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Yet Another "Help me find a fuzz" thread

#61
blindrabbit said:
Nah, go fishing. It is more fun. ;) I probably tried well over a dozen dirt pedals, and listened to dozens more demos and read hundreds of reviews before settling in to the ones I like right now. The hunt is a huge part of the fun!
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I went hunting last night and this popped up on CL. I figured I better jump on it while the getting was good. I've spent an hour with it with some success. The Gain controls are a little weird. I think what I like so far is that it adds a consistent level to my tone that clean or OD doesn't have.

I'm down the rabbit hole now!!
 

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#62
socialleper said:
I went hunting last night and this popped up on CL. I figured I better jump on it while the getting was good. I've spent an hour with it with some success. The Gain controls are a little weird. I think what I like so far is that it adds a consistent level to my tone that clean or OD doesn't have.

I'm down the rabbit hole now!!
Click to expand...

Excellent choice. It may not exactly fit the sound you are looking for - although it's possible it will! - but I'm willing to bet you will find some great tones out of it nonetheless. Give yourself some time to learn the controls and play with them. Also, try some of the low gain sounds, as IMO the TAFM makes for an excellent OD as well.

Congrats and have fun!
 
#63
blindrabbit said:
Excellent choice. It may not exactly fit the sound you are looking for - although it's possible it will! - but I'm willing to bet you will find some great tones out of it nonetheless. Give yourself some time to learn the controls and play with them. Also, try some of the low gain sounds, as IMO the TAFM makes for an excellent OD as well.

Congrats and have fun!
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I'm already impressed with the blending and I think I've figured out how the switch works with the gain pre. I am going to need to play with the different settings more and then hear it in the mix at practice to see if it is going to work. I think I was looking for something with a little more howl in the mids, but since I'm not expert on this, maybe that's not really want will work in the mix.
If it doesn't I've made the investment and will just play leap frog with different one's until I find the right one. At least I've got some other models in mind to try now.
 
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#64
socialleper said:
I'm already impressed with the blending and I think I've figured out how the switch works with the gain pre. I am going to need to play with the different settings more and then hear it in the mix at practice to see if it is going to work. I think I was looking for something with a little more howl in the mids, but since I'm not expert on this, maybe that's not really want will work in the mix.
If it doesn't I've made the investment and will just play leap frog with different one's until I find the right one. At least I've got some other models in mind to try now.
Click to expand...

Take a peek through this thread over at ILF, it may give you some interesting ideas with settings to play with.

ilovefuzz.com • View topic - team awesome! fuzzmachine settings - post them here!
 
#65
I've played around with this pedal for a few days and I don't think I hear what I'm looking for. The fuzz feels messy, which I suppose may sound more vintage because it sounds less intentional. I also don't know if it has the bite I was looking for either. :crying:
 
#66
I don't know when I'm going to learn that the way something sounds on its own has nothing to do with how it sounds in the mix.
I got to crank up the TAFM at practice last weekend and MAN does it have a massive tone! I'm still a little weirded out by the gate that seems to be built into it, but at least it doesn't feedback all over the place. I'm having a little trouble finding a use for the switch that adds the pre-gain to the clean channel, or the boost switch, but the two knob blending is brilliant.
I went a little nuts and jumped on a Supercollider and PPB that were selling cheap to make my own little Coke/Pepsi challenge. I think I like the Supercollider as a really gnarly OD when I turn the gain way down. I like the way the PPB sounds by its self, but in the mix it has trouble finding its own space. I need to mess with the Shape and Blend more.
 
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#68
JimmyM said:
You don't have to use the gate ;)
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Maybe I'm using the wrong term.
There is a switch labeled "gate" that boosts the signal, adds some highs, and puts a tighter gate on it to keep it from feeding back. For guitarists this is probably awesome. However, with the gate switch off there is still a noticeable gate or choke the squashes the signal as it starts to decay, almost making it sound like the signal is breaking up instead of just drifting off. This is a very minor issue live since the audience wouldn't make it out in that kind of situation, but it threw me for I loop when I first heard it.
 
#71
paranoid30 said:
Mmmh, the gate does sound like that on mine, but I wouldn't say that it's gated when I disengage it. The notes are long, with massive sustain and easily go into feedback if the gain is high enough.
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If I wasn't so lazy I'd shoot some video or record some sound clips and post them.
It isn't a deal breaker, just something I thought was odd. As I said in my OP I have limited first hand experience with fuzz pedals so I may not be 100% familiar with their eccentricities.
 
#73
Mine is very slightly gated when the gate switch is off. Just enough to stop noise and provide definition when playing quickly but without the abrupt cutoff. It can be adjusted by the internal bias trimpot I believe. Maybe somebody messed with yours if you bought it used!

There have been a few tweaks to the circuit over the years, the frquency the mid switch operates on was tweaked at some point, various different transistors were used at different points in time and the newer ones have a buffer before the fuzz which is switchable but on by default (and I prefer it off as it makes the fuzz smoother and rolls the highs off of the clean channel). I bought a new one last October and it didn't sound anywhere near as good as my old one (below)...

WBTrmEV.jpg
 
#74
dannybuoy said:
Mine is very slightly gated when the gate switch is off. Just enough to stop noise and provide definition when playing quickly but without the abrupt cutoff. It can be adjusted by the internal bias trimpot I believe. Maybe somebody messed with yours if you bought it used!

There have been a few tweaks to the circuit over the years, the frquency the mid switch operates on was tweaked at some point, various different transistors were used at different points in time and the newer ones have a buffer before the fuzz which is switchable but on by default (and I prefer it off as it makes the fuzz smoother and rolls the highs off of the clean channel). I bought a new one last October and it didn't sound anywhere near as good as my original!
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Cool, so I'm not nuts! At least not about this :)

I did buy it used so maybe I will take the back off and see what is going on in there.
I also found it crazy how the mids switch didn't seem to make a huge difference when I was playing around with it in my den but then it made a big difference in a live band setting.
 
#75
paranoid30 said:
Well, I'm just curious, I just read the topic and the first pedal that came to my mind reading your description was the TAFM ;) It's my main fuzz and it's an incredibly versatile pedal, so maybe you have to play around with the gain and blend settings...
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The blend circuit on this pedal is SO much better than any I've come across so far, even the Wren and Cuff PPB. Its one of those things that after I messed with it for a little while I thought "Why doesn't every bass fuzz have this?"
 
#78
I think you should check out the Cusack Effects & Amplifiers » Screamer Fuzz Bass. It is a more modern sounding and articulate fuzz with a wide variety of sounds. Because it has separate fuzz and tube screamer circuits, you can get a fuzz into screamer tone that is very useable. It has a ton of gain on tap because the volume changes have to accommodate a wide mix of dirty gain structures. Nice compact form and extremely well made. Here is a good demo:

 

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