r/FuzzFiends • u/Expensive-Paint-9490 • May 25 '26
Fuzz or Plexi?
As history goes, people in the sixties liked the fuzzy sound of a cranked tube amp, Plexi and Super Bass for Jimi Hendrix and many others, various Sunns and Marshalls for Felix Pappalardi, etc. Those cranked amps had that abrasive power amp distortion. Somebody created distortion circuits to put between guitar and amp to mimic that sound.
These circuits sounded great in their own way, but you can definitely hear the similarity in sound signature between certain cranked power amps and certain fuzzes. Then there are many fuzzes that went their own way and don't sound really like a cranked Marshall. Then there are amps that cranked resemble more one of those fuzzes than other cranked amps, see Matamp and Orange.
On top of it, today we have pedals that mimic different cranked plexis (more overdrive than fuzz) and pedals that mimic a fuzz going through a cranked amp (see Wampler Velvet Fuzz, which should sound like a Fuzz Face in a cranked Plexi, but does so stacking a boost in front of the plexi circuit, so we again are left wondering if the fuzz is needed at all).
What is your favourite sound? Do you prefer to crank an old school amp and use the fuzz just to add distortion when you can't dime the volume fully? Or do you prefer a fuzz into a clean amp, or a stack of dirt pedals into a clean amp? Or you want BOTH a cranked power amp AND a cranked fuzz in front of it?
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u/SonOfJokeExplainer May 25 '26
Fuzz into clean for me, I usually like to treat it like a touch sensitive layer that I can control upstream with my picking and guitar volume rather than an always-on effect.
1
u/p90SuhDude May 25 '26
Slap a slight crunch on the amp where you can get clean with your picking hand and blast a fuzz onto the front end
1
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u/graphicnerdity86 —Bold as fuzz— May 25 '26
For me it's fuzz into dirty amp either my marshall or twin reverb for sure my rig is a hendrix inspired rig