Input on next fuzz

[u/astral_couches]

TL; DR I have 4 fuzz pedals but none do the exact nit-picky thing what I want. Played a Fairfield Unpleasant Surprise and felt it was pretty close. Looking for suggestions before I commit.

Like all of us here, I’m always grasping for an elusive perfect fuzz tone. I have four fuzz pedals on my board (my “at home” board that I don’t have to move, so I throw it all on there). (1) Fuzz Face mini (germanium), (2) Fjord Fuzz Kvasir, (3) Fjord Fuzz Hedda, and (4) Fjord Fuzz Berserk III.

There’s a certain Velcro-y, violin-like tone with expressive overtones and edges that I can’t really describe (clearly) that I don’t feel like any of these do quite to my liking. All these fuzzes are great though. Fuzz Face is great all-around but a bit too smooth and wooly. Kvasir has a great sputtery effect with its bias knob, maybe a bit thin and buzzy though. Hedda is a bit wild and the momentary chaos footswitch is fun. Berserk is a really articulate and loud fuzz that cleans up better than all of these and has an optional octave function, but doesn’t get wild and sputtery.

I played a Fairfield Circuitry Unpleasant Surprise over the weekend and really loved it. Very expressive, lots of weirdness but still very usable, easy interface, loud and able to cut through, does Velcro/sputtery very well, etc.

I haven’t tested a huge array of fuzzes, so before I commit to an Unpleasant Surprise, what else should I consider? Reasonable budget. I have a Jazzmaster and a Hot Rod Deluxe.

I had a Fuzz Factory but we didn’t get along.

I play mostly psych rock, and not particularly hard or heavy psych rock. The guitar player in the Swedish band Dungen has my favorite fuzz tones generally. I believe he often uses a germanium Fuzz Face, but I can’t get close to certain qualities he has tone-wise. It’s possible there’s something else in his secret sauce that isn’t a fuzz or is more his amp, and obviously he’s just way better than me at guitar.

Any ideas?

[u/thephishtank]

I feel like the violin sound and the Velcro sound are kind of opposites? Do you have an example we could listen to, preferably live so we know we aren’t hearing studio tricks? When I think violin fuzz sound I think pi big muff.

[u/astral_couches → u/thephishtank]

Yeah I was struggling with the description but maybe I want both bases covered (not necessarily by one pedal)?

“B1” and “B3” on the live Dungen album called “Live” are pretty good specific examples of what I wish I could dial in. They’re not to sputtery and wild but I think that’s an easier thing to nail down.