germanium vs. silicon fuzz

[texwest]

There was alot of talk about the best silicon fuzzes awhile back. The london fuzz 2, the crucible si fuzz and the fox/crest RI were mentioned. Does anyone have anymore thoughts about these pedals?

Also what do you see sas the main tonal diffrence between germanium and silicon. I recently played a keeley fuzzhead. It switches between si and ge. The ge side was so smooth. I really loved it. The london fuzz with ge has incredible rave reviews. On harmony central everyone says it blows away fulltone 69. There is also a crucible ge fuzz.

So does anyon ehave thoughts about london fuzz ge, crucible fuzz ge, fulltone 69, keeley fuzzhead?

What is best for band of gypsy's type tone?

[SB Monster]

Tex, I bought a Crucible si fuzz a while back and it gave me some problems, the guys I bought it from were very helpful and as well as sending me a few packets of strings and a heap of carbon batteries for the hassle, also sent me a crucible ge to try out for a while. Actually this post of yours has reminded me that I gotta send it back to them

I had a sunface NKT275 that I bought about 3 years ago so I don't know if that makes it one of the 'good' ones as Dan/Billybatz put it but I did gig pretty full on with it for that time. The Crucible ge that was loaned to me was IMO a better fuzz pedal. The sunface was great and did almost everything that a fuzz should but with a couple of complaints. As a few guys here have rightly said the best tones are to be got out of a fuzz when the guitar volume is NOT full up. Once I tried the crucible ge I realised that the sunface cleaned up too much for my liking and once the guitar volume was backed off the sweet spot I wanted was far too 'narrow', too hard to find easily. The crucible with it's extra gain worked more as I wanted to as I backed off the volume. The other complaint, and I have found this to be the case with most analogman gear I've tried, is it sounds too smooth, too hi-fi. The crucible has more fuzzy spit that the sunface, nowhere near as much as a silicon fuzz but enough to make it sound more honest, it does sound 'thicker'. It sounds like a fuzz even when the guitar vol is full up which the sunface could never do. In my experience, and having never tried the fulltone fuzz stuff though I think there is a certain amount of hype about some of that gear as well as AM, the crucible ge will do more of what I think you're looking for.

In the meantime whilst waiting on a replacement crucible si, and having read Mike/Bluefuzz's coments, I bought a london fuzz 2 which is also si. The london and the crucible are very different animals also. The londonfuzz is subdued by comparison to the crucible. Thr crucible has about 20% more gain and a bit more output. The tone is thicker and it spits and snarls and growls at you in a way that does put a huge grin on your face but I think the londonfuzz is more useable. It has a sweeter midrange and top and with slightly less gain it cleans up real nice. It is perfect for anything off 'Axis' or similar that you want that chimey chorusy tone for. The only criticism with the londonfuzz2 is the output is low even with a 500k vol pot. I guess I could put a 750 or 1000k in there right? anyone? If you have to go balls-out I'd go with the crucible but the london fuzz has a sweeter tone.

Paul

[Billy Batz]

I had a sunface NKT275 that I bought about 3 years ago so I don't know if that makes it one of the 'good' ones as Dan/Billybatz put it but I did gig pretty full on with it for that time.

I guess so as I was refering to the ones with that transistor. I may be wrong but he doesnt have any left now.

The Crucible ge that was loaned to me was IMO a better fuzz pedal. The sunface was great and did almost everything that a fuzz should but with a couple of complaints. As a few guys here have rightly said the best tones are to be got out of a fuzz when the guitar volume is NOT full up. Once I tried the crucible ge I realised that the sunface cleaned up too much for my liking and once the guitar volume was backed off the sweet spot I wanted was far too 'narrow', too hard to find easily. The crucible with it's extra gain worked more as I wanted to as I backed off the volume. The other complaint, and I have found this to be the case with most analogman gear I've tried, is it sounds too smooth, too hi-fi. The crucible has more fuzzy spit that the sunface, nowhere near as much as a silicon fuzz but enough to make it sound more honest, it does sound 'thicker'. It sounds like a fuzz even when the guitar vol is full up which the sunface could never do. In my experience, and having never tried the fulltone fuzz stuff though I think there is a certain amount of hype about some of that gear as well as AM, the crucible ge will do more of what I think you're looking for.

See from the other thread I took it as he wanted the opposite of what your talking about. Less grit and more of a fuzz that was useable at full volume without being over the top like a fuzz is. I see the same comparison with the Fulltone Ultimate Octave it has that really HiFi vibe even in fuzz mode compared to more true octavias.

[SB Monster]

See from the other thread I took it as he wanted the opposite of what your talking about. Less grit and more of a fuzz that was useable at full volume without being over the top like a fuzz is. I see the same comparison with the Fulltone Ultimate Octave it has that really HiFi vibe even in fuzz mode compared to more true octavias.

You could be right but I'm thinking the Crucible ge might do what Tex is looking for. The Crucible is made your side of the pond so it should be a sinch for you guys to get to try this stuff out or at least I would have thought so.

Paul

[Billy Batz]

I wish it was. Id have to drive to NYC to play in a store with a lot of booteek stuff and even then, I have to own something for a little while to decide. Most of the things Ive gone through Ive just bit the bullet and bought and put on ebay if it came to that which it almost always did.

[SB Monster]

Sounds all too familiar.

[texwest]

Tex, I bought a Crucible si fuzz a while back and it gave me some problems, the guys I bought it from were very helpful and as well as sending me a few packets of strings and a heap of carbon batteries for the hassle, also sent me a crucible ge to try out for a while. Actually this post of yours has reminded me that I gotta send it back to them

I had a sunface NKT275 that I bought about 3 years ago so I don't know if that makes it one of the 'good' ones as Dan/Billybatz put it but I did gig pretty full on with it for that time. The Crucible ge that was loaned to me was IMO a better fuzz pedal. The sunface was great and did almost everything that a fuzz should but with a couple of complaints. As a few guys here have rightly said the best tones are to be got out of a fuzz when the guitar volume is NOT full up. Once I tried the crucible ge I realised that the sunface cleaned up too much for my liking and once the guitar volume was backed off the sweet spot I wanted was far too 'narrow', too hard to find easily. The crucible with it's extra gain worked more as I wanted to as I backed off the volume. The other complaint, and I have found this to be the case with most analogman gear I've tried, is it sounds too smooth, too hi-fi. The crucible has more fuzzy spit that the sunface, nowhere near as much as a silicon fuzz but enough to make it sound more honest, it does sound 'thicker'. It sounds like a fuzz even when the guitar vol is full up which the sunface could never do. In my experience, and having never tried the fulltone fuzz stuff though I think there is a certain amount of hype about some of that gear as well as AM, the crucible ge will do more of what I think you're looking for.

In the meantime whilst waiting on a replacement crucible si, and having read Mike/Bluefuzz's coments, I bought a london fuzz 2 which is also si. The london and the crucible are very different animals also. The londonfuzz is subdued by comparison to the crucible. Thr crucible has about 20% more gain and a bit more output. The tone is thicker and it spits and snarls and growls at you in a way that does put a huge grin on your face but I think the londonfuzz is more useable. It has a sweeter midrange and top and with slightly less gain it cleans up real nice. It is perfect for anything off 'Axis' or similar that you want that chimey chorusy tone for. The only criticism with the londonfuzz2 is the output is low even with a 500k vol pot. I guess I could put a 750 or 1000k in there right? anyone? If you have to go balls-out I'd go with the crucible but the london fuzz has a sweeter tone.

Paul

thanks so much Paul. This is the sort of info that is very helpful! You were talking about the ge and si crucible fuzzes. You talked about the ge crucible for awhile so I'm not sure whether you are recommending the si or ge. At the end of your comments are you talking about the ge? How it spits and all that stuff. How would you describe the difference between the si and ge crucibles?

Wes

[texwest]

I wish it was. Id have to drive to NYC to play in a store with a lot of booteek stuff and even then, I have to own something for a little while to decide. Most of the things Ive gone through Ive just bit the bullet and bought and put on ebay if it came to that which it almost always did.

I totally know what you mean. I'll probably buy all of them and try them out. It makes me want to buy it off ebay and then sell it if it isn't right for me. Then you don't lose money. The only problem with buying effects this way is that someone might have jacked with the trim pots inside so it might not be set where it should be.

[SB Monster]

thanks so much Paul. This is the sort of info that is very helpful! You were talking about the ge and si crucible fuzzes. You talked about the ge crucible for awhile so I'm not sure whether you are recommending the si or ge. At the end of your comments are you talking about the ge? How it spits and all that stuff. How would you describe the difference between the si and ge crucibles?

Wes

Firstly the difference between ge and si fuzzes generally is.... si will be brighter and have much more treble and definition full throttle, the trade off being the in my experience they can be a little brash as you back off the volume and the tone cleans up, the si transistors just have that characteristic. ge will be warmer and less defined or wooly at full volume but as you back off the guitar volume the tone could be considered warmer and not as bright. This is a very broad generalisation though.
The two crucible units have more or less the same differences with the si being a pretty full on sort of pedal. I really liked it at first but on trying their ge as well and comparing them both I'd say that the ge is predictably a softer sounding fuzz. It has some of the raspiness of a si fuzz at full volume whilst still sounding very fat but has the warmth of a ge as the tone cleans up. It definitely sounded very Hendrix to my ears and definitely a more useable fuzz than the AM sunface.

[SB Monster]

Just to add Wes, both the crucible units have a fair bit more gain than normal available, plenty of output though so you can find your sweet spot quite easily.

Paul

[AbbeSauniere]

I can't agree more about the AM Sunface NKT 275. Too clean at full attack. It was borderline overdrive to my ears rather than a fuzz. At the time, I also owned a MJM London Ge, a Crucible Si and Ge and a grey case Arbiter RI with the standard Sunface mods(NOS Ge trannies, but not the NKT). The Crucible Si is really high gain. You need to watch amp gain settings with this one, especially with humbuckers. Amp needs to run a bit cleaner with this than with Ge fuzzes. Gets really compressed when driving a already overdriven amp. I found the Crucible Ge to be looser and woolier. Sounded very 60's Punk/Garage. The absolute fattest Ge was the London. Sounded like the Sunface at full bore with a few notches more of gain. Didn't clean up as well, but you're starting out with more gain...The Arbiter RI was the most transparent, EQ wise and has as much gain as the London. Doesn't fatten up the signal like the London or NKT275, but swapping the 100K Volume Pot with a 250 or 500 would probably make it sound more like the London or NKT. Regarding the pots in the London, I never had any output issues. Had plenty of volume and boost on hand. The
Addrock Geranium Fuzz is another Fuzz Face clone you might consider. Very versatile and one of the best FF clones I've ever owned/heard. Has plenty of Fuzz and gain and adds just a touch of fatness to the signal. Highly underated!

[SB Monster]

Hey Abbe I'm DONE buying fuzzfaces. That looser feel of the crucible ge is what makes it whip the sunface IMO. Do you really reckon the Arbiter RI was any good?

Paul

[bluefuzzguitar]

[quote="SB Monster"]The only criticism with the londonfuzz2 is the output is low even with a 500k vol pot. I guess I could put a 750 or 1000k in there right? anyone?[/quote]

Sure you could, but like Abbe I never had any issues with the output of my London II silicon fuzz. It's just as loud as my original late 60s/early 70s Dallas Arbiter FF and my 80s Crest/Fox RI FF (once it was fitted with a 500k pot, that is). Sounds to me you either have a faulty pot or you're just used to the insane volume boost of the Crucible.

Mike

[sub]

What is best for band of gypsy's type tone?

Jimi used Si Fuzz -> Band of Gypsy era

[AbbeSauniere]

Hey Abbe I'm DONE buying fuzzfaces. That looser feel of the crucible ge is what makes it whip the sunface IMO. Do you really reckon the Arbiter RI was any good?

Paul

It's a totally different pedal from the NKT Sunface, oddly enough.
Sounds like a leaner London Fuzz. Lighter on the bass, but has a more aggressive voice than the NKT Sunface. Kind of like a more focused Crucible Ge. Not as splatty and aggresive as the Crucible.