Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

What fuzz box are you currently using, or which ones do you like best for what you do?

I love fuzz and have tried several of the classics like the Big Muff and the obvious Fuzz Face, but the best box I’ve tried so far was the Fulltone Octafuzz. I don’t use the octaver function, only the fuzz. It’s pretty much the only effect I just can’t do without.

The Rush Pepbox, now made by Lucy Rush in the U.K., is my favorite. It is the best fuzz I have found that works really well with a Rickenbacker 330. It also works well with my other guitars, including humbuckers. But for the Rickenbacker in particular, no other fuzz works as well. This is the original pedal that has been made by Pepe Rush and now Lucy, since the mid 60’s. WEM helped Pepe Rush market them but WEM is out of business. If you see a “WEM” on a Pepbox now it is just a copy of Pepe and Lucy’s original Rush Pepbox. Circuits can be copied for many pedals, but I think components for fuzz, and the care with which they are assembled, can make a difference. There are copies of this pedal and they are “rubbish”, as they say.
https://www.rushamps.com/

There is three I have that get rotated depending on what I'm seeking (mostly for my basses, though).

Cave Passive Pedals B-Drive Mk II
Tech21 Sansamp GT-2
tc electronic MOJOMOJO

I love my AnalogMan Sunface. But lately I'm pushing my 2000 330 SG through a RAT (not really a fuzz, I know) and dig it.

I've never been much of a fuzz guy. Amp-like overdrive and crunch has always been my pursuit.

I'm currently getting to know a Blackstone Appliances Mosfet Overdrive. The ability to have both a low-gain and high-gain sound available in one small pedal is nice. (It can even sound a little fuzzy at max gain...)

Of course, there are more and more "two-headed" pedals being made these days, but this one has been made for over 20 years!

Foxx Tone Machine reissue...as heard on “Of Bow & Drum” by Adrian Belew. Great searing octave style fuzz. Eats yer batteries like Cookie Monster and Fuzzy like a muppet too. This with a down octave on a whammy pedal sounds just massive.

I use a “tube sound fuzz” TSF clone that I built with an additional dual led clipping circuit. The Red Llama is derived from it.

The 385 OD (based on filmosound projector amps) can become a fuzz if you crank either of the tone knobs past noon. I either have the TSF or 385 on all the time & use a volume pedal to dial in the awesome or clean it up.

Not a fan of the Big Muff, had one on my board for years but they fart out on the lows too much. I’m fairly certain that’s the technical term.

I use a Dunwich Du-95 fuzz, which is essentially a highly modified version of the old EHX green russian muff.

That said, my amp is already a bit overdriven. So the Du-95 functions kind of as a really dirty boost.

The second switch is a midboost, and it also has a knob to tailor the mids a bit more in-depth. The switch on the left bypasses the tone control, the switch on the right chooses between silicon and LED diodes. I use LED for bass (my primary instrument) and silicon for guitar. The "crunch" control sorta dials in how compressed it is. The fuzz control sorta tops out at about the halfway point of the fuzz control on a regular big muff.