Despite its name, it does not come from the Netherlands, the Dutch Kazoo fuzz is hand built in the USA. Its design is not a copy of any well known Fuzz pedal which is quite noteworthy in a market saturated by Fuzz face clones.
It does appear to have some interesting and original sonic capabilities.
Here is a little demo (or click here for the obligatory Gearmanndude demo):
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.
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.
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.
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
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!
A few weeks ago, I received an email from Steve from Buffalo FX, an Englishman living in France, asking if I would review one of his hand built boutique Germanium Fuzz pedals.
I thought why not but did not expect much of it, as I found that all the Fuzz pedals I had tried over the years lacked clarity and sounded like a buzz saw. Well, that all changed when I plugged Steve’s creation. I could not believe my ears, it is fat, has lots of clarity, cleans up well with the volume control and can sound like Hendrix or a lot more modern when boosted by another gain pedal. In one word, I was hooked!
As always, I have recorded two videos (see the end of the post): one with my trusty Custom Shop Fender Strat and one with my Gibson SG 61 reissue.
I will also kill two birds with one stone with this review and give a few Fuzz related tricks. But first things first, let’s have a closer look at the Buffalo FX Germanium Fuzz.
The Buffalo FX Germanium Fuzz is built to a very high standard. It is housed in a white metal case and sports a drive knob and a level knob. In the tradition of Fuzz pedals, there’s no EQ but it is not much of a problem. I have recorded the videos below using a fairly bright Fender amp and the pedal did not sound harsh at all. Note that Steve offers a 4 knob version with more tonal options.
There are two welcome additions that traditional vintage Fuzz pedals usually lack: a super bright blue led and a Boss style 9v power input in case you don’t want to use a battery. Beware though, you cannot use the same power supply to power the Germanium Fuzz as well as other pedals due to some dark inverted polarity juju, not Steve’s fault, just the way Fuzz pedals are designed. This means you’ll need a dedicated power supply. Once again, you can also use a good old 9v battery. Talking of which, when I put a battery in, I could admire Steve’s handiwork: the inside it built to the same quality standard as the outside.
A Fuzz pedal will sit at the beginning of your chain, usually before space effects such as delays and reverbs. It blends well with either a clean or a distorted amp and will play happily with other overdrive or distortion effects. The order varies here, I personally preferred putting my Tube Screamer overdrive before the Buffalo FX Germanium Fuzz to give it a kick but it can work well to put your overdrive pedal after the Fuzz. It’s hard to determine how two gain pedals will interact so experimenting is the key! Same goes for Fuzz and wah, I like my wah before my Fuzz, some people prefer it the other way.
I have recorded my demo using a clean amp to demonstrate the intrinsic qualities of the pedal, but using a Fuzz to boost a good old cranked Marshall amp is obviously a classic recipe used by the likes of Hendrix or Eric Johnson.
I show two Fuzz tricks in the videos:
Without further ado, here is a demo of the Buffalo FX Germanium Fuzz using my trusty Stratocaster fitted with Kinman pickups. The amp used is a 1974 Fender Champ. There is a Boss RV-3 Reverb in “Room” mode placed just before the amp. About half way through the demo, I switch a TC Electronic Flashback Delay on, set in Analog mode. Finally I use an Analogman modded TS9 Tube Screamer placed before the Fuzz, to get an “over the top” tone:
The model reviewed here is the “Two Button” Germanium Fuzz. Buffalo FX has a 4 button models, with more settings. There are also Silicon based Fuzz pedals in the line up (see this post about the difference between Silicon and Germanium Fuzz pedals). Don’t hesite to pay Buffalo FX a visit for more info about those models, and about ordering yours of course.
