Fuzz Factory on the way -- send me your settings!

[Whipper]

Picked one up on eBay for $132.50. Can't wait to drive that puppy around the block. Anyone care to share favorite settings? I'll be using mine as follows (at first, anyway):

 

Tele > Keeley Modded TS9 > MXR Micro Amp (for solo boost) > Boss DM-2 > Fuzz Factory > '68 Bassman.

 

Yay!

[mrweems]

there is a list somewhere. its got something like 50+ settings.

[Liberty Belle]

yea and a huge majority of them sound the same.

 

screw list and settings man,just find your own and have fun with it.

[kyrreca]

Some settings here:

http://acapella.harmony-central.com/showthread.php?t=1376352

I have a .doc file with loads of settings somewhere, I'll see if I can find it.

[cdawzrd]

The settings lists are bull{censored}. I've tried. You just have to tweak knobs and find the right sound... the lists say like "12 oclock" etc, but in reality, the FF is so sensitive that it's more like you find the perfect sound with the knob at 12:15 and 30 seconds, if you get my drift. just play with it.

[Jakkeh]

Put the FF First in the chain! When you first get it. Just go guitar -> FF -> amp. Bliss. Everything at 12 o clock. Volume at 9 o clock.

[kyrreca]

 

The settings lists are bull{censored}. I've tried. You just have to tweak knobs and find the right sound... the lists say like "12 oclock" etc, but in reality, the FF is so sensitive that it's more like you find the perfect sound with the knob at 12:15 and 30 seconds, if you get my drift. just play with it.

 

 

Yeah, that's true. The Fuzz Factory needs to be tweaked. When I first got my FF I found the suggested settings helpful, though. Just to get to know the pedal.

[willburford]

 

Tele > Keeley Modded TS9 > MXR Micro Amp (for solo boost) > Boss DM-2 > Fuzz Factory > '68 Bassman.

 

 

this could be problematic. the dm-2 could mess it up because it's buffered and the FF uses germanium transistors.

 

I'm going to go try putting a buffer in front of mine and see what happens. never actually tried that.

[kyrreca]

A buffer before the FF is not a good idea.

[Whipper]

 

A buffer before the FF is not a good idea.

 

 

 

Yeah, can you explain that part? I'm not sure what has a buffer. Is there something in my signal chain with a buffer?

[Whipper]

 

this could be problematic. the dm-2 could mess it up because it's buffered and the FF uses germanium transistors. I'm going to go try putting a buffer in front of mine and see what happens. never actually tried that.

 

 

Oh....sorry...thanks

[Whipper]

yeah, the only reason I'm considering putting the pedals in that sequence are because I usually step on the MXR and the DM-2 simultaneously to boost the TS9 to solo level. I may just put them in a looper AFTER the FF. So it would go like this:

 

Guitfiddle > TS9 > FF > looper with MXR and Delay > amp

[willburford]

ts9 has a buffer in it, too.

 

not sure about the mxr.

 

not that buffers are bad in general by any means, just when trying to put them before germanium based effects.

[Whipper]

 

ts9 has a buffer in it, too. not sure about the mxr. not that buffers are bad in general by any means, just when trying to put them before germanium based effects.

 

 

Good to know, thanks. So are they okay AFTER germanium based effects?

[Whipper]

For example, I could:

 

Guizatar > looper channel 1 > FF

> looper channel 2 > TS9

> post looper: MXR > DM-2

[kyrreca]

For example, I could: Guizatar > looper channel 1 > FF TS9 DM-2

 

That would work just fine.

[blackjack davey]

Always,always put the FF first in the chain. Otherwise, it will get anger and you don't want to see it angry...unless you're that kind of person 8^)

 

My current settings are:

 

Vol: 9

Gate: 2

Comp: 8

Drive: 1

Stab: 10

 

Running this into a Bass boosted EQ is

[Liberty Belle]

the fuzz factory doesnt need to be first,you just cant have a buffered pedal before it.

[Whipper]

Thanks. Can someone explain buffering?

[AuttumAttic]

Thanks. Can someone explain buffering?

Buffering {censored}s with the Factory.

[Whipper]

Buffering {censored}s with the Factory.

 

Wow. Is that its SOLE function?:)

[AuttumAttic]

To fully understand what a buffered pedal does, we need to understand how a buffer works. First off, the word "buffer" actually means "devices or pieces of material for reducing shock or damage due to contact", according to Merriam-Webster's excellent online dictionary. In short, it's designed to sit in between (in this case) the guitar pickups and the effects circuit, to cushion the connection between them. It does this job by disconnecting the source (guitar pickups or effects pedal in front of the buffer) from the circuits that follow. Let's look a little deeper into this, shall we?

 

Keep in mind that regardless of switching status ("bypass" or active), your sound will have to pass through at least three transistors (one in the input buffer, the switching transistor and one in the output buffer). Now, if you look at the drawing to the right, you'll see that a transistor is essentially a floodgate, which uses the original incoming signal to control the flow of electrons from its power source to its output. Essentially, it turns the power source flow into a copy of the original signal. If the power source is bigger than the original, the signal is amplified. Or rather - the bigger power source is turned into a larger copy of the original signal. In a buffer application (with equal gain in and out), the output signal is kept at the same level as the original signal. In either case, the original signal is lost forever - the transistor emits a more sturdy, low impedance copy of it, while it also disconnects the original signal's source from whatever follows the transistor output. If those transistors are substandard (e.g. cheap), the resulting tone emitted might be less than desireable. Then imagine a pedalboard with five or six Boss pedals chained together - you're looking at fifteen to eighteen transistors, just to get the guitar signal to pass straight through the pedals...

 

There are of course good buffers too, and in most cases, your garden variety Boss-type pedal will not mess too much with your tone. But you should at least be aware of the stacking factor - just like in the good old days of double-decker cassette players, when you could copy a copy of a copy etc, if you add up too many buffers in a row, the signal at the end of all those transistors will be quite a bit different from what you put into the first one. But no matter how good the buffer is, the low impedance signal it emits will change how it interacts with the next pedal (or the cable to the amp, if it's the last thing in the chain). Most times, it will be a change for the better - for instance, it will drive circuits with low-ish input impedance much better, as well as long cables to the amp - but not always. If you put a germanium fuzz pedal (like a Fuzz Face or a Fulltone '69) after a buffered pedal like the Tube Screamer, the fuzz will sound like... well, you don't want to know. Decent language doesn't cut it if you want to describe the sound, and *crap* isn't strong enough. Anyway, a standard Dunlop wah pedal (manufactured 1992 or later) will do the same, and some buffered pedals will disturb fuzz pedals even if they're placed after them in the chain...

[IvIark]

Wow. Is that its SOLE function? :)

 

Yes. It's to stop people who like buffers having a weird sounding fuzz

[IvIark]

Or this may be useful

[zachary vex]

The fuzz factory likes to see the pickups and volume control on the guitar directly. I could explain it in purely technical terms but it would be a real snoozer. Suffice to say, if you want to get the sweetest tone from the FF and have the greatest control over the sound of the FF from your guitar's volume control, plug the guitar directly into the FF with nothing (not even a tuner) between.