Plum Crazy FX

jetofuj · #1 10-28-2009, 07:52 AM

Not really for bass, I guess, but clips I've seen are amazing.

http://www.plumcrazyfx.com/

gnasher1993 · #2 10-28-2009, 07:59 AM

Thanks for posting that link, I'd never seen those before.

I think I'll be checking out SiClops when I've got some spare cash to spend.

jetofuj · #3 10-28-2009, 08:12 AM

Yeah, I dig Si Clops as well

Plum Crazy FX has UK distributor and the prices aren't crazy like mentioned plum.

gnasher1993 · #4 10-28-2009, 08:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jetofuj

Yeah, I dig Si Clops as well

Plum Crazy FX has UK distributor and the prices aren't crazy like mentioned plum.

Yeah, Downstroke Music is the distributor. They only deal on ebay. The prices aren't that bad...

EDIT: Just found out that they use vintage (30 years old) transistors in the Fuzz Lady. I think I want that one now...

Either way, I've no doubt I'll be trying one of them at some point.

groooooove · #5 10-28-2009, 02:16 PM

i normally dont care about the look/paint/exc, but when i noticed the LED placement on the siclops, i couldent help but thing thats hysterical...

i wonder if theyll mod a pedal for bass / if its already bass friendly.

rcubed · #6 10-28-2009, 03:16 PM

Looks like nothing new, just more modded clones.

jmorbita · #7 10-28-2009, 07:17 PM

I like the designs and sounds, and also the idea of the limited editions (prune works) but there are a couple of things I dislike...
First, they seem to encourage the use of batteries instead of AC adaptors, claiming the sound is better. Not environmentally friendly...
Also, a couple of the pedals need AC adaptor with a NEGATIVE center, while a third one uses a POSITIVE center. I wonder why there is not a common rule for all of them... maybe there is a technicall reason? I couldn't find an explanation, I don't know if other manufacturers do this, it seems odd to me.

jetofuj · #8 10-29-2009, 07:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rcubed

Looks like nothing new, just more modded clones.

No, it's nothing new indeed. But it sounds so good, to me at least

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmorbita

I like the designs and sounds, and also the idea of the limited editions (prune works) but there are a couple of things I dislike...
First, they seem to encourage the use of batteries instead of AC adaptors, claiming the sound is better. Not environmentally friendly...
Also, a couple of the pedals need AC adaptor with a NEGATIVE center, while a third one uses a POSITIVE center. I wonder why there is not a common rule for all of them... maybe there is a technicall reason? I couldn't find an explanation, I don't know if other manufacturers do this, it seems odd to me.

It's not without reason. You enter geetar kingdom

plumcrazyfx · #9 10-30-2009, 05:00 AM

Hey everybody, just doing a weekly check to see what people are saying about PC and found this thread. If anyone's got any questions about anything you can reach me at kefestvog@hotmail.com.

Yes, I use really old transistors for the Fuzzy Lady - that's why it's center pos unlike the others. Have yet to find transistors I like as much so it'll stay backasswards until I run out. The SiClops uses new transistors but I spent a few weeks going through about 50 types before I found a combo I liked.

I wanted to give guys a heads up on the SiClops with bass. A friend tried using it and it wouldn't fuzz, it got huge loud but not fuzzy (it gets crazy fuzzy with guitar). The Fuzzy Lady got fuzzy with bass. I sold my Bass so I'll have to go somewhere and investigate. I'll confirm my results and I'll get back to you. I just don't want anybody to be mislead and buy something that doesn't work for them.

Yah, I know - clones. Old stuff is good. I'm working towards consistancy and quality with my own take on classics. Old stuff is good. Thankis guys and I'll try to get an answer on that one.

jetofuj · #10 10-30-2009, 05:55 AM

Thanks for that. Especially that I wanted to try (which means buy) Si Clops.

Fuzzy Lady should work with bass, the question is: does it keep bottom end only good or great? You should really check how Fuzzy Lady and Squawk work with bass!

jmorbita · #11 10-30-2009, 06:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by plumcrazyfx

Hey everybody, just doing a weekly check to see what people are saying about PC and found this thread. If anyone's got any questions about anything you can reach me at kefestvog@hotmail.com.

Yes, I use really old transistors for the Fuzzy Lady - that's why it's center pos unlike the others. Have yet to find transistors I like as much so it'll stay backasswards until I run out. The SiClops uses new transistors but I spent a few weeks going through about 50 types before I found a combo I liked.

I wanted to give guys a heads up on the SiClops with bass. A friend tried using it and it wouldn't fuzz, it got huge loud but not fuzzy (it gets crazy fuzzy with guitar). The Fuzzy Lady got fuzzy with bass. I sold my Bass so I'll have to go somewhere and investigate. I'll confirm my results and I'll get back to you. I just don't want anybody to be mislead and buy something that doesn't work for them.

Yah, I know - clones. Old stuff is good. I'm working towards consistancy and quality with my own take on classics. Old stuff is good. Thankis guys and I'll try to get an answer on that one.

Thanks for claifying and the extra info!

plumcrazyfx · #12 10-30-2009, 02:35 PM

You know I'm going to check the SiClops myself. My bass playing friend has a habit of not using all of his volume knob (which is where much fuzz lies). The Fuzzy Lady is more vintage sounding in terms of how it handles bass. It tends to go a little flabby on the low notes of the guitar so it would probably be so with bass. I'll try to stop by somewhere to test them on bass within the next week or so.

I am thinking about adding a bass pedal at some point (I too was thinking the SiClops before the report from my friend). It wouldn't be for a while since I already have a few things on my plate but I'd love input as to what you guys are looking for in a bass pedal. It's been a while since I've been a serious bass player (that's where I started). And at that point I was playing a Gibson EB-0 - so think thud, thud, thud when you pluck a string. So let me know what you think.

jetofuj · #13 10-30-2009, 05:39 PM

I got Sun Face NKT-275 today and I love it. But it's a little bit flabby on low notes as you said. Analog Mike said that silicon version keeps the bottom end tighter. I thought that maybe combo of germanium and silicon transistors - just like yours - could maintain smooth and vintage character with more pronounced low end at the same time.

rcubed · #14 10-30-2009, 10:31 PM

Transistors won't help with low end. You need bigger input and output caps. Generally speaking a Fuzz Face circuit has a large input cap, so you'd only need to increase the size of the output capacitor to get better low end.

plumcrazyfx · #15 11-07-2009, 07:56 AM

So yesterday I checked out the pedals with bass. I used a Fender Jazz bass and a Music Man bass with active pickups into a Carvin 100w solid state bass amp. Here's the results:

1st of all -all of these pedals were very loud with bass. I had the volume set 1/2 way up from where I normally set it with guitar. I might want to include an input trimmer or adjust a resistor if I knew someone was primarily using the pedals for bass.

The Fuzzy Lady was my favorite. It's a very vintage sounding fuzz bass sound - loose, round, and buzzy. I was surprised that this was my favortie, I thought it would be the SiClops. Of course it likes the lowest setting on the tone switch.

The SiClops sounded good but liked the lowest freq setting on the input switch. The mid and hi settings didn't have enough sustain. The fuzz does come on quick with the vol on the bass maxed (so I suspect my friend was testing it without having the volume on the bass all of the way up) The low setting kind of comes in waves. The pick attack comes, then you feel it fade just a touch before the sustain of the pedal takes over. I like it but it doesn't sound as good as the Fuzzy Lady in my opinion.

The Squawk isn't a bass pedal (which makes sense since it's based on a treble booster). I put it on the lowest freq setting and it got unity gain at about 5% of the drive dial. I think you're just asking to break something using it with bass.

Hope that helps. Oh, in response to the previous comment input and output caps can be used to adjust tone and tightness. But, transistors do have different frequency response and some transistors feel and sound tighter/looser with different signals. If this wasn't the case you could throw any old transistor in a pedal and have it sound the same every time. Some people say a transistor is a transistor or a poly cap is the same as a ceramic cap. Electical engineers can make this arguement but I trust my ears and in doing so I'm careful in selecting transistors, cap type, and in some cases wire type. It may just be psychological but I'm willing to give into psychosis a bit in order to get the tone I'm happy with. -Kaare