The fuzz produced by Grady Martin's bass on "Don't Worry" was also happenstance, but it earns a place in the annals of distortion because its makers captured what would otherwise have been a fluke. Recording engineer Glenn T. His master stroke, though, was replicating the sound with what would be the first commercially available fuzzbox.
The Maestro FZ-1 Fuzz-Tone allowed guitarists to change their tone from clean to dirty with a tap of the foot, thanks to a rather simple circuit of three transistors and some capacitors and resistors. Initial sales lagged due, perhaps, to marketing; ads promised that it would make guitars sound like saxophones and orchestra strings.
Other early, though less influential, adopters were the writers of the "Green Acres" theme song. The Fuzz-Tone stompbox also spawned the avid community of guitar effects aficionados. Like the shop talk of wine enthusiasts, discussions among distortion cognoscenti on nuances of tone can baffle outsiders.
Some differences are obvious, but many aren't. Debate rages over whether the JRC op amp chip in overdrive pedals is truly superior. Similar arguments erupt over whether fuzz sounds better with transistors made of silicon or the much rarer germanium.
Tom Hughes, author of "Analog Man's Guide to Vintage Effects" uses those two elements 14th and 32nd on the periodic table, respectively as the dividing line of Jimi Hendrix's career. Several different versions of the circuit were made, with minor variations, but giving a wide variety of tones. The same circuit variations appeared in the MK IV version in a different enclosure. This is the most common of the Mark III versions. The long red enclosure was one of the largest fuxx box enclosures ever made.
An Italian made fuzz pedal with two clipping diode stages. Very Big Muff sounding. This is from a interview done prior to Jimmy forming the "new" Yardbirds, which was later renamed Led Zeppelin. It is likely this was the fuzz pedal Jimmy had been using since In later years Jimmy seems to have confused effects maker Roger Mayer for effects maker Gary Hurst, by naming Mayer as his pedal maker. Roger Mayer did design fuzz pedal for Jimmy in according to Mayer , based on a Maestro Fuzz-Tone, but that was only used in Jimmy's pre-Zeppelin session days.
He would use the Super-Fuzz into the late 's on stage. Considered a fuzz pedal though I think a Muff and Fuzz are two different things , the BMP was one of the few original fuzz designs created since the original Maestro Fuzz-Tone in , which spawned most of the other fuzz pedals in the s. The Big Muff would go on to be heavily copied just as the Maestro was.
An early perf board version was on the market in late according to some sources, including Electro-harmonix founder Mike Matthews and original owners, and a printed pcb version was on the market in Similar to the Fuzz Face circuit. Essentially the same variety of circuit variations seen in the MK III, with a wide variety of tones from unit to unit. It came in several colors, including yellow, orange, and silver enclosures. These are very rare. Tom Jennings, founder of Vox, started this company after he sold Vox in and brought Vox engineer, and designer of the AC amp, Dick Denney with him.
This is another Fuzz Face style circuit, with a single volume knob control. Denney also revised the circuit for a later version, and there were OEM branded versions made for RotoSound and others. In the advertising for the Colorsound version, there is an interesting claim that Denney designed the original circuit in ! The circuit does resemble the input stage of the short lived Vox T60 amp head, from Three knob version. The Tone Bender Fuzz featured minor circuit variations throughout the s, giving a wide variety of tones.
It usually came in a silver or grey enclosure. There was also a yellow version with a "hit it" graphic below the foot switch. The circuit started with Germanium transistors like previous Tone Benders, then changed to the more commonly used Silicon.
The PB was an 18v bass and treble booster with a drive knob, housed in a bright orange case. Often confused in references as an "Orange" bass and treble booster. Some sources state this was actually first made in , but from my research, the Colorsound brand was not created and used by Sola Sound until , the first ads appeared in , and the preamp core of the circuit likely where the design originated appeared in a Mullard application book in April The PB was later renamed the Colorsound Overdriver in a gray box, and much later rereleased with a master volume added.
Possibly designed by Gary Hurst. Gary mentioned he was working on a new bass and treble boost back in the January issue of Beat Instrumental, when British booster units were very popular.
It was described as being a volume pedal. CSL was music instrument retailer in the UK. Very rare. Possibly the very first Big Muff clone.
A renamed Colorsound Power Boost, this time in a gray box, and changed from 18v to 9v. Later reissued with a master volume knob. There was also a version made for Vox in a different enclosure around , in the same gray color, with the Power Boost name.
The Overdriver factory schematic dates A combo fuzz and wah circuit. Schematic is dated November This was a booster and volume pedal combo made by Unicord in Japan, enclosed in a wah style foot pedal with a rocker treadle. The earliest appearance I have seen for this is a December Univox sales bulletin. Santana's well known tone was primarily from loud Fender Twin Reverbs and later a Fennder Princeton amp with an extra gain stage added by Randall Smith, which Smith eventually developed into the Mesa Boogie amps Santana was later known for.
Though often associated with the Big Muff in Electro-Harmonix advertising, it is unknown if Santana ever recorded with one. It was possibly used on the Santana aka Santana III album released later in , though he may have used a borrowed Big Muff on some tracks from Abraxas.
Several of those solos sound very much like a Big Muff through a Fender amp. This was the E-H Muff Fuzz effect packaged in a floor pedal enclosure. This transistor version was replaced with an op-amp version circa This is the first well known use of the Big Muff on a recording, and probably the first use of a fuzz guitar solo on a love song ballad.
It is also one of the earliest examples of what became known as a power ballad. A Gibson guitar and the Big Muff were recorded directly into the recording board with no amplifier. Fuzz side of the circuit is identical to the Vox Distortion Booster. Large box, three knob version. Circa Circa ' It was built in Jen's Tonebender style case, with sliders on top instead of knobs.
Based on the Jen case style used with the battery door on the bottom , the numerical codes on the back, the techno font used popular from 72 into the 's , packaging style, and other OEM versions dated the same way, I estimate this pedal was made circa A modified Big Muff clone.
This was essentially a four transistor Big Muff circuit minus one set of diode clippers from the first gain stage. The Supa Tone Bender was also made in a three transistor version Big Muff circuit minus the recovery stage. That same circuit also appeared in the Tone Bender Fuzz case and much later in the Colorsound Jumbo Tonebender case.
The FM-3 is not in the February '72 catalog, so it may have already been discontinued, but it is more likely that it came out later in '73 as the V1 Big Muff circuit is closely follows was a model.
It was the last pedal in the Fuzz Master series. This three transistor circuit was also used later in the Colorsound Jumbo Tone Bender.
Heater Music Co. Sold in Japan. This version was licensed to Ibanez for worldwide distribution. Assisted by fellow engineer Revis Hobbs, he tried out lots of transistors instead of tubes and ended up inventing a circuit that he immediately offered to Gibson. It used three germanium transistors and had two knobs: Volume and Attack gain, in fact. Do note that the pots it featured were the same as the Les Pauls of the time. The sound was distinctive, twangy and aggressive.
Not knowing how to sell the product, Gibson highlighted the possibility to reproduce the sound of brass instruments, a violin and even an organ.
It was a flop the first years it was marketed, until a remarkable event occurred While recording Satisfaction, the Rolling Stones were thinking of having brass instruments play the main riff. That didn't happen and, maybe seduced by Gibson's promise, Keith Richards bought a Maestro Fuzz to use it for the recording. That song released in had a landslide effect and had Gibson sell Fuzztones by the thousands. The cornerstone of a massive building had just been set. To understand how it came to be, you have to go back to that period in time: US gear was very hard to come by in Europe and the only way to cope with the demand was with locally made alternatives.
Not satisfied with the results, he asked for it to be modified to have more sustain. Gary Hurst, a young electrician, took up the challenge and decided to keep the germanium transistors, but changed the circuit by adding several components and increasing the voltage form 3 to 9V. The product was good: its sound was less nasal and less dry than the original Fuzztone. The store decided to make several copies and sell them under its own brand, Sola Sound.
The Tone Bender — that's how it would end up being called — would even become one of the first ever effects pedals to feature True Bypass. Several versions would come out after the Sola Sound Tone Bender was first introduced. Starting with the MK1. This would be the definitive version of the effect, and the one that earned it its name.
It featured the more reliable architecture of the MK1. Like the MK1. Yet, it remains an important model in our collective mind. And its story is very interesting in many regards.
The rumors surrounding its genesis are fascinating. Legend has it that The Ventures wanted an amp that had a built-in fuzz circuit, preferably that of the Red Rhodes. The Red Rhodes was a pioneer among fuzz pedals. Introduced in , it was never mass-produced. It would remain reserved to the artistic world, which would add to its fame. So The Ventures turned to Mosrite, whose guitars they sometimes used, to create the famous amp. The manufacturer took too long and the band gave up on the project.
That could've been the end of the story, but around the same time, Mosrite went to the rescue of Leo LeBlanc, who had some reliability issues with his fuzz pedal apparently a Maestro Fuzztone. The engineers at the company would create a new circuit: the Fuzzrite. They would build it in some amps and also offer it as a pedal.
At first, they made only copies of the pedal, but LeBlanc noticed a problem: germanium transistors didn't withstand low temperatures! A second batch was produced but this time featuring silicon transistors. If you were to have a Thanksgiving dinner with all your pedals gathered around the table, it would be the fuzz pedal that starts the arguments.
No doubt. There is no pedal that is as divisive as the fuzz. Before the fuzz pedal, players would poke holes Link Wray or slash Dave Davies their speaker cone to dirty their tone. Broken amps were looked on as a deus ex machina bringing dirty guitar tone down from on high. Guitarists would try anything — they had to — but all that changed when the fuzz was captured and put into a stompbox.
Fair warning, there will be omissions. There are players who could lay a claim to such a title of fuzz pioneer, but perhaps are more associated with another sound, with overdrive and distortion, say, rather than fuzz.
But through these players you can chart the evolution of fuzz in rock and in popular music, from its accidental beginnings as guitarists sought out more aggressive tones, to its exhilarating present, where fuzz has mutated beyond all recognition.
Surely not.
0コメント