Fuzz strategy

[FleshOnGear]

Recently I bought a Sub Machine fuzz by MXR. When I bought it I played it through a Deluxe Reverb and loved it. Through my Orange, it's still really good, but it seems tricky to get a good balance with clean tones and dirty channel tones. With my current settings, the fuzz sounds best through the dirty channel with the fuzz control set in a medium range and the level set below unity.

This seems like an odd way to use a fuzz, but I prefer this to the sound of the pedal through the clean channel. In my mind, I feel like it should be possible to use the fuzz through the clean channel, but I get too much fizz on top and too much bass. It sounds particularly strange when I go to my normal dirty sound, because the dirty channel has so much more mids. Does anybody else struggle with this? What other methods do you use to warm up your fuzz sounds through a modern Orange clean channel? I've thought about getting an effects loop selector pedal and stacking the fuzz into an overdrive or EQ, but that's more of a gear investment than I bargained for.

[Boy_Narf]

BIG TIME! This is why I no longer use gain pedals. It's 100% amp tone for me. I was always able to dial in a mega fat fuzz tone, but as you said, switching to the dirt channel always caused it to sound weird. Fuzz typically has way more highs and Orange amps typically have way more mids. I can't describe but the amp almost sounded "bubbly" in the upper mids by comparison. Really disliked it. Then there were other times when my amp was sounding amazing and put all the pedals to shame. First world problems right?

One thing I may suggest is to run the fuzz through a blender pedal (Xotic X-Blender, Mosquite Blender, Wounded Paw Blender). I would recommend the Mosquite. BJF Buffer, tiny footprint, fairly affordable. That would allow your base tone to shine through, as well as adding a bit of fuzziness overtop. It won't be such a drastic difference between tones as the dry signal would always be blended in.

If you are set on the fuzz alone, find one with a better EQ haha. Any gain pedal in my life has to have at least a 3 band EQ.

[Jondog]

I've found when using fuzz with Orange amps, when it comes to the pedals, less is more.

[Boy_Narf]

Have you checked out the BAT Pharoah fuzz? I had that eons ago and it easily meshed the best out of all the dirt I tried.

[Tisca]

Orange amps are no good for pedals. We need to be honest here. Before I bought mine I didn't hear this anywhere. After I got my Hot Rod Deluxe this became really clear for me since the HRD is a superb pedal platform. I use Orange straight up or blend in dirt pedals in parallel with a LS-2. Not only is the Oranges bad with gain pedals but even the loop is lacking with reverb and delay... when compared to something great.

[FleshOnGear]

One thing I may suggest is to run the fuzz through a blender pedal (Xotic X-Blender, Mosquite Blender, Wounded Paw Blender). I would recommend the Mosquite. BJF Buffer, tiny footprint, fairly affordable. That would allow your base tone to shine through, as well as adding a bit of fuzziness overtop. It won't be such a drastic difference between tones as the dry signal would always be blended in.

If you are set on the fuzz alone, find one with a better EQ haha. Any gain pedal in my life has to have at least a 3 band EQ.

I appreciate the suggestion, but I've never liked the sound of clean and dirty blended. I'm only recently getting back into stompboxes, but I've been trying to look for ones with effective tone controls.

I've found when using fuzz with Orange amps, when it comes to the pedals, less is more.

I think that's a noble philosophy, and I agree. I'm curious what exactly that means for you, in practice. For me, the simplest way to use this MXR seems to be this: Run it into the dirty channel with the fuzz set just high enough to get a good high octave, then set the level low enough that the overall gain is manageable. It sounds quite good this way, but it's not how I expected to be using it.

Orange amps are no good for pedals. We need to be honest here. Before I bought mine I didn't hear this anywhere. After I got my Hot Rod Deluxe this became really clear for me since the HRD is a superb pedal platform. I use Orange straight up or blend in dirt pedals in parallel with a LS-2. Not only is the Oranges bad with gain pedals but even the loop is lacking with reverb and delay... when compared to something great.

I keep wondering why Fenders take pedals so well, but other amps, set clean, don't handle drive pedals as well. Is it the overall EQ curve? In my very modest experience, the drive channel of my OR takes pedals pretty well. That said, I would love to have a clean platform for drive pedals so I can get alternate distortion tones that aren't colored by the character of my dirty channel.

[misterfolkertsma]

It's funny, most of the time my experience goes the other way around because I started playing electric guitars on Orange and still am playing mostly Orange. I always have to adjust everything to other amps to the point that I feel like other amps do pedals bad!

I'm curious, what's the ratio of gain to volume for most of you on your amps? I always first set my volume to 75-100%, then adjust my gain to around 50%. This works fine for my pedals, even in combination with a twin reverb receiving the same signal. My germanium fuzz works fine that way for some moments (I don't use it that much).

[Wendigo]

I guess it depends what level of fuzz your talking about. I like my fuzz to completely and utterly mangle and squash my sound, like a super spongey howl, so I think it works better like that with the amp already breaking up ie. gain channel. If you're going for a small amount of fuzz, like maybe "whole lotta love" rhythm type, then maybe the clean channel with minimal fuzz is what you're after. I think most oranges don't seem to like gain pedals that much. They have a very soft edge to the sound when compared to a marshall, and even more so when compared to ice-pick fender clean.

[Gorgar]

I play fuzz through clean channels almost all the time. With my modern Oranges (Thunderverbs), I only set the gain anywhere other than 10 o'clock when I'm just horsing around, never when playing with others. Same with my Marshall 2203, Orange OR-120, various Fenders, etc. I like fuzz and other kinds of germanium distortion better than preamp distortion.

I have that same fuzz pedal. I would think you could kill the fizz with the tone knob, and just drop the sub volume until you don't have too much bass any more. Also, usually I run other distortion into it, not it into other distortion, but when stacking, I tend to roll the fuzz control back to about 9 o'clock. I also don't ever use the high octave switch, and I run the output around unity gain.

[Gordy G]

I guess it depends what level of fuzz your talking about. I like my fuzz to completely and utterly mangle and squash my sound, like a super spongey howl, so I think it works better like that with the amp already breaking up ie. gain channel. If you're going for a small amount of fuzz, like maybe "whole lotta love" rhythm type, then maybe the clean channel with minimal fuzz is what you're after. I think most oranges don't seem to like gain pedals that much. They have a very soft edge to the sound when compared to a marshall, and even more so when compared to ice-pick fender clean.

Wendigo,firstly,my apologies for going completely off topic,but could i ask,if that's a Li"ll 59 in your Strat?,if so how do you feel it works as a Bridge pick up in a Strat?
I'm thinking about putting one in my Squire CVC,i like the idea,but never had the chance to use/hear one.
Once again apologies to the OP,for going really off topic.

[Wendigo]

I guess it depends what level of fuzz your talking about. I like my fuzz to completely and utterly mangle and squash my sound, like a super spongey howl, so I think it works better like that with the amp already breaking up ie. gain channel. If you're going for a small amount of fuzz, like maybe "whole lotta love" rhythm type, then maybe the clean channel with minimal fuzz is what you're after. I think most oranges don't seem to like gain pedals that much. They have a very soft edge to the sound when compared to a marshall, and even more so when compared to ice-pick fender clean.

Wendigo,firstly,my apologies for going completely off topic,but could i ask,if that's a Li"ll 59 in your Strat?,if so how do you feel it works as a Bridge pick up in a Strat?
I'm thinking about putting one in my Squire CVC,i like the idea,but never had the chance to use/hear one.
Once again apologies to the OP,for going really off topic.

Hey man, yes it is a little 59. DO IT NOW and never look back. Seriously that thing is the best imaginable small format humbucker. It honestly sounds better than most of the full sized ones I've tried. Just really articulate and powerful. Great separation of strings, warm, transparent, you name it.

[Gordy G]

Hey man, yes it is a little 59. DO IT NOW and never look back. Seriously that thing is the best imaginable small format humbucker. It honestly sounds better than most of the full sized ones I've tried. Just really articulate and powerful. Great separation of strings, warm, transparent, you name it.

Thanks,i'm going to give it a go,been dithering long enough.

[misterfolkertsma]

https://morefuzz.net/what-the-fuzz/mr-f ... bums-2016/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Ask the people in this list

[MettleGossett]

Not really sure on what level of Fuzz you're trying to achieve, but right now I run the fuzz of my Keeley Darkside through the clean channel of my TH100 in the effects loop for my lead tone. I feel like when it's not running directly into the preamp you get a really warm tone that has killer clarity. Try it and see what you think, the dirtier the amp is the more I feel like the fuzz is a mess but it's definitely all about preference and you might be going for something else! Just my two cents, if your amp doesn't have an effects loop and is only one channel try rolling back your guitar volume knob to a pretty clean tone then push it until the fuzz is where you want it!

[jojo68]

Have you checked out the BAT Pharoah fuzz? I had that eons ago and it easily meshed the best out of all the dirt I tried.

THIS.