My favorite pedal to run after my fuzz faces is the Gladio side of my Cornerstone Imperium, which died an untimely death today. Can anyone suggest a different D-style pedal that sounds great after fuzz?
Straight from the awesome John-Anthony DeMaio at Voltic: the very newest version of the DTF (with new “trim” knob that changes the bias of the last transistor), along with the Stache op-amp fuzz.
Both sound and feel great, but I can’t really play well today because I had a minor surgical procedure on my neck this morning. Hopefully tomorrow, I’ll be less stiff, and then I can put them through their paces more.
If you’re so inclined, please think “happy thoughts” in my direction. Most of my headaches start with occipital pain, so I’ll be getting three nerves lightly toasted where they come out of my spine.
I really, really need some relief after a whole summer of near-daily headaches. Fingers crossed.
Hey, does anybody else really love Lovepedal? I know some people knock the builder online because he is super-quirky, and many of his designs are basically tweaked Electra circuits. But his stuff sounds SO good, in my experience. I have three. The first is a Super Sic Tone, which is a three-setting fuzz: tone bender-ish, treble boost, and Muff-ish. All three sound and feel great, and the treble boost is awesome for pushing other drive pedals. The second, a 200lbs of Gold, is essentially a vintage fuzz face, run into a fixed-gain tube screamer, followed by a footswitchable clean boost. It absolutely nails 1960s Clapton tones. The third is a Les Lius, which is basically an overdriven tweed amp in a box. I just got this one like a week ago, and am not sure I’ll keep it, but the other two are awesome. Plus, if you look on Reverb, you can get a Super Sick Tone for under $80. The others are more expensive and more rare, but at least the 200lbs of Gold is totally worth seeking out.
I’m also tempted to buy his BoneTender (MKii tone bender), which he is currently selling direct for $99.
Anybody else have any experience with this company?
OK, so I have ended up with a ridiculous surplus of Blues Breakers:
-Morning Glory
-The 1962 in a Keeley Tone Workstation
-Keeley Blues Disorder
-Demonfx Breaker Drive
So here’s why I might be crazy: I’m thinking of selling the MG, even though everybody loves this circuit. It has the most output of all the bb’s I have, and is also the best at stacking after a cranked fuzz without getting overloaded. Plus, it sounds great by itself. But the 1962 sounds more like a cranked 60s Marshall, the Blues Disorder has the awesome OCD built in, and the Demonfx is cheap and has a lot of string clarity and warmth.
Still: am I crazy?
Somebody should buy this. I thought I got a steal when I bought a used 4-knob Algal Bloom for $120. A 6-knob one for $100 is just nuts!
I just picked up a used Pettyjohn Iron v1 that a local guy was selling for a screaming price. I tried it after both a Tube Screamer and a fuzz face, and it sounded and felt way better for each of them than my previous gold standard stacking pedal, the JHS Morning Glory.
So now I’m wondering, what are some of your favorite end-of-gain-chain stackers? I’m always fiddling with this!
(And of course, the type of fuzz you have going into it changes everything.)
I’m gonna be in bed all day, recovering from a migraine. Please recommend me some fuzz demos to watch. I’m bored out of my mind, and too dizzy from the rescue meds to sit up and actually play guitar.
Thanks in advance.
Voltic DTF prototype, haven’t even gotten to plug it in at home yet.
If you like this sort of thing, the local store where I got it has like 5 or 6 more very early Voltic pedals:
https://reverb.com/shop/six-string-brokerage-llc?query=voltic&skip\_autodirects=true
(Add $10 for shipping)
Voodoo Lab MicroVibe, 1990s, in great condition with box, $100
Fuzz Imp Creature, in immaculate condition, no box, $100
Pine-Box Customs Wide v2, immaculate, no box, $80
Fulltone Mas Malo, excellent condition, with box, $90
I will throw in an excellent condition Demonfx Angel Blue Drive (really good Timmy clone) if you buy any two of the above.
Would trade for the right interesting fuzz. I could possibly add cash to even up.
I tried to demo how these sound in a Pink Floyd-esque setting. Ultraface SI:
Coriolis Effects Fuzzy Navel:
Incidentally, I love this community. I’ve been dealing with a serious family-illness crisis here, and for some reason, fuzz pedals are basically what’s keeping me sane. Thanks for being here.
Got these in trade for a Thorpy Field Marshal, which was an amazing pedal, but I just couldn’t find a use for it musically. The pedal on the left is the rare, final version of the VFE Fuzz Duo — basically a very tweakable, brighter-than-usual fuzz face (though it doesn’t clean up as much as most FF’s do.) (EDIT: I just played around with the bias and internal “feedback” settings, and now it cleans up great!) Sounds amazing going into Marshall-style overdrive for 60s classic rock tones.
I thought I was going to immediately trade or sell the pedal on the right, which is a really good Frantone Peach Fuzz clone. But oh no, I am not! It sounds better — brighter and clearer on top, but with lots of low end — than all my muffs for Pink Floyd sounds. It also sounds perfect with the exact same settings for jamming along with Santana jam tracks.
I’m thrilled, because I was pretty sure I’d be kicking myself forever over trading away the Field Marshall.
I couldn’t resist! (It was between this and the JRR Pedals GeSi Face.)
https://www.amazon.com/Hand-made-classic-distortion-Legendary-Electric/dp/B0DSLNG9ST
I’m trying to choose between these three or four fuzzes. I have lots of germanium fuzz face-style pedals and muffs, but I don’t have a great silicon fuzz. The only one of these I’ve (sort of) played is the Solarist, but it was the simplified green model. I liked it, but sold it because I really wanted the “all the bells and whistles” version. However, the Thorpy and the Gemini seem like they might cover a lot of the same ground, while having some extra “oomph” that a regular fuzz face can’t match.
Advice? I play at home for fun, mostly classic rock, blues, funk. Nothing doomy or metal-ish. And, while I’m not a pro-level guitarist, I spent years playing drums professionally in wedding/party/club date bands, so I do have picky, professional ears.
I was dying to buy this pedal, but I just called, and the store doesn’t ship. So, somebody local should snatch up this amazing deal:
If you do buy it, please tell me it is terrible and I would have hated it. :)
This pedal is literally like new, because it was making an unusual noise two months ago, so I sent it to Benson Amps for repair. They ended up replacing the entire circuit (for free, because Benson is an awesome company.) Now it works flawlessly and sounds amazing, but while it was in the shop, I overspent on other gear!
Comes with original box.
$180 shipped, no trades.
This is a Brazilian song from 1972, so who knows what the actual effect was? But I like it. The lead guitar and probably the bass both have this rubbery fuzz tone. I wonder if it’s just overloading the board, Beatles-style.
https://music.apple.com/us/album/tinindo-trincando/1831607320?i=1831607563
EDIT: I just realized the link takes you to a preview, rather than the whole song. I guess you can just find “Tinindo Trincando” wherever you stream music.
Please pardon my sloppy playing on this one-take demo. (I’m really a drummer, and only play guitar for fun!)
The clip is my Gibson SG into the CosmicAsh, then a Simplifier set to the Marshall setting, then a Klowra Limbo reverb. That went straight into a Tech 21 Power Engine 60. I recorded my guitar and the backing track (which is just a pattern on my ancient drum machine, with apologies to Steely Dan and Rikki) using the mic on an iPad.
But the pedal sounds good, right?
:)