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New to pedals... Help me pick out a fuzz!

Which fuzz pedal would be the best fit?

  • EHX Bass Big Muff Pi

    Votes: 8 8.4%

  • Green Russian Big Muff

    Votes: 19 20.0%

  • Spaceman Nebula

    Votes: 4 4.2%

  • Magick Fuzz

    Votes: 3 3.2%

  • MXR Bass Fuzz Deluxe

    Votes: 3 3.2%

  • Aguilar Fuzzistor

    Votes: 2 2.1%

  • Zvex Woolly Mammoth

    Votes: 3 3.2%

  • Darkglass Duality

    Votes: 11 11.6%

  • JHS 4 Wheeler

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Earthquaker Erupter

    Votes: 1 1.1%

  • Other (please specify)

    Votes: 41 43.2%
  • Total voters
    95
#41
I'm assuming the Violet Muffer is based on a Big Muff, they're known for having a weak midrange. If you otherwise like it, Minotaur Sonic Terrors (out of Greece) makes the Swamp Lord, which has a mids control. I bought one recently and it's everything in a band mix I always wished a Muff was, as far as boutique pedals go it's pretty reasonably priced too.
 
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#42
Check out Idiot Box Effects (Home). May be a little pricey but his pedals are hand made and sound great in my opinion.

Going a little cheaper of a route, personally I have nothing but good things to say about Boss pedals.

Just my opinions though of course.
 
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#43
For bass fuzz I prefer the Green Russian Big Muff variants for the most part. If that's the sort of fuzztone sound you like then the best of breed in that category (IMO) is the Formula B Soviet Tank. Around $220 last I looked. It can be a little hard to track down (try Reverb) since it's a boutique build from Italy. But it's a beautifully bass friendly creamy fuzz with a lot of adjustability that plays well with other pedals.
 
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#48
OK...... Here's one....... LOL------ Sorry couldn't resist.
Fuzzy Bass.jpg
 
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#52
10 years ago- Pickle, Blowtorch, deviever Ruiner, Attack Goat, Mastotron
5 years ago- Pharaoh, Buzzz, TAFM, Mastrotron sold
today- old used Oko bass fuzz, ssbs Mini, MXR bass fuzz, new Mastrotron,
DOD Caricosa and e.q.d. Snarling Dog gated fuzz on occasion.
 
#53
So far the Source Audio Aftershock is winning in a landslide.

jw23mind said:
Off topic, but have you tried putting the SubnUp after the fuzz? cleaner sub and less overloading of the fuzz. IMO of course it's a matter of taste.
Click to expand...

I just tried that and it makes a world of difference! Thanks! I had no idea it would be so night and day. The fuzz after the sub makes it waaayy louder and distorted, to a shocking degree. The other way around sounds great! Is it just generally good to have an octave pedal towards the end of the chain then? I've got a lot of experimenting to do...

minddrain said:
Oh and whichever fuzz pedal on which you decide, depending on your bass guitar, be prepared to possibly need a noise gate. I have an Ibanez Sound Gear with active pickups. When I turn the gain up to a certain point, I can really hear every finger movement. Possibly switching to flatwounds would fix the issue also, but the "noise" only exists when the gain gets to a certain level.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip. I use a passive P bass like 90% of the time. I have experienced minimal noise with the Tomkat Muffer and the Darkglass AO, but nothing terrible (unless I have them both on, but that's not really practical).

Kerem Koseoglu said:
My (Muse oriented) bass dirt pedal review might help you, check here: Muse Bass Sound .

Bottom line: I would highly recommend a pedal with clean blend (to preserve the bottom end). Otherwise, you will need to blend the clean signal yourself, which leads to complicated pedalboards.
Click to expand...

I think you're right, a clean blend is the way to go for what I normally play.

tpaul said:
The wooly mammoth is very good. Also I recently heard a demo of the Mooer Bass Fog, which is supposed to be a Mammoth clone. Very impressive, also cheap and tiny.

I'll also second the EBS Fuzzmo. They were blowing them out at $40 not too long ago and you can still find them fairly cheaply. Very versatile fuzz.
Click to expand...

I've been finding that Mooer does a great job of making cheap (and tiny) clones of widely popular pedals.

Magthegrate said:
I voted "other". The only pedal that I use besides a tuner is a Tech21 SansAmp. If I want some distortion, I just turn the drive up on it.

I'm a bit adverse to carrying a lot of gear around, so this works great for me!
Click to expand...

It's my favorite pedal of all time, so far I don't see anything beating it as my "always on" pedal. But since I do always have it on, I like to keep it cleaner and have a distortion on the side for that flexibility. I know there is the programmable BDDI but I can't get over the size. The Darkglass A/O has been sounding great in conjunction with the BDDI, and it gets very close to fuzz territory, but not quite fuzz.
 
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#55
BassGeekJack said:
Thanks for the tip. I use a passive P bass like 90% of the time. I have experienced minimal noise with the Tomkat Muffer and the Darkglass AO, but nothing terrible (unless I have them both on, but that's not really practical)
.
Click to expand...


Hopefully that should not be an issue for you then. When I went to the guitar store, that was the left handed one they had and that was the left handed one I bought.
 
#56
1)Sanford and Sonny Bluebeard is be made by Robo pedals. Best muff ever.. I love mine
2)Brassmaster clone get the silicon version.
3)Magic fuzz good muff w mid
4)red muck Russian muff with a boost
5)Black Mass white cap black Russian with mids..
6)w&c Tallfont fuzz (its a sovtek tall font clone) just makes every sound wider and bigger!
Honorable mention idiotbox blackout is a parallel muff pedal
 
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#59
mmbongo said:
Source Audio Aftershock. It's a must have when you're not quite sure what you want. It can do anything you want.

But what is my favorite fuzz? Malekko Diabolik, 2nd place is a Team Awesome Fuzz Machine. Both are spectacular.
Click to expand...

The Diabolik is an amazing fuzz and definitely a favorite of mine as well. Lots of great synthy square wave sounds with prodigious low end. Also a nice distortion box with the Squish set low. Arguably impossible to use to its full potential without a separate volume looper pedal.

I'm not sure anything has ever topped the Wooly Mammoth. That's probably the great god of all bass fuzz that I know of, but it's always been so expensive.
 

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