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I have a real love/hate thing going on with dirt pedals. I’ve never used distortion but have enjoyed a few overdrives here and there. On my board at the moment is an EP3 boost and a compressor. That’s about it!

Anyway, I’ve become somewhat obsessed of late with this cleaned up fuzz idea. Probably because I’ve been watching impossibly talented people on YouTube coax incredible sparkly, almost clean sounds out of these wonder boxes.

I don’t have a fuzz, but tried a bit of this rolled
back volume idea with a germanium treble booster and can approximate it somewhat, but EQ wise, I lost a fair few DBs in the lows (which kind of makes sense I suppose - it is a treble booster).

I’ve read that germanium fuzzes are the way to go for good clean up - specifically anything Fuzz Facey - but I also get the feeling that in the case of fuzz, you need volume - even when rolling back the guitar pot. In my unbelievably quiet band, I have no chance of getting anything running beyond lounge levels, so am wondering if this is a dead end.

Anyway, I have no idea where I’m going with all this time chasing, but after hours of YT videos, a bunch of reading and some home experiments with my TB and a dimed Hot Cake, I’m starting to wonder if I chuck this in the too hard basket and go and learn some scales...

Anyone got anything to add?

Buy an eqd cloven hoof? Then you're pretty much all set for all fuzziness at any volume.

If you're in Auckland you can borrow my broken hoof if you'd like.

NippleWrestler wrote:If you're in Auckland you can borrow my broken hoof if you'd like.

That is most kind. I am, unfortunately, in Taranaki - where you can only try stuff by either buying it, or borrowing it from Danny (Airdad).

What's the deal with the EQD anyway?

I'm pretty sure I've got some fuzz that would be suitable that you can try. Time for another trip over to fitzroy

AiRdAd wrote:I'm pretty sure I've got some fuzz that would be suitable that you can try. Time for another trip over to fitzroy

Ever the gentleman.

Thanks for showing me all those Strats the other day - I was pleasantly surprised by the scalloped one! I'm too heavy a player, so would never work for me, but I can see why peeps would go for it.

I think pretty much anything that is Muff based doesn’t do what you want, the Fuzz Face will but you may need no buffered pedals before it to do it properly.
Tone Bender MK1.5 will to some degree but I’ve got a Tone Bender Mk2 and it doesn’t clean up super well.
It’s a great sound if you can all the ingredients right!

Reg is right - what you want is a germanium Fuzz Face or a Tone Bender Mk1.5 (they're almost identical circuits). The clean up factor is what makes NKT275 Fuzz Faces so highly prized - the best example of this I've tried was a white dot Analogman Sunface (the pedal that got me addicted to Fuzz - scored it for NZ$250 then sold it before I really appreciated it's value... ) These days they go for utterly retarded money.

I'd recommend a Super Electric clone if you can find one. The Fulltone '69 is probably worth a try (I liked the silicon '70, but not for clean up), or a MJM London Fuzz. I think the Dunlop Joe Bonamassa FF is supposed to be pretty good for clean up.

And it is specifically the Mk1.5 Tone Bender. MkI, MII and MKIII/IV are all completely different and no good for clean up (the MkI does amazing things when you roll back your volume, but it's not sparkly clean).

I’ve got an eighties ( correction- 90s) rat around somewhere. Bought it in case my other one clapped out. $130.00 plus shipping.

Darth Sabbathi wrote:Reg is right - what you want is a germanium Fuzz Face or a Tone Bender Mk1.5 (they're almost identical circuits). The clean up factor is what makes NKT275 Fuzz Faces so highly prized - the best example of this I've tried was a white dot Analogman Sunface (the pedal that got me addicted to Fuzz - scored it for NZ$250 then sold it before I really appreciated it's value... ) These days they go for utterly retarded money.

I'd recommend a Super Electric clone if you can find one. The Fulltone '69 is probably worth a try (I liked the silicon '70, but not for clean up), or a MJM London Fuzz. I think the Dunlop Joe Bonamassa FF is supposed to be pretty good for clean up.

Great stuff! Yeah - I’d heard a bit about the NKT275 SFs and the MJM London Fuzz.

Some things to look out for I suppose!

I’d also recommend a dirty germ boost like a old school treble booster, or full range boost like a colorsound overdriver, univox unidrive into a amp that’s already driving a bit. The simpler circuits seem to work the best for this, which is why the Mk I and 1.5 work but once you start throwing in more gain stages you’re loosing all your dynamic range.

But frankly, the subject of using a fuzz to get a sparkly clean tone is a little depressing!

MrDINO wrote:I’ve got an eighties rat around somewhere. Bought it in case my other one clapped out. $130.00 plus shipping.

Sending you a pm

As stated above by Darth and Reg, you need a germanium FF circuit for the sparkly cleanup thing. Although in my experience it varies from unit to unit, probably due to a difference in transistors. I had a FoxRox CC hybrid that did it brilliantly. Was godlike with a Strat with the volume rolled back, providing a vox like sparkle and chime to the top end. However with a second unit I bought some time later the effect was negligible. Don't expect to replicate the effect with Muff type circuits. Ain't in there.

Thanks for all the info guys - I actually had another good old play with my Swart Atomic Boost - germanium OC44 chip. There’s some magic in that on certain guitars - Filtertrons are a delight with it.

Conway has given me an option on some stuff, but I think I’ll spend some time with what I have and see what I can squeeze out of it!