Wall of Fuzz

(I can't Get No) Satisfaction, released in 1965, was the first US number one hit for The Rolling Stones and their fourth UK number one.  Keith Richards' driving three note riff was apparently intended to be replaced by horns.  Instead, it unleashed the Fuzz pedal sound on an unsuspecting world.  The Gibson/Maestro FZ-1 Fuzz Tone pedal was created in 1962, but it was The Stones' hit that really put it on the map and boosted sales.

The heavily distorted sound, known as Fuzz, was originally created by ripping or poking holes in a guitar amp speaker, before it became available in pedal-format.

Other early examples of Fuzz pedals include the Sola Sound Tone Bender (MK1 was released in 1965 and MK11 in 1966), built using germanium transistors and used by many famous British guitarists, the Arbiter Electronics Ltd Fuzz Face (1966), and the Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi.  Although Jimi Hendrix performed and recorded with a Fuzz Face, the story goes that he bought a Muff within the first week of them going on sale.

It was, in fact, the Big Muff, which gave me my first taste of Fuzz, and it was a jaw-dropping experience.  I was in awe of the wall of sound!  For me, though, there were three problems with this pedal: firstly, I found it a little too metallic for my liking; secondly, it was a roaring beast which burst into a wail of noise as soon as I hit the switch and could only be tamed with a noise supressor pedal (the ISP Decimator being my weapon of choice); and thirdly, it just didn't cut through the mix in a live band situation.  This third point is a well-known problem with fuzz pedals.  Maybe I just had a bad example, but much as I loved this pedal it ended up on eBay.

I was then fortunate to acquire a second hand Mojo Hand Huckleberry.  This was an early 3-knob version (Mojo Hand added a Juice knob to the later version).  Whilst a few retailers are still offering this pedal for sale, it has been discontinued and superseded by the new range of Fuzz pedals available from the company (Iron Bell, Crosstown, One Ton Bee, Zephyr and Colossus - all great names for Fuzz pedals).  The Huckleberry is described as a Fuzz Face cross-bred with a Muff, with both silicon and germanium transistors, and the wall of Fuzz it creates is a beautiful sound!


My Fuzz Pedal of choice these days, however, is the Fulltone 70-BC, which features two intentionally mismatched silicon transistors.  The addition of the Mid knob really helps it cut through the mix.  It also sounds amazing used along with a Flanger.

Hendrix, of course, knew exactly how to use a Fuzz pedal.  Using different pickups and manipulating his volume control, he could produce a full-on howl, fat-sounding tone and detailed clean textures as well.  If you've not tried a Fuzz, you need to get experienced!