“Crank The Fuzz !” Series – #2

I use two distortions for Terror Cósmico, each one goes to a different amplifier. One is an Ibanez Tube Screamer TS808 going to a guitar amp with some overdrive already (not too much so that I can be able to play soft and keep a clean tone). The other pedal is a Fulltone GT-500 going to a bass amplifier, this one works great for me because has a great range of low frequencies and keeps a lot of definition, it fills the bass amp in a way that I don’t have to use an octave pedal or a very low tuning. 

Both distortions are on 60% of the set, and the other 40% is a combination having both distortions on and off in different parts to go up and down in softer dynamics. I try to do a very contrasting blend between the two amps and the two pedals. I go for intense mid-highs in the guitar amp and a bit exaggerated low-end EQ in the bass amp.

My story with the pedals begins with one that to date is essential in my Tempter sound: the Boss ODB-3 Bass Overdrive. This was a pedal I bought from King Morla (bassist of Death Plays Guitar) a good friend who recommended to me. This pedal immediately struck me with the great power and body that added to the bass tone. Very quickly I found that I liked the preset and the best thing I found about this pedal is the EQ section, because there I can control the high-low distortion that I want. This is a pedal that I highly recommend it.

Gradually I polished my sound and my second purchase was the MXR M87 Bass Compressor. I’m often asked that they want to pedal if not listening, but believe me it makes a huge difference to control the frequencies especially when stuck use and powerful effects. It also gives you a good attack to emphasize more on the brightness of the strings.

Then I added a touch of darkness that was missing with the Fuzz MXR “El Grande”. Accidentally, I bought this pedal in exchange for an amp that I sold, but it was certainly a big sale, because this pedal has a large power as its name suggest. Previously I tried the famous Big Muff but did not convince me so I ended up selling it. But certainly “El Grande” does the heaviest riffs as in “Necromantra”, “Barbarus” or “High in Hell”.

After I took the Old Wah from Jairo (Tempter guitarist), I use it to create atmospheres with a cheap delay I got in exchange for the Big Muff. You can hear that in songs like “Sacred Transmutation” or “New Noise”, from my second project called Acid Trip.

Finally, in chronological order, I added The Microtubes B3K CMOS Bass Overdrive from Darkglass Electronics, it’s an impressive climbing tone balls overdrive in an elegant way. I did an experiment combining the B3K Overdrives and the Boss and a monster was just created. Be sure you´ll hear it in the next Tempter material.

Last, but no least, my weapon is a Fender Blacktop Jazz Bass.

What’s up friends? I’m Gil “Chief Centipede”. The effects I use for my bass are a combination of banks of a pedal line 6 and the bulbs of an orange twin channel head.

Live, it is difficult to handle the same effect parameters I use in studio, however I make use of these effects in a transistor amplifier which is usually rented for gigs. I connect a Fender Jazz bass to the pedal Line 6 Bass POD XT Live programmed with a database of my predilection. Usually, I throw the effect of distortion and fuzz pedal through the speaker amplifier transistors and that allows the kind of optimum gain to the sounds I want to use.

Also, because I enjoy special effects, I enrich the sound with synthesizers and delays programmed through this pedal and a small pedal, the Boss Bass Synthesizer, which allows me to modulate sweet synth sounds. For the overall atmosphere, I use a ebow, which saturates the bass and which permits me to play between these effects and the Wah pedal. When it is very necessary, I use a Digitech guitar pedal board, because sometimes, amplifiers available for a live show are too simple. I never directly connect on the board, that really sucks.

In the studio, everything is easier. My Fender Jazz bass 72 or my Gibson SG 2013 is connected to an Orange Twin Channel amplifier with 4×4 cabinet. The latter is has such a warm sound thanks to the four tubes, generating an optimal gain to rock. It has a nice sound between Pink Fairies, Hawkwind or Mötorhead, ideal for a sound journey of extreme dimensions. Furthermore, I carefully adjust the equalization pedal, bass and the wah effects to vary according to the delay or distortion that is used during the recordings. With El Brujo, the recordings are always live, that is, I can constantly change the pedal data banks and quickly change what I want to get through the Boss Bass Synthetizer.

When I combine these saturation effects caused by the Ebow, everything takes atmospheric tints ranging from krautrock to a good average Jane or Nektar waves. So, I recommend using these effects if you want to have fun,impressionate your friends and rock out. Cosmic imagination against the world automation is my motto.

Greetings to all.

I’m Machuca, guitarist for the stoner metal band Bagual from Santiago, Chile. I’ve always looked for a piercing sound, testing a lots of pedals but it was only when I started to use the all tube guitar head Laney GH50L that I really found it. But without the help of Nobels Natural Overdrive ODR-01, the brand that endorse me, I wouldn’t achieve it. Its function in my gear is to rise up the distortion input signal contributing to the output signal. In this sense, the overdrive + drive/distortion combo is the basic trick to achieve the sound I always had in mind.

In the band we play with intensity, but also we have some psychedelic and “mystical” moments. For that I use the Flashback Mini Delay by TC Electronics and  the Digiverb Reverb by Digitech together, extending the stereo to infinity. For my clean sound I use the volume potentiometer and the tones of my SG. For the solos, the Cry Baby ZW-44 ranges fits me pretty well, it has good response to the high gain coming after using the Wah pedal.

In this moment, I’m testing the distorted sound of the Iron Horse from Walrus Pedals. I recommend its use, I’m pretty impressed with it, and I’m sure it would be a new addition to my pedalboard.

Basically, Bar de Monjas’s sound is pure Fuzz and that’s what it really is about.

My first Fuzz pedal was a Russian Big Muff – a pretty classic and pioneer pedal for this kind of music. In my first record session I combined the Russian with a Big Muff Tone Wicker into an Ampeg VT-22; the Tone Wicker was switched on for the more “powerful”/“louder” parts, and was therefore only used to make pure noise, for live shows it was the same thing, in fact, all of our stuff has been recorded like a “Live Session”, we never recorded separately, that’s something I don’t like.

Time passed and I got to know new bands, new music and my sound needed a slight change, but of course without getting rid of my “Fuzz” religion. At the same time, I discarded the Tone Wicker as it didn’t work out  with my style any longer and replaced it with a lot of fuzz pedals on my pedalboard, which I chose spontaneously, some of them better or worse than others.

Then I got hold on the Big Muff Sovtek Green, I used it some months, there was no big difference to the Russian one but I preferred the Sovtek Green sound, however, due to financial difficulties, I had to sell my Sovtek Green as it was easier to get a good amount of money for it. So in the end, I kept the Russian one and continued looking for another Fuzz pedal.

Again, some months passed, until I came across the Death By Audio Fuzz War, an extremely powerful pedal, with a Fat Fuzz sound as I use it, easy to control as it not only has this fat sound, you can also make some crunchy or scratchy sound in the style of a Tweak Fuzz. In addition, it is very versatile as you can use it as a boost, distortion or Fuzz pedal, although I personally only need the last style.

For now, I only use these two fuzz pedals for my shows as well as for my recordings alongside, the Russian Big Muff which used to be the base of my sound is now complementary, and the Fuzz War is the heart of it, into a Marshall JCM800 and an Ampeg VT-22.

Greetings.
It is scientifically approved that using a Fuzz pedal in your pedalboard is making you happier. Try it!
MAY THE FUZZ BE WITH YOU!!!
Fausto.

When playing guitar, when I use my pedals, this is where I show my deepest thoughts, feelings and emotions. I improvise each of the songs. I can be nice and become quite aggressive. I like being intense and unpredictable.

I use Xvive Delay pedal for psychedelia, then a Electro-Harmonix Muff Overdrive pedal roughens the sound, and finally burst the ears using the Joyo  Voodoo Octave Fuzz pedal.

Of the 3 pedals, the one I interact with the most is Xvive delay. I like to play with gravity in space, increase or decrease feedback and the echo. It may be to create a psychedelic atmosphere, something light or extremely chaotic. I have no technique, that describes me perfectly. I constantly cut and mix the sounds, depending on how I feel at the moment. The Muff and Joyo pedal are configured in such a way that their fusion, however intense, may also be coupled to different types of tuning I use.

When Demonauta started, I came of a major break in the music and had a lot of expenses as rent, my studies, the test room, accounts, beer, etc and was buying everything slowly and only inexpensive stuff.

The idea of the sound of the band was always to use fuzz on guitar and bass and large measures in drums, but we did not have any of that and had emergency. So I bought from a friend a cheap pedal, the Zoom Ultra Fuzz UF-01 from Japan. It has an eternal sustain and gets along very well with my Wah Wah Cry Baby GCB-95, a faithful companion since playing the electric guitar, in fact it is the combination I used on the song “Caminando en la Luna”, it maintains the dynamics of the guitar whit wah wah.

I felt that the grain was thin and lacked a bit of body, like shapeless, that’s why I changed to the germanium Fuzz Face, after having previously tried other pedals such as the american Big Muff, the Russian Big Muff, Big Muff Tone Wicker or the Swollen Pickle… I also found all of these lacked of Fuzz and had no Mids.

I like my new combination, even if there are abrupt changes of dynamic and I was obliged to modify my Wah a bit. But it has the fuzz grain thicker as I like it. I want to sound more vintage, but I always use the Fuzz Face to the top, also has lower frequencies now I hear all the spectrum… Sometimes I think it has its own life, it’s a rebel 🙂

For our new record, I’m using the Fuzz Face along with other 2 cheap modulators, however I’m always changing these, now I’m using an Analog Delay and a Vintage Phaser. Additionally, I’m currently using a Korean Samick Artist Series SG from the 90’s and modified for me, with an English Marshall JCM 600 amp, quite simple, inexpensive and powerful setup..

My favorite guitar pedal is the Big Muff by Electro-Harmonix, it gives you the heavy vintage sound from the 70’s and you can set it as fuzzy as you want. It’s good for solos and to give a big punch on your riffs. 

My other favorite is the Vox Wah Crybaby it gives your riffs and solos, a psychedelic feeling with its waves, and of course, if you combine the Wah and the Big Muff on a heavy doom fuzzy rhythm, it makes it more electrifying, like if the Gods are coming to take you away haha! Just like in the Zamrock bands from the 70s in Africa, I really love them both.

As an example, in the track called Bonga Trip you can see how i use both pedals after min 8:19. First it’s the big muff playing a heavy tone then I give it more power with the wah. The trick is to play with the ears and it gives you an orgasmic feeling.