That Pedal Show – Classic Fuzz Tones: Where To Begin?

In this episode Daniel and Mick run through the main families of vintage-inspired fuzz pedals, albeit re-imagined through modern brands’ offerings. The (Gary Hurst/Sola Sound) Tone Bender, (Dallas-Arbiter) Fuzz Face and (Electro-Harmonix) Big Muff are the cornerstones of classic fuzz, so we take a whistle-stop tour through their basic characteristics, via some more modern pedals.
Please consider this as the beginning of a journey, because there are so many variants within these classics, let alone the myriad other vintage and modern fuzzes. But we have to start somewhere, so let's start here…

Pedals In This Episode…

• Jim Dunlop JBF3 Joe Bonamassa Signature Fuzz Face Distortion

• Analog Man Sun Face BC183

• Pro Analog MkII Fuzz

• Fulltone Octafuzz

• Thorpy FX Fallout Cloud

• Kingsley Page

• Strymon TimeLine

Interesting bits and go-to sections…

• Brief history of fuzz and the Maestro Fuzz-Tone: 3:10
• Today’s pedals introduction: 6:35
• Two amps today…: 8:40
• All pedals with Dan’s Les Paul: 9:42
• All pedals with Mick’s Strat: 13:08
• Sun Face and the Strat guitar volume pot: 15:20 (Les Paul at 19:21)
• Bonamassa Fuzz Face and the guitar volume pot: 18:14
• Thoughts on Strats/single coils and Les Pauls/humbuckers and fuzz: 20:25
• Dan’s ’61 Les Paul (SG) Junior and the Sun Face: 22:05…
• …and compared with the other fuzzes: 22:40
• Octafuzz into Fuzz Face into Delay: 23:50
• Fuzz Face and Sun Face before Octafuzz: 26:15 (Strat then SG)

Amps in this episode
• Two-Rock Studio Pro 35 through custom Zilla 1x12 with Celestion G12-75 Creamback
• Victory V44 The Sheriff though Victory V212VH 2x12 cab

Guitars in this episode
• 1961 Gibson Les Paul (SG) Junior

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[CaptAnderton]

I hated fuzz for the 1st 20 years of playing, but in the last couple of years I really grown to like them. Weird!

[davidozab]

Paused the video at 5:05 to listen to "Satisfaction" and I HEARD THE CLICK. Awesome!

[ericmevans]

One of the best intros ever. I can't stress how big my smile was while listening. Two very big thumbs up!

[edthomas]

I've always used a fuzz face into a trebble booster for my clean sound just rolling off the volume on a fender. Can't play without them. love it sooo much!

[kevinficzere]

The mind blown look on your faces when you started stacking the Octavia was AWESOME! Thanks guys. Large fan. Love the show!

[guitarmoderne]

Great vid as always guys. As to Mick's question, "Who would use a fuzz for their clean sound?, " to my ears Jimi Hendrix used it all the time. I chased some of his clean rhythm sounds for years and never got it until I rolled the guitar volume off on a Fuzz Face.

[davearooney]

As always, great show, gents. I just ordered the Thorpy Veteran Ltd Fuzz (Rangemaster + Fuzz Face) - due in February - it's a great time for fuzz!

[sams_sekai]

I'd super love a show on the more modern crazy self-oscillating fuzzes and/or other noise maker type pedals, I feel like you two would have a great time with that! Thanks for all the amazing content! :)

[TUBEMAN]

YES! I've been waiting for this video ever since I discovered you guys. Thank you so much - you guys are best.

[rdmkeytohwy]

The content in this video is great. Really good examples with different pickups. To my ear the strat wins by a nose because the cleans are good thru the fuzz with the volume down and then as you turn it up it just becomes this gloriously thick tone that sounds just right. The SG with the dogear P-90 thru the Sunface with volume up on the guitar is like a fuzz tidal wave with a little bit of feedback. That is pure rock n' roll right there chaps! When you guys react to the tone with huge smiles and a bit of laughter you know the tone is killer in the room. Fabuloso!!

[themandolinmaniac]

Love that one of you tweaks the knobs so we can see them while the other plays and we can hear the changes - an excellent move!

[bobtaylor]

Just yesterday, I bought a Germanium Fuzz Face Mini to put on my board for the second time. I've learned much about using the volume pot, impedance matching, and using overdrive in conjunction since my first rodeo with a fuzz face.

Great video, as always. Lovely Jr. you got there, Dan!

[gabcc]

Hello Daniel and Mick, thank you for all of your videos they certainly help a lot to understand and improve our sound God bless you.

[gili]

love you guys, you give very important information about everthing you would want to know as someone that sound is important for him...best in youtube for sure

[rafsbio]

My favorite and current fuzz of choice is the Solidgold Rosie. I strongly recommend it for anyone looking for a MKII-style fuzz. It can go anywhere in the chain and works with wahs and compressors. It has a basscut switch that adds a lot of flexibility. With basscut on, drive rolled back, and volume cranked it's wonderful to push an amp.

[richardmyers]

I just picked up a p90 SG and into a Big Muff wicker into a (billm modded) blues junior sounds incredible! It's always great to see p90s used in demos. They still seem like a massively underrated pickup. Top video

[kwsailer]

I have always loved FUZZ pedals. I have built several, I have 3 Fuzz Faces, a the Fulltone Octafuzz, Lovepedal Karl, Euthymia ICBM, JHS Muffuletta, and numerous others, but my FAVORITE is the Lovepedal BoneTender... It is wonderfully musical and usable, and not subject to temperature issues.

[pacnasbiggiefan]

Another great episode! Thanks to you both I bought a tubescreamer mini to use with my blues junior and it's absolutely fantastic!

[Airel]

Making this video put smiles on both of your faces. That’s how my fuzz pedal makes me feel too. Happy sounds. Mine is a original Fulltone 69 pedal and it’s a keeper people have offered me stupid amounts of money for it, because it’s in excellent condition but I can’t seem to part with it.

[abramtreadwell]

perfect timing guys! i was just checking out some fuzz circuits a few hours ago for my next build :-)