Members OMTerria Posted March 4, 2011 Members Share Posted March 4, 2011 I'm looking for something to cop some Neil Young toans and get the old cranked Fender sound. Burgs' demo of the Formula no.5 sounds ridiculously cool when he goes into the Like a Hurricane riff, but I was curious if the Crazy Horse is worth the extra coin for versatility's sake. Essentially, is the Formula no.5 going to be what I want or is moar better in this case? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Operator Posted March 4, 2011 Members Share Posted March 4, 2011 They're pretty different it seems. Formula 5 is a solid tweed amp sound, an overdrive that's hairy as tweed amps tend to be. Crazy Horse is like if that amp were detonating. Its a nasty fuzz pedal that can do a lot of different sounds, especially using the volt knob and your guitars's volume and tone knobs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members OMTerria Posted March 4, 2011 Author Members Share Posted March 4, 2011 They're pretty different it seems. Formula 5 is a solid tweed amp sound, an overdrive that's hairy as tweed amps tend to be. Crazy Horse is like if that amp were detonating. Its a nasty fuzz pedal that can do a lot of different sounds, especially using the volt knob and your guitars's volume and tone knobs. I can see that, but with humbuckers the Catalinbread seems to get pretty spongey and fuzzy with the gain maxed out. I guess I wouldn't be able to get that with lower gain though, as I could with the Crazy Horse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Operator Posted March 4, 2011 Members Share Posted March 4, 2011 Well here's another way to think about it. I wouldn't recommend the Horse for anything other than medium gain or more. It sounds like the Formula 5 can do much lower gain territory well. In fact, I wouldn't think of them in the same category; the Crazy Horse is a nasty, gnarly fuzz, and while the Formula is furry likea tweed, it's still anoverdrive and behaves like one. I got the former because of Dead Man, if that helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members OMTerria Posted March 4, 2011 Author Members Share Posted March 4, 2011 Ah ok, that makes more sense. I have plenty of fuzz action going on anyway, the Catalinbread seems more like what I'm looking for. Sweet, the cheaper option wins for once Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members macadood Posted March 4, 2011 Members Share Posted March 4, 2011 i'd say go with the formula 5 i picked one up in a trade about a month ago and that thing is pure sex cops those tones beautifullly. i havent heard the crazy horse in person but i'd say formula 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members OMTerria Posted March 4, 2011 Author Members Share Posted March 4, 2011 Does it play nice with others? Not that that's a huge concern of mine, but dirt stacking... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members macadood Posted March 4, 2011 Members Share Posted March 4, 2011 i think it does, yeah. reminds me a lot of a HBOD from what i heard from its demos. stacks real well, gives everything a nice sound. i duno but pick one up for sure if you want THE neil young Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members erksin Posted March 4, 2011 Members Share Posted March 4, 2011 The Crazy Horse it a truly kickass pedal - I owned one for awhile and really loved it. It does a lot of things really well - the amp melting NY tones, straight up distortion, lo-fi low gain stuff. Its a super versatile box and I think it's worth every penny. The Fn5 by contrast (and in my obviously biased opinion) sounds more like the actual amp. The Crazy Horse sounds like an amp being pummeled into submission by a Si Fuzz. So I guess the choice to be made is do you want the 5E3 amp sounds or do you want the more fuzzed out thing? You're right that the Fn5 will get spongey with a higher output pickup - it reacts much like the amp does by getting saggy when you hit it hard. As far as stacking goes - IMO it's just okay in that regard. It sounds good boosting other pedals much in the same way you'd maybe use a Fuzz Face to boost other things, so if that's something you're wanting to do then it might be the ticket. The only things I like hitting the Fn5 with are a healthy volume push from my Diamond Comp to saturate it or a bit of additional fuzz from my AstroTone Fuzz to make it more aggressive. Otherwise, I just crank up the gain for soloing and back off my guitar's volume for more medium gain stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members erksin Posted March 4, 2011 Members Share Posted March 4, 2011 i think it does, yeah. reminds me a lot of a HBOD from what i heard from its demos. stacks real well, gives everything a nice sound. i duno but pick one up for sure if you want THE neil young I have an HBOD next to the Fn5 on my board and they are pretty different - the HBOD is darker, way less gain, and doesn't have the same feel in the pick attack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members The Great Waldo Pepper Posted March 4, 2011 Members Share Posted March 4, 2011 As far as stacking goes - IMO it's just okay in that regard. It sounds good boosting other pedals much in the same way you'd maybe use a Fuzz Face to boost other things, so if that's something you're wanting to do then it might be the ticket. The only things I like hitting the Fn5 with are a healthy volume push from my Diamond Comp to saturate it or a bit of additional fuzz from my AstroTone Fuzz to make it more aggressive. Otherwise, I just crank up the gain for soloing and back off my guitar's volume for more medium gain stuff. I agree for straight up stacking... As an anecdote, my favorite sounds are with my 5E3 cranked and stacking Howard's Fuzz design into it. It is a whole lot of gain and like stacking a fuzz into a fuzz amp... But if you back off the guitar's volume you get a freakishly clean sound, roll open the volume and you got distorto city! Personally I think the Tweed Deluxe has one good setting, and that is pretty dirty and saggy. The clean sounds come from mastering the usage of the guitar volume control! It is a lost art! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Kap'n Posted March 4, 2011 Members Share Posted March 4, 2011 Personally I think the Tweed Deluxe has one good setting, and that is pretty dirty and saggy. The clean sounds come from mastering the usage of the guitar volume control! It is a lost art! NY doesn't even have volume and tone controls on Old Black anymore. Larry Cragg bypassed them. I'd guess a whizzer would help. Fn5 sounds like a cool box. I should try one out before the local guitar boutique (Gguitars) goes under. I got me lots of tweed and a new to me Ampeg Supereverb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members erksin Posted March 4, 2011 Members Share Posted March 4, 2011 I got me lots of tweed and a new to me Ampeg Supereverb. You mean a '63/'64 Supereverb/Superbreverb with the 15" speaker..? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Operator Posted March 4, 2011 Members Share Posted March 4, 2011 The Fn5 by contrast (and in my obviously biased opinion) sounds more like the actual amp. The Crazy Horse sounds like an amp being pummeled into submission by a Si Fuzz. This. Sounds like the Formula 5 is more like what you're looking for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members The P-Man Posted March 4, 2011 Members Share Posted March 4, 2011 This.Sounds like the Formula 5 is more like what you're looking for. I wouldn't say so, I Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Hand Amputation Posted March 4, 2011 Members Share Posted March 4, 2011 this thread is definitely relevant to my interests. can i get a link to a good Formula 5 demo? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members juri Posted March 4, 2011 Members Share Posted March 4, 2011 this thread is definitely relevant to my interests.can i get a link to a good Formula 5 demo? http://acapella.harmony-central.com/showthread.php?2699233-Catalinbread-No.-5-compared-to-Vintage-Tweed-Deluxe&highlight=formula+5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Operator Posted March 4, 2011 Members Share Posted March 4, 2011 I wouldn't say so, I Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members erksin Posted March 4, 2011 Members Share Posted March 4, 2011 I wouldn't say so, I Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members delay dude Posted March 4, 2011 Members Share Posted March 4, 2011 5E3 Sound? You should take a look at the les lius, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members The Great Waldo Pepper Posted March 4, 2011 Members Share Posted March 4, 2011 I wouldn't say so, I Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members The P-Man Posted March 4, 2011 Members Share Posted March 4, 2011 Yep, but from what I've read there's only one that he uses for 'his sound'. Pretty sure his tech has said that they've been through hundreds and nothing does what the main one does. He describes it as very unique and very unlike the others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Parah Salin Posted March 4, 2011 Members Share Posted March 4, 2011 BIG fan of the Crazy Horse. Can't really compare the two because I've never owned a Formula 5 but just wanted to chime in with my support for the Crazy Horse. I feel like both are different animals though but I'm sure you can't go wrong with either one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members juri Posted March 4, 2011 Members Share Posted March 4, 2011 StopReferencing mentioned the Menatone Dirty Blonde as well in another thread, not sure how close it gets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members OMTerria Posted March 4, 2011 Author Members Share Posted March 4, 2011 I have an Earthbound Audio Supercollider, Devi Rocket, Digitech CM-2, and a Catalinbread DLS that I can stack/boost with. Thread is less decided now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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