What does a fuzz box do to the guitar sound?

Question

I don't know the technical stuff to it, but I know a lot of famous guitarists like Jimi Hendrix and David Gilmour have used fuzz boxes. I'm just wondering what they do exactly as far as sound.

Answer 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oN6iOVIWpMw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEZPvFU8yqk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6uM-f5PIbI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWRRzd4hfMc

Answer 2

Understand that there are a number of variables in how a guitarist gets their sound: - The type of guitar used - The types of pickups on the guitar - The type of preamp or pre signal processor used (foot pedals) - The type of amplifier used - The type of post-signal processing used (effects racks, plate echo, etc.) It is different for almost every musician who has ever recorded, and you're never going to find an exact match using your own hardware. In the case of "Stairway to Heaven", Jimmy Page played the solo using his Fender Telecaster through either a Supro amp or a Marshall stack. You can hear that a plate reverb and probably a tape loop echo was used on the solo, too... this would have been added by the mixing engineer. To get even a close approximation of that solo, you'd need a Tele using the neck pickup (a Strat with the neck pickup might do in a pinch.) A guitar without the single coil bridge pickup would have a hard time getting that sound - Gibsons sound clean and melodic when distorted, but don't ever get the single coil bite Jimmy Page got on that Telecaster. You'll also need an overdriven tube amplifier with effects or a pedal that simulates that (such as a Line6 POD XT), with the reverb and echo turned on. A "Fuzzbox" won't be enough, if you're looking for a single toy that'll do it. You'll need a multi-effects unit that can do all the constituent effects like overdrive, loop echo, reverb, etc. And then you have to spend a lot of time playing with it. For the more popular effects boxes, such as the Pod XT, a lot of people post "patches" on the Internet, describing how to get certain classic sounds.

Answer 3

A fuzzbox (or fuzz box) is a type of effects pedal comprising an amplifier and a clipping circuit, which generates a distorted version of the input signal. As opposed to other distortion guitar effects pedals, a fuzzbox boosts and clips the signal sufficiently to turn a standard sine wave input into what is effectively a square wave output. This gives a much more distorted and synthetic sound than a standard distortion or overdrive. The term "fuzz box" is often used generically to refer to any effect pedal that produces a distorted sound.

As clipping is a non-linear process, intermodulation will occur, leading to the generation of an output signal rich in extra harmonics of the input signal. Intermodulation distortion also produces frequency components at the various sums and differences of the frequency components of the input signal. In general, these components will be not be harmonically related to the input signal, leading to dissonance. For this reason, power chords are often used when using fuzzboxes to reduce dissonance.

Answer 4

You can buy " retro" style fuzz boxes at various music stores on-line. The are made using the same circuitry that was used in the 60's .One used by Hendrix was the " FUZZ FACE " . Fender is also making the " FENDER-BLENDER " again, I think. Theyse boxes will be better for playing psychedelic songs from the 60's.

Answer 5

Well , Fuzzbox , distortion pedal (or circuit) are pretty similar. basically , it takes a straight guitar signal and makes it a sort of sqare wave tone. I'm not exactly up on my electronic circuits and components , but i think...by using certain values of resistors, diodes , etc. , and by configuring them all to actually "overdrive" a signal is the general idea. It used to be that turning up an old tube amp would result in some "breakup" of the signal, and although sound purists say THAT's bad, for the guitarist it's pleasing.

Answer 6

They add noise. There is a lot of difference between them - I have one made by Keeley that is the most "musical" one I have ever heard. I usually do NOT like fuzz boxes, but this one sounds cool. Its not cheap, but the good stuff never is.

Answer 7

I have heard of that on in a long time
A fuzz box gives your gutiar a fuzzy buzzing distortion sound
they are used much any more
If you have one Keep it

Answer 8

Distortion

Answer 9

Basically, it ruins and disguises the actual sound of the guitar......which otherwise is a lovely sounding instrument when played correctly.

Answer 10

it is more of a wirey raspy distortion. radiohead (rat), smashing pumkins (big muff), hendrix, gilmour...

Answer 11

its a different type of distorton