From underground alt-punk legends like the Butthole Surfers and The Cramps to full-on heavy metal icons like Black Sabbath, the SUPER-FUZZ pedal has a distinct sound that is heavy, fuzzy, and righteous all at the same time.
The Univox Super-Fuzz pedals are the most common version of the circuit but Shin-ei licensed the design to anyone who had the money.
Boasting 6 transistors (as opposed to the Big Muff’s 4 or the Fuzz Face’s 2), the original Univox SUPER-FUZZ pedals were built in Japan in the late 60s by Shin-ei. Based on the fuzz circuit in the multi-effect Honey Psychedelic Machine, this thing really fuzzes up your signal. The first units were black or and grey and later in the 70s moved onto the orange color that is most common in the states. These units had two knobs (balance and expander) on the back along with a tone switch, and a big rubber foot-switch.
I had been a Big Muff disciple for many years as they are pretty amazing sounding and easy to get a hold of. But I absolutely love the sound of the SUPER-FUZZ and after finding out it was Paul Leary’s first stompbox and what Poison Ivy considers part of her sound, I knew I had to have one. Let’s face it, an original is out of the price range for most players so making these clones is a great resource for garage and bedroom musicians intent on capturing classic sounds and tone.
Lucky for us crafty builders out there the folks at Tagboard Effects have made stripboard layouts for the vast majority of vintage pedals (some new ones too). Now owning your own SUPER-FUZZ is within the realm of reason.
I had a little trouble with the latest batch of water-slide paper but the sound is what really matters.
Sound Sample Coming Soon!
Do you need a vintage boutique sound but have a Behringer budget? Contact POTAR and let’s see what can be done.