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Help me with my Synthy Fuzz Quest?

Posted: Sat Apr 27, 2013 8:11 pm
by Tristan
Hi ILF'ers,

I'm a noob here but I thought why not ask for your advice?
I play guitar and I'm looking for some synthy sounding fuzz boxes (so far I got a Copilot FX Orbit, Freakshow FX HiRay, Mellowtone Wolf Computer and Mooer FOG).

I'm particularly interested in your opinions about these as I wouldn't be able to try before I buy:
Idiotbox Death Ray
Shoe Pedals Pixel, Silver Apple
Smallsound Bigsound Blargg O Tron O Tron

Any pros and cons about these pedals, what do they do well, differences or similarities between them sound and function wise, versatility?
Thanks a lot! :)

Re: Help me with my Synthy Fuzz Quest?

Posted: Sat Apr 27, 2013 8:14 pm
by sonidero
Fuzzhugger Ab-Synth, it has Synth in the name... It's not a pedal to make Synth sounds but it makes your guitar sound Synthish kinda along the lines of the Wolf Comp and it has Oscillation... :thumb:

Re: Help me with my Synthy Fuzz Quest?

Posted: Sat Apr 27, 2013 8:17 pm
by Tristan
Thanks!
I forgot about that one, unfortunately they don't seem to be selling them at Crush The Button anymore (I'm near Belgium). :(

Re: Help me with my Synthy Fuzz Quest?

Posted: Sat Apr 27, 2013 8:21 pm
by osbornkt
I can vouch for the Shoe Pixel. It can definitely achieve that synthy/bit crushed sputtery sound. I really love that pedal. Also, the new version Shoe makes has an octave up on it, so that makes it even more fun...
The only downer I can say about it is that it doesn't pair well with other dirt (at least not with dirt I have). The Pixel on its own has a ton of body, but with any other drive pedal it seems to lose a good amount of its oomph...

Re: Help me with my Synthy Fuzz Quest?

Posted: Sat Apr 27, 2013 8:36 pm
by Tristan
Thank you!
I saw that octave switch, pretty cool. :)
Do you happen to know the difference between the regular Pixelfix and the Megapixel?
I can't seem to find much about it on the webs.

Re: Help me with my Synthy Fuzz Quest?

Posted: Sat Apr 27, 2013 8:38 pm
by sonidero
Tom Hugger will mail anywhere as will most builders here on ILF... If you find something from an ILF builder just send a PM... I've had a couple EHX Microsyths which I like for Synthish and also a MOOG Freq Box which is a MOOG OSC in a pedal and is AWESOME... There are some Synths that let you play Guitar or whatever through and trigger the Filters and or Oscillators so maybe if you want Synth sounds you could and should just get a Synth... Oh and the Boss SYB-3/5 is pretty cool...

Re: Help me with my Synthy Fuzz Quest?

Posted: Sat Apr 27, 2013 8:45 pm
by cheesecats
i have a second voice v1 and an analog harmony synthesizer (now replaced by the second voice deluxe)--both very cool. I may also suggest you look into a seppuku sub-octave synthesizer and a mid-fi clarinot. i think you can get a good idea of what they can do by watching all the youtube demos.

i visited haarlem last november--beautiful city! checked out the teylers and frans hals museums and admired all the old architecture. my friend in leiden was born and raised in haarlem.

Re: Help me with my Synthy Fuzz Quest?

Posted: Sat Apr 27, 2013 9:56 pm
by Ghost Hip
The Devi Beautiful Disaster might overlap with what you already have, specifically the wolf computer. However, a devi you should look at is the super gated OK. A really underrated pedal that stacks with everything and has an interesting control knob and a fantastic stutter.

Re: Help me with my Synthy Fuzz Quest?

Posted: Sat Apr 27, 2013 11:22 pm
by MEC
The Mountainking Magnetar is pretty synthy but it may be heavier than what you're after. :idk:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R02Mgc6hHbM[/youtube]

Re: Help me with my Synthy Fuzz Quest?

Posted: Sat Apr 27, 2013 11:33 pm
by osbornkt
Tristan wrote:Thank you!
I saw that octave switch, pretty cool. :)
Do you happen to know the difference between the regular Pixelfix and the Megapixel?
I can't seem to find much about it on the webs.


As far as I know, the Mega Pixel isn't made any more...That being said, I don't know what the differences were. The Pixel got a big makeover recently (Chris did a lot of experimenting with mine and ended up revamping the pedal to what I wanted).
That being said, if you get in touch with him, he may make a Mega Pixel...He's incredible to deal with and really accommodating to building stuff that you want.

Re: Help me with my Synthy Fuzz Quest?

Posted: Sat Apr 27, 2013 11:37 pm
by bigchiefbc
MEC wrote:The Mountainking Magnetar is pretty synthy but it may be heavier than what you're after. :idk:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R02Mgc6hHbM[/youtube]


+1 - I was totally gonna recommend the Devi Bass Fuzz/SMBH, which is the circuit that eventually because the Magnetar. Synthy as fuck. It's not just for bass.

Re: Help me with my Synthy Fuzz Quest?

Posted: Sat Apr 27, 2013 11:52 pm
by zRobertez
Pretty sure there's a Wolf Computer in the BST for anyone else who's interested.
Maybe a fuzz factory? Those get weird.

Re: Help me with my Synthy Fuzz Quest?

Posted: Sun Apr 28, 2013 2:11 am
by kbit
Devi's Legend of Fuzz is pretty bad-ass.

Re: Help me with my Synthy Fuzz Quest?

Posted: Sun Apr 28, 2013 3:23 am
by univalve
Wolf Computer would be my vote.
Anything that gates (MKI at low settings) sounds very synthy to my ears...

Re: Help me with my Synthy Fuzz Quest?

Posted: Sun Apr 28, 2013 5:46 am
by Tristan
Thanks for all your responses guys! :)

@sonidero:
I know I know, I just don't want to enquire before I'm seriously interested and I'm trying to narrow things down a bit in favour of stuff I can try before I buy. ;)
That Moog catched my eye too but damn that's a huge and expensive pedal, seems pretty cool though. :)

@cheesecats:
I watched the video's but I haven't found a decent one for the V3 yet so it's a bit difficult comparing V2 and V3, I read some comments here saying the V2 (possibly also V1) has lots of carrier noise and the V3 octave not being heavy enough, so I don't know.
I tried the Seppuku and I liked it but I thought it was a bit of a one sound pedal and it was quite noisy, the Copilot FX Mantis II has the same kind of sound but is more controllable and less noisy but I'm currently not really looking for only a sub octave fuzz (I'm thinking the Shotgunn Micro Synth can do this).
There's a Deluxe Pitch Pirate incoming (liked it better than the Clarinot on the video's)

I love Haarlem, my favourite city in the North of Holland bar none, I'm originally from the South (Breda) but the people are very friendly here, it's all quite relaxed so it reminds me a bit of back home. :)
A guy I know has a pretty cool guitar shop called Digitaar (http://www.digitaar-wil-ik.nl) in his living room here in Haarlem with all sorts of crazy pedals and there's a nice old church where they built a brewery inside, it's called Jopen (http://www.jopen.nl), you could check them out next time you're here. :)

@PumpkinPieces:
I was just thinking the Beautiful Disaster might be more versatile than the Wolf Computer (tuneable and more stable oscillation etc)?
I also don't really understand whether the feedback footswitch on the Truly Beautiful Disaster and Spectacular Aenima have any impact when there's no pedal in the loop?
That OK sounds cool but I'd have to stack it to get the kind of sounds I'm looking for I think, from the video's I saw the Rocket seems to do a bit of the same stuff and it has more sustain on it's own.

@MEC / bigchiefbc:
It definitely has a synthy texture but it isn't what I'm looking for right now, it seems to basically have lots of variations on a specific sound.
It does sound interesting however, more for synthy sounding riffs /chordal playing maybe.

@osbornkt:
I might have to get in touch with him indeed, I tried quite a few fuzz pedals the last few months and I seem to be very picky with them so I'm just a bit apprehensive to buy before I try.

@zRobertez / univalve:
I snagged up that Wolf Computer in the BST! ;) :)
True with the gated fuzz, you're talking about a Tonebender right?

@kbitthecrowning:
So I heard, so I heard, there seem to be some differences between them though, as in the last version doesn't have as much sustain as the older ones?