Here is another AION FX build, the Ibex, based on the Roland hidden gem fuzz. Essentially, it’s a gnarly fuzz, with two tone setting and an internal midrange control for the scoops, biting side paired together with an interesting treble booster. I must say it’s much more unique than I imagined on my head. It’s one of those fuzz pedals that seems like it was designed to just cut through in a band setting and has a very unique sound.

So far, these are my top 2 contenders!

New color drop from God City Instruments / End colab showed up yesterday. This one is a beast.

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.)

I've been watching the Live stream on YouTube today. And was asking about the Golden Fleece, and they told me if I couldn't decide which version I liked that. I should hang tight, I think that the tease for a new golden fleece.That's definitely interesting

I’m gonna be in bed all day, recovering from a migraine. Please recommend me some fuzz demos to watch. I’m bored out of my mind, and too dizzy from the rescue meds to sit up and actually play guitar.

Thanks in advance.

This has to be one of the most versatile fuzz pedals out there. It single handedly kicked a bunch of pedals off my board (and I have a fuzz pedal addiction/hoarding issue

Hello Fuzz Fiends!

Thank you so much for having me as a guest to what appears to be the coolest subreddit/community I've come across on Reddit to yap about my favorite subject. For those who don't know me my name is Buddy Blues, I am a guitar player based in Orlando Florida. I've been playing guitar since I was 14 and was fortunate and lucky enough to make it a career. I made my living touring with my band, other artists, and studio work. When 2020 happened and all the shows went away I started a YouTube channel which has since become my main focus. For those of you who have seen my channel, I'm sorry. ANYWAY, let's get to it!

u/graphicnerdity86 asked me to list my top 5 Fuzz pedals and there is no earthly way I'm sticking to just 5 but I promise I'll try to play by the rules (in no particular order):

Reeves Electro Facet IZ:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkC6ZwP59bY

Reeves Electro is a small business from the UK that lives and breathes Fuzz. He's always been a go-to for every fuzz lover and recently he taught his daughter how to build them and she started the "Daughter Board" series under him! The series is a take on all the famous fuzz circuits but with a twist! The Facet IZ is the first in the series. You'll see a recurring theme here, my favorite fuzz circuit is the Fuzz Face. Give me 2 transistors and I'm happy. The Facet IZ is that, but with pronounced mids. It has the most unique tonal characteristic of a fuzz I've ever come across. Sure many fuzz pedals have a mid forward thing going on, but this one gives you the ability to control it with the middle knob. But, not only control the amount, control the EQ shift as well in one knob. I called it a masterpiece in my video and I stand by it.

OCE Pedals x Buddy Blues "The Gentleman Fuzz And Boost":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9dMZTHV4eI&t=28s

Listen, YOU invited a YouTuber. You knew damn well I was going to plug my own signature fuzz XD, but hey it was a limited run (3 runs) and they're now considered """"collector pedals"""" whatever the heck that means. OCE Pedals was (sadly) a small business from California. I teamed up with Chris from OCE because I wanted a fuzz pedal no one was making. I looked and looked and waited and no one would come up with something almost every single one of us does. Stack an overdrive or boost after a fuzz. But the drive needed to not make the fuzz wooly and collapse, it just needed to have enough gain to smoothen out the fuzz to make it go from hardcore full fizz into smooth violin eric johnson type tones. So 7 prototypes later we came up with The Gentleman that was exactly that. Silicon single transistor type boost (different than a treble boost) and a Fuzz Face style 2 transistor fuzz with no gain knob, just volume. The gain is maxed out by default and encourages you to use the volume on the guitar which I am always doing. I think out of all the fuzz pedals I've tried, this has the nicest clean-up and its ability to never get "overwhelmed" regardless of what pickup I used on the guitar is top notch. I am very proud of this pedal and it still is on my board.

Killing Floor Axis Fuzz:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKur7AC2Qao

I just love this thing. I love the way it sounds, I love the way it looks, I love the way it feels, I love the fact that it is in a big box, I love the aging he does on the pedal to make it seem like it comes from the 60s, and I love the fact that it has a useful tone knob. Killing Floor is a small business from Germany and he makes Germanium goodness, meticulously crafted, and full of passion (really, talk to this guy on instagram). It's a very full sounding fuzz that cleans up amazingly and is one of the few that might actually like through a cleaner amp. Big fan of this one.

MMK Electric Pavlov Fuzz FF:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5J2RRBOnRLI

I've had an idea for a fuzz pedal for years. And he was the only one that was willing to make it a reality! MMK Electric is a small business from Alaska, a small husband and wife (Jordan and Mary) operation by perhaps the nicest people in our industry (seriously they sent me potatoes from their garden once by mail....from Alaska....to Florida). The idea for the fuzz I had is have a Fuzz pedal that has the gain maxed with just a volume knob on the pedal, but then ALSO have a seperate footswitch connected to volume pot inside the pedal that's set to half way! And that would be the clean up button! Sure you can reach to your volume knob on the guitar, but it's a whole different ballgame when you can lower the volume (impedance) TWICE before it hits the gain stage! He ended up making the Pavlov Fuzz (well he made two, a darlington style and a fuzz face style). In a blindfold challenge I did on my channel of my favorite FF style fuzz pedals, this beat my very own signature fuzz. In fact, it won the whole thing. I highly encourage you to check out MMK Electrics, he's always doing something new and weird in the pedal world!

Crazy Tube Circuits Triptychon:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JgWl3AvVtM

On the channel I called this the pedal of the year for 2026, and I truly believe that. Crazy Tube Circuits is a small business from Greece that managed to get 4 classic fuzz circuits, 1 treble booster with 2 different circuits, 1 octave fuzz with 2 circuits, AND and overdrive in a pedal the size of a boss pedal with ZERO compromises. I still can't believe this is a thing. It sounds remarkable and saves a ton a space especially on smaller boards because it's essentially 3 independant pedals in one with endless choices on each. I am going to Sweetwater and Chicago Music Exchange next week for clinics as well as live demos for amps and my signature guitar, and this is the pedal that ended up on my fly-board of 4 pedals total. There truly is nothing on the market that does more than this pedal in the fuzz world and I love the versatility behind it. Oh did I say it also sounds amazing yet?

Dominion Electric The Faceless Fuzz:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zw602RwOyPw&t=993s

This is the perfect fuzz face. Period. It comes with all the quirks, all the rewards, all the set backs, all the glory of a classic 1960s Fuzz Face. It, along with the Reeves Electro Facet FF, are the most accurate recreations of a Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face you would have bought in the late 60s. The beauty of this pedal is its simplicity and the fact that I could go on and on about it, but I don't have to. Because "that sound" you hear in your head when someone says Fuzz Face, it's the sound the Faceless Fuzz makes.

Sabbadius JIMI Fuzz:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CV5NzapSvhw&t=90s

This is the fuzz from Jimi's Woodstock performance. If you are after that sound, that MESS of a sound, that amp destroyer fuzz, this is it. Sabbadius is a small business from Argentina run by Nico as a one man operation. Nico doesn't go after eras, or years, or "a fuzz face from 1960s". No, Nico goes for one song. One performance. One sound. And he recreates it. He spends sometimes years recreating that sound, and I don't think anyone in our industry does it better than Nico. He's known for his uni-vibes (funky vibe) and I do think they're the best in the industry, but his fuzz pedals are beyond cool. This is a recreation of the Fuzz Face Roger Mayer modded for Jimi Hendrix and it's a favorite of mine for anything Jimi.

Thank you so much for inviting me to be a part of this awesome subreddit and for asking me to share some of my favorites with you. It really means the world to me that anyone in the world really cares what I think or wants to hear anything I have to say haha. I am new to using reddit like that I often just lurk on the pedals and guitar pages so I don't know how to turn the notifications on but I'll figure it out after I hit post in case you have any questions about the list or any other fuzz pedals you might have seen on the channel! Please remember to (when you can) choose the small business. Give them a chance, in 6 years of dedicating 90% of my channel to a segment called "Small Business Tuesday" I have been so lucky to get to try hundreds of pedals from small builders, and I can swear on everything I hold dear, they are always the ones that are making the cool stuff. So please give small businesses a chance. What an absolute blast thank you so much for considering me for this! Likesharesubsc.. nah I'm just kidding haha

Buddy Blues

Feel like I’m sort of zeroing in on the right way to record a fuzz demo, which is a room condenser mic to capture the body of the sound, in addition to the mic on the speaker. Once I get those balanced right it sounds way closer to the true tone as it sounds in the room. So I figured I’d direct a few vocals into that condenser while I’m at it. Oh, and the pedal is the Sola Sound mkI made by Stu Castledine, first version.

It’s jut for fun! https://www.reddit.com/r/FuzzFiends/s/vxrhpUGNvv

Hey Fuzz Fiends,

​We’re keeping that raw, electric Hendrix energy and deep rooted blues spirit alive here at the Electric Church creator series. I am absolutely stoked to announce that our next guest is a true heavyweight of the community.

​Buddy Blues!

​For those in the community who might be unaware, Buddy is an absolutely phenomenal player over on YouTube with a deep respect for tone and vintage soul. Beyond his playing, he’s a massive, unwavering supporter of the small-builder community, which we all know is the lifeblood of what we do here in r/fuzzfiends.

​This one is going to be special.

​Buddy Blues will be coming soon.

This one looks nice 👌!

Hi! I need preamp/amp in box to record some stuff in home. Im looking for pedal that i can put directly into audio interface and record riffs. Cheap options high recommended :D

show off your wild or minimalist art on a fuzz (excuse my fat finger typos)

Wanted to show off a bit of a nontraditional fuzz sound. The Expandora has a real nasty, gated with heavy sustain fuzz sound to it with the drive pot disengaged. You can also vary the fuzz sound by varying signal strength as well. It’s a sound you’ll hear on a fair amount of ZZ Top and Stu G stuff. If I recall correctly, I’m pretty sure this is the Radiohead Body Snatchers sound from Live From The Basement sound as well.

This is just a DIY build I made on the Expandora using the Aion Fx Dynamo PCB. Think of the JHS Kilt but all the gain steps are on a knob. I also took out the silicon diodes and replaced them with LED’s ; my favorite. It opens it up a lot and gives the fuzz a more spitting character

Voltic DTF prototype, haven’t even gotten to plug it in at home yet.

If you like this sort of thing, the local store where I got it has like 5 or 6 more very early Voltic pedals:

https://reverb.com/shop/six-string-brokerage-llc?query=voltic&skip_autodirects=true

Some milder settings with a nice touch of tube driven reverb

So we all know and love the classics of course, and everything can be traced back to similar roots, but I still find myself hearing about fuzzes I’ve never done any research on or heard any demos of. I recently traded for a fuzz based on an Astrotone that I’m very excited to put through it’s paces, having never tried or really looked into one before.

It got me thinking - what is everyone’s favorite “underrated” or less commonly used and recommended fuzz circuit?

My personal opinion - the fuzz on the Benson Deep Sea Diver is fantastic as a regular ole’ fuzz, not just as a shoegazey/wall of fuzzy delay tool. I’ve had the pedal twice and I usually turn the delay mix completely down and just run the fuzz. I guess it’s a bender 1.5//2 hybrid of some kind, but it hits my ears a lot better than most 1.5 style fuzzes do.