes feel too fat when I hit single note lines. Normally I would think that 'thickness' would be something I'd like, but ... not so much. It is my third fuzz and I've had a similar reaction to all. I will buy more though. It is just one facet of a serious pedal addiction.
 
Re: Yep, I Hate Fuzz Pedals

Fuzzes take a while to learn. Usually require a lot of volume and tone knob usage on the guitar for them to sound cool to me. I've pretty much stopped using any other sort of gain pedal, as my amp sounds nicer usually . . . But it can't do a decent fuzz tone.
 
Re: Yep, I Hate Fuzz Pedals

Good to hear these things because I share similar beliefs. Fuzz just isn't for me. I guess I was just trying to find an excuse to keep this one or get a Bonamassa fuzz, but it just ain't going to do it for me.
 
Re: Yep, I Hate Fuzz Pedals

GuitarStv said:
Fuzzes take a while to learn. Usually require a lot of volume and tone knob usage on the guitar for them to sound cool to me. I've pretty much stopped using any other sort of gain pedal, as my amp sounds nicer usually . . . But it can't do a decent fuzz tone.
Click to expand...
This. It is also important to realize that fuzz doesn't work for all rigs or all people. My biggest struggle with fuzz is cutting through in a band mix.
 
Re: Yep, I Hate Fuzz Pedals

I've got same relation love/hate with fuzzes.
The issue is that old school fuzzes work fine if your amp can be really kranked, otherwise, you tend to overdo the fuzz effect and, what you get is a synthetic wall of sound that isn't pleasant to the hearing.
Also, germanium fuzzes, that well tweaked sound more organic than silicon ones, have lots of drawbacks and are highly unestables.
If you put a wah in front, and you have a vintage-alike fuzz, you ruin your fuzz. They are usually a headache to be inserted in your pedalboard.
They don't sound the same with different axe or / and different amp...

So, I love fuzz sound when I can achieve it but, this becomes difficult when swapping the amp or the axe.
I gave up looking for my fuzz, for a long time.
 
Re: Yep, I Hate Fuzz Pedals

its like playing a different instrument when you switch on the fuzz

not everyone can play every instrument! For instance I admire drummers but ya not gonna happen any time soon, its like learning a whole new language...
 
Re: Yep, I Hate Fuzz Pedals

I have a RussiAn Muff and it kills. I'm not kidding either..its a lethal weapon. Sounsd amazing through a Marshallesque amp.
I recently picked myself up a reish' Dunlop fuzzface, modified with old skool carbon resistors and a couple other old parts. It sounds promising, but I havent totally checked it out yet. I rather talk about it here, then actually play it obviously.
 
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Re: Yep, I Hate Fuzz Pedals

I have a major announcement!!!

This is no joke. I got a Selah fuzz pedal after watching a few video demos. It sounded awesome in the videos. The last fuzz I tried was a Catalinbread 60's fuzz and hated it. This one came in and I was expecting a lot better but it didn't sound good. While fiddling with my Bogner foot switch (which is the 3rd to fail), I knocked over my Selah fuzz and the LED light got real bright all of the sudden. I was thinking "man if this thing broke that easily then I'm going to sh***." so I plugged it in to test it and it sounded freaking amazing. I ran it through 3 amps: 20th XTC, 20th Shiva, Hot Cat 30. No problem at all. It sounds amazing. It's not a crappy fuzz like the Catalinbread, Chandler limited edition germanium or Dunlop mini crap I tried once. This is almost like a smooth overdrive, very Orange-like. It feels great to play and not like the typical fuzz. I'm not a fuzz expert but it seems different than what I like. The controls work better than the did at first, and the noise gate works like a charm. This pedal is very, very cool. I think I am going to keep it, so here I am with my foot in my mouth kinda.
 
Re: Yep, I Hate Fuzz Pedals

Lazarus1140 said:
Well, that's good news.

Now I don't feel so bad about ordering a Skreddy J19 tomorrow.
Click to expand...

I've heard great things about Skreddy's muff clones. If I didn't have what I feel is the mother of all muffs (seriously, no pun intended) I would definitely have some of his offerings.
 
Re: Yep, I Hate Fuzz Pedals

Fuzz is so gear dependent I'm not surprised by the range of opinions on them. I never quite liked them, but I did like how they add a grit to a clean base (it just always seemed to be a fine line between harsh and muddy tone stack wise). It did end up driving me to pick up a Fairfield Barbershop and I found that added the grit while keeping things clear, but it wasn't designed for heavier rock genres like so many other Fuzzes are so I'm cognizant that can be a big tradeoff.
 
Re: Yep, I Hate Fuzz Pedals

Of the very few fuzz pedals I've tried the Pharaoh is by far my favorite, but even with it I NEVER run it alone. It really becomes a tone more useful to me when combined with an OD. There is a flavor difference between running the OD before or after. I like both and one of each is better.

With KOT distortion into the Pharaoh and then into and LCD set for more of a clean boost I get searing, cutting fuzz lead tones with amazing sustain and harmonics at bedroom volume levels.
 
Re: Yep, I Hate Fuzz Pedals

Lazarus1140 said:
Of the very few fuzz pedals I've tried the Pharaoh is by far my favorite, but even with it I NEVER run it alone. It really becomes a tone more useful to me when combined with an OD. There is a flavor difference between running the OD before or after. I like both and one of each is better.

With KOT distortion into the Pharaoh and then into and LCD set for more of a clean boost I get searing, cutting fuzz lead tones with amazing sustain and harmonics at bedroom volume levels.
Click to expand...

I have been reading around the net and this seems to be the case with a lot of fuzz players. They seem to be using them in conjunction with some kind of boost of overdrive. I'm pretty happy now with this Selah (even though I still need to figure out why it wasn't working properly until it dropped) because it is more like an Orange type fuzz. However, I have tried maxing out the presence and still have problems cutting through like many others have said. I played with it all last night and could not get the recorded tone to cut through right. I'm starting to think that fuzz is a difficult effect to use because it's so hard to dial in and use in a live situation.
 
Re: Yep, I Hate Fuzz Pedals

fuzzes are funny beasts, whether they be germ or silicon, fuzzface, muff, bender, bosstone or otherwise, they all have their strengths and their limitations. Some things they can totally slay at, and some things they totally suck at. This is why they come in pedal form with an on/off stomp switch.
 
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