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subtle fuzz box

snackbandit

snackbandit

May 14, 2006
184
1
San Diego
#1
I've gone through black and green Sovtek pedals, but they're a bit too harsh for the sound I'm looking for. Can anyone recommend a fuzz box with a more subtle tone? Doing a search through the forums, the only one that I've seen recommended is the Little Big Muff. I'd prefer a vintage pedal, but any new/reissue would be fine as well.
 
#4
The Lurker said:
'subtle' isn't a very common requirement for a fuzz....
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+1: fuzz ain't fluff. Also, when you make a fuzz "subtle" it usually turns into regular distortion or overdrive, so I'm not entirely clear on the sound you're looking for. If you literally want what you say, then go for DOD FX 92 Bass Grunge. They aren't made any more (at least not by DOD) but I bought an original Bass Grunge in a bargain bin for $15 new. Acts like an extremely versatile Big Muff Pi, but specifically for bass. Cruddy construction, but great tone. It has 4 knobs: one each for mix, level, fuzz and high end (EQ-wise) distortion. Might be just what you're looking for.

What I think you could get better use of and will certainly last longer, is the EHX English Muff'n. It can do very slight overdrive through full-blown fuzz and is chock full of tubey goodness. More importantly, it isn't rare/hard to find.

This is an odd case of exactly what you want + dirt cheap + rare vs. could almost be what you might want + expensive + common. More power to you if you can find an original bass grunge, but I'll never give up mine :D
 
#6
abark000 said:
I really wish people would learn that fuzz, distortion, and overdrive are very different things.
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Just trying to give an approximation of what the Muff'n sounds like. I understand it's an overdrive pedal, but it's touted as being able to sound like a Big Muff and I'd agree. Medium fuzz (I suppose 12 o'clock or further anticlockwise) on a mix knob sounds much like a distortion to me.
 
#7
Swimming Bird said:
Just trying to give an approximation of what the Muff'n sounds like. I understand it's an overdrive pedal, but it's touted as being able to sound like a Big Muff and I'd agree. Medium fuzz (I suppose 12 o'clock or further anticlockwise) on a mix knob sounds much like a distortion to me.
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I wasn't calling you out specifically, rather, I was just expressing an my point that the three terms are used so interchangeably when they really shouldn't be.
 
#8
abark000 said:
I really wish people would learn that fuzz, distortion, and overdrive are very different things.
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Not really, they are all harmonic distortion effects generated by some form of signal clipping.

People do get very anal about HOW the distortion is generated but to me (as an electrical engineer who understands the circuits) the names are completely meaningless.
 
#9
brianrost said:
Not really, they are all harmonic distortion effects generated by some form of signal clipping.

People do get very anal about HOW the distortion is generated but to me (as an electrical engineer who understands the circuits) the names are completely meaningless.
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I was just refering to that fact that they are three different circuits that produce three different waveforms. Low gain on a Fuzzface doesn't give you overdrive and high gain on an English Muffin doesn't equal fuzz. It might be semantics, but I'd hate for someone to spend they money and end up with something that they don't want.
 
#11
brianrost said:
Not really, they are all harmonic distortion effects generated by some form of signal clipping.

People do get very anal about HOW the distortion is generated but to me (as an electrical engineer who understands the circuits) the names are completely meaningless.
Click to expand...

From a scientific/engineering standpoint, yes they are all harmonic distortion, but from a percieved perception standpoint there certainly is a difference. Sometimes the defining line between OD/distorion/fuzz gets a little blurry, but trying to communicate sensory perceptions with written language is frequently a challenge.
 
#12
snackbandit said:
I've gone through black and green Sovtek pedals, but they're a bit too harsh for the sound I'm looking for. Can anyone recommend a fuzz box with a more subtle tone? Doing a search through the forums, the only one that I've seen recommended is the Little Big Muff. I'd prefer a vintage pedal, but any new/reissue would be fine as well.
Click to expand...

I think I know what you're getting at... with the Little Big Muff's sustain on minimum (or very close to it, at least), you can get this "subtle warm fuzz" that's definitely not mild overdrive or sharp distortion.

Hmm...

I just got another 1/4"-to-1/8" cable for recording pedal demos... if I can find time tonight, I'll try recording some new GOOD Little Big Muff demos.

I'm currently amp-less, but I think direct-to-sound-card should be fine. I'll also do some stuff through a SansAmp Bass Driver, too.

It's about time I did some, since I am a huge supporter of the Little Big Muff :D
 
#13
got a little big muff also, but I'd like something I could use on basse, I might trade it for a tech21 XXL basss

i'd recommend the frantone lo tone for subbtle fuzz
 
#15
the frantone stuff is great, and anything with a clean blend with germanium instead of silicon would do the subtle thing much better (to my ears!)

and subtle fuzz can be very different from low gain OD,

i actually thought that the sound clips for the MXR blowtorch showed a very fuzz-type of sound hat blended in on top of the clean sound, doing the subtle thing very nicely, but it was a high freq fuzz, so almost like a 'fizz' but its hard to describe with words.

good luck
 
#18
You might look at the "Yamaha Magicstomp EB", a multi-effects stomp box for bass. It has 99 tweak-able presets, including several fuzz presets. It also has 99 more spaces where you can store your own custom presets, so you can probably dial in the level that you want. I use one of the standard ones on our version of "Dance To The Music" and I get lots of "ooh cool" comments.

Musicians Friend is blowing them out right now for $79. Other stores sell them for as much as $199, I wonder if it's about to be discontinued.

You can hear a sound sample of one of its fuzz presets here:
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
 

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