I don't have the Overdrive/Fuzz gene

[jwhitcomb3]

I enjoy reading people's experiences with overdrive and fuzz pedals. I like the passion, the expertise, and the experimentation. I've tried to reproduce it, but failed. So I've come to the conclusion: I was born without the OD/Fuzz gene.

Oh, I can tell when OD or Fuzz is present. But once the gain/drive/grit/fuzz/hair/dirt/mojo/spunk knob is turned past about 10 O'clock, they all sound pretty much the same to me. Or, to put it differently, I can discern that there are differences, but it's like deciding whether I want shit or puke on my ice cream.

As a kid in the 70's, I got an Electro-Harmonix Muff Fuzz box, which was a poor man's Big Muff in a tiny square chassis with an input jack and a male output plug that lasted about a week before I broke it off. A few years later I got an MXR Distortion+ that I never, ever found a use for. Maybe it was my guitar or amp at the time (a Guild S-100 into a Lab Series L5), but I couldn't coax a usable tone out of it. So I gave up for at least a decade. Eventually I got a Tech 21 CompTortion pedal, but used it almost entirely as a compressor (I love compressors (and delay)) with just a tiny bit of distortion dialed in.

After that I used a Tech 21 SansAmp when I needed more hair. Does that count? I think of it more as amp emulation than an OD/fuzz, but perhaps that's splitting hairs. Even then I max out at what most folks seem to consider low-medium gain. For reference, my go-to tone is a Fender Deluxe with just a little bit of grit. Even when I mess with a Marshall or Boogie, I bring the gain way, way down.

Over the past year I've been messing around with a pedal board to put in front of my Quilter MicroPro (and more recently my Boss Katana), and have been able to get decent sounds out of both a t.c. electronic MojoMojo pedal and Dark Matter pedal, but again, only at low gain settings. Once the distortion starts crowding the sound of the guitar, I'm done, no matter what color or price tag is on the stomp.

I suppose I should be thankful that I'm not throwing wads of cash at my pedal board. But I can't get over this nagging feeling that I'm missing out on a whole lot of fun.

Anybody else here with a similar genetic defect?

Jonathan

 

[RobB]

3 minutes ago, jwhitcomb3 said:

Anybody else here with a similar genetic defect?

Nope. Be proud, though. Like Tigger, you're "the only one!"

[Toadroller]

I've always been guitar, cable, amp.  I use the amp's gain dial for varying levels of distortion and its tone controls for, well, tonal control of that.

I do own a cheap TS clone (it's green, it must be a TS clone) and a compressor but have no idea what to do with them.  Every time I want to try them out, the 9 volt batteries have drained and I have to add them to my list for the next time I'm at Lowes or SAM's club but never do.

But then again, I play guitar at home as a hobby; have never done a gig and really can't see myself doing so.  Therefore I don't leverage any of the live-playing capabilities of any of my equipment.  I'm happy that way.

[Montelovesco]

Well, I can chime in as far as the fuzz is concerned. I NEVER cared for those. A good OD/Distorition instead... 🤔😌

[polara]

You're following your muse! Music is about that, not sounding like other people.

[crunchee]

I don't really use an overdrive pedal anymore, not since I caught the 18-watt bug.  I rarely used pedals even before that, though; and it's not like I play something like STP's Plush (or anything similar) very often.  Just for fun, I do like some ZZ Top/Loaded-style obnoxious fuzz at times.

[Jakeboy]

For decades....decades...all I used was a cable into an amp...for a decade, even that was too much so I went straight acoustic.

Then I started up electric again two decades ago.....treble boosters won my heart, and just in the last 5 years have I found a use for delays, chorus, etc....Now when I was guitar, cable , amp...the amps were cranked into distortion so I LOVE amp gain.

i am very picky with pedals.....my Colorsound Overdriver clones are IT for me. Clean boost to fuzz.....I dig it all....but far and away my fave tone is guitar straight into an amp with cookin' power tubes. I really NEED nothing else.

[tbonesullivan]

Honestly, I find that the lower "threshold" gain settings on most amps and pedals are the most exciting. The guys who have everything so maxed out that it sounds completely synthetic? Count me out.

[dhuber]

I don't care for fuzz. Although maybe I'm not using an expensive enough pedal. I do like overdrive. I'm learning to like some distortion. But I have not developed a taste for fuzz. I agree with the above post 100%.

[Steve Haynie]

My favorite amp does not need any distortion pedals.  I prefer the sound of a cranked output tube distortion over a pedal.  Distortion pedals get used with my little Fender combo amp most of the time.  At lower volumes the pedals can add the extra crunchiness. 

Fuzz is entirely different to me.  You can tell the difference between pedal fuzz and amp distortion.  Fuzz is an effect, not a tone enhancement. 

While the sound of a high gain amp is cool, I have gone through phases of playing with low gain and mostly clean tones from my amps when practicing alone. 

[tomteriffic]

While I mostly live in the low-to-medium gain camp, I'd prefer to get what gritch I need from power tubes.  When that's not possible, something smooth, just to put a little dynamic hair on rhythms and a little thickness and sustain on leads does me just fine.  Currently, a TC spark and MojoMojo are getting it done when needed. I rarely bring teh brootalz unless I'm farting around in the basement (on a Super Champ XD) with no one else around.  Still, there's nothing quite like a small tube amp begging for its life just before it lets all of its smoke out.

Having said that, and, really, taking the dying amp thing to an extreme, I'm still looking for the fuzz that is gritchy, buzzy, goes into cutoff unexpectedly and is generally pretty near to uncontrollable.  I had a Univox Super Fuzz that would do that on one end and Robin Trower on the other, but it finally croaked.

[crunchee]

4 hours ago, tomteriffic said:

While I mostly live in the low-to-medium gain camp, I'd prefer to get what gritch I need from power tubes.  When that's not possible, something smooth, just to put a little dynamic hair on rhythms and a little thickness and sustain on leads does me just fine.  Currently, a TC spark and MojoMojo are getting it done when needed. I rarely bring teh brootalz unless I'm farting around in the basement (on a Super Champ XD) with no one else around.  Still, there's nothing quite like a small tube amp begging for its life just before it lets all of its smoke out.

Having said that, and, really, taking the dying amp thing to an extreme, I'm still looking for the fuzz that is gritchy, buzzy, goes into cutoff unexpectedly and is generally pretty near to uncontrollable.  I had a Univox Super Fuzz that would do that on one end and Robin Trower on the other, but it finally croaked.

Perhaps you're looking for something that sounds like the distortion on this?   I know I am. 

 

[tomteriffic]

Yep, especially at the end.  And that little bit of tremolo, just to make it sound like a small tube amp with tremolo begging for its life just before it lets all its smoke out.

[tommy p]

I'm an amp distortion only guy.  A few years ago I bought a Fender Super Sonic and a FullDrive to try the clean amp/pedal thing and I just don't think it's for me.