Wierd on the 3 Volts power supply. Does it have a 'Wall Wart" Adapter socket or not?

It may use a Germanium Transistor which lots of the older Fuzz units used. The unit the Stones used on "Satisfaction" was a Gibson Maestro fuss pedal. Those are pretty easy circuits to copy.

I got a guy here in Auckland, New Zealand to build me a Maestro clone. He made a cross between the 1st and 2nd versions. It runs on 3volts dc which is weird but that's what they originally came out running on, 2 AA batteries. It sounds like the Fuzz from 'Satisfaction' but you can dial a bit more in if you want and get a really crazy sound out of it. The only other fuzz I'm after is a Mosrite Fuzzbrite, I have played the clone copies of them but really wanna hear an original one. What I really wanna know is what fuzz the Sonics used? or was it just the amps?

I have been through many fuzz tone boxes over the years. Currently I use two on my pedal board. First is a Boss Hyperfuzz in the second setting which delivers a huge abrasive fuzz sound that is very thick with a lot of bottom end ala early Black Sabbath or early Fu Manchu. The second is a early 70's Ibanez Wau Fuzz which has been very beat up. None of the tone knobs work however the fuzz is blistering like an asthmatic mosquito and the wah is a low octave bass range number that delivers a very warped out sweep. Instead of the "wee-ahh" sound you get from a Crybaby it is more "woo-owww" If I punch the wah pedal while either fuzz is on pushing it all the way into the high frequency it acts as a boost and provides a brain-melting fuzz that is pretty punishing. I play an SG with a Rio Grande P-90 "fat bastard" pick-up and run it into an Orange Tiny Terror that drives a Marshall 4x10 and a Avatar 2X12. Its a relatively compact set up that is perfect for any of the club show we play.

I've got a Guyatone TZ-2 The Fuzz and an Fuzzbrite by Ashbass (Mosrite Fuzzrite® clone). Both can get down right nasty but I kind of dig the Guyatone a little better for all around fuzzed out frenzies.

I have found that the Fuzzbrite has a pretty short decay when played with my set-up for surf Jazzmaster w/13 flatwounds through a '68 Bassman. I think some people desire that, but I dig my fuzz with a little more sustain and the Guyatone dials that in nicely. I've also got a Russian Pi Big Muff which offers up a real nice buzz saw sound as well, albeit a little more on the distortion side of the coin. After reading the replies on here, I really want to try a Rat but you know how the pedal thing goes...they seem to be quite addictive and I already have more than I can use right now!! I did see Davie Allan live last year absolutely killing it and he was using an old Rat and a modded out Jazzmaster.

I'm using an Ampeg Scrambler reissue. It's the only fuzz that I've found that can keep the lows going for bass ('75 P-Bass through a Sunn Sonara). Fat,fat sound that doesn't wash out!

Any other bass players getting awesome fuzz?

Here is the website for Soft Science; http://www.softscience.us/ Tell Kevin (the owner), I sent ya!

Got myself one of those Peerless poison Ivy gretsch efforts - way nice - and found a Danelectro FAB Metal pedal by accident (Thanks to Steven James ex-Dogs D'Amour from his shop in Middlesbrough) is a total screamer if used with a nifty fifty already driven a bit gives that "she's about to blow" sound we all want - for £25 and the amps are cheap as well works a blinder with me Tele too!

Fuzz out!

I'm no guitarist but have played with a few and heard many on stage. I'm a huge fuzz fan and am a real fan of a blue fuzzface through a Fender Twin. Guy I played with used this set up when he played a Guild semi - the fuzz was some of rawrest and most authentic I've heard. With this set up you still get the bass tone which is lost with a mosrite, I guess alot of that was due to the amp set up.

Dan electro French toast, I bought the thing for $15 The lead on our song "The wrong time" was the first time I used it and it's been on my pedal board since. A live version of "My Crazy Woman" was the second time we captured that fuzz to tape and it literally sounds like a plane comes in, love that little thing!

hmm i've been interested in fuzz for awhile though i don't even have a decent amp to put it through as of yet

I've had very little luck in finding out what fuzzes were used for the 80s Fuzztones and Pandoras recordings, i think that's my ideal fuzz

I know a guy named Kevin here in Seattle who builds his own designs on pedals. His brand is Softscience and they are highly sough after, one of a kinda or limited edition pedals.

Soldering takes time and practice. I had to learn to maintain my studio. I hate it, but I am glad I have the skill when I need it. My first projects all sucked and were blobby peices of shit, but I got better. It really is pretty simple if you just "Ape" things. Give yourself time to practice on "unsalvagable broken electronics" and see you can make things work again. That is how I learned.

Good Luck!

Check it out! http://www.buildyourownclone.com/

Fun with electronix.. I had some friends that took experimental electronics classes in art school and I've been trying to get them to crack me out a pedal... They would rather build robots... I've considered trying to follow some schematics myself, but I don't have confidence in my soldering precision... There's a boutique shop in brooklyn called Death By Audio (http://www.deathbyaudio.net/) and I hear they make some pretty crazy shit... They even have a custom section on their page. Would love to check their Fuzz War pedal. Anyone try that?

P-90s and a Rat pedal are a magical combination. I have P-90s in my '65 SG Special and with flat wounds I can get that guitar to sound either twangy for country, or get that cool Robby Krieger Doors sound (neck pick-up with tone rolled back a bit and the Rat about halfway on the Distortion and Tone), also that full Eric Clapton "Woman Tone" of early Cream (not that I care for that much) and finally that Ramones/Pistols punk sound when needed. The Country guys all roll their eyes when they see me break out the "Devil Horned Heavy Metal Guitar" (as they are all attached to their Tele's and Les Pauls) but the SG is a very versitile guitar and about half the weight of a Paul. The SG Special had P-90s and was the choice of guitarists like Pete Townshend until about 1972 (when he found them harder to aquire and switched to a Les Paul) I like it because it has a bit more wood around the pick up that a standard issue SG with Humbuckers in it. I toyed with putting in Alnico mini-humbuckers (from a Firebird V) but decided I like what I have so far.

The other pedal I like is a (not so) cheapo Ross Distortion Pedal. I got mine for $5 at a garage sale (my second one) and later saw one at a local music store for $100 or so. I just laughed and laughed about that. That store will never sell it for that price (even in total mint condition) they weren't that good. I could build a knock off with some circuit board and some over-the counter Ratshack electronics.

Go figure. There is another solution, Build your own dang pedals! There are plenty of schmatices out there to borrow from. Anyone thought about that?

Yet another vote for a vintage ProCo Rat. There_was_a smaller "Rat 2" there for a while that seems to work OK w/ solid-state amps~ you'd only see one used, now. A Sonic Youth fave, esp. w/ Jaguar + Jazzmaster guitars.

Danelectro's obscure Bacon 'n Eggs Mini Amp/ Distortion produces only one tone, but it's killer esp. linked to a P-90 pickup. When it's not doing that, it acts as a 1W battery amp w/ built-in speaker. Mine survived a trip to Burning Man~ still OK.

Yeah - the vintage rat is great... we play with noise a lot in my band (the Hydes), and on some songs I end up getting on the floor and playing with the knobs live, in conjunction with my Whammy - with my reverb cranked all the way up, i get some fantastic whale song feedback...

We're a 3 piece with 2 guitarists and a drummer (no bass), so I have to keep as much low end as possible in my tone. I keep the filter knob turned down all the way, and keep my guitar in the neck position with the tone knob set from 3-8. I play with a 80's Fender HM that I through some EMG 81's in (metal!).. which are really loud pickups... when I turn the distortion knob up all the way on the Rat I instantly get some great feedback to play with.

It's a fantastic pedal - very versatile. It's got a great Blues tone as well with the distortion and the filter set about 1/2 way up.

On the classic/vintage Rat pedal you have 3 knobs "Distortion" "Filter" and "Volume" If you turn the Distortion up and roll the Filter down (plus also play with the tone knobs on your guitar too) you can get some amazing tones out of a Rat pedal. You can control the amout of feedback/saturation by a couple of factors. Knowing what kind of pick-ups you have in your guitar (single coil or humbuckers) and the pick-up selection position. In the forward (neck) position you will get a richer bassier tone, and in the back (bridge) position you will get brighter tone. If you roll your tone knob back to compensate for the freqeuncies that might cause squeal on your guitar, you can control the sound of the pedal. Every guitar/pedal combination has it's own characteristics, so you need to play around with what works for you and "dial things in" to your own tastes.

BTW I have an 80s original version (which has been beaten up a bit, but still sounds good) and an 90's Vintage version of the Rat and I like the sound of both of them. Each has their own specific sound and combinations with certain guitars I use.

I hope this helps.

Oh yeah - and a proCo Vintage Rat that I got in the 90's... It's like a feedback machine.

Black Cat OD-FUZZ... It's the Black Cat silicon fuzzface and the Over Drive 1 in the same pedal.. switches and gain knobs for both... it makes a lot of noise...

Dude I believe it is silicon transistors. It's a really good fuzz if you got a warm guitar. It is a little too bright for my tele. Sounds great with my Harmony H75! It's $100 plus shipping on ebay.

I've had to flog nearly all my pedals over the years and am down to a Danelctro overdrive, Mutron Phasor - which is marvey sounds like a Jet Plane and has a 3 pin plug on the end of it! and Holy Grail Reverb. I had an original Tonebender about 15 yrs ago on loan but the guy took it back - have been chasuing its sound ever since - has anyone got the British MUFFin from Electro harmonix as sounds V good in the on-line demos but I haven't tried one out in the flesh. I mainly use a Tele and Fender Amp so am open to suggestion/ideas for a cool thick ish fuzz.