Educate me about fuzz pedals please

rico

It is time that I invested in a fuzz pedal. There are certain songs/riffs that we play that are crying out for some fuzz. Trouble is, I don't have the foggiest about fuzz pedals. What is a muff? What is a triangle? What is a rams head?

Can I get a fuzz sound without fuzz pedals?

I want the archetypal Sabbath/Orange Goblin/Mothership type sound but I have no idea where to start. It would be good if it was under £100, standard pedal size or even better if it was mini size.

Cheers.

benmurray85

Looks like you've been looking mainly at big muff type fuzz/distortion pedals. If you're looking for sabbath sounds I would not be looking at big muffs. I probably wouldn't even look at fuzz pedals. You want a thick distortion pedal. Just my two penneth. 

nothing wrong with BM types, I love em, but I don't think that's what you want in this instance. 

english_bob

rico said:

What is a muff? What is a triangle? What is a rams head?

The Electro Harmonix Big Muff is a fuzz/distortion pedal that's been around since the early 70s. The circuit has been altered several times over the years, and many of the revisions coincided with cosmetic changes to the pedal- the different names you mention are shorthand for Muffs from a particular era.

Here's a history: http://www.kitrae.net/music/big_muff_history.html

Whether a Big Muff is what you want for the tones you're after is another question. All the versions are in the same ballpark, tone-wise (but different enough that Muff fanboys have their favourites), and will respond very differently to different amps- with a Fender style mid-scooped sounding amp they'll sound awful (unless you like 60s film soundtracks), since Muffs are also voiced very mid-light, but with a midrangier Marshall-ish amp you'll get very different results.

Here's the Pedal Show episode on classic fuzzes, which IIRC has a demonstration of what happens with Muffs and different amps:

Reverend

rico said:

It is time that I invested in a fuzz pedal. There are certain songs/riffs that we play that are crying out for some fuzz. Trouble is, I don't have the foggiest about fuzz pedals. What is a muff? What is a triangle? What is a rams head?

Can I get a fuzz sound without fuzz pedals?

I want the archetypal Sabbath/Orange Goblin/Mothership type sound but I have no idea where to start. It would be good if it was under £100, standard pedal size or even better if it was mini size.

Cheers.

Sabbath and Goblin are not fuzz pedal bands. Iommi used a Rangemaster treble boost to push his amp. Joe has used sans amp most of the time although he has a Boss DS1 and Marshall bluesbreaker 2 pedal on the board.

Voxman

english_bob said:

rico said:

What is a muff? What is a triangle? What is a rams head?

The Electro Harmonix Big Muff is a fuzz/distortion pedal that's been around since the early 70s. The circuit has been altered several times over the years, and many of the revisions coincided with cosmetic changes to the pedal- the different names you mention are shorthand for Muffs from a particular era.

Here's a history: http://www.kitrae.net/music/big_muff_history.html

Whether a Big Muff is what you want for the tones you're after is another question. All the versions are in the same ballpark, tone-wise (but different enough that Muff fanboys have their favourites), and will respond very differently to different amps- with a Fender style mid-scooped sounding amp they'll sound awful (unless you like 60s film soundtracks), since Muffs are also voiced very mid-light, but with a midrangier Marshall-ish amp you'll get very different results.

Here's the Pedal Show episode on classic fuzzes, which IIRC has a demonstration of what happens with Muffs and different amps:

I think that's just a jpeg not a video link!  Here's the vid link - personally, I don't like fuzz pedals but each to their own.

VJIves

For your budget, and for extreme versatility, I'd suggest the White Atom from Magnetic Effects, or the Carcoza from DOD. I think you'd be very happy with either.

jonnygreentrees

Voxman said:

english_bob said:

rico said:

What is a muff? What is a triangle? What is a rams head?

The Electro Harmonix Big Muff is a fuzz/distortion pedal that's been around since the early 70s. The circuit has been altered several times over the years, and many of the revisions coincided with cosmetic changes to the pedal- the different names you mention are shorthand for Muffs from a particular era.

Here's a history: http://www.kitrae.net/music/big_muff_history.html

Whether a Big Muff is what you want for the tones you're after is another question. All the versions are in the same ballpark, tone-wise (but different enough that Muff fanboys have their favourites), and will respond very differently to different amps- with a Fender style mid-scooped sounding amp they'll sound awful (unless you like 60s film soundtracks), since Muffs are also voiced very mid-light, but with a midrangier Marshall-ish amp you'll get very different results.

Here's the Pedal Show episode on classic fuzzes, which IIRC has a demonstration of what happens with Muffs and different amps:

I think that's just a jpeg not a video link!  Here's the vid link - personally, I don't like fuzz pedals but each to their own.

that also wasn't a video link!

jonnygreentrees

rico

Thanks all - I coincidentally just watched that. Now i'm not so sure...

juansolo

A lot of Doom is just big fuck off amps played really fucking loud Though there's a bit of crossover with stoner when you tend to get fuzzes, the main one tends to be a muff of some description.

Now there is no one muff. EHX designed a magnificently tolerant circuit back in the day and they literally used whatever parts they had lying around in them, just balancing them to work. There are a veritable shit-ton of them and they can all sound very different because of it. Kitrae is the bible of muffs, or at least as good as you'll ever get. The different names Rams Head (it has a little rams head on it), Violet (Rams Head, it's purple...), Triangle (Knobs), Russian (made in Russia), etc are all used to try and differentiate these. Though in reality there are many differnent Rams Heads, Triangles, etc. Which makes it all the more difficult when someone says, 'get a Triangle!' the answer being which one!?

There are lots and lots of classic fuzzes though to get that nasty sound and the Muff is just one flavour of it. As always, my recommendation is to try a load and see what makes the sound in your head.

Reverend

rico said:

Thanks all - I coincidentally just watched that. Now i'm not so sure...

A lot of what you like is probably  not fuzz. 

What amp are you using?

rico

Reverend said:

rico said:

Thanks all - I coincidentally just watched that. Now i'm not so sure...

A lot of what you like is probably  not fuzz. 

What amp are you using?

I'm using my JCM2000 combo on the clean channel with OCD for standard rhythm parts and Koko reloaded with boost and mid boost for the heaviest sections and the mid for leads. Guitar is a LP with a Classic 57 in the neck and SD JB in the bridge. 

Set up for quite a dark sound (i.e treble at about 2, mid about 4 and bass at about 6 on the amp).

I think I am there or thereabouts but as mentioned above a big cab is probably the missing piece to the puzzle...?

Reverend

A decent 4x12 will definitely give you more of the sound you want. Joe runs through 2 cabs. 

Iommi through 8-10 or so. Have you tried running your pedal on a lowish setting in a slight broken up crunch? And AC/DC crunch pushed with a tube screamer or EQ will sound huge. Never heard a dirt pedal  into a clean match the combination. 

I tend to use either an original or recent guvnor - depending on if using my own amp or not. That or a bad Monkey. 

Reverend

Also, you may not need as much bass as you think.  JB from Grand Magus used to sound super heavy on the first couple of albums and he was not dialling in much bass. Let the bass player cover that 

rico

Thanks @Reverend I just sat down for an hour or so and tweaked away. Set up the OCD for mild gain (half what it's usually set at) and used the koko to push that - much closer to what I am after. The neck pup also makes a huge difference.

This is with the JVM 1 watter (JCM is at the rehearsal room) so still into the clean channel.

I tried it into the second channel but with just a ballhair of amp gain its a noisy mess - just a function of this amp I guess.

Cookiemonster

Just as a concept. Try catalinbreads sabbra caddabra. Sabbath in a box. Not a fuzz though

Cookiemonster

https://www.andertons.co.uk/p/SABBRACADABRA/overdrive-pedals/catalinbread-sabbra-cadabra-drive-pedal

Gassage

I think this threat can be best summed in one word:

RAT.

rico

Cookiemonster said:

https://www.andertons.co.uk/p/SABBRACADABRA/overdrive-pedals/catalinbread-sabbra-cadabra-drive-pedal

That is pretty awesome - next month maybe...

Voxman

jonnygreentrees said:

Voxman said:

english_bob said:

rico said:

What is a muff? What is a triangle? What is a rams head?

The Electro Harmonix Big Muff is a fuzz/distortion pedal that's been around since the early 70s. The circuit has been altered several times over the years, and many of the revisions coincided with cosmetic changes to the pedal- the different names you mention are shorthand for Muffs from a particular era.

Here's a history: http://www.kitrae.net/music/big_muff_history.html

Whether a Big Muff is what you want for the tones you're after is another question. All the versions are in the same ballpark, tone-wise (but different enough that Muff fanboys have their favourites), and will respond very differently to different amps- with a Fender style mid-scooped sounding amp they'll sound awful (unless you like 60s film soundtracks), since Muffs are also voiced very mid-light, but with a midrangier Marshall-ish amp you'll get very different results.

Here's the Pedal Show episode on classic fuzzes, which IIRC has a demonstration of what happens with Muffs and different amps:

I think that's just a jpeg not a video link!  Here's the vid link - personally, I don't like fuzz pedals but each to their own.

that also wasn't a video link!

Now that is weird. It most definitely was a video link because I watched it from the pasted link I posted.  Something must be going on with the board and/or video coding & perhaps this happened to the OP too.  

ennspek

As above they are a tricky beast to use properly. You may not even need one.
If you want an EHX I'd suggest the Tone Wicker for the money.