Fuzz, it’s a tough beast to tango with. Finding the right fuzz pedal for your guitar and amp can be difficult because they tend to be temperamental and hard to tame. As anyone who owns a Z-VEX Fuzz Factory knows, turning a knob ever so slightly on some fuzz pedals can turn a very pleasing sound to a very harsh one. Here are our top picks for the best fuzz pedal out there.
Top 5 Best Fuzz Pedals
5. Analogman: Sunface Fuzz Pedal
This is really great for your classic fuzz tones. Think Jimi Hendrix and bright and squishy. Sounds great with a drive pedal after to tame it a bit. I love how Analogman gives you so many options for transistors and pedal construction. They really let you narrow in on what you want out of the fuzz. This pedal sounds like what a good vintage fuzz face should sound like.
4. Earthquaker Devices: Fuzz Master General Octave Fuzz Pedal
This fuzz pedal is modeled after an old Super Fuzz circuit. It has an octave up sound that is great for single note riffs and octave solos. Playing higher up on the neck with this fuzz, around the 12th fret, creates a more in your face octave sound. The voice selector lets you choose between a loose open sound to a really tight sound. We found the #1 voice setting to be a winner.
3. Walrus Audio: Jupiter Fuzz Pedal
The Jupiter overall a great option for fuzz. It gets smooth enough to create flowing leads and gritty enough to make some heavy riffs stand out. The Jupiter comes with Level, Fuzz and Tone Controls as well as switches for mode (3 options of clipping diodes) and a bass cut. Not quite as out of control as some other fuzzes out there but it’s tweak-able enough that you can reign it in or let it get out of control and heavy on the low end. The mode and bass cutting switches are particularly handy for dialing in your tone.
2. Death by Audio: Fuzz War Fuzz Pedal
This fuzz sounds huge and comes with large simple controls to match. It’s easy to dial in a really gnarly heavy sound. This pedal has one of the biggest sounds on this list.
1. EHX: Green Russian Big Muff
It was a difficult choice but this is a clear favorite. The Big Muff has stood the test of time and with the new reissue of the legendary Russian Big Muff from the 90’s, it’s hard to beat. This fuzz is true bypass and has relatively simple controls with knobs for Sustain, Tone, and Volume. Side by side with the other fuzzes it was hard to choose but you just can’t beat the tight low end on the Green Russian. It can’t get as out of control or other worldly as some of the other fuzzes but it does provide really useful heavy tones that are never harsh. Perfect beautiful fuzzy riffs on every setting. The price on a high quality coveted pedal like this is also just unbeatable.