smallsound/bigsound just fucking rule

[sanfordandsonny]

Bassboar told me a looong time ago about how much he loves his TAFM
But my bass doesn't often play well with others ESPECIALLY germanium.
The closest I get to clean blend is parallel fuzz.
But mansies! clean blend plus germanium just made my day.
When I am testing a pedal I use the criteria: "do I forget that I am testing and just keep playing"
Such is the case with TAFM #0316
Now I have something to occupy my time online finding out about the different TAFM versions
And I have to give this dual mountain range a go
Very thoughtful design and very inspiring sounds
up in them guts
of this pedal
"My name is Sonny Simpson and I just joined Team Awesome"

[smallsnd/bigsnd]

wooooooot!

[Waterpilot]

Still love my TAFM. Everyone should experience it.

[goosekevin]

The TAFM is so fucking good

[PWV]

Love my TAFM!

[chillerthanmost]

Oh yes, rule they do.
How do I fuzz?
The only way to fuzz!
With three TAFM's side to side

[smallsnd/bigsnd]

wow 3 very different versions too! nice.

[chillerthanmost]

wow 3 very different versions too! nice.

I played all three side by side for a few hours on bass and guitar. They all sounded entirely different from each other. Loved all three, two more than the other. Neat fucking pedal all around

[smallsnd/bigsnd]

I played all three side by side for a few hours on bass and guitar. They all sounded entirely different from each other. Loved all three, two more than the other.

i'm curious which one you loved the least? maybe i can shed some insight as to why that may be!

[chillerthanmost]

I played all three side by side for a few hours on bass and guitar. They all sounded entirely different from each other. Loved all three, two more than the other.

i'm curious which one you loved the least? maybe i can shed some insight as to why that may be!

Okay. Well, let me start by saying that all three sounded great and can pass off as superb pedals by anyone who has them. The TAFM has turned into one of my favorite fuzz pedals. In short, the custom Aztec finish one was my least favorite of the three, given the same settings on all three pedals. Let me talk about why I liked the other ones first.

Old Pinky (#420. V3.7), having more feedback/noise (though I haven't adjusted the internal trim pots), was winner on guitar. It had the most amount of gain, it sounded big and juicy on the low mids, and it was just a HUGE fucking sound all around. Even the feedback was huge sounding, which I dig on guitar. Even at full gain on both the input and fuzz, it never lost it's creamy, warm, sweet fuzzy goodness. Stayed warm all across the board.


Mr. Green (#612. V5.2) sounded almost identical but with a bit less gain and less feedback/noise, which makes it a keeper for me on bass. It actually sounded the best of the three, all around, and as is, with no internal adjusting needed. Which is good because it has that funky trim pot I haven't seen before. Being that it had a bit less gain, it sounded a bit warmer to me, but just by a hair. Bass notes were more articulate all around, and specially more on the low notes. Tight, big, creamy, and even the most "vintage" sounding of the bunch (could be the same as just the warmest).


And as I said, Aztec finish (#7001. V6) was my least favorite of the bunch. It did not sound bad, it just sounded different. On guitar it sounded colder and more shrill on the gain, and scooped and thinner on the low mids. I don't know much but I would probably point it to the germanium trannies not being fully broken in, shy of pushing the sweetness out? The two older ones just sounded much warmer, much thicker on the low mids, and creamier on the gain. This one, although had the same characteristics as the others, was just a bit too cold in comparison. Now, it does mean that it cuts through much more than the others. It has a bit more of a pronounced upper end that will slice through more than the other two. Some people might want/need that. But, to me, it was a bit too "modern" sounding for lack of a better term.
On bass, I don't know why, but it had MORE low end coming out of it than the other two. So much, that it was a bit too woofy and loose. Even a bit dark, in a way. I thought maybe it was set to "unbuffered" on the dip switches but when opened I was surprised to see it on the "buffered" setting. Now, my bass amp has A LOT of low end. So much that it can sometimes get a bit open and lost. But the other two pedals kept the low end in tact and spat out a nicer overall output. While this one was not helping retain the low end, instead making it a bit more loose coming out of the speakers. If the low end in my amp was a bit tighter, it might have made a worlds difference. Maybe even if I was playing droned out open low notes it might have worked, and I'm sure there are a lot looking for that. But again, it just didn't compare to the other two.

(Also, this was given the SAME settings on all three pedals. For all I know I could have just adjusted the knobs and I would be saying something else. I figured I'd try to keep it unbiased towards each pedal, though.)


I am by no means a professional musician, nor do I do pedal reviews (though it seems like fun, maybe I'll do more). And in no way am I discouraging the purchase of a new model of a TAFM as even the new one sounded better than a lot of other pedals I've tried out. And maybe there is a perfectly good explanation as to why the differences. I ended up keeping the two older ones and I don't see them going anywhere anytime soon. I can't wait to get more of your pedals, Brian.

Tony

[smallsnd/bigsnd]

cool. those are great rundowns on the 3 and i really appreciate them!

keeping the knobs in the same positions for all 3 will definitely produce different tones overall so there is that distinction. i wonder if you change #3 to un-buffered what your opinion of it would be compared to the other 2? would you indulge me? the buffering will definitely make it seem "colder" and more shrill since it has a lot more high end that is lost when un-buffered.

[chillerthanmost]

cool. those are great rundowns on the 3 and i really appreciate them!

keeping the knobs in the same positions for all 3 will definitely produce different tones overall so there is that distinction. i wonder if you change #3 to un-buffered what your opinion of it would be compared to the other 2? would you indulge me? the buffering will definitely make it seem "colder" and more shrill since it has a lot more high end that is lost when un-buffered.

Ah, fortunately for both of us (yet unfortunately for this conversation), this is such a hot pedal that it sold before I even posted it up for sale/trade, haha. I had posted that I had a third/spare TAFM and a line started to form. The pedal is now on it's way to the new owner, whom I've told about the dip switches. Maybe I'll ask him what he thinks after flipping them. I was also told by the previous owner that it was picked up through BASSEFX.com and somewhat advertised as a "Bass tuned" TAFM. I looked it up and couldn't find anything. Any idea? Could it be the reason why there was more low end with this pedal than the other two? Another thing I remember is that I had this pedal next in line from a buffered High Pass Filter (HPF-Pre Series 3). I didn't think to realize if maybe it just didn't like being in front of a buffered pedal, which could be why the low end kinda went all over the place. Though, the others didn't do the same.

Regardless, I'm beyond stoked for the two that I kept, and even though they sound similar, they definitely have a voice of their own. Such a neat fucking pedal, man. The PINK tafm also sounded great with my Fuck OD after it (on guitar). I just picked up a Mini on the bst that I'm looking forward to throwing on my guitar board as well.

I work at a high school which means I'm on SPRING BREAK! I might write up a more detailed review on my tumblr of the tafm, fuck od, and mini, to kill some time. I'll link you through Twitter if it interest you at all. I might babble on and on... and on and on.

[smallsnd/bigsnd]

I was also told by the previous owner that it was picked up through BASSEFX.com and somewhat advertised as a "Bass tuned" TAFM. I looked it up and couldn't find anything.

Regardless, I'm beyond stoked for the two that I kept, and even though they sound similar, they definitely have a voice of their own. Such a neat fucking pedal, man. The PINK tafm also sounded great with my Fuck OD after it (on guitar). I just picked up a Mini on the bst that I'm looking forward to throwing on my guitar board as well.

I work at a high school which means I'm on SPRING BREAK! I might write up a more detailed review on my tumblr of the tafm, fuck od, and mini, to kill some time. I'll link you through Twitter if it interest you at all. I might babble on and on... and on and on.

yeah i don't know what that "bass tuned" was about since they're all the same (made for bass or guitar).
write-up are always appreciated!

i have 5 different versions here, so i'll try to do a little more listening overall. with each revision, i would always test it against it's predecessor and try to match the overall tone and/or take the range of controls a little further. when completing this last version, i A/B'd it pretty extensively against 2 or 3 other versions and remember it feeling/sounding a bit different... but overall i could make it sound the same as the others when i tweaked the controls a bit (and switched to un-buffered mode) so i felt like it was a step forward.

[chillerthanmost]

I was also told by the previous owner that it was picked up through BASSEFX.com and somewhat advertised as a "Bass tuned" TAFM. I looked it up and couldn't find anything.

Regardless, I'm beyond stoked for the two that I kept, and even though they sound similar, they definitely have a voice of their own. Such a neat fucking pedal, man. The PINK tafm also sounded great with my Fuck OD after it (on guitar). I just picked up a Mini on the bst that I'm looking forward to throwing on my guitar board as well.

I work at a high school which means I'm on SPRING BREAK! I might write up a more detailed review on my tumblr of the tafm, fuck od, and mini, to kill some time. I'll link you through Twitter if it interest you at all. I might babble on and on... and on and on.

yeah i don't know what that "bass tuned" was about since they're all the same (made for bass or guitar).
write-up are always appreciated!

i have 5 different versions here, so i'll try to do a little more listening overall. with each revision, i would always test it against it's predecessor and try to match the overall tone and/or take the range of controls a little further. when completing this last version, i A/B'd it pretty extensively against 2 or 3 other versions and remember it feeling/sounding a bit different... but overall i could make it sound the same as the others when i tweaked the controls a bit (and switched to un-buffered mode) so i felt like it was a step forward.

I'd definitely say they all had similar characteristics and the same overall feel. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't like a night and day difference between them. I failed to mention that I play out of shit that is pretty transparent and clean (Sound City 100 loud and clean through an EVM12L loaded 2x12), so anything coming through my rig is sounding exactly as I'm putting into it. Which let's me hear slight differences in eq's and tones compared to other rigs that flavor a lot post effect board. For instance, the difference between them was not as noticeable on bass, where I play an old Univox UX1501 through a flatback 8x10, which regardless of effects, still sounds like a tube amp through an 8x10 + the effect.

Now I need a way to fit this green horizontal pedal, comfortably, on my small pedaltrain mini
Hope it doesn't come down to rehousing or trading for vertical unit of the same version

[sanfordandsonny]

Thanks to texting chillerthanmost I was on point when this hit the b/s/t

I loves it more than the rosé leaf one that was mid #300's
I live it when your favorite version of a pedal is the most recent.
No flicking around with "we'll the old ibanez tube king is good but make sure it's not the US one the MIJ one is rad it has a noise ....blah blah blah"