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KING CRIMSON fuzz!


Steve Howe

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I think Rbt. Fripp (aka, 'The Fripp', 'The Frippinator', or 'Molly Rosycheeks') said himself that his early tone was simply based on a Les Paul into a fuzz turned up all the way into a Marshall or equivalent, and that it really didn't matter what fuzz you were using - just make sure it's over the top. Turn down your guitar's tone knob to taste.

 

And yeah, they had Big Muffs in 1969, but Fripp was most likely using a Guild Foxey Lady or some bizarre Roger Mayer-ish contraption.

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http://kboman.digitaldistractions.se/fripperies/1970s.html

Early Fripp fuzz pedals, Burns Buzzaround, Guild Foxy Lady :)

 

Effects

 

As stated before, only three pedals were used, a volume pedal made by Farfisa which was apparently the cheapest he could find, a fuzz pedal - preferably a Burns Buzzaround, but specific model not really important - and a wah wah pedal of unknown model. Both the fuzz and the wah were placed in seperate circuits and engaged only when used. In the GP interview there is also mention of a Watkins Kopy Kat delay unit, but this is not something I have noticed on any recording (the official spelling is "Copicat").

 

The pedal board was made by Pete Cornish, and King Crimson were among his very first customers (the first being Peter Banks of Yes). The board is detailed here as having "a Guild Foxy Lady, [...] a Cry Baby wah-wah, a Farfisa wooden-bodied volume pedal ('The best volume pedal I've ever come across.' Says Pete, 'very expressive'), plus an echo send and return, and a bypass switch for the echo and effects (but not the volume)". Later in '74 a spare was built with a DeArmond volume pedal. It's worth to note that a Cornish build includes rewiring of the effects with very high class leads, so a Cornish board would sound better and have more clarity than a regular effects chain.

 

The most often asked about part of RF's guitar equipment for this period is the fuzz pedal. His own reply is "I can get that same sound with every kind of fuzz box I've ever used. It's not a question of equipment". Apart from the method of playing, at this point there were not, as today, literally thousands of different fuzz/overdrive/distorsion pedals of wildly different character availiable for immediate purchase - the range of circuit board designs then was nowhere as diverse as it is now. For further discussion on how to approach the sound RF had in this period, see the thread "Cheap and Dirty Fripp sustain" in the Elephant Talk newsletter, begun in issue #1016.

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My English bud Mike built a wonderful BMP clone for me a few months back and it does early King Crimson very well. Best of all, it was only about $65. I'll try to get a pic and a clip of 'Red' up sometime.

 

 

Oh, please do! Can someone post a clip of KC licks played through a Big Muff, as it would be interesting to hear how well it can cop Fripp

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A Big Muff that's got a healthy midrange is a great tool for that tone. That way you can turn up the tone knob (all of Fripp's stuff sounds like it's fairly trebly) without losing your midrange. It's a simple mod if you have a Big Muff to thicken up the mids. My flat mids tone stack uses two .01uf capacitors and two 33k resistors, for example. Given that info, you can easily convert any Big Muff to flat mids without needing to know exactly which part is which, as long as you know you're dealing with the tone stack section.

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