Old Blue Fuzz Quest

[Blackboarcult]

I'm in the process of building some kind of "Venom--in-a-box" pedal for a buddy, and I'd like some advice from those well versed in vintage stompboxes.

I have tracked down most of the details from Mantas' gear circa 1981-1984 to get an accurate emulation of his tone. Easy one for the main circuit, which was a 2203 JCM800 cranked all the way up (which will spare me the 3 tonestack knobs ) but where I'm a bit lost is regarding his boost: in a recent interview (culled from Guitar World) he states the following:
"... had a Marshall JCM800 and a cabinet I bought second hand by some company I never heard of. And I used a horrible big blue generic fuzz pedal for everything. The feedback was horrendous. It was total Spinal Tap. Everything went to 11."

SO the question is which horrible blue fuzz could he use at that time? My guesses are so far the Dunlop blue fuzz face or the MXR M-103 blue box, both available at the time, but hopefully some more experienced gearheads here will enlighten me with other possible candidates to breadboard

For those with a good ear, here's a sample of their tone:
 https://youtu.be/nn5sN5AmzBQ

Thanks in advance for any advice!

[SeaWitch]

Oh man, you are right in my alley with this.

As for your search for what that blue pedal might have been, look at the Univox Super Fuzz, it had a blueish rubber pad on it, and it's period correct...

I recently built a handful of fuzz effects to satisfy that THIN nasty fuzz craving i was having...read here:

http://guitar-fx-layouts.42897.x6.nabble.com/Spaghetti-Western-Nastiness-td44121i20.html

For that old black metal sound, try the Meathead with switchable caps...it's a damn fine (and easy) build.  With the switchable caps it goes from that thin Venom/Darkthrone awesome lo-fi sound, to a heavy, thick overdrive/fuzz.  There are 3 modes, so you can get thin/middle/thick.  it's so easy to customize with different trannies/caps, you'll have a ton of fun messing with it.

https://tagboardeffects.blogspot.com/2012/02/dam-meathead-with-switchable-caps.html

I'm also planning to build the Orpheum fuzz (which lives in the same cave as the Univox super fuzz), which I hope i will like as much as i think i will!  

https://tagboardeffects.blogspot.com/2012/12/orpheum-fuzz.html

Keep us updated on your quest!




 

[Blackboarcult]

Hey mate,

Thanks a lot for the feedback! I'll order some transistors and breadboard the Meathead to test it with the JCM800 emu, see if it's in the ballpark...

I have also included another candidate, the Jen/JHS FZ-III... can't get more "generic" and "horrible" than this one hahaha!

I'll get around it in a couple weeks or so methinks. I still have to finish some builds for a couple of friends. So much to build, so little time as usual

If you are into the Darkthrone/early Satyricon, Katharsis, and the whole lo-fi buzzing sound, last week I stumbled upon the schematic for a certain Gorilla practice amp that was allegedly used by Satyr and Fenriz in the early days, might be worth to breadboard and experiment. I'd really like to do a pedal version of the peavey bandit preamp (which was also used in that era), but that thing is huge. Anyway here goes the gorilla schem (source prowessamplifiers.com):



Thanks again, I'll keep you posted!!!

[Travis]

SeaWitch wrote

Oh man, you are right in my alley with this.

As for your search for what that blue pedal might have been, look at the Univox Super Fuzz, it had a blueish rubber pad on it, and it's period correct...

I recently built a handful of fuzz effects to satisfy that THIN nasty fuzz craving i was having...read here:

http://guitar-fx-layouts.42897.x6.nabble.com/Spaghetti-Western-Nastiness-td44121i20.html

For that old black metal sound, try the Meathead with switchable caps...it's a damn fine (and easy) build.  With the switchable caps it goes from that thin Venom/Darkthrone awesome lo-fi sound, to a heavy, thick overdrive/fuzz.  There are 3 modes, so you can get thin/middle/thick.  it's so easy to customize with different trannies/caps, you'll have a ton of fun messing with it.

https://tagboardeffects.blogspot.com/2012/02/dam-meathead-with-switchable-caps.html

I'm also planning to build the Orpheum fuzz (which lives in the same cave as the Univox super fuzz), which I hope i will like as much as i think i will!  

https://tagboardeffects.blogspot.com/2012/12/orpheum-fuzz.html

Keep us updated on your quest!

This post is going to be kinda irrelevant to the OP, but I can’t help but mention a couple things

There were several incarnations of the Superfuzz, and two main circuit types. There was the FY-6 and the FY-2.

The one that you built is the FY-2. It came in a black, folded steel, wedge shaped enclosure. It was never available in the enclosure with the blue pad.

The FY-2 is a 2 transistor circuit most similar to the Fuzzrite. The Orpheum fuzz is another Fuzzrite derivative btw

The FY-6 was the one with the big blue footpad, also available in the same enclosure with a black and gray color scheme, as well as a different folded steel wedge shaped enclosure similar to the FY-2.

The FY-6 has an octave up fuzz sound, with a toggle switch to select mid boost or cut. The mid boost setting is incredible when you want a nasty sounding fuzz that really sits well in a live mix.

Knowing a little bit about your taste, I think you definitely should try the FY-6 type Superfuzz as well if you haven’t yet.

If you go down the FY-6 path, be sure to check out the Ace stone FM-2 as well. I have both, and from my particular examples I tend to like the Ace Tone even a little better