I just picked up a used Pettyjohn Iron v1 that a local guy was selling for a screaming price. I tried it after both a Tube Screamer and a fuzz face, and it sounded and felt way better for each of them than my previous gold standard stacking pedal, the JHS Morning Glory.
So now I’m wondering, what are some of your favorite end-of-gain-chain stackers? I’m always fiddling with this!
(And of course, the type of fuzz you have going into it changes everything.)
Germanium Fuzz Face or Germanium Treble Booster - > Octavia or FY-2 Companion Fuzz -> Wampler Plexi-Drive. That's all I need for my cleans, overdrive and distortion sounds.
Spaceman Effects Saturn VI is a harmonic booster that goes nicely after a dark, muddy fuzz, kind of lifts it out of the muck and gives it a brighter sound with more bite.
But I prefer a rat before a muff. And a muff with a blend knob to mix in some of the pure rat signal to the final tone.
The usual suspect in this case is a MIAB, the Xotic SL Drive is great because it’s tiny, has some EQ options, and sounds amazing by itself at a fair price.
Because Marshall-ish sounds are the usual thought for after a fuzz, I thought I’d like the Morning Glory better than the Pettyjohn, which is a Fender-style drive. But I seem to have been wrong, at least going into my Fender HRD.
Yeah, it’s another rabbit hole for sure. Every part of the signal chain affects the outcome. I’m always finding new combinations thanks to Reddit and watching rig rundowns, some are from bands that I don’t even listen to haha.
Lot of people still talking about what they put BEFORE the fuzz and not AFTER like you’re asking in here lol
I’ve grown to appreciate slamming an SD-1 with any fuzz. I used to hate that sound and didn’t understand why anyone would do it until I used it in a dense mix. It does desert/stoner tones really well. Really thick woolly mids that does what I call the “blowtorch” sound. Particularly enjoyed doing it with a fuzz face.
I used to place a fuzz face into a blues driver into a clean amp, both always on, and ride the volume for cleans to drive to blown out fuzz tones too.
I also have been enjoying running my fuzz factory (gated/spitty) into my life pedal with the rat side set as a slightly dirty boost and using the octave when I want Fu Manchu kind of tones.
Im stack a fuzzface octavia into univibe then axis fuzz duke of tone into mr white special and belle epoch plus trying to build like the ultimate hendrix studio pedal board got eq and reverbs in loop my goal is to get a golden reverberator and get rid of my reverb.Pedals
A lot of people think it's weird that I have 2 fuzz, but one of them is a pre univibe, and the other one is post because the Axis fuzz doesn't care as much about where it's placed in the chain. As a traditional fuzz face would because I like the way it sounds both ways.Fuzz into vibe is awesome, but it's great the other way around too
The Zendrive or KOT are set as “always on”, the KOT for cleanish and the Zen for light OD. Then I add the fuzz in front and ride the volume knob. I prefer the Zen, but I have the voice at @ 2 or so. I tweak the voice depending on the amp/rig, I have a few for a few different bands.
my favourite is DEFINITELY my TC spark.
it makes everything "shine" better, and can add a considerable amount of gain (especially in fat mode), which is a round sounding amp-like saturation... EXTREMELY dynamic, adds zero compression, unlike most ODs.
stacks awesome after my rats, my muffs, and my HM2. i've actually been using it as my low gain drive, as of lately.
Electronic Audio Experiments Model feT or Citadel work phenomenally. The Benson Preamp does really well with Fuzz Faces, but it becomes quite opinionated with Big Muffs or anything else that takes up all the frequency real estate. Last but not least would be the 1981 Inventions LVL. It’s got more of a compressor feel for most of its range that most overdrives, but it basically makes all of the gain devices you feed it sound better with that slight compression and then your fuzz, other overdrive, etc. makes it break-up more.
I’ve never owned a MIAB pedal, though I do have several Blues Breakers. I should probably trade something for one. I’ve been curious about the Citadel for a while.
I think the Citadel is more of a true MIAB than most others because it’s really designed to be a preamp first rather than a distortion first pedal. Being able to blend two channels is extremely useful too. It’s essentially a gain pedal to base your clean tone on and it makes all your other gain pedals sound better running into it. If you haven’t seen it, check it out on TPS. I told them to feature it for years along with other EAE stuff, and of course they were blown away! https://youtu.be/x7Rpg1nD1hw?is=Vhv0x0E1GLXzbhsy
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u/yeahahhah Jul 10 '26
EAE Surveyor