The 7 Best Fuzz Pedals: Perfect For Stoner Rock, Psychedelic, or Shoegaze!
You won't believe which ones we didn't pick!
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The 7 Best Fuzz Pedals: Perfect For Stoner Rock, Psychedelic, or Shoegaze! · Source: Electro Harmonix
For some, it’s just a little warmth and crunch with an overdrive pedal. For others, a plain old distortion effect is all they need to high-gain their sound. But then, there are those looking for the best fuzz pedals. The muffs. The benders. The fuzz faces.
All About The Fuzz
What The Fuzz?
Our list of the best fuzz pedals consists of legends, outliers, and newcomers. So, there is something for every fuzz head. Generally speaking, there are four different families of fuzz pedals. Without going into too much technical details, these mainly differ in how they sound.
- There are old-school fuzz pedals with two transistors in their distortion circuit, which generally sound similar to the legendary fuzz face (Hendrix, anyone?).
- Then, there is the Tone Bender family—pedals with three transistors that sound less aggressive than the other types.
- Probably the most widely known and used type of fuzz pedal is part of the Big Muff family. These might be a bit less dynamic and responsive compared to Fuzz Faces. But the sound from these types of pedals can be insanely aggressive.
- And, last but certainly not least, let’s not forget about the octave fuzz pedals! These do a little more than just distort the sound, but also add an octave up of what you’re sending into them. If prog is your thing, then you need one of these.
Z.Vex Fuzz Factory Vexter
As much as we all love the fuzz, these pedals can be a bit of a one-trick pony in terms of sonic variety. Not so much with the Z.Vex Fuzz Factory Vexter. It’ll get you classic fuzz face-tones with all dials at noon. You can make it scream, you can make it hum, there is an extremely wide-ranging sonic territory covered by these five knobs – one of the best fuzz pedals.
And if this version is a bit bulky for your crowded pedal board, there is always the much more compact but equally versatile Fuzz Factory Vertical. Both pedals are available at Thomann*.
EarthQuaker Devices Hizumitas
This one has slowly been creeping up on many a-fuzz-ionados’ personal favorites lists, and for a good reason. It’s amongst the thundering Big Muff-type of fuzzes, but given that EQD closely collaborated with guitar legend Wata from Japan noise rockers Boris on it, this one is its own beast.
Modeled after Wata’s favorite fuzz, the Elk BM Sustainar, the Hizumitas sounds great most pickups. It also adds a unique timbre to your signal and reacts highly sensitively to dynamic playing. The Hizumitas is oe of the best fuzz pedals and can be had from Thomann* for 179 euros.
Way Huge Swollen Pickle MK IIS: Best Fuzz Pedals
If you like it Muff-y, but need a less bulky pedal with more way to control the sound, the Way Huge Swollen Pickle MK IIS might be your perfect fuzz pedal. Although the tone-shaping controls can get a bit of getting used to, they open up a huge sonic landscape of different fuzz tones.
The Swollen Pickle is the type of fuzz pedal, you’ll come to live in a band context. Its controls all cover a wide range of sounds, so it might take a moment to really get into the finer differences the pedal lets you dial in. But after that, you’ll rarely want to turn it off ever again*.
Behringer Fuzz Bender
While there are quite a few Behringer SF300 Super Fuzz super fans, their recent Tone Bender homage, the Fuzz Bender turned heads (and ears!) in a different way. Many were surprised just how close Behringer got to a 60s-style fuzz.
Especially with the ORIG mode, the Fuzz Bender reacts beautifully to dynamic playing and changing pickup output. Since its release, the pedal has become so popular that you might have to wait a moment until they’re available again. Plus, they’re super affordable at 59 euros*.
Electro Harmonix Big Muff Pi with Tone Wicker
Which Muff is the best Muff? Or among the best fuzz pedals? This conversation is a never-ending one, wherever you run into fuzz fans, be it backstage at a gig, during rehearsal (or instead of), or in one of the many forums. And, as with many gear-related questions, there is no definite answer. The only right Muff is the one that tickles your eardrums the best.
We’ve gone for the Electro Harmonix Big Muff Pi with Tone Wicker, which is both more versatile and smaller than the OG. The Wicker switch will get you fuzz sounds with a certain high-gain-type of timbre that are usually hard to dial in from a fuzz pedal. And the Tone switch lets you bypass any filtering from the Tone dial completely, ultimately creating an even more aggressive sound. This fuzz pedal goes for 95 euros at Thomann*.
Death by Audio Fuzz War
So far, we’ve covered a lot of familar ground on all things fuzz. But if you think you’ve played all the best fuzz pedals already and know all the different fuzz sounds, think again. Because the Fuzz War be Death by Audio brings sonic distruction and square-wavey sounds to a whole new level.
First of all, if you sometimes just need a little overdriven warmth or a high-gain-y distortion sound, but the pedal board doesn’t have enough space, the Fuzz War will easily let you dial these in. It also offers a huge variety in fuzz sounds from 60s to 70s style sonic madness. And, if you crank it up to the max, you’ll get a kind of destruction in the sound that is not from this world. The pedal is available at Thomann* for 219 euros.
Orange Fur Coat
If you’ve read this far, you’ve probably wondered where we’ll put the octave fuzz. Since this list isn’t a rank by quality or popularity, coming in last, like the Orange Fur Coat does, does not mean much. It’s just the one pedal we picked for the last type of fuzz we haven’t covered yet.
It’s got a few years under its belt already, but the Fur Coat nails this proggy octave-up sound like few others. In addition, you can separately dial in and activate the octave circuit, so the pedal works equally well like a normal fuzz! You can get it at Thomann for
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