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Fuzz Fun: A brief comparison

Smallequestrian

Smallequestrian

Rock and/or Roll
Jul 6, 2004
4,410
359
New Jersey
#1
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Four Fuzzes, only one can stay. This is going to be kind of general sounding because describing tone is not something I am particularly good at.

Way Huge Swollen Pickle: Its a Muff clone with a zillion controls, can sound real good with a massive low end. Can also get real farty if you don't watch it. Tons of gain on tap. Drove the Filter quite nicely.

MI Audio Neo Fuzz: Germanium Fuzz. Is real creamy sounding. Has a gated feature, but as somebody mentioned in another thread, its more of a starved voltage type sound. Pretty cool, but I don't think personally that I could use it without a clean blend. Seemed to need extra volume to drive the filter.

Chunk Brown Dog: Probably the best sounding out of the four. I have read people complain about the lack of tone controls on it, but IMO it doesn't need them. However they designed it, its like the tone controls are always set in the right place. I've been playing this in the band and seem to stick with one setting. Sounds like it was meant to be paired with the filter.

Dr. Scientist Frazz Dazzler: This is probably the most bizarre one. The gate on it is perfect. I think the best bass sound is with the sizzle all the way down. Its more of a noise pedal and can be quite glitchy sounding. Really sounds cool with the filter, a fun synth sound.

Results so far: Right now I am going to lean towards the Frazz Dazzler. Its not the most utilitarian fuzz, and if it was my only source of dirt, I don't think I could keep it. However, it sounds like its meant for the filter. The Brown Dog is probably the best sounding one, but after using it in the band, I find that the tone I keep dialing in sounds real similar to how I run my Flipster. So I am really looking for a different flavor of dirt and the Frazz seems to fit. Plus the Frazz is super small with the top mounted jacks, makes fitting 6 pedals on my PT mini a cinch. Of corse the real test will be using it with the band.

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#4
Cool stuff. Curious why you'd want a clean blend for the Neo? I never found it lacking low end at all when I had one. I rarely had the Tone knob beyond noon though. I wish other dirt pedals would incorporate treble switches like that one has.
 
#5
bongomania said:
Are you finding they play reasonably well with the Big Al (being an active bass)? Does it have a passive switch, or do you have a passive bass to compare against it?
Click to expand...

The Big Al has a passive switch. All four pedals handle the active mode just fine. In fact, there isn't a whole lot of change in sound when going between the modes. Musicman did a good job of keeping the levels between active and passive modes pretty even. Basically when the active mode is turned on there seems to be a little bit more low end, there seems to be a bit more nuance to the tone.

nad said:
Cool stuff. Curious why you'd want a clean blend for the Neo? I never found it lacking low end at all when I had one. I rarely had the Tone knob beyond noon though. I wish other dirt pedals would incorporate treble switches like that one has.
Click to expand...

I'll have to play with it some more then, at least the way I had it set, the low end sounded much different than the other three pedals.
 
#6
Now that I have played them all through my rig, I have better thoughts.

I still really like the Frazz Dazzler. the gating is done really well. The sound is more metal or industrial sounding to me by itself. It really sounds great through the filter though. As my only Fuzz though, its not right for my band, we're kind of an Indie band with some light country and surf influence and as I mentioned above, I think this would fit better in a metal/industrial band or as used directly with a filter. If I could keep two fuzzes on my board, this would be my second one.

The Neo Fuzz is the winner for me. For some reason on my practice rig at home, the true character of the Neo wasn't coming through. As Nad mentioned before, there is no lack low end on it. Its sounds pretty creamy and vintage, and it seams like a perfect fit for the music I play. It helps that it's small and the cheapest of all 4 fuzzes I have at the moment, but regardless of that, its still my favorite sounding. Only downside is the reverse polarity, which means I can't easily run it off the one spot like the rest of my board. I really don't want to use another adapter, which means it will need a batter, which ill also mean that I have to unplug it on the board when I am done. I can fight through it though.

Look for the Frazz, the Brown Dog and the Swollen Pickle in the FS area soon.
 

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