Fuzz Pedal

This site is here to give you information and reviews about fuzz pedals and to serve as a buyer's guide.

The fuzz pedal, also known as a fuzzbox (or fuzz box), produces a rich form of distortion that adds a unique, edgy flavor to your musical instrument (or even your voice). It's an effects pedal, most often used on guitar, which generates a clipping, distorted version of the input signal. Although the term "fuzzbox" is often used to refer to any effects device which produces a distorted signal, fuzz pedals have a more distorted and synthetic sound than typical overdrive or distortion pedals. For a fairly inexpensive price, a garage band rocker can usually afford the same model as his favorite famous rock star guitarist!

The earliest "fuzz sound" was born several decades ago, by accident, due to various unintentional situations. Some distorted sounds were due to overdriven or malfunctioning amps and tubes. Some because of a faulty recording console or microphone preamplifier circuit. In some cases the distorted sound was the result of a damaged guitar amp speaker cone. Though the distortion may have been annoying at first, it didn't take long to realize how "cool" it sounded and thus began the quest to reproduce the effect in pedal form.

Reportedly, the first custom fuzz box was made by Red Rhodes (b. 1930 - d. 1995). Rhodes was an American pedal steel guitarist who worked as a session musician, and was also an electronics wizard. In 1962, The Ventures asked him how they could reproduce the sound of Marty Robbins' 1961 song "Don't Worry". The fuzz sound in Robbins' song was due to a faulty recording console preamplifier circuit. So, a new sound was born by accident, and later recreated with a fuzz pedal.

The fuzz pedal really hit it's stride in the mid-60s after being used by the likes of The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, The Who, The Kinks, and Jimi Hendrix, just to name a few. Paul McCartney even used a fuzzbox on his bass for the Beatles' 1965 Rubber Soul track "Think for Yourself" (written and sung by George Harrison). The fuzz pedal sound burst onto the scene in the sixties and it's here to stay!

Fuzz Pedals on the floor in front of guitarist
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