Why do you love fuzz?

[phantasmagorovich]

Full disclosure: I don't really.

But I'm glad to have found this thread because it made me realize why a lot better, especially goroth's great, thought out post. Because it really is about the envelope more than anything else! The way a note decays is definitely a great reason to love fuzz. And the harmonics it adds to the guitar, it just fills out the sound with such a lovely depth. Somehow it adds another dimension to the guitar playing, because every note blooms in this harmonically rich environment. You can suddenly listen to what you are playing in the temporal/rhythmic, melodic and harmonic dimensions. You can get lost in this additional dimension. And this living, breathing extra dimension is only there when you stomp on one of these sweet boxes.

Unfortunately getting lost in that dimension also makes me play like an idiot. I start to go all Santana (probably my earliest musical hero, one of four CD's my parents owned.) I stick to melodic playing where a chord should be because most fuzzes sound shitty with chords, the harmonics get all jumbled up. My melodic playing is not very imaginative, so making my guitar gently weep also makes me gently puke if I listen to it afterwards.
The remedy is, to me, to concentrate on hard attack and hard decay. No singing, lingering, sustained notes, but the tchick-tchik-tchugga rhythmic playing of Funk, Afro and some Hardcore. Most fuzz takes away your attack (probably uses the first microseconds of your tone to fuel the hyperdrive into harmonic dimension). Equals: hard attack gone. And with it all the angsty aggression I like to wrestle out of my guitar.

I know there are enough other players out there that can achieve a funky, angsty tone with fuzz. But I don't. I'm not trying to drown in sound, I want my guitar to stab. With a fuzz I feel hazy, not concentrated. If I were a bass player, I would never turn fuzz off though! Bass is much more about texture to me.

So that's why I usually tame my fuzzes down to be more of an OD, or why I was craving a clean blend for my guitar.
My second TAFM should be coming in the mail in the next days. I'm hoping it does what I need/want.
The Demo Tape Fuzz in the tamer settings is great for me, it preserves my playing dynamics but adds a nice, unpleasant breakup if I dig in.
The Megalith has to get a honorable mention because this one has a very distinctive attack. It's just not sharp, but blunt. More like a rubber club than a knife. It definitely sounds brutal though.

[goroth]

Good post - I know exactly what you mean about the attack dude, it seems with fuzz there are just so many small variables to be able to get it to sit the way you want. I think having a clean blend and stacking with something that has a sharper attack can be really good. I was experimenting this morning with Elements>Frazz Dazzler, both on sorta medium-low gain, and both with the mix at half, and the sound was awesome. Not heaps of gain, but lots of character and with an almost Jesus Lizard-like sharp attack. UNGH, that was good fun!

Hmm... just going to play now...

[Sparrow]

I think having a clean blend and stacking with something that has a sharper attack can be really good.

who are You.. and what have you done with Goroth?

oh. Frazz and Elements. the amount of variety is

[goroth]

But the clean blend is to let more fuzz in.. Is that ok??

Fwiw I don't jive like this live at all. Full mix all the way!!

[KaosCill8r]

Yeah clean blends are good. Especially with fuzz like a Scrambler. Run a normal fuzz pedal into a Scrambler and blend a little bit of octave fizziness on top of your normal fuzz tone.

[Sparrow]

But the clean blend is to let more fuzz in.. Is that ok??

[LOCOPELAND]

I say yes to clean blend. But it's gotta be in the form of a blender, because more pedals = sexy.

[WayToHip]

Yeah clean blends are good. Especially with fuzz like a Scrambler. Run a normal fuzz pedal into a Scrambler and blend a little bit of octave fizziness on top of your normal fuzz tone.

Oh man, I would have never thought of that.

[Seance]

I agree with Goroth about the beauty of fuzz decay.

For me Fuzz is about context. Sometimes I get duped into thinking "more is more", but things
sound more jarring and brutal in context. Someone mentioned Godzilla. But I think of the
original King Kong from 1933. It was an animated little gorilla doll. But put that next to images
of tall buildings or short little people and then by context, that beast looks and feels huge.

Some fuzz strangles a note, some squeezes the note decay into particles of grit and pixels
of metallic dust. Some fuzz haunts your notes and creates a ghost of the original note that
just won't die.

I like a fuzz that creates a harmonic squelch on semi-palm muted string-strum for in between
chord swipes. Like on the below clip with the Basic Audio Kay fuzz.



But the best thing about fuzz is the versatility. It can obliterate how your guitar sounds.
Or it can be altered by each pickup change or swizzle of the tone and volume knobs on
your guitar. The decay can add texture at the end of notes so that fuzz + delay = awesome.
It can add harmonics that mangle what you play into a caricature of what you intended,
like with ring mod or octave-type note taunters.

For me fuzz is context, it is the constrictions and restrictions that make something
stand out more and feel more over-the-top when it is actually chopping off the tops
of the waveform and flopping the amputated stump of your note back in your face.

[goroth]

That was an awesome clip Seance.

[Seance]

That was an awesome clip Seance.

Thanks!

[Seance]

And on the subject of fuzz plus delay for texture, here are two clips,
one from this year's Basic Audio Tour Box, and one from last year's Tour Box.

Basic Audio Fuzz Mutant + Boss RE-20


The Fuzz Mutant really has a unique gritty decay to notes. I didn't really leave enough space
to fully hear that. But that texture gets amplified and replicated by the delay into a wall
of swirl and sway. Not an over the top oscillator, but a spooky corpse decay to notes.

Some fuzz make me want to play fast (Kay Fuzz, Big Muff, Tonebender types), but the
Fuzz Mutant makes me want to play slow and let the decay bloom.

Basic Audio Squarewave+ + Ibanez DDL-10 Digital Delay II


Both guitars on this clip are through the Squarewave+. Low Fuzz for chord parts.
Heavier fuzz for lead lines. Can't remember which toggle setting for each.

[BoatRich]

The first heavy part in Dopethrone by Electric Wizard felt like getting hit by a truck. After that I bought a black russian big muff and suddenly my rig felt the same way. I have yet to go back.

[oldangelmidnight]

I like how it angries up the blood.

also

something something punk rock.

[deviever]

I Love Fuzz because it got me through some really tough years.

Still is.