Fuzz curious High gain prog guy looking for something new

Paradox916

Paradox916

Well-known member
When it comes to dirt I’m a high gain guy, for the longest time nothing could beat the brutal tight attack of a boosted high gain amp with a noise gate. On the right day I feel like I could make the sun explode with two pedals and one crazy cord. But sometimes you want something a little different.... There has to be something about a fuzz pedal to have all you fuzz heads out there... I mean there is a lot of you!( Sometimes I feel like the only guy in a black t-shirt at a phish concert.) And I want to like a fuzz pedal but not sure where to start... so here is the question:

Top 3 fuzz pedals to build....GO!
 
Currently I'm in the same boat. Playing for 25+ years, never had a fuzz. But I just breadboarded 2 of them.

1. The BJFE Folk Fuzz that Chuck posted a couple days ago. Excellent low-mid gain with clipping options.

2. Skreddy P19. For me this is the one. I researched a lot beforehand as to what fuzz sound I wanted to dip my feet into. This didn't disappoint. The other Skreddy fuzz' pedals seemed well regarded too from what I've read.
 
mjh36 said:
Currently I'm in the same boat. Playing for 25+ years, never had a fuzz. But I just breadboarded 2 of them.

1. The BJFE Folk Fuzz that Chuck posted a couple days ago. Excellent low-mid gain with clipping options.

2. Skreddy P19. For me this is the one. I researched a lot beforehand as to what fuzz sound I wanted to dip my feet into. This didn't disappoint. The other Skreddy fuzz' pedals seemed well regarded too from what I've read.
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I’m not quite up to bread boarding yet, but I will definitely check them out.
 
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Fuzz pedals are the reason I got into diy. There's something that just hits me with the right doom metal track where the wall of sound makes me feel like I'm wearing a cushioned helmet and it's just such a pleasant, physical, response to the sound. Like it envelops me. Call me crazy - it'll be both true and an understatement.

My favorite fuzz builds to date are:
1. Depot - based on EQD terminal. Knocked me out of left field how much I liked this one. A lot of demos I watched demonstrated the pedals wide range of tones and I hadn't heard it cranked to 10. It's heavy and brutal as hell and cleans up so well too. Earth shatterer when the fuzz is at 10.
2. Two Sticks of Derm - There's better sounding fuzzes, don't get me wrong, but the simplicity of it made it such a fun build for me. Each time I place a pedalpcb order I'm tempted to order another one.
3. Big Muff Green Russian - I didn't have any personal experience with muffs before getting into diy. I got the gist, but only vaguely. I built a Triangle and was super underwhelmed by it, it just seemed flat and muddy. Shit clicked for me with the green russian version. Much better bass response and a lot thicker sounding.

I've done a handful of germanium fuzz builds and have a few on the bench in progress and I've loved every one that I've finished but they don't end up lasting super long on my pedalboard.
 
finebyfine said:
Fuzz pedals are the reason I got into diy. There's something that just hits me with the right doom metal track where the wall of sound makes me feel like I'm wearing a cushioned helmet and it's just such a pleasant, physical, response to the sound. Like it envelops me. Call me crazy - it'll be both true and an understatement.

My favorite fuzz builds to date are:
1. Depot - based on EQD terminal. Knocked me out of left field how much I liked this one. A lot of demos I watched demonstrated the pedals wide range of tones and I hadn't heard it cranked to 10. It's heavy and brutal as hell and cleans up so well too. Earth shatterer when the fuzz is at 10.
2. Two Sticks of Derm - There's better sounding fuzzes, don't get me wrong, but the simplicity of it made it such a fun build for me. Each time I place a pedalpcb order I'm tempted to order another one.
3. Big Muff Green Russian - I didn't have any personal experience with muffs before getting into diy. I got the gist, but only vaguely. I built a Triangle and was super underwhelmed by it, it just seemed flat and muddy. Shit clicked for me with the green russian version. Much better bass response and a lot thicker sounding.

I've done a handful of germanium fuzz builds and have a few on the bench in progress and I've loved every one that I've finished but they don't end up lasting super long on my pedalboard.
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I’m kind of digging the green Russian. I just couldn’t get into the Depot.
 
I’m mostly a modern high gain guy too and I didn’t see fuzz as anything other than funny noises until somewhat recently when I started listening to more doom and stoner rock bands. I guess you can use fuzz in a lot of ways but so far I’m mostly just interested in massive earth-moving sounds.

So far my favourites are the boss fz2 (pedal pcb hyped fuzz), the big muff (too many clones and mods to list) and Rat (technically a distortion but it does get decently fuzzy sounding).

Honourable mention to the green ringer octave up, which sounds awesome in front of fuzz and/or distortion for really grinding sounds (which is basically what the EQD Life / Parenthesis fuzz is, green ringer in front of a Rat). You can basically get a shin-ei / Fz2 vibe with any other fuzz/drive when you have it up front.
 
I haven’t built a lot of fuzzes yet but it’s on my to do list. I did however build a dung beetle and it’s an awesome pedal. It’s based on the basic audio scarab deluxe. I run it with the fuzz and fat knobs maxed and the bias set to a gated spitty sound and then run a boost in front of it. The beetle also has a ton of volume on tap so you can crank it there too. Run it through a muzzle and you have this insane sustaining fuzz sound.

this video is with slightly less gain then I’m talking about and some reverb.

- YouTube

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Bricksnbeatles said:
If you’re a prog guy you can’t go wrong with a buzzaround clone for some Fripp tones!
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+1. For more Fripp tones, add a Triangle Muff. I would also recommend something like the Paul Trombetta Mini-Bone (Trumpeter) for a pedal that does a ton of unique tones, as well as something like a Fuzz Face (Ge), Tone Bender (Mk. I or II), or the original Fuzz: the Maestro Fuzz-Tone (PCB is SUPPOSED to be released soon...)

In summary, I would go and build a bunch...go through and build examples of all the classics, then all the variants of the classics, then the non-classics, and so-on. In fact, that is exactly what I am doing...
 
Coda said:
+1. For more Fripp tones, add a Triangle Muff. I would also recommend something like the Paul Trombetta Mini-Bone (Trumpeter) for a pedal that does a ton of unique tones, as well as something like a Fuzz Face (Ge), Tone Bender (Mk. I or II), or the original Fuzz: the Maestro Fuzz-Tone (PCB is SUPPOSED to be released soon...)

In summary, I would go and build a bunch...go through and build examples of all the classics, then all the variants of the classics, then the non-classics, and so-on. In fact, that is exactly what I am doing...
Click to expand...
Yeah, the key to Fripp tones, though I don’t know if exactly accurate to the timeline, in my experience is:
Buzzaround- Giles Giles & Fripp through Islands (including that lovely singing sustain on Sailors Tale)
Foxey Lady (Triangle Muff)- LTIA through to Exposure or Under Heavy Manners, especially on starless and pretty much any of the live Wetton-era stuff, like The Mincer and Doctor Diamond)
Russian Muff- THRAK through to TPtB

As far as I’m aware, he wasn’t using any actual fuzz pedals by the time of The League of Gentlemen or any of his 80s frippertronics tours, and all of his sustained lead tones in the 80s king crimson lineup were produced by the Roland GR-300 guitar synthesizer unit.
 
Bricksnbeatles said:
Yeah, the key to Fripp tones, though I don’t know if exactly accurate to the timeline, in my experience is:
Buzzaround- Giles Giles & Fripp through Islands (including that lovely singing sustain on Sailors Tale)
Foxey Lady (Triangle Muff)- LTIA through to Exposure or Under Heavy Manners, especially on starless and pretty much any of the live Wetton-era stuff, like The Mincer and Doctor Diamond)
Russian Muff- THRAK through to TPtB

As far as I’m aware, he wasn’t using any actual fuzz pedals by the time of The League of Gentlemen or any of his 80s frippertronics tours, and all of his sustained lead tones in the 80s king crimson lineup were produced by the Roland GR-300 guitar synthesizer unit.
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That timeline looks good to me. I would only add that I personally think it was the Buzzaround on "Heroes," though sometimes I think I can hear the Muff. The Buzzaround is not a beefy fuzz, but is sharp (not in a treble way), with a dry, buzzy tone, that also has a ton of sustain. Fripp set his muff up with the tone nearly all the way up, and the fuzz control at around 9 o'clock...at least from what I can tell. With those settings the Muff acts very similar to the Buzzaround, but is smoother, with less dryness in the tone. When I listen to Heroes, I hear sustain and a dry fuzz tone. It's also three different takes edited together, which is why it sounds like it sustains for so long. I watched a video with Tony Visconti going through it track by track, and when isolated, you can hear the three distinct tracks...
 
mnemonic said:
I’m mostly a modern high gain guy too and I didn’t see fuzz as anything other than funny noises until somewhat recently when I started listening to more doom and stoner rock bands. I guess you can use fuzz in a lot of ways but so far I’m mostly just interested in massive earth-moving sounds.

So far my favourites are the boss fz2 (pedal pcb hyped fuzz), the big muff (too many clones and mods to list) and Rat (technically a distortion but it does get decently fuzzy sounding).

Honourable mention to the green ringer octave up, which sounds awesome in front of fuzz and/or distortion for really grinding sounds (which is basically what the EQD Life / Parenthesis fuzz is, green ringer in front of a Rat). You can basically get a shin-ei / Fz2 vibe with any other fuzz/drive when you have it up front
Click to expand...
I’m with ya, I like a little doom/ stoner here and there but mostly in the massive 🌍 moving sounds.( And dark ambient cleans) I’m actually starting to lean towards the parentheses. It seems pretty versatile.
 
ADAOCE said:
I haven’t built a lot of fuzzes yet but it’s on my to do list. I did however build a dung beetle and it’s an awesome pedal. It’s based on the basic audio scarab deluxe. I run it with the fuzz and fat knobs maxed and the bias set to a gated spitty sound and then run a boost in front of it. The beetle also has a ton of volume on tap so you can crank it there too. Run it through a muzzle and you have this insane sustaining fuzz sound.

this video is with slightly less gain then I’m talking about and some reverb.

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.
youtube.com youtube.com
Click to expand...
That’s actually a pretty awesome tone! I’m liking that!
 
Dali said:
My claim to fame in this forum was asking PedalPCB to come up with the Guild instructions for the Muffin Fuzz (The Foxx).

Then I did this:

View attachment 11058

Now I just need Robert's talent...
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Interesting. I was always under the impression that the Foxey Lady was the exact same revision as the Triangle muff, just packaged under a different name since Mike Matthews was having the pedals manufactured for Guild and EHX wasn't created yet, but looking at the BOM for the Muffin fuzz, the component values are drastically different between the Fox and the Triangle variants. That looks great btw! I'm planning to build a few fripp-inspired pedals soon, but I think yours is a bit less embarrasing (to Fripp) than the graphics for mine.
 
Dali said:
My claim to fame in this forum was asking
Bricksnbeatles said:
Interesting. I was always under the impression that the Foxey Lady was the exact same revision as the Triangle muff, just packaged under a different name since Mike Matthews was having the pedals manufactured for Guild and EHX wasn't created yet, but looking at the BOM for the Muffin fuzz, the component values are drastically different between the Fox and the Triangle variants. That looks great btw! I'm planning to build a few fripp-inspired pedals soon, but I think yours
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From what I have read, the early Mike Matthews Foxxey Lady fuzzes (1969) were the same as the Axis fuzz pedals. Before that I think they were Mosrite Fuzz-Rites. Around the same time he came up with the Triangle Muff. By 1971-71, the Guild pedals were Re-branded Triangle Muffs. However, with all the different versions of the triangle muff, it’s really hard to tell in general, let alone which one Fripp had...
 
I haven't built nearly as many fuzzes as these other guys, but I can certainly recommend the PPCB Dung Beetle. The amount of control is insane and the circuit is completely made from common components.
 
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