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BY ART THOMPSON

MORE THAN ANY OTHER DISTORTION EFFECT,

fuzz pedals have been subjected to a seemingly unwar-ranted amount of microanalysis, especially for such a

simple circuit. Consider just the subject of transistors,

which many players consider to be a non-subject except

when it comes to effects, and particularly fuzz. The

sonic wonders of germanium and silicon transistors

are routinely debated by guitarists who wouldn’t be

caught dead plugging into in a solid-state amp, and

fuzz pedals often take on mythical proportions as

generators of tone when discussing the virtues of

vintage units such as the Fuzz Face, Big Muff Pi,

and Tone Bender.

What is it about fuzz that so captures the imag-

ination? Why do overdriven transistorized circuits

that do roughly the same things to an audio signal

sound so different? And what’s in store for the future

of fuzz? To answer these questions and others, we que-

ried some of the industry’s most notable designers,

including Michael Fuller of Fulltone, Alan Otto of Elec-

tro-Harmonix, James Santiago of Voodoo Lab, Zachary

Vex of Z.Vex Effects, and the man who got his start

building custom fuzzes for Jimi Hendrix, Roger Mayer.

In your opinion, what is the most iconic vintage fuzzpedal?

Michael Fuller: I choose the Fuzz Face, but not

for the obvious reasons. A few people—Jimi, Duane

Allman, and Stephen Stills—showed there are a thou-

sand shades between the guitar’s volume knob being

set wide open to off. A proper Fuzz Face circuit does

some of the best clean tones I’ve ever heard. I discov-

ered this early on in my playing, and it shaped what I

go for when trying to build a great fuzz.

Michael Fuller Alan Otto James Santiago Zachary Vex Roger Mayer

Originally printed in the September 2011 issue of Guitar Player. Reprinted with the permission of the Publishers of Guitar Player. Copyright 2008 NewBay Media, LLC. All rightsreserved. Guitar Player is a Music Player Network publication, 1111 Bayhill Dr., St. 125, San Bruno, CA 94066. T. 650.238.0300. Subscribe at www.musicplayer.com

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Cover StoryCover Story

Michael Fuller Input impedance, sim-

plicity of the design—meaning fewer gainstages—and most importantly, the transistor

type and gain choices. These factors have the

most affect on dynamics in my experience.

Roger Mayer It is very easy to design an

electronic circuit that makes a non-musical

form of distortion and doesn’t respond well

to player input. These circuits usually have

massive amounts of electronic feedback,

which results in a sound almost unaffected

by what you are playing. Most players I deal

with want a pedal that responds dynamically

to their touch, while retaining the instru-ment’s tonal qualities. This is the principle

behind “feed forward,” which involves using

the input signal in various ways to modify the

operation of the circuit to produce the desired

sound and dynamics. Since this information

is derived from the player, the circuit will feel

more touch sensitive. A good circuit designwill use feed-forward techniques to control

parameters such as recovery time, equaliza-

tion, dynamic distortion, and gating effects.

It is by far the most creative technique too,

as the possibilities are limitless.

Alan Otto Careful attention to the gain

structure of a fuzz pedal will yield more

dynamics and touch sensitivity. If the fuzz

pedal has too much gain, the sound will be

more compressed and less dynamic.

James Santiago: Nothing destroys thesound and dynamics of a great fuzz pedal

like badly placed buffers and impedance mis-

matches. Many vintage fuzz circuits were

designed to be driven by low output, high-

impedance guitar pickups. As soon as you add

a buffer between your guitar and fuzz—mean-

ing pedals with silent, non-true-bypass switch-ing—you’ve changed the impedance of your

signal. Even when those effects are off, your

fuzz still sees an active circuit, and your juicy

tone will turn to hissy, compressed icicles. If

at all possible, it’s best to place your buffered

effects after the fuzz. Even then, you still may

notice a little scooped midrange and added top

end, but at least the sound is usable. Another

solution is to use true-bypass loop switchers

so you can completely remove those buffers

from the chain when your non-true-bypass

effects aren’t being used.

Zachary Vex: I think circuit simplic-

ity is really the key to maintaining dynam-

ics. One- and two-transistor fuzzes have

lower gain than more complex ones, and

that means less clipping as the wave ampli-

tude dies off. Another thing that can make

a fuzz more touch-sensitive is proper bias-

ing, which makes the waveform more or less

symmetrical and causes the output to sound

more or less clean at lower input levels. I

once played through a one-knob Fuzz Box by

Colorsound, and Dick Denny had somehow

biased the thing so it sounded so perfect asit decayed that I was completely astounded

As the fuzzy note died off, it suddenly went

perfectly clean at the very end of the sus-

tain, transitioning so smoothly from being

fuzzy to silky-smooth clean that it seemed

like magic. I didn’t have the money to buy

the pedal at the time, so it was sold to some-

one else. Eventually I ordered one and was

saddened to discover that mine sounded

quite ordinary. It must have been just that

one with the perfect decay. I wonder to this

day if the pedal’s owner has ever realized

what he has.

In what ways have modern playershelped to evolve the sound of fuzz?

Michael Fuller I’m still listening to vinyl,

so I don’t get to identify a lot of modern

players or evolution that you speak of. I do

like what Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys is

doing, and I think he used our SoulBender

and Tube Tape Echo on their last album.

Doyle Bramhall II sure knows how to use

a fuzz, and I hear fuzz sneaking back into

music here and there—like in clothing storesand malls where they subscribe to some

FUZZ MAKERS’ ROUNDTABLE

Dunlop Manufacturing’s Senior Engineer Bob Cedro and Director of Electronics Sam McRae teamed

up to give us this rundown on what makes a fuzz tick, and why germanium and silicon transistors

bring different aspects to the tonal equation.

A classic fuzz circuit basically involves a guitar signal driving transistors to their maximum (sat-

uration) and minimum (cutoff) conduction points. This action transforms smooth guitar signal waves

into squared-off, fast rising and falling pulses. The specific shape of these pulses determines the

tonal character and responsiveness of the fuzz, and a transistor’s unique characteristics will deter-

mine the overall shape of these pulses. Germanium transistors usually have a slower signal reaction

time (which acts like a built-in high-frequency rolloff) and softer saturation characteristics when

compared to silicon transistors. These differences make germanium transistors sound warmer and

smoother than silicon transistors.Because germanium transistors normally have four-to-ten times less signal gain than silicon

transistors, they tend to clean up better at reduced guitar volume settings, although, high-gain sil-

icon transistors can be better at sustaining notes or chords. Also, a germanium transistor doesn’t

saturate as well as a silicon type. This means that a saturated silicon device will produce approxi-

mately 30 to 40 percent more output signal than a germanium device.

Lastly, changes in temperature greatly affect the performance of germanium devices. Rising tem-

peratures drastically increase leakage current, reduce signal gain, and shift the critical DC operating

point of a germanium transistor. Therefore, a change in temperature changes fuzz tone and charac-

ter, and, in extreme heat, can even cause the germanium transistor to stop working. This poor tem-

perature stability was one of the reasons why silicon transistors became the preferred solid-state

device for designers. But in the fuzz world, limited transistor performance and germanium pitfalls

may be the very ingredients that achieve the Holy Grail of fuzz tone.

Germanium 101

Originally printed in the September 2011 issue ofOriginally printed in the September 2011 issue of Guitar PlayerGuitar Player. Reprinted with the permission of the Publishers of. Reprinted with the permission of the Publishers of Guitar PlayerGuitar Player. Copyright 2008 NewBay Media, LLC. All rights. Copyright 2008 NewBay Media, LLC. All rightsreserved.reserved. Guitar PlayerGuitar Player is a Music Player Network publication, 1111 Bayhill Dr., St. 125, San Bruno, CA 94066. T. 650.238.0300. Subscribe at www.musicplayer.comis a Music Player Network publication, 1111 Bayhill Dr., St. 125, San Bruno, CA 94066. T. 650.238.0300. Subscribe at www.musicplayer.com

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Cover StoryCover Story

hat” knobs, so it’s likely that workers occa-

sionally pulled random knobs from what-ever was in the supply bin.

The famous circular housing that com-pany founder Ivor Arbiter said was inspiredby the bases on microphone stands, came ina variety of finishes, including two shades of red, four of gray, and four of blue (baby blue,dark blue, hammertone blue, and hammer-tone turquoise). Arbiter reportedly used a

sand-cast housing at first, and then switchedto a new type from ’68 to ’69, which fea-tured a third flat spot on the inside for theextra pot used on the Treble & Bass Face. Yet

another housing was developed in 1970 thatremained in use until the end of production.

Given that the Fuzz Face circuit remainedfundamentally unchanged throughout its life,

a big question surrounding Fuzz Faces is whythey all sound so different. “The reason FuzzFaces vary in sound so much has a lot to withthe fact that six different types of transistorswere used in them,” says stompbox designer

Jeorge Tripps, who founded Way Huge in the’90s, and has spent a huge amount of timestudying vintage Fuzz Faces while develop-

ing the Jimi Hendrix, Joe Bonamassa, and

the soon-to-come Eric Johnson SignatureFuzz Face series for Dunlop. “In the earlymodels, they only used germanium NKT275transistors. You hear about ones with AC128germaniums, but I’ve never seen them in anold Fuzz Face. After that, they started withsilicon BC183L transistors in ’68 and ’69,

and then went to BC108s. Then they usedBC130s for a brief stint, and I’ve also seenBC209s in the later Dallas-Arbiter and CBSmodels. I have not seen an old Fuzz Facewith BC109 transistors—the Crest Audioand early Dunlop models used those, but

not the vintage ones.” Anyone who has played Fuzz Faces knows

they also all have different dynamic charac-teristics. Some clean up so beautifully whenyou lower your guitar volume that you neverwant to turn them off. Others don’t clean up aswell, but are more aggressive and sustaining.

“The main difference between germa-nium and silicon transistors is gain,” says

Tripps. That’s why the earlier germanium

Fuzz Faces tend to be warmer sounding andless gnarly, and the later ones are gainier andmore sizzling. As far as dynamics go, it really

depends on what transistors they put in the

circuit, and how they were biased. There’sonly nine volts of headroom, so we set the

bias on the Jimi Hendrix model at six volts

so that when you hit it hard, it doesn’t getquite as buzzy. Joe Bonamassa likes a morecompressed response, so his Signature FuzzFace is biased in the middle at around 4.5volts. Eric Johnson prefers his to be biasedever lower, but he keeps the Fuzz knob pulledback, and through a Marshall with a Strat, it

all works. Germanium Fuzz Faces also havea low input impedance of around 10k ohmswhich loads a guitar’s pickups, making theFuzz Face very sensitive to changes in guitarvolume. This impedance mismatch is alsowhy the sound gets weird when you run a

Crybaby wah into a Fuzz Face.“Germanium transistors are also very tem-

perature sensitive, and the hotter they getthe crappier they sound,” says Tripps. “Andthey get hot just from use. Sometimes youplug one in and it sounds amazing. Then, anhour later, the current draw from the batterywarms it up and the sound changes completely

That’s why germanium Fuzz Faces are moreof a studio thing. Use them for a little while

and they sound great, but live, you’re justasking for inconsistency in sound and feel.”

After the Fuzz Face was discontinued

in the mid 1970s, it soldiered on in reissue

FUZZ FACE HISTORY

Eric Johnson (left) and Jeorge Tripps.

www.celestion.com

CELESTION

PARTNERS

IN TONE

Find out more about Celestion guitar speakers at

G12-50GL Lynchback

Signature Series Speaker


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Fuzz Face OffFuzz Face Off ROUNDUP

DemeterFuzzy Octavulator$299 street

KNOBSFuzz, Volume, Tone, Loose/ Tight switch; Fuzz and Octaveswitches

SOUNDS The fuzz sound is so

smooth and sexy (with a consis-tently articulate midrange), that,at first listen, it almost appearsto be an overdrive effect. But

as you play with the Octavu-lator, you notice that the abra-sive, odd harmonics of classicfuzz are truly in evidence—they’re simply tamed a bit toallow more note expressionand attack. Kick in the octave,and the fuzz gets wonderfully

bright and ragged, yet retains

its air of sophisticated raunch. WHO’S IT FOR? Audiophile-oriented tone connoisseurswho desire that ’60s psyche-delic vibe, but can’t abide toomuch of the buzzy, spitty arti-facts that characterize many fuzz

pedals. — M I C H A E L M O L E N D A

CONTACT demeteramps.com

DunlopJoe Bonamassa Fuzz Face

$339 retail/$199 streetKNOBS Fuzz, Volume

SOUNDS This isn’t an extreme fuzz maker intent on mimicking a sitaror a bumblebee. Instead, it offers ultra-fat fuzz that increases the har-monic activity of everything you play to juicy-thick proportions. Itresponds amazingly well to a guitar’s volume control and your pick-ing attack, cleaning up beautifully for shimmering chords. Though

slightly tweaked to excel with humbucker-equipped guitars as per Bona-massa’s request, I found it to be equally happening with single-coils.

WHO’S IT FOR? Players looking for a polite fuzz that doesn’t spit, gate,or fart like other “extreme” boxes. Go here for a fuzzbox that’ll keepyour clarity and definition intact while imparting a nice midrangesquawk, smooth low-end, and a sweet top end response. — D A R R I N F O X

CONTACT dunlop.com


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