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I Found the Holy Grail!

#21
I'm not a big fan of fuzz in general...but I have to admit the tone this guy is pulling right at the 1:02 minute mark is pretty nice:



(Confession: I was also motivated to put this here because he's playing a Grabber! Oh yeah!) :laugh::thumbsup::thumbsup:

5145052.jpg
 
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#22
blindrabbit said:
Well I have quite a few fuzz pedals. :D

But, let me talk about two in this context. First off is the ss/bs TAFM. It is a fuzzface at it's heart. It has a blend and a mids control. Set to low gain, this pedal is easily one of the best OD sounds I've ever heard. You want to get old-school, 1960s Jack Bruce type tones? This will nail it for you. You get this warm, fat, soft around the edges tone that takes up more sonic space on the low end. With the TAFM specifically, I love setting it as a low gain OD, because it has a second footswitch that kicks on a) a gate, and b) it maxes out the fuzz gain, so I can turn the TAFM from mild into wild with a single stomp. It is like having two pedals in one. Anyway, that's off topic, but the TAFM gets used more as an OD for me than a fuzz, even though it is a "fuzz".

Secondly, the Wounded Paw Attack Goat. This is a superfuzz, but with a blend and again a mids control. I used to run it with the gain relatively high and the mids fully present, but I would blend in only a little bit of this sounds, like maybe 75% clean/25% fuzz. I found that this gave my tone a nice edge to it that would help cut through when I needed to, gave some nice aggression to my sound, but at the same time I kept a hefty bottom end.

I'd often alternate between those two fuzz pedals set as ODs during my sets. Stacking them was also nice.

Another pedal to consider would be some sort of green russian muff. Those can make really nice OD pedals when set to low gain. Gobs of low end.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the leads and detailed reply. I'll follow up by listening to some Youtube examples of these pedals.
 
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#23
stringthrough said:
OK, you got me curious. Which fuzz pedal do you use and how do you dial it up?
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I'll second blindrabbit's reply and add that, of the pedals that I mentioned in my original post, the Grey Stache and BMP-1 (Green Russian Muff clone) can both achieve a full, heavy, warm overdriven tone, even lacking a blend option. The key is keeping the tone and sustain low. For heavy, full overdriven sounds on the Stache I like the tone <8 o'clock and sustain <9 o'clock; on the BMP I'll go about 9 for tone and sustain at 10-11.

The bottom ends thins out quick when the tone is increased on either pedal (and any fuzz without a blend), but for some reason that's what seems to show up on so many demo videos for most fuzz pedals. Also, cranking the sustain will bring in the crazy hair and harmonics, which can cause some squelch-like noises, especially on attack, that don't really fit a warm overdriven sound.
 
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#30
40Hz said:
I'm not a big fan of fuzz in general...but I have to admit the tone this guy is pulling right at the 1:02 minute mark is pretty nice:



(Confession: I was also motivated to put this here because he's playing a Grabber! Oh yeah!) :laugh::thumbsup::thumbsup:

5145052.jpg
Click to expand...



I'm not a pedal kind of guy, but that is one impressive stomp box! And a super-instructive video. Demos should always be this effective...
 
#31
Joebone said:
I'm not a pedal kind of guy, but that is one impressive stomp box! And a super-instructive video. Demos should always be this effective...
Click to expand...

Indeed it is. Possibly the first fuzz box I've ever thought...hmm...maybe... And I'm not a pedals guy either. I usually go straight into an amp.

Throw some of that on the front of a Depeche Mode cover (I'm thinking Invalid Link Removed - or Wall of Voodoo's Invalid Link Removedin place of the synth bass) and you'd really be onto something IMO. Talk about gettin' yer bad attitude on! :cool::thumbsup:
 
#33
40Hz said:
Indeed it is. Possibly the first fuzz box I've ever thought...hmm...maybe... And I'm not a pedals guy either. I usually go straight into an amp.

Throw some of that on the front of a Depeche Mode cover (I'm thinking Invalid Link Removed - or Wall of Voodoo's Invalid Link Removedin place of the synth bass) and you'd really be onto something IMO. Talk about gettin' yer bad attitude on! :cool::thumbsup:
Click to expand...

Converts! Your personal Fuzz Grail beckons.
 
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#35
OtroRob said:
Converts! Your personal Fuzz Grail beckons.
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Can't! I'm gassing for either a Willcox Saber VL5 or a Spector Spectorcore right now because I want to start playing more fretless than I presently am, and I'm still putting the money together for one of those. So no more pedals for me until I get that taken care of. :laugh:
 
#38
Hmm I thought I had found my holy grail of fuzz in the tentacle love super fuzz... Except when I tried to use it even with 75% blend it just didn't fit in my metal band... Also have a earthbound audio super collider and a v8 tone fuzz and a mastotron... Neither really fit... Maybe I just need to try more fuzz as a low OD version/ listen to more demos of the grey stache
 
#40
blindrabbit said:
Maybe one of @Azure Skies' would be close enough for you? ;) Kind of like a blessed grail as opposed to a holy one?
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Yeah, but that one would probably be made really cleanly and wouldn't have the same air of unstable hermetic madman to it :D
 
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