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Most Stoner -ific Pedals... GO!!!

Absolutely love my Lone Wolf Audio Iron Fist. I've got the Green Russian spec one but I believe the standard Fist is based on a Ram's Head style Muff. Between the selectable pre and post gain clipping options, and having control over tone, mids, and depth, you can get a really wide range of usable fuzz tones. Everything from super rolled off Electric Wizard stoner fuzz to grindy, in your face hardcore and death metal oriented tones are possible. Another really cool fuzz is the Blackhawk Amplifiers Valhalla. It's a point-to-point wired fuzz face style pedal with a bypassable tone control, and three different clipping/voicing options.
 
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What made the VT more stoner?

The grain of the M85 sounded like boulders conspired to the VT.

For me, the variety of clipping options just produces breakup with a little different types of granularity, maybe a little finer granularity, that sounds stonier to me. Coupled with a killer EQ it's just a great distortion.

Nick describes what's under the hood here: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
 
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The Wizard Fuzz is an original circuit... and it's definitely a high gain fuzz. The depth knob also gives the Wizard a wide range of low end depth. But, the Wizard has its own flavor going on. Most of my experience is with Muff derivatives (Green Russians, civil wars, ECT), so I can't really say what the Wizard Fuzz is like, except that it's not like a muff. Maybe someone else can chime in with their perspective on what the Wizard Fuzz is like.

Here is a hack recording I made a while back:


Sounds like distortion to me. I like that it has depth. Or is that something else?
 
The grain of the M85 sounded like boulders conspired to the VT.

For me, the variety of clipping options just produces breakup with a little different types of granularity, maybe a little finer granularity, that sounds stoner to me. Coupled with a killer EQ it's just a great distortion.

Nick describes what's under the hood here: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Sounds super in recordings how does it hold up live?
 
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You'll think I'm crazy but I can't help feeling a little weird about all these $200-300 "stoner" fuzz pedals on the market. Early doom & stoner was always about riffs first but it was also built on using whatever cheap gear was available. The idea of using a Spaceman fuzz in a doom band seems laughable, like spending $6k on a Travis Bean guitar and playing in a Misfits cover band. Ultimately it doesn't matter, play whatever you want, the riff is all that matters. I've certainly used expensive gear to play obnoxious thrash metal. But don't feel like you need to spend a ton of money to sound like Sleep because you don't.
 
You'll think I'm crazy but I can't help feeling a little weird about all these $200-300 "stoner" fuzz pedals on the market. Early doom & stoner was always about riffs first but it was also built on using whatever cheap gear was available. The idea of using a Spaceman fuzz in a doom band seems laughable, like spending $6k on a Travis Bean guitar and playing in a Misfits cover band. Ultimately it doesn't matter, play whatever you want, the riff is all that matters. I've certainly used expensive gear to play obnoxious thrash metal. But don't feel like you need to spend a ton of money to sound like Sleep because you don't.


Great post. Al's board is nothing but DS1's and DOD250's. He gets his tone from turning his amp to 11.

Dixie uses Sunn Coliseums and a poopy old bass. He gets his tone by turning his amp to 11.

Geezer didn't use pedals. He got his tone by turning his amp to 11.

Tube amps not required...but they help.
 
You'll think I'm crazy but I can't help feeling a little weird about all these $200-300 "stoner" fuzz pedals on the market. Early doom & stoner was always about riffs first but it was also built on using whatever cheap gear was available. The idea of using a Spaceman fuzz in a doom band seems laughable, like spending $6k on a Travis Bean guitar and playing in a Misfits cover band. Ultimately it doesn't matter, play whatever you want, the riff is all that matters. I've certainly used expensive gear to play obnoxious thrash metal. But don't feel like you need to spend a ton of money to sound like Sleep because you don't.

Yes and maybe no. I hear you about the actual gear used being what it is, and over-engineering a boutique pedal to mimic a cheap one can seem a little silly. However, if part of the Al sound is cranking his amp to 11 and I can't/won't crank my amp to 11, or if I have a class-D head which doesn't react to being pushed to 11 (or even 10) the same way as Al's gear, then perhaps a pedal that captures some of the amp's role/sound in the equation is useful for getting that sound at a lower volume. If I need to spend a few extra bucks for it, then I will.

Also, if I'm gigging regularly, and the DOD box isn't as rugged as a boutique builder's pedal, or as consistent at producing the same sound, then I'd pay a few extra dollars to have a more reliable, robust, consistent piece of gear.

I also really seem to enjoy the interpretation of certain builders. I know that many Dunwich boxes are clones, but I also like Nick's spin on them.

Lastly, if I can afford the price of supporting a cool, small business that builds pedals in my country (vs. overseas), then I'll buy direct and drop a little extra for that, instead of feeding my funds to a chain store for an import.

I realize my post makes a few points, and I don't mean it to pick apart your post. Instead, I'm stating how I think through my buying decisions, since I've spent a few extra dollars on boutique clones, and run a polite class D head. In the end, use the right tool for the job, and if it sounds good, it is good. I do agree that there are folks who unnecessarily overspend (from my perspective, YMMV), or feel dissatisfied because the can't afford to buy fancy gear.