The Classics...

Coda

Coda

Well-known member
All this talk lately about taking things from good to great, and PRS making pedals (LOL) has got me thinking that there are some pretty smart cookies around here. Of course, then there's the rest of us...but the wheat definitely outweighs the chaff (right?)...

Anywhen, a certain Floridian Forum Member, who shall remain unnamed to protect the innocent (it was @MichaelW ) asked me for what I thought was the "classic" BMP circuit. Naturally, I sent 6 or 7 pages, and never really answered his question. It did get me thinking, however...

What are the "classic" pedals? I'm not necessarily talking about this from an historic perspective; the FZ-1 is definitely important historically, but I wouldn't consider it a classic, since it never really transcended its initial existence. I think this should be a group discussion that will be fun, insightful and then devolve into something else entirely.

So, categories: Fuzz, Distortion, OD, Modulation, Filter, Delay, Echo, Dynamics, (anything missing?)...

What do you consider the "classic" pedal circuits?...

The List:
Distortion: ProCo Rat, MXR Distortion+ (including variants),
OD: Ibanez TS808, Colorsound PowerBooster/Overdriver
Fuzz:
Modulation: Boss CE-1/2, Univox Univibe, MXR Phase 90, Boss PH-1/1r
 
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Coda said:
Which ones? I would argue the MK II TB is the classic of that group. FF is a little more difficult: the Ge is definitely a classic, and the one that most people think of when they think Fuzz Face, but the Si version is also a classic in its own right...
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TB mk 2, FF Si, would be my choices.
 
When I decided I had to build pedals I built some of them I considered classic:

Boost: MXR Micro Amp
Overdrive: TS808
Distortion: ProCo RAT
Fuzz: Big Muff, Fuzz Face
Phaser: MXR Phase 90
Chorus: Boss CE-2

I built other "classic" pedals like a Treble Booster Brian May style, DOD250, Klon Centaur, OCD. I'm building a Red Llama and I never built a Boss DS-1, but never say never.
 
Coda said:
All this talk lately about taking things from good to great, and PRS making pedals (LOL) has got me thinking that there are some pretty smart cookies around here. Of course, then there's the rest of us...but the wheat definitely outweighs the chaff (right?)...

Anywhen, a certain Floridian Forum Member, who shall remain unnamed to protect the innocent (it was @MichaelW ) asked me for what I thought was the "classic" BMP circuit. Naturally, I sent 6 or 7 pages, and never really answered his question. It did get me thinking, however...

What are the "classic" pedals? I'm not necessarily talking about this from an historic perspective; the FZ-1 is definitely important historically, but I wouldn't consider it a classic, since it never really transcended its initial existence. I think this should be a group discussion that will be fun, insightful and then devolve into something else entirely.

So, categories: Fuzz, Distortion, OD, Modulation, Filter, Delay, Echo, Dynamics, (anything missing?)...

What do you consider the "classic" pedal circuits?...

The List:
Distortion: ProCo Rat, MXR Distortion+ (including variants),
OD: Ibanez TS808, Colorsound PowerBooster/Overdriver
Fuzz:
Modulation: Boss CE-1/2, Univox Univibe, MXR Phase 90, Boss PH-1/1r
Click to expand...

The classic BMP circuit is this one: http://www.bigmuffpage.com/images/schematics/KR_1973_V2_Violet_Schematic_1st_version.jpg
 
I would say the major iterations of the big muff are all iconic in their own way. Triangle, ram's head, russian, nyc. The way they made them early on with whatever they had on hand and tweaking as they go makes it a bit hard to nail down though. I don't know if its important to separate them though, they are all big muffs and fill the same niche more or less, its like whether you want grape jam or strawberry jam on your PB&J. So many honorable mentions come to mind as I made this list, univox super fuzz, keeley katana and keeley compressor, ODR-1, line6 DL4 are now pretty iconic, but they aren't what first comes to mind when I think of these categories.

These are what I think of when I think of classic from each category.
Boost: Micro Amp, LPB-1, Rangemaster
Overdrive: Tube Screamer, Bluesbreaker, Centaur
Distortion: RAT, Distortion+, 250, DS-1
Fuzz: Big Muff, Fuzz Face
Phaser: Phase 90
Chorus: CE-2/CE-1
Compressor: Orange Squeezer, Dynacomp
Delay: EP-3, Memory man
Wah: Crybaby
 
Big Monk said:
MK II definitely for the Tone Bender group.

I’d make the case the Silicon Fuzz Face is the classic of the FF family. Hendrix, Gilmour, etc. all had thier best tones with Silicon, not Germanium, Fuzz Faces.

Although the argument could be made that Hendrix’s best tones were actually an Axis Fuzz so that does get tricky…
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I think (my opinion, since no one will ever know) that the Mayer mod stuff was just him messing with the bias to get a smoother tone. The BOG stuff definitely is a little less aggressive, but a thicker tone than the regular FF.

I think Big Muff/Fuzz Face in general are classics, regardless of the variants. I would still argue that the MKII is the face of the Tonebender franchise...
 
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