Hairy Balls owners, some input please...

[René_Julien]

I searched the forum, and although I spotted some guys who own the pedal I don't find much reviews and impressions of it.

I am not exactlly looking for a fuzz per sé, I need a booster for solos.
I'll be playing through a very clean amp (I'm still in the market for a new head) and thought a little boost and/or light fuzz might liven up my sound when I want to cut through... more.

Any experience with the fuzz on moderate settings with this pedal? I don't want heavy fuzz, just some adolescent fur on the chest as a figure of speech.
I'm going for a clean uncoloured sound setup most of the time, but occasionally want to color the sound a little bit.

(edit) Additional question: If fuzz is set low, how does the effect react to your playing dynamics? Clean with a light touch an fuzz when you dig in?

Any experience with using just the booster?


Also, what exactly is the "gate"-knob for? And how does that work?



(Big John, for those who don't know him is a member here and one of Belgiums highly respected professional bassists.
He has been kind enough to answer some of my questions in the past over PM. And I would be happy if he chimed in this thread as well.
But I want some consumer input on the Hairy Balls. Also this thread maybe good for future reference when someone searches on this pedal.)

[Gashaponcito]

ask Big John he builds them

edit: ups I didn't read the small letters sowy....

[shinobi]

the 'gate' knob is probably not a noise gate per se, but rather a control to alter the wave form of the fuzz. more 'gate' would probably get you more square wavish, synthy pulses.

note that i used the word 'probably' twice...

if you want hair on the chest (or the balls) i reckon you go for a blender. a very harsh and cutting fuzz blended in with alot of clean would give you nice and rough stubble. i think it would sound alot better than a subtle fuzz (which begs the question, how subtle can a fuzz pedal get)

i dont own a hairy balls (i haz cheesburger?) but i have an arger capricorn, which may not be that much different. speaking of which, the capricorn plus has a blendable fuzz/mosfet boost

[grygrx]

Any more foolishness, I start tossing out infractions.

[Bassenstien]

I would like some input as well. I have seen the Hairy Balls on a few boards on TB so hopefully they will chime in. Big John has a prototype on his board of what he was calling the "Screaming Orgasm" IIRC and it was a Hairy Balls with an EQ!! Id like info on that!

[René_Julien]

Originally Posted by grygrx

Any more foolishness, I start tossing out infractions.

Thank you captain.

Originally Posted by shinobi

the 'gate' knob is probably not a noise gate per se, but rather a control to alter the wave form of the fuzz. more 'gate' would probably get you more square wavish, synthy pulses.

note that i used the word 'probably' twice...

if you want hair on the chest (or the balls) i reckon you go for a blender. a very harsh and cutting fuzz blended in with alot of clean would give you nice and rough stubble. i think it would sound alot better than a subtle fuzz (which begs the question, how subtle can a fuzz pedal get)

i dont own a hairy balls (i haz cheesburger?) but i have an arger capricorn, which may not be that much different. speaking of which, the capricorn plus has a blendable fuzz/mosfet boost

Hmmm... if that was the case, if the gateknob controlled the waveform, that could be interesting.

I was hoping that if you set a fairly low amount of fuzz it would react to your playing. Maybe like the BOSS Dynadrive.

Well, a subtle fuzz is just a secondary craving. The booster is more important to me.
I tried use my BOSS FZ-5 as a boost, but I don't get that gentle touch with that pedal. (Not a bad pedal if you want a harsh fuzz... from BOSS )
The Hairy Balls is more appealing to me because the boost and fuzz are seperate controls.


Time PM Big John maybe, but I hate to bother him.

His pedals are at fair prices... I guess it wouldn't hurt order one anyway.

[Big John]

Hi there ;-)

The Boost Function; Think like the zvex super hard on. (more harmonics, pushes your amp harder... when set on 0 the boost is clean + 2dB, when turning the boost knob after 12 o clock ; dirt came in...)

The Fuzz Volume; OVERAL FUZZ VOLUME!!!! NOT A GAIN control!!)
The Fuzz Gate Control; Makes the fuzz in fact "cleaner" more controllable;-)

Ask if you have any questions;-)

Grtz
John

[René_Julien]

Okay, so I can use it as a clean boost without dirt. (Unless I want to.)

So it's not like you can adjust the gain of the fuzz, just how loud the fuzz will sound.

Now, I'm curious about the control to make it "cleaner".



(BTW, Jan, i want to order one... I better contact you through your website I guess.)

[Big John]

yeah,

john@bigjohnmusic.com

thanks
J