Is Vintage Fuzz Better?! | Pedal Shootout

Transcription:

So before we plug into these pedals and check them out what we'd love for you guys to do at home... like And subscribe to the channel it really helps us out and that way you're not going to miss out on any cool videos that we do so let do it.Now hi folks Nathaniel here at Chicago Music Exchange. I'm joined by Dan Lump. How's it going not too bad yourself I'm doing very well now we've got a lot of toys that we're going to be having a look at and I'll admit they're not something I know an awful lot about but you do.We have got some incredible vintage fuzz pedals and you're going to tell me all about them yeah we've got uh some of the Heavy Hitters from uh fuzz history.A couple fuzz faces a shinai and a few big muffs. Very classic circuits used on countless songs, countless artists um just really cool rare collectible pieces and it's really cool that we got them all at once.Yeah, now I'm going to be I'm going to ask the silly questions what's the most valuable one here I'm going straight in. That is going to be this guy right here. And why is that? This this is a first year 1966 Arbiter fuzz face it's a Germanium version. It uses what's called the red dots nkt275 transistors if you really want to get nerdy about it.Yeah yeah, the Germanium fuzz sound. And that's from '66? '66. I mean that looks like it's 10 years old, super clean. It was one owner. Really cool piece. What would you look for price wise with that given you know? So everything in here is original except for the volume pot I believe that had gone bad so we swapped that out but everything on the board, all the resistors, capacitors, transistors everything that is responsible for the sound is original. I believe we have that one uh listed at $4500.Okay, I've seen them as high as like eight. Wow, now I think you were telling me earlier but just before we started filming... Hendrix was? So he used both throughout his career um I said this came out in '66 so the early years he would have been using the germanium, then when silicon came out he switched to that (Silicon) but he also traveled with like 20 or 25 fuzz faces and he would plug them all in at the venue to see which one he liked.Yeah, so he was every bit as much as a gear nut as any of us. and you know that's that's kind of news to me I didn't know he had that many and kind of plugged them all in in that sense that's that's kind of cool to hear really.

Now so for example what are the main differences, I'll hold up this one you hold up the other kind of fuzz face so 66 this one that I'm holding a little bit more beat up is that's a 69 69 okay nice.Soundwise is there any huge differences yes so this one's a germanium transistor and that one's silicon mhm uh main it's hard to generalize 'cuz every fuzz, every transistor sounds different. But in general, a germanium is going to be a little lower gain. It's going to be a little bit more boomy On The Low End.And the thing they're really known for is they clean up really well with your volume knob. So you can go full-out fuzz and if you back it up you get back to basically clean tone. That's cool. They are however very reactive to temperature so the transistors change value with temperature. So they sound completely different in a warm room compared to a cold room. There are people who will bring... like keep their fuzzes in like a fridge to control the temperature or I think Benson actually makes a fuzz that has a little fan in it to control the temperature of the transistors inside the the pedal.That is crazy I had no idea. Yeah so they switched to Silicon later on because it was more stable um but also they sound quite different so silicon is going to be higher gain little tighter On The Low End bit more gritty uh it doesn't have the same cleanup though it gets a little gets a little glitchy kind of sounds like this one yeah when you turn it down kind of sounds like 8 bit Mario music or something but uh it's a cool sound in some right though.Any other famous users of these I mean there's going to be others right, throughout the years? Yeah, tons um big one uh is David Gilmore Pink Floyd. The early albums were fuzz face so like metal, Dark Side of the Moon, that was fuzz face that was before he switched over to the big muff. Right. Which is probably what he's more well known for but that's definitely I was going to say big part of early so this one the '69 silicon Fuzz. This one's going to be a little higher gain. Little smoother low end, doesn't clean up the same as the germanium but is more stable.What are the main differences between say a fuzz face and a big muff? It's a very different circuit design um if you want to get technical a fuzz face is a two two transistor fuzz, big muffs use four uh as far as sound uh a fuzz face is going to be bit grittier a little bit more boomy On The Low End uh kind of gnarly little like looser I guess for you know using all the buzzwords.Yeah yeah, The big muff that is is going to be looser no no no so uh a big muff is almost bordering on Distortion um so it's going to be smoother breakup uh more low-end it's a tighter sound so I'm kind of familiar with this, I see these occasionally. Yeah so that is a Rams Head that was the version two. Those came out in 73 that was kind of uh a test bed for electro-harmonics. They did so many different things. they were playing with different knob designs different circuit designs.

That particular version of the big muff has three additions and over 20 circuit revisions. Wow, so they are almost all different they are so I mean if you're lucky enough to come across the one well I suppose it depends on what you're after though right? Yeah exactly um the most desirable one uh is probably what's called The Violet Rams Head. Right. Where the font was Violet in color and the little... I should say it was called the rams head cuz it was the first introduction of the little Ram logo in the bottom right there.Oh sorry. Right yeah. Yeah and the second edition that logo was round uh there's so many variants just within that one version it's crazy but um have you ever come across that one before a violet yeah uh I've seen them at shows and shops um because they're so rare uh they fetch a pretty crazy price tag when you can't find them um five figures not that much but certainly well into the thousands yeah.What are the main differences between these two? So I'll give you that one yeah so this is the first version this is a triangle big muff, cuz the knobs are in a triangle formation. These all very clever names with these. So these came out I want to say in ' 69 uh those a lot of the parts date to '66 but they kinda just had a surplus of parts that they were using. They are fairly similar in sound um say the the triangle is Maybe a hair smoother. Rams head gets a little bit more aggressive yeah uh but similar levels of gain um again that was kind of just an evolution of the same pedal they weren't really trying to like reinvent the wheel it was just them refining right.Now I've never so obviously working here we get to see some cool stuff coming in. I've never seen this one before. So a Russian-made one this looks crazy. Yeah so Electro-Harmonix uh filed for bankruptcy in late ' 80s early '90s and they were bought out by company Sovtek and their pedals were made in Russia for sometime in the '90s yeah um and this was the second version of the big muff the first one was called the Red Army overdrive but it was really a big muff. This is essentially the same circuit but going back to the the big muff moniker It's called Civil War just because of the color scheme but that's kind of one of the probably the most desirable from that era of Sovtek Electro-harmonix. And this this is what year did you say roughly? That was going to be early '90s mid90s so quite sought after as well though right yeah yeah not as vintage as the other ones but still very collectable.I mean it does look cool. Huge amounts of low end little lower gain uh um very smooth it just sounds like a wall yeah it's just big.Not sure I've seen one of these before. Yeah, I've seen like uni-vibes but I never knew they did this. I mean it comes with a... yeah great way of plugging it in very convenient. It has power coming out of the back. There's no foot switch on it despite being the size of a shoe yeah and uh yeah this one's very different from all the other ones that's a Shin Ei UNI-fuzz.It's made by the same that made the uni-vibe, they kind of went for the same aesthetic with that um but the circuit is very unique. Most fuzz pedals are actually pretty simple on the inside. I mean a fuzz face only has like 10 components or something like that that has 53.

Yeah it's insane how complicated the circuit is um and the sound is very different um it's kind of sputtery. There are elements of like octave up sometimes octave down it's very reactive to your pick attack um and there's a little switch on there that's a mid scoop um but yeah very unique sounding looking um just operating fuzz just to have a Main's power coming out of it and need a separate foot switch to turn it on and off.I mean I've never seen one of these before yeah and this was kind of the predecessor um to the Super Fuzz uh which came out a few years later and that's one of the most desirable fuzzes ever made as well um also pretty hard to come by it's a big yeah it's a big red-orange thing and like half the pedals the foot switch compensating 'cuz it doesn't have one like what they like in comparison to these just no yeah it's the Super Fuzz is going to be little more traditional fuzz sound um a little Fuller uh little less spy than that one but um does still have kind of that those elements of octave um that was a big part of like Pete Townsend and sound The Who oh the super yeah wow okay.Now how do these kind of compare to fuzz pedals made today?There's not like a general rule like old is better. There are good and bad from every era. The good ones though they're they're hard to beat um the good vintage ones yeah yeah be the case yeah I mean that being said it's still a lot of money. They're a bit more fragile mhm uh the old big muffs. They were using pretty cheap parts at the time. oh okay. So they can be a little fragile little finicky yeah a little noisy, but I don't know to me it seems a little weird if you're complaining about noise if you're using a fuzz it's like it's kind of the point yeah yeah yeah but um well well but now on that point let's say you do have one of these and one of the like as you said the cheaper Parts kind of you know kind of packs it in I mean replacing those parts what's that going to be like is that going to be difficult to do affect the sound greatly or what well so as far as the maintenance they are actually easier in a lot of ways than some Modern pedals.A lot of modern pedals rely on what are called surface mount devices. Which are really tiny little things that are assembled by a machine right and to try and replace it by hand is next to Impossible really oh unless you have like a really really skilled Tech these are going to be like through-hole components they're pretty big um yeah it it's pretty straightforward to work on them.It does, of course, affect value once you change originality just like any guitar or amp or anything which is UN yeah but the big thing with fuzzes is going to be the transistors if those are original that's where most of the value is yeah I mean there was definitely not the same level of um consistency they were they had had bins of parts and they took them out and put it on a board yeah um so there's some variation there part values drift over time um you know some of these pedals are know 55 years old yeah yeah um almost 60 years old for that one um so a lot can happen in that time. Well yeah but so can the sound isn't really going to deteriorate though is it over time or would or could it I don't know it it could as part values drift it will sound different right the better worse can be subjective right um something that's kind of common is old transistors uh can uh it's called leak okay and basically they kind of lose value and you get less gain um it can get to the point where it just gets kind of sputter. Which some people like that sound but uh you know if you're buying a fuzz face you want that full on big sound yeah yeah yeah um so that that can be an issue uh so I always recommend playing or hearing an old pedal before buying right um unless you're really just collecting it just to have as a cool piece but it's something you want to use for recording or playing um try to hear it first yeah now so you own maybe what is it one of these or two of these are actually yours I do I own two of these right um this which one silicon fuzz face yeah this one came in um showing it at one of our uh our weekly vintage meetings yeah uh myself and a couple other guys plugged it in and decided it was just too good yeah couldn't Let It Go.So actually myself and two other guys here at the shop went in on it have uh shared custody oh right pedal yeah I like that yeah so um yeah it's a great sound there it's one of the best sounding fuzes I've ever played now when so when you're when you're playing this what what's your kind of your rig your setup when using it um so at home I have uh I have a Tweed basement reissue um and then I have a this custom built hiwatt dr103 2x12 combo I think you we we we picked it up it's [ __ ] heavy yeah it weighs it weighs a ton it's uh a hiwatt 100 watt head put into a combo with two heavy Fain speakers. So yeah yeah it's sounds good but it does sound great but yeah it it sucks to move um so yeah depending on what I'm doing uh if I'm going for more of the Gilmore kind of thing uh I'll run it into the high watt um otherwise the basement kind of gets you Marshall-esque uh know that was the origin of Marshall um or uh if I really feel like getting loud I'll run it in Stereo and go into the two that's cool yeah that's a fun sound that that will be cool you on the Russian the Russian one as well that's one I've been hunting for a while um so I actually have a 73 Rams Head as as well.Right, that was the first vintage fuzz I got uh and again I got it because of the Gilmore connection yeah um I love his tone on animals in the wall and that's what he used so I had to have it yeah um but then this uh is what he used uh in the '90s that's like Division Bell um it's it's very that one's actually quite different sounding from the others right um it's got much more low end a little lower gain um but just sounds huge um it's actually pretty common to see people using these for bass because of the low end oh okay and actually the bass big muff is based on that circuit right okay um yeah that that's I I wanted one of those for a long time it came in and uh you said have yeah I just told him like sorry this one's not going through yeah well no that I mean that makes sense I mean you've been looking for it so l mean it's certainly been used at a lot life which is a good sign right yeah.Right so obviously I'll play fuzz pedals occasionally here at the shop in demos and whatnot and it's usually just for a heavier kind of fuzz sound um I mean do you do you have difficulties kind of kind of dialing in sounds whether it be for a smoother kind of overdriven sound or all the way fuzzy kind of sound um fuzz is actually surprisingly um sensitive for such a huge sound it it's really reactive to what you're plugging into um what kind of guitar you're using um different versions of pedals like different sounds um you know if if you run a a big muff into like a a Fender Twin Reverb it'll still sound good that's still going to sound big a fuzz face into a twin can get pretty hairy um you know some people like it but it it's it's pretty harsh yeah um and that there are so many different uses for it uh I mean you can go for that just wall of sound fuzz um it's really just dirty and gritty um you can use something like a muff you that a smoother sound uh a lot of Gilmore's lead tones are just they're huge and they're sustaining but they're not like aggressive um I've even seen some people use germanium fuzz faces for clean tones they'll turn the fuzz on and then dial back the volume wow and it just the character it adds to the clean sound I've I've seen people use that as their like clean tone had no idea that was even a thing yeah there's a lot you can do with fuzzes um I I know uh at first it might seem like just all fuzz is the same it's just a a wall of sound but uh when you really get into it and explore different people and how they use it you recognize the the little in intricacies oh definitely.Now have you got a favorite for sound on record? Well it's going to be Gilmore. or it doesn't have to be all time favorite but you know one that comes to mind straight away.Like in a recording or? yeah like you know something that you listen to Growing Up. Man Gilmore's definitely up there uh his tone on Sorrow live from the Pompeii album right not when they did the recording in Pompeii they did a live album called Pompeii later but it's just this huge sound the sustains insane uh the feedback just it sounds enormous.

Yeah uh right so obviously we've got some very cool vintage fuzzes have you got any favorite new fuzzes that are out today there are a lot of great options out today uh a personal favorite for me um I really like the Thorpy Fallout Cloud right okay and that's that's his take on a big muff um it's based on a triangle big muff but with few mods uh has active bass and treble controls yeah.To me if I were like touring and playing out places I was afraid to take out the vintage ones I would have that on my board for that okay yeah I've played a few a few that come to mind as I think it's the wren and cuff garbage can that's they call it I don't know if I'm familiar with that one I do like a lot of their fuzzes.Yeah that that's that's a really good one um J Mascis um oh okay his signature um I think even just the regular electro-harmonix I think they did like a Billy Corgan one yeah yeah that that was yeah they did they did a full range of like reissues.They do the the Russian the triangle and the Rams had uh all in their classic like Nano enclosure and I know they did the Billy again yeah yeah.I mean I would say shout out to Beetronics I do like a lot of their fuzz pedals they do some very unique stuff yeah always had their own little twist on them yeah plus I like that the enclosures are irregularly shaped fuzz in a in a small square enclosure just doesn't seem right yeah it's if it's practical it's it's not fun shout out to beetronics one they do some great stuff.Yeah so looking forward to trying these pedals out we haven't actually heard them yet um so this is going to be kind of cool uh lots of sounds to explore and thank you so much for helping out and explaining all these pedals to me.Clearly I don't know [ __ ] about these pedals so it's kind of good to hear you talk about yeah I know of course I'm looking forward to hearing you play through them yeah likewise I want to hear some uh David Gilmore tones coming from you that I can do that.The lengths people will go to to dial in a fuzzes. Crazy yeah. I heard somebody used to bring like a bag of N9 volts and they all are just like different amounts of juice oh that's Eric Johnson right was it Eric Johnson probably.He's notorious for like uh yeah I saw his rig run down and he had his pedals a good foot away from each other cuz he swore they sounded different when they were closer I don't know Eric Johnson's here who are we to argue right I mean he knows what he's doing he gets the result he can't argue with that I mean his tone and playing you can't really is are you with that pretty spectacular yeah .