I have written about the Farmer’s Mill before, it has been successful against all odds and a new and improved version has just arrived.
The farmer’s mill dirties the tone in a way that is hard to explain, it’s not a distortion per se, it’s more like a “broken cable emulator”. I know that sounds weird but it can sound kind of cool. Apparently, Jack White is a fan. I think a video is probably the best way to understand:
Apart from the new Farmer’s Mill, Crushsound has released very cool looking ceramic slides, check them out:
If you are just getting into Fuzz pedals, chances are that the first choice that you will have to make is: Germanium or Silicon? This refers to the transistor type inside the fuzz, or rather the material used by the pair of transistors responsible for distorting the signal.
Buffalo FX Fuzz Pedals: Silicon (left) and Germium (right)
Germanium transistors were used in the early generation of Fuzz Face pedals (mid 60s) but they were prone to temperature changes. More stable, Silicon transistors became more frequently used at a later stage.
It is hard to write about Fuzz pedals without writing about Jimi Hendrix aka the grand fuzz meister. He used Germanium fuzz pedals on his early albums (think Axis bold as Love) whereas on later albums such as “Band of Gypsys”, he is thought of having switched to Silicon. Of course, this is not absolutely certain as he probably used whatever he would get his hands on but this is a generally accepted fact.
When Steve from Buffalo FX offered me to compare his new Germanium model with his Silicon model, I jumped at the opportunity and you can hear the results in the video below (my insights after the video).
Note that I chose to record the pedals through a very clean amp in order to more plainly showcase the differences. A lot of guitarists use Fuzz pedals against an already overdriven amp which is a different thing altogether.
In this video, I run the Fuzz directly after the guitars then into a Boss RV-3 for a bit of Room Reverb and finally into my 1974 Fender Champ, a fairly bright amp
Build Differences
First let’s precise that Steve’s pedals are made to high standards using quality components. As such they represent the best of the boutique world.
They also sport more settings than the good old 2 knob Fuzz face, these knobs being Fuzz and Level for those of you who wouldn’t know. The Buffalo FX Silicon model features a third button named “Shape” which allows to tweak the bottom end. The Germanium model features a bias knob as well as a pregain knob. The pregain allows to tweak the amount of signal sent to the fuzz circuit whereas the bias changes the voltage, it can be used to change the tone but also to cater to temperature differences.
Conclusion
It is generally accepted that Germanium based Fuzz pedals have a “rounder” tone, less crisp than Silicon models. And I must say that this holds true with the Buffalo FX pedals. It is especially noticeable with single coil pickups, I found it a bit less flagrant with humbuckers. I also find that the Silicon model has slightly more gain on tap. It offers a tad more sustain with my Strat but it made the volume roll off cleanup a bit less smooth than the Germanium model.
I would say that if you are looking for an edgy, quite gainy Fuzz, Silicon is probably for you. But if you are looking for a warmer, bluesier even, Fuzz pedal, then Germanium might be a better match.
The best is probably to have both on the pedal board of course, he he
It’s been pretty quiet on Guitar Tone Overload, but fear not, it is only because I have been busy working on two big posts (with videos). The first one is about the Silicon vs Germanium Fuzz debate, featuring some superb gear by Buffalo FX. The second one is a Pitch-Shifter/Harmonizer piece where I show some creative tricks and settings to emulate a range of effects or instruments. The Fuzz post should be up within a few days.
In the mean time, talking about creativity, here is a video by the excellent Bill Ruppert, aka Mr Effectology. This is about the new-ish Electro Harmonix Epitome, a multi effect capable of many, many sounds:
The Buffalo FX Germanium Fuzz V2 is now available. It has improved features over the already excellent V1, including controls for pre-gain and bias (click here for my review/demo of the V1) and I am pleased to announce I will demo it soon. Also on the cards, a comparison with Buffalo FX’s own Silicon Fuzz. So for those of you who’ve always wanted to see a head to head comparison between Germanium and Silicon Fuzz pedals, watch this space!
