Fuzzbox
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A fuzzbox (or fuzz box) is a type of stomp box comprising an amplifier and a clipping circuit, which generates a deliberately distorted version of the input signal. As opposed to other distortion guitar effect 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. Fuzzboxes were the first distortion devices not based on vacuum tubes.
The generated signal is rich in extra harmonics of the input signal, particularly odd harmonics, and will also produce cross-modulation between any non-harmonic components of the input signal, leading to dissonance. For this reason, power chords are often used when using fuzzboxes to reduce dissonance.
Early fuzzboxes used germanium transistors. By the end of the 1960s, these were replaced by silicon transistors. Today, some fuzzbox builders offer pedals with germanium transistors again.
The fuzzbox is associated with rock music, particularly artists such as Jimi Hendrix, Mudhoney, the Smashing Pumpkins and George Harrison. Famous examples of fuzzboxes include the Maestro Fuzz-Tone, the infamous Fuzz Face (originally made by the Arbiter Group) used by Jimi Hendrix, the Big Muff Pi (made by Electro-Harmonix) and the Vox Tone Bender.
An infamous fuzz box used by Colin Greenwood of Radiohead, the Shin-ei Companion FY-2, has been compared to the sound of a chainsaw.
(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction from The Rolling Stones was the first hit to feature a fuzzbox, the Maestro Fuzz-Tone FZ-1 (made by Gibson).
- [Clean and fuzzed guitar] ([file info])
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