Fuzz with a useable blend

[JackNoneReacher]

I’m looking for a fuzz pedal the has a blend which actually brings the clean sound of my jazz bass and the effected sound together. I tried the team awesome fuzz, and I felt like I had two sounds sitting onto of each other. I want the character of my bass to be added to the effect.
I typically use a Russian style big muff. I’ve looked at having a blend knob added to a tall font. Any feedback on that pedal?
I’m not limited to that pedal. I’m interested in what is out there.
Thanks

 

[Admiral Chew]

My favourite two fuzzes for tying the fuzz and clean together both, I think, have a low-passed clean blend so they sound super thick and unified. They are the Cog Grand Tarkin (more coming) and the Broughton Calamity (there was a release last week so a few may show up in the classifieds).

 

[Smurf-o-Deth]

Get a Damnation Audio Dirtfixer and use whatever fuzz you like. The blend on it is contoured to mix naturally with the drive in the loop, providing clean, powerful low end without adding clank.

 

[JackNoneReacher]

Thank you

 

[Killing Floor]

Pretty much every fuzz Blackhawk Amplifiers makes has a blend.
You can have a blend added to any Wren and Cuff fuzz. Some come with it and some it’s an option.

 

[PhatBottomBass1]

If you don't mind something that sounds good and is not too exotic and easy to use, take a look at this MXR:

It has two fuzz types, selectable +/- EQ points, the Dry with mid + (and a Sub Octave that is switchable I/O). The pedal is like retail $199 and better pre-owned. It will definitely allow for the Dry mix you are looking for.

Mixing can sound good or bad, operator error. This has the gain/amount of Fuzz & Level of the Fuzz.

Good luck!

 

[Wasnex]

Here's the problem with using a clean blend with fuzz. Fuzz is very high gain, and therefore extremely compressed. If you blend in a clean signal that is not compressed, you frequently get the results you experienced--two sounds that do not really integrate.

Not sure if there is a single pedal solution. The solution I suggest is actually splitting your signal into two paths...this is called parallel processing. Send one path to your fuzz. For the clean path, you will need at least a compressor, so you can dial in a similar amount of compression to the fuzz. And of course you will need some sort of mixer pedal to smash the both channels back together.

Even better IMHO, run a low gain OD and a compressor on the clean side. Dial the OD in so it gives the clean sound more of a tubey feel and maybe a bit of texture, rather than producing obvious drive.

Another idea. Try stacking three relatively low gain pedals to create fuzz. IMHO stacking low gain pedals tends to result in a fuzz tone with more complexity that is more transparent and interesting IMHO.


By transparent, I mean the effect does not totally conceal all of the nuanced qualities of your bass's tone. With many fuzzes, it no longer matters what your bass sounds like, because all you hear is the fuzz.

 

[HelpImaRock]

Try dialing in the sound of the fuzz fully wet, and then slowly bring in the dry signal. That'll help with the "fuzz on top" sound.

 

[_One//Man//Mutiny_]

I got a tall font Russian with a clean blend! It helps out cleaning it up tremendously, it doesn’t need a whole lot, especially how I run it tone around 3oclock and distortion at 9oclock Honestly I love how it sounds stock though. I also have a super Russian and it’s the bomb. I’m actually hoping to send my tall font in to get the creamy and mids mod, which the super Russian has and I use both of them. Bringing the mids to flat helps a lot on the Russian to help be more present. Out of my 2 boards I got I just can’t squeeze a super Russian on the smaller one. So im going the custom shop TFR route.

 

[Kerem Koseoglu]

Darkglass Duality Fuzz does it nicely and it is my favorite. It lets you set a blend point between your clean / wet signals, and set your wet signal level independently. I typically put blend at 09:00 and crank the overdrive volume - that will keep most of your clean sound and add fuzz on top.

MXR Bass Fuzz is another alternative. It lets you dial in clean & dirty signals completely independent.

In dry mode, Bass Big Muff PI keeps your clean signal as it is and lets you blend fuzz on top.

 

[Fynn]

You like big muffs? Get a deluxe bass big muff. It has two switches, one for the bypass and one for the crossover function. Crossover basically engages a high and low pass filter. The lpf will be applied to the normal bass singal, an the hpf to the fuzz signal. You can choose where the filters grab, so you can make the dry signal really subby and low, and the fuzz really shrieky and ear piecing if you want.
Isn't that roughly what you want to do? By loosing most of the high end on the dry signal, you'll lose definition while still having the bassiness from the original signal. Which in turn makes it sound like you have one signal, instead of two laying on top of eachother.
I don't think there's some magic pedal that can blend two signals that are competing in the same frequencies. If you have the clank from the dry signal and the shrieking from the fuzz signal, they will inadvertently sound like two different signals at the same time.

 

[VJP]

 

[jam.majors]

Try the source audio aftershock. Definitely does what you’re looking for and a whole lot more. that way you can also try out a bunch of different fuzz sounds and even layer them or double them up and still add in the clean sounds

 

[Bassmike62]

If you don't mind something that sounds good and is not too exotic and easy to use, take a look at this MXR:
View attachment 5185538
It has two fuzz types, selectable +/- EQ points, the Dry with mid + (and a Sub Octave that is switchable I/O). The pedal is like retail $199 and better pre-owned. It will definitely allow for the Dry mix you are looking for.

Mixing can sound good or bad, operator error. This has the gain/amount of Fuzz & Level of the Fuzz.

Good luck!

This looks about right, although never tried it.
But I did use the MXR Fuzz Deluxe with my Js for awhile, and it sounded pretty good in a power trio. Easy to dial in.

 

[groooooove]

i really like the chunk systems brown dog for countless reasons, one of which is that clean and fuzz are two separate volumes. maximum control and actually really useful.

 

[King Weapon]

Wren and Cuff Pickle Pie B is PERFECT for this. That pedal was designed with bass in mind AND to address the common issue of a clean blend generally sounding unnatural with a fuzz.

 

[GroovinOnFunk]

The JAM Pedals Bass Big Muck is awesome!

 

[Doug4321]

MXR suboctave bass fuzz is really fun. I think the two fuzzes are basically an octavio and a muff.
Tends towards psychedelic or funk styles more than metal, but that’s adjustable.
Another interesting looking one I noticed is the Catalinbread Gygas, has some bass specific eq options, and a nice jagged fuzz texture.
Obviously the EHX bass big muff series….
There’s also Aguilar Fuzzistor. I haven’t tried.

I’m not sure about the blend/two signal sound complaint but I think it has to do with adjustment, usually the drive side too thin or the dry signal too loud.

 

[PhatBottomBass1]

MXR suboctave bass fuzz is really fun. I think the two fuzzes are basically an octavio and a muff.
Tends towards psychedelic or funk styles more than metal, but that’s adjustable.
Another interesting looking one I noticed is the Catalinbread Gygas, has some bass specific eq options, and a nice jagged fuzz texture.
Obviously the EHX bass big muff series….
There’s also Aguilar Fuzzistor. I haven’t tried.

I’m not sure about the blend/two signal sound complaint but I think it has to do with adjustment, usually the drive side too thin or the dry signal too loud.

I have used all of those mentioned. Gygas is very nice, as well. Nothing bad to say about the Bass Big Muff Deluxe. I have it on the board in this pic...

This is with the Gygas

The Aguilar was my least favorite of these, but the original rack AGRO is the sh*t!

The flexibility, tone and mixing options on this single MXR M287 pedal is the reason I selected it for a board that will not be more than 18"X5", fits in my Mono Vertigo gig bag pocket and is adaptive to both modern synthy-style tone and a more aggressive forward sound. The wet or dry Octave is a very useable bonus.

 

[DoctorZee]

Way Huge Pork & Pickle