If you had to pick one: Fuzz or Distortion?

[Dan0h]

As a life long big muff fan. Fuzz it is. Lately though I have really been digging the transparent overdrive flavors. Which you can also get from good fuzz by rolling back the volume pot on your guitar.

 

[Bricksnbeatles]

Fuzz is Funn

Distor is a Bore

Overdrive? More like underwhelm.

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

 

[Diynot]

I guess since I have a Muff and a kliche on my board, depending on who you ask……..I prefer distortion?

 

[Username123]

I’m seriously considering a Fender Blackface combo. Something like a Super Reverb or a Deluxe Reverb. If I ever want to cranked something, I can use the 5 watt SE amp.

I like the sound of a Princeton reverb a lot. There is something special about the chimey cleans of a blackface. Keep in mind, big muffs will kinda just turn to mush in a mix with a mid scooped amp with a mid scooped pedal.

 

[Username123]

I have a 3 position mid switch on my Ram’s Head build.

Perfect! That will definitely work well then.

 

[Diynot]

Mine is a rehoused NYC with a switch for stock tone or mids knob and one for diode lift on the first gain stage. The diode lift is pretty tame

 

[Robert]

Muffs are pretty harsh through my Princeton, but killer into the Twin. I run it with a healthy dose of mids.

 

[fig]

I think a Deluxe Reverb, my 10 watt Hiwatt build (this will be a meme in 10 minutes), and my little 5 Watt Tweed Champ would be all I need.

...and that lamp.

 

[BuddytheReow]

And white socks

 

[Paradox916]

With Every resistor subbed for a external control.

 

[jeffwhitfield]

Based on many of the pedals I've used, you can get distortion out of a fuzz pedal but not fuzz out of a distortion. With the right fuzz, you can get a very solid overdrive and then some. Hell, technically speaking, a Rat distortion pedal could be consider a fuzz depending on the setup.

 

[PapaBear]

I'm more of an overdrive guy, but there will always be a Muff and Rat on my board for that you never know when you'll need or want it

 

[jeffwhitfield]

It does stock Scooped, Flat and boosted Mids.

"It shoots through schools..."

Name the movie!

 

[xefned]

I voted for fuzz.

But if you play metal, the answer is: distortion.

 

[jeffwhitfield]

The Rat can low gain overdrive, distortion and a pretty gnarly fuzz sound. And with the drive at noon or lower can do a really good volume knob clean up. Not many distortion pedals can do that

Indeed. And, if you have one with different clipping options, even better. The AionFX Helios that I built can do silicon diodes, LED, and GE ones with a selection switch. Basically gives you a standard Rat, Turbo, and Dirty. I know there’s other pedals that can do the same…just nice to see a DIY with these opotions.

 

[Mentaltossflycoon]

I own one distortion and like 30 fuzzes. My being primarily a bass player makes this unsurprising.