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Yeah I know its probably been talked about before numerous times on here and whatever but I was hoping you guys can help steer me in the right direction. I was curious to know which fuzz's you think have the best clarity when playing chords. I know generally speaking they don't come out too great (at least the pedals I played before) but I mean there has to be at least a few. I love the sound of the big muff but heard that thing sucks chord wise. Also as far as fuzz tone is concerned I was looking more for the heavier side of things, I know fuzz faces do good with chords but I am looking for something that is just balls to the wall heavy sounding.

I guess it depends on the kinda chords you're talking about, For what they call "power chords" which I mainly play, (and lots of leads) i really like the sound of my russian big muff, mines all modded up though, but I find big muffs are great for those heavy fisted chords, For more open things like bar chords and stuff I usually use overdrive to hear all the notes come through, but sometimes the big muff works out ok for that too. I guess it really depends more on how you play.

Yeah I meant more like open/weird chords. I really like the way weird hybrid chords and things sound if they are really heavy sounding. Like on one of my guitars I got it tuned to c standard and every time I play a chord on that thing it comes out so heavy sounding but I was looking into the fuzz more for when I play standard seeing as how I play in standard tuning more so than c standard (though is fun as shit to play in). So yeah I am not too concerned about power chords or anything, just more so weird chords.

I know this is a weird theory, though my brother bought an EHX Knockout for his bass guitar the other day, and it beefed up his sound tremendously.. i used it today and after distortion is sounds mighty.

I was running through a little big muff / bass big muff / boss odb3 (my brothers pedals - all one at a time btw) and it sounded insane, really gainy fuzzy and bassy.

I might make a demo in the next few days, though i'd definately look into that, because i'd have thought that the big muff at the very least was a staple fuzz pedal for everyones collection and maybe with a bit of EQ tweaking you'll get what you're looking for.

Speaking of weird chords, i managed to belt out some Jeff Buckley progressions with great clarity.

Thats pretty interesting sounding, I hope you do make a video of it because as much as I would love to go to the store and see if I can manage to put them all together to try it out for myself I know I wouldn't probably be able to get there for a while lol. But yeah man that sounds pretty cool though. I always thought bass fuzz pedals sounded sweet on guitar, I was looking online and really like the devi ever super massive black hole which was formerly the bass fuzz, thing sounds tremendous but I am just a little suspect of it chord wise; leads sounded great though. And yeah Buckley progressions are pretty sweet, I like just fucking around and coming up with my own chords which theoretically speaking technically aren't chords but they sound crazy though.

Muff style distortions really emphasize the lower strings, the highs can certainly get lost, like if you hit a chord on the lower three strings, and then try to do some higher shit, they kind of get choked out, but as far ass riffing and stuff, I think they sound great. You get the sense of the chord, for sure, if something was fretted wrong, you'd hear it.

At least this is the case with my super modded pimped and tweaked muff style thing I made myself. BUt thats what I use for all my chords, I use a Devi Ever TP, Aenima, or Soda Meiser for leeeeeeds usually.

I think the Fuzz Face and it's derivatives handle chords quite nicely.

Give me whatever it is that the Raveonettes are NOT using. I love their music, but fuzz isn't the only answer.

Mike wrote:I think the Fuzz Face and it's derivatives handle chords quite nicely.

agreed.

DGNR8 wrote:Give me whatever it is that the Raveonettes are NOT using. I love their music, but fuzz isn't the only answer.

I'd say their sound is more a virtue of using multiple gain stages, and multiple reverbs. I like it. Very JAMC.

Sune:
Electro-Harmonx Pulsar
ProCo Rat Distortion
Boss Mega Distortion MD-2
Dunlop Jimi Hendrix Octave Fuzz
Boss Digital Reverb RV-3 (2x)
Danelectro Spring King
Boss Chromatic Tuner TU-2
Sharin:

Boss TR-2 Tremolo
ProCo Rat Distortion (2x)
Boss Digital Reverb RV-3 (2x)
Boss Chromatic Tuner TU-2

Been having fun with MadeByMike Fuzz Face into ProCo Turbo Rat. The Rat has the Reutz mod done to it -- who knows, unmodded it might follow up the Fuzz Face nicely too. I'd think of a "heavy" distorted tone as having more of a squarewave-ish throb to it and less white noise, and this goes in that direction. With the Fuzz Face, simply playing a note on the low E string and its fifth on the A string -- no other strings needed -- adds some low overtones that sound like I'm playing something an octave down too. Part of "heavy" might not be coming from a particular fuzz/disto pedal, but might instead have to do with amp/mix EQ plus whatever the bass player's doing?

i really like how my sunface holds up with chords.

around 1:50 particularly, the lower strings are a bit more dominate but the higher notes still hang in there unlike a muff type fuzz

Fuzz Face with yr volume turned down is one of the all-time classic rhythm tones.

DOOGTONE?

Mike wrote:I think the Fuzz Face and it's derivatives handle chords quite nicely.

+1

Another pedal that does so IMO is the Big Muff with Tone Wicker....so long as the wicker is on, it just adds a nice clarity other Muffs dont have, even the ones like the 1322 and 3034 with tone bypass. It gives it a nice clear sparkle type sound.

Ever since I bought one I havent stopped using it, its a great pedal.

aen wrote:DOOGTONE?

NAH THAT'S TONE DOWN

i really like the way my cool cat fuzz sounds with chords, special power chords

Just watched that MBM fuzzface video, that pedal sounds sweet. It sounded heavier than I thought it was going to because most fuzzfaces I played never got the right heaviness for my taste.

guys might laugh but i got rid of all the fuzzes to only keep my good ole Boss FZ-3

no need for other (more expensive) ones.
pff

Pat.

My FuzzWar pedal is ideally a lead guitarist's fuzz
because of its very gated sound, but with the fuzztone knob at about 3'Oclock its perfect for rhytm geetar.