I've got a red germanium, I run it into a ridiculous amount of gain for the doomy tones. It's ridiculous, bassy and meaty. I had a band that tuned to Drop A and wow was that low A note HEAVY with this pedal
I like the Hendrix the best. Most toneful, sizzling, tight, and most midrangey. Love it! It's the only one I bought for now, but I'm thinking about getting the Bonamassa too. Thans for the great demo! Cheers!
Great demo. My Fav list is: 1: Eric Johnson FuzzFace 2: Jimi Hendrix FuzzFace 3: Dunlop Standard FuzzFace 4: Joe FuzzFace All of them are great (especially the under congratulationed Dunlop Standard Fuzz, a lot of people are biased against them for some reason). But there can only be one winner. Eric!!!
I am the original owner of a 60's Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face. After replacing the electrolytics capacitors it sounds as good if not better than all 4 of the newer models.
Hendrix all the way. Has the most bite en cuts trough the most. Altough, cleans up a little less, isn't really a problem. Bonamassa also pretty nice. Like the low gain germanium. Johnson, I think too compressed, specially with buckers. And the standard one is just too dark and muddy with everything.. I've a sunface BC108, compared it against my friends Hendrix Fuzz. Both are pretty close. Like them both. The thing is to cut trough; now I use a Durham Crazy Horse. Is silicon also. Really has that fuzzface vibe, but with that extra drive control, it just cuts trough even better for live usage.
Hendrix signature... Quite smooth gainy while the roll off gives really shiny cleans AND .... the turquoise is both more classy and unique than the others.
It sounds REALLY good through humbuckers. It's really warm and smooth. Both the Eric Johnson and Bonamassa fuzz caught my ear. The original and the Hendrix have some grit to it that I don't really like too much.
TONE CHASING!! nice straight forward shoot out; wow its easy to forget about the old red guy what with all the sig models but I think it held its own. For me its the JB by a length followed on its tails by the JH blue guy...
This is nice for showing what each element (Ge, Si) really brings to the table. The JoeBo Fuzz just buries them all when the LP is plugged in. Wow! Dunlop did a great job on that circuit. Imo, the ZVEX Fuzz Factory is the overall King, if not just for the sheer weirdness it can produce, but the JB is the best "straight-up" fuzz I've heard demo'ed.
Nice demo, Good to hear them side by side with the same guitar riffs. I'm probably biased but I do love the Hendrix one and I'm glad I bought one. I have my Strat, my VOX V847 Wah-wah and my Hendrix Fuzz Face plugged into an old WEM MKIII valve amp and it sounds amazing.
They were picking up the internal noise of the amp and pedals. The output transformer in particular always beams out a pretty intense audio-frequency pulse. That triggered a feedback loop.
i still love that new Silicon Mini Fuzz Face. Its the cheapest one and definitely the nastiest and grittiest, and isn't the point of fuzz to be nasty and gritty? But out of these ones i like the EJ one for sure.
The eric johnson and the red one have more mids,the jb and the jh seem to scoop the mids.The jb says in the description that it was voiced for humbuckers.I have the ej and love it, its dead quiet even at high gains.One trick to these is to run it in front of a clean amp.If i try a distorted channel it becomes to muddy.
It might be interesting to hear the EJ model into a Marshall with 6L6's that's cranked up to ear-bleed levels with the fuzz backed off a touch for more of the EJ/Hendrix thing but I guess you can hear that by listening to any of EJ's latest stuff. Also- I'm hesitant to argue with Jeorge because I have the utmost respect for his knowledge and ability...but it's silicon, not silicone. Feel free to hate me. Thanks for what is clearly the best fuzz face demo I've ever seen!
That's good advice! I like that this and some other demos use both Strat and Les Paul to see the difference for guitars, but I don't know what they don't use different amps once in while. I see a Twin Reverb on the left. Since my main amp is an old Silverface, it sure would be nice to hear the fuzzface go through that to see what it does. They have that fancy switcheroid machine to switch the pedals, why not set up amps too?
I like the Hendrix one more, mainly because of the voicing of it. It seems more buzzing it and a bit less bass heavy. But I love The Bonamasssa one... f* it i'm buying all four.
I'm not a fan of Joe Bonamassa at all, but I think I like his (and the red one) the best. I'd gladly own the silicon ones too just to switch up my sound from time to time, but I really love germanium transistors a lot. As a matter of fact, if you have any electronics skills at all, building your own fuzz face is quite simple. I mean, it's only got 9 components for crying out loud! 4 resistors (5 if you want an LED light on your DIY pedal), 3 capacitors, and 2 transistors! And the beauty of it it you could use just about any 2 germanium or silicon transistors you like, just make sure you adjust the bias resistor values accordingly because different transistors require their own special bias resistors.
Actually a power jack is helpful for those of us with many pedals we use often. Also the LED light helps if (like me) a player uses several pedals which give distorted fuzz tones. For example - I also use an Octavio pedal for fuzz (which it does in addition to offering octave tones) and the LED would help me quickly see which one is engaged - so it's not about hearing or laziness. In the 60's these pedals were not retro - I'm happy to embrace the new. Completely agree they are way overpriced!
These all sound great, but I think if there was a Violet Deliriums "Signature Model" it would be much smaller, like maybe the diameter of a medium-sized chocolate chip cookie -- and painted vivid violet. Do they have to be so big? Does this affect the sound? It eats up a lot of pedal board space for the effect space cadets like myself.
I really dig the Dunlop FF mini and fullsize lines they are doing now and I think they are cool options for a lot of players, but I shot my Band Of Gypsys out with a Sunface with RCA transistors--and the Sunface was a clear winner. The older fuzz faces were very hit or miss, but some of these new boutique units are made by guys who are working really hard to match the correct vintage transistors. Also James Santiago is the dude for these demos! ruclips.net/video/l9Hr7oiOJVY/видео.html
I would say, JB best tone for humbucker and EJ best tone for single coil. But if you use both type of pickups JB is alot better since EJ with HB's was way to muddy for my liking. Thanks for a great video!
You can use a power supply with PNP transistors just fine. Just make sure that you have a dedicated supply and don't daisy chain positive ground and negative ground pedals.
That's probably the best shootout of pedals I've ever seen... very informative, done pretty scientifically instead of just goofing around. My favorite was the Eric Johnson, followed by the red germanium. With those two you'd have your bases covered. The Hendrix was my least favorite -- had an irritating nasal quality to it. I've seen other demos where I liked the Hendrix a lot, though, so I think it depends a lot on your particular guitar + amp combination. Thanks to the guys who did this shootout.
im trying to decide between maybe the Eric Johnson or the other signature fuzz faces ehere and the fulltone 69 or the way huge swollen pickle please respond with honest opinions thank you
What is the deal with the Board all those pedals are on? I've been looking to build a pedal board and have seen a bunch of boards which use the same metal/material as this one, can someone help me out?
If you want to jump around you should be able to click on the times below...:
Basic test
2:07 - 2:35 - Bonamassa GE (mp3xx?)
3:11 - 3:38 - Eric Johnson Si BC183
4:00 - 4:42 - Jimi Hendrix Si BC108
4:59 - 5:35 - Standard JDF2 GE NTE158
Lead test
5:58 - 6:02 - Bonamassa (Ge)
6:03 - 6:05 - EJ (Si)
6:06 - 6:09 - JH (Si)
6:10 - 6:13 - Std (Ge)
Lead Test 2
6:15 - 6:18 - Bonamassa
6:18 - 6:22 - EJ
6:22 - 6:25 - JH
6:26 - 6:30 - Std
Lead test 3
6:40 - 6:43 - JB
6:44 - 6:47 - EJ
6:48 - 6:50 - JH
6:51 - 6:55 - Std
Full-Range lead
7:09 - 7:17 - JB
7:18 - 7:25 - EJ
7:26 - 7:33 - JH
7:33 - 7:40 - Std
Vol Rolled back
8:04 - 8:09 - JB
8:10 - 8:13 - EJ
8:14 - 8:18 - JH
8:19 - 8:24 - Std
8:25 - 8:32 - JB
8:33 - 8:37 - EJ
8:38 - 8:43 - JH
8:44 - 8:50 - Std
W/ a Les Paul
Lead
9:06 - 9:11 - JB
9:12 - 9:16 - EJ
9:17 - 9:21 - JH
9:22 - 9:27 - Std
9:52 - 9:54 - JB
9:55 - 9:57 - EJ
9:58 - 10:00 - JH
10:01 - 10:04 - Std
10:06 - 10:08 - JB
10:09 - 10:11 - EJ
10:12 - 10:15 - JH
10:16 - 10:19 - Std
10:22 - JB
10:25 - EJ
10:28 - JH
10:31 - Std
Rhythm
10:35 - JB
10:40 - EJ
10:44 - JH
10:48 - Std
Fuzz on 10
11:18 - 11:59 - JB
Amazing post, thanks for helping out.
Thanks bro!
Awesome man, thanks for your effort.
"Silicon", not "silicone." One is for boost, one is for bust. :)
I've got a red germanium, I run it into a ridiculous amount of gain for the doomy tones. It's ridiculous, bassy and meaty. I had a band that tuned to Drop A and wow was that low A note HEAVY with this pedal
I like the Hendrix the best. Most toneful, sizzling, tight, and most midrangey. Love it! It's the only one I bought for now, but I'm thinking about getting the Bonamassa too. Thans for the great demo! Cheers!
Great demo. My Fav list is:
1: Eric Johnson FuzzFace
2: Jimi Hendrix FuzzFace
3: Dunlop Standard FuzzFace
4: Joe FuzzFace
All of them are great (especially the under congratulationed Dunlop Standard Fuzz, a lot of people are biased against them for some reason). But there can only be one winner. Eric!!!
All beautiful children but the EJ has the special gift that stands out :)
the best pedal demo ive ever seen
greatest pedal demo ive ever seen in my life!
I am the original owner of a 60's Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face. After replacing the electrolytics capacitors it sounds as good if not better than all 4 of the newer models.
They are all very similar. the guitarist makes the difference. Thanks for the video!
i own the jimi one now but this makes me want to buy them all!
Wow. Those are some awesome pedals. As a mostly Les Paul guy, I've got to rank the Bonamassa and the red face JDF2 as my favorites.
Hendrix all the way. Has the most bite en cuts trough the most. Altough, cleans up a little less, isn't really a problem. Bonamassa also pretty nice. Like the low gain germanium. Johnson, I think too compressed, specially with buckers. And the standard one is just too dark and muddy with everything.. I've a sunface BC108, compared it against my friends Hendrix Fuzz. Both are pretty close. Like them both. The thing is to cut trough; now I use a Durham Crazy Horse. Is silicon also. Really has that fuzzface vibe, but with that extra drive control, it just cuts trough even better for live usage.
Hendrix signature... Quite smooth gainy while the roll off gives really shiny cleans AND .... the turquoise is both more classy and unique than the others.
Been listening to this demo over and over ... Still like the Hendrix FF the best. Cheers!
They all sound real cool. If I could, I would have one of each. I have to go with the Hendrix Fuzz with the bc108's as my fav.
Very instructive, guys!
Congrats on this perfect demo!
02:07 bon
03:12 john
04:00 hend
04:58 stand
05:58 sequence
08:08 clean 8
08:25 clean 7
09:06 lp
09:51 lp + amp
10:35 lp riff
11:18 bon
I liked the way the Bonamassa cleaned up. I really like the 308 transistor.
The blue one is my favorite.
Yes, mine too. (t is in fact the turquoise Jimi though. Blue is not in the test. ;))
As soon as I hear the name James Santiago I know I’m in for something good! Some ear candy I’m going to want to hear again
It sounds REALLY good through humbuckers. It's really warm and smooth. Both the Eric Johnson and Bonamassa fuzz caught my ear. The original and the Hendrix have some grit to it that I don't really like too much.
Beautiful fuzzes.
Beautiful playing from James!
Best demo of the fuzzes ever.
Inspiring but also humbling.
Great stuff! Geniuses at work. The last 30 seconds really made my day:-)
Thank you, that was the best comparison video I've ever seen!
Feelin the Bonamassa which surprises me
TONE CHASING!! nice straight forward shoot out; wow its easy to forget about the old red guy what with all the sig models but I think it held its own. For me its the JB by a length followed on its tails by the JH blue guy...
6:39, EJ sounds the best in lead.
This is nice for showing what each element (Ge, Si) really brings to the table.
The JoeBo Fuzz just buries them all when the LP is plugged in. Wow! Dunlop did a great job on that circuit. Imo, the ZVEX Fuzz Factory is the overall King, if not just for the sheer weirdness it can produce, but the JB is the best "straight-up" fuzz I've heard demo'ed.
The red one's got a very cool muddy sound. Plus it cleans up nicely
I like the standard the best.
A really helpful comparison video - thanks so much guys!!
Feedback at the end was sick..I want to buy one just for that.
Nice demo, Good to hear them side by side with the same guitar riffs.
I'm probably biased but I do love the Hendrix one and I'm glad I bought one. I have my Strat, my VOX V847 Wah-wah and my Hendrix Fuzz Face plugged into an old WEM MKIII valve amp and it sounds amazing.
I would be happy with any one of those but I must admit, the Bonamassa is my favorite.
I think this is the best pedalboard ever..
This was a great demo.
read your comment, got the pedal kit from a german website, works like a charm!
perfect playing to demo FF good job james.
I love the high end roll off of the red. I know you wouldn’t be able to hear it live but damn it sounds sweet l
man! those fuzzfaces sure looks happy smiling at you!
They were picking up the internal noise of the amp and pedals. The output transformer in particular always beams out a pretty intense audio-frequency pulse. That triggered a feedback loop.
Awesome demo!!! Thanks!
Man! I fell in love with fuzz'! The rude, dirty, almost "fuck you" attitude you get from these is simply tribal in nature.
Great test, rock on!
Bonamassa FTW! ...Especially on that Les Paul.
Best Fuzz Face demo ever. By the way My favorites were the EJ and the Bonamassa, followed by the blue Hendrix and the Red std in last place.
you guys are awesome for doing this!!!
The Bonamassa is sounding great on the Les Paul. …It's the JDF2 Fuzz Face and the JBF3 Bonamassa for me.
I think ill go for the standard fuzz face
Changed my mind joe bonamassa all the way!
I hear a lot of difference when the guitars are cranked, better clarity and tone with the Hendrix to my ears. GREAT VIDEO!
So glad they made the mini fuzz faces! Hopefully they'll come out with more signature mini fuzzes soon!
Wow this is still on YT…Should’ve bought an EJ fuzz when they were making them!
EJ is the man here.
Wow nice tone!
Well Done! Thanks! They all sound good, it´s a matter of taste!
i still love that new Silicon Mini Fuzz Face. Its the cheapest one and definitely the nastiest and grittiest, and isn't the point of fuzz to be nasty and gritty? But out of these ones i like the EJ one for sure.
This is a great demo btw!
Im liking the Bonamassa the most.
germanium all the way!!!
Nice ending!
JB was the best. When he rolled off the volume, it sounded just like Jimi...not identical obviously, but close enough.
The eric johnson and the red one have more mids,the jb and the jh seem to scoop the mids.The jb says in the description that it was voiced for humbuckers.I have the ej and love it, its dead quiet even at high gains.One trick to these is to run it in front of a clean amp.If i try a distorted channel it becomes to muddy.
It might be interesting to hear the EJ model into a Marshall with 6L6's that's cranked up to ear-bleed levels with the fuzz backed off a touch for more of the EJ/Hendrix thing but I guess you can hear that by listening to any of EJ's latest stuff.
Also- I'm hesitant to argue with Jeorge because I have the utmost respect for his knowledge and ability...but it's silicon, not silicone. Feel free to hate me.
Thanks for what is clearly the best fuzz face demo I've ever seen!
That bonamassa is godly...Too godly. Are you guys running the pedals through a clean channel?
That's good advice! I like that this and some other demos use both Strat and Les Paul to see the difference for guitars, but I don't know what they don't use different amps once in while. I see a Twin Reverb on the left. Since my main amp is an old Silverface, it sure would be nice to hear the fuzzface go through that to see what it does. They have that fancy switcheroid machine to switch the pedals, why not set up amps too?
I like the Hendrix one more, mainly because of the voicing of it. It seems more buzzing it and a bit less bass heavy. But I love The Bonamasssa one... f* it i'm buying all four.
I'm not a fan of Joe Bonamassa at all, but I think I like his (and the red one) the best. I'd gladly own the silicon ones too just to switch up my sound from time to time, but I really love germanium transistors a lot. As a matter of fact, if you have any electronics skills at all, building your own fuzz face is quite simple. I mean, it's only got 9 components for crying out loud! 4 resistors (5 if you want an LED light on your DIY pedal), 3 capacitors, and 2 transistors! And the beauty of it it you could use just about any 2 germanium or silicon transistors you like, just make sure you adjust the bias resistor values accordingly because different transistors require their own special bias resistors.
i wish someone would demo fuzz with distortion sometime bc thats how fuzz is supossed to be used
Actually a power jack is helpful for those of us with many pedals we use often.
Also the LED light helps if (like me) a player uses several pedals which give distorted fuzz tones. For example - I also use an Octavio pedal for fuzz (which it does in addition to offering octave tones) and the LED would help me quickly see which one is engaged - so it's not about hearing or laziness.
In the 60's these pedals were not retro - I'm happy to embrace the new.
Completely agree they are way overpriced!
I dig the blue hendrix one, nice mids.
These all sound great, but I think if there was a Violet Deliriums "Signature Model" it would be much smaller, like maybe the diameter of a medium-sized chocolate chip cookie -- and painted vivid violet. Do they have to be so big? Does this affect the sound? It eats up a lot of pedal board space for the effect space cadets like myself.
I would go for the JB fuzz. I wish they made them smaller size and put LEDs tho'. this rounded big size would not fit well in my pedalboard.
Bonamassa Fuzz ist the best! If you are using a Les Paul. There i really love it!
But for the Strat i would choose the Eric Johnson.
What is that chord!!! Its so beautiful!
Great demo.
I want to cover Hendrix and Gilmour, which of these would you recommend?
copper fuzzface sounded the best clear and perfect fuzz
JB then Red Original
germanium sounds the best imo. I like the silicon for the highs and clarity, but i'd rather have the germanium benefits and just add an eq.
I got the original blue fuzzface and love it to death!
Can't decide, they all have different characteristics. Any chance of doing it with a humbucking type pick up?
It's impossible not to know when those are on.
Bonamassa!!
You will not believe what the Dunlop Designer did with the FF...
they presented at namm 2013 a status LED and an AC power jack...
Man, the Bonamassa fuzz speaks!
I really dig the Dunlop FF mini and fullsize lines they are doing now and I think they are cool options for a lot of players, but I shot my Band Of Gypsys out with a Sunface with RCA transistors--and the Sunface was a clear winner. The older fuzz faces were very hit or miss, but some of these new boutique units are made by guys who are working really hard to match the correct vintage transistors.
Also James Santiago is the dude for these demos!
ruclips.net/video/l9Hr7oiOJVY/видео.html
Bonamassa FTW.
I would say, JB best tone for humbucker and EJ best tone for single coil. But if you use both type of pickups JB is alot better since EJ with HB's was way to muddy for my liking.
Thanks for a great video!
were you using a clean or dirty amp when doing this demo?
You can use a power supply with PNP transistors just fine. Just make sure that you have a dedicated supply and don't daisy chain positive ground and negative ground pedals.
That's probably the best shootout of pedals I've ever seen... very informative, done pretty scientifically instead of just goofing around.
My favorite was the Eric Johnson, followed by the red germanium. With those two you'd have your bases covered. The Hendrix was my least favorite -- had an irritating nasal quality to it. I've seen other demos where I liked the Hendrix a lot, though, so I think it depends a lot on your particular guitar + amp combination.
Thanks to the guys who did this shootout.
Wow, I really thought I’d prefer the germanium, turns out I’m a silicon guy.
I just inherited a mint 1959 Gibson Les Paul. I immediately routed it out and put a Floyd Rose whammy bar on it. Now it frikkin rocks!
Why is that relevant?
HI!, i would like to know wich pickups you are using in you strat!! please let me know
Thanks.
Unfortunately these Butt holes dont answer questions on there reviews !! 😫😫
What pedal or pedals were being used at the very beginning of the video?
James Santiago from Line 6?
im trying to decide between maybe the Eric Johnson or the other signature fuzz faces ehere and the fulltone 69 or the way huge swollen pickle please respond with honest opinions thank you
What kind of mics did you record with?
Did you runs your tone knob at 5 or something?
What is the deal with the Board all those pedals are on?
I've been looking to build a pedal board and have seen a bunch of boards which use the same metal/material as this one, can someone help me out?
Can u run the silicone ones on germanium transistors without tweaking?