BBE Free Fuzz

Two knobs...nothing fancy...however it's a little tricky to find the sweet spot on this pedal. It does have some sounds that I don't find useful- it can be dark and too wooly. But I have found the sound I was hoping to find when I bought it. I play a tele and the key for me is cranking the gain and rolling back my guitar volume knob a bit. This gives the pedal much more bite, and just enough clarity so you can actually hear the notes you're playing!

I have found one sound that is useful- it's actually really nice. But I can't say this is a versatile pedal by any stretch. For me, I've found 1 great sound, and some that I don't care for. I do love this one sound though- pretty much what the pedal was desgned for- late 60s/early 70s Hendrix-type fuzz. I use the Free Fuzz with Rivera and Clark amps- blackface kinds of setups.

So far so good. I trust it.

No opinion.

I've been playing for 17 years. I have not found a fuzz that I "love" but I like the Free Fuzz. I play some good gear and the Free Fuzz does what I want it to do. Maybe not as easily as I'd like but with a little work, I've learned what I need to do with the Free Fuzz. I got it for $40 when they were clearing them out of GC so it was a GREAT deal IMO. But it is what it is. Not super versatile, a little sensitive to the input signal, but it does have the sound I hoped it would. I highly recommend playing with your guitar volume controls when using the Free Fuzz. If you are looking for versatility and nuance in a fuzz, this isn't for you. But it's a solid pedal that does what it says it does, seems reliable and can be found for short $$. Not too shabby.

Took some time to get a good sound. This pedal is very sensitive to input level and impedance. There are only two controls, so it's not rocket science.

Dead quiet and built like a tank. This thing is able to give anywhere from a creamy fuzz to a full on blown speaker sound. It IS NOT able to give the over the top "buzz saw" fuzz tones, but it is definitely an important part of my rig and has an inspiring and fairly unique sound.

I've had it almost a year and had no problems.

Never needed it.

I play avante-rock as well as some experimental music. It is surely a good match for my style. It took some fine tuning to get a sound I loved, but it is certainly a sound I love! I've been playing 15 years and own a multitude of pedals including fuzz. This definitely stands on it's own.

Could'nt be easier.

I bought this at G.C. for $29 new.They were blowing them out .I could not find a sound I liked out of this pedal and I tried.I'm 55 years old and I remember when all you could buy were pedals that sounded like this ,shrill and unmusical.I really wanted to like this but I'm sticking with my Little Big Muff for when I want over the top Fuzz.I played this through a TraynorYGM-3 and a old Gretch bass head from the 60's that sounds incredible.Just could not get into it so I got rid of it.

Seemed to be a well made pedal.

Wow this was one of the few of 100's of pedals that I've owned over the years that I have nothing nice to say about.It did'nt sound like a fuzz face or any other pedal I've ever used.Maybe I got a LEMON.

Easy as can be
two knobs - volume, fuzz

I am quite satisfied
the fuzz is fuzz
To be honest, I do not have much experience with various fuzzes
I looked at Boss FZ-5 (cosm technology - no way! why did they discontinue their FZ-3? anyways, I ditched all my boss pedals - the only one I give a nod to is OD-3, the rest I don't float my boat), FuzzFAce Dunlop - no true bypass( and the review are very uninspiring
and then I find this BBE - have two of their otehr stomps - Green Screamer and Maximazer - I thought that this fuzz should do fine
And it does.
My guitars are G&L Legacy Tribute strat (stock), Fender Nashville Tele (with dimarzio Twangking neck and Area Tele bridge), and Epiphone Dot (dimarzio classics) - pedals - Rat2, Visualsound H2O delay-chorus, Marshall shredmaster (awasome pedal find it), BBE sonic maximazer, Greenscreamer, Freefuzz, Marshall Ed-1 (compressor), Dunlop Classic Crybaby, Fender Bassman 59, digitech vocalist live2, Fender champion 600 (great little amp), I guess that's all)

Note !!! One interesting this I have discovered with this particular fuzz (some say it is dark sounding): so I was playing my epiphone dot with dimarzio classic pups into BBE Free fuzz and then into a fender tube amp, and I turned down the tone known completely, and interestingly, the fuzz got brighter! so with the tone knob up it is less brighter, with tone knob down it gets brighter!
I thought it interetsing eh, never experienced such a thing with other distortion pedals))) so try it, I think it will make up for teh dark tone
I give 9 as it does what it should it is a fuzz

This is a correction to my previous review
the freefuzz is fine and good

UPDATE: This is regarding my note as to freefuzz being brighter when my epi dot tone knobs were off
I think I understand - the deal is that the tone pot in Epiphone Dots tone knobs now are made now so that they let treble through when off
so this is it
just a little correction...

I don't know
Hope for the best

I don't know
Never needed it

For the money this BBE free fuzz is quite good
Buy it.

Two knobs, volume and fuzz. To get a good sound is pretty easy, but there are a coupel of things worth mentioning... I'll expound upon them in the Sound Quality section.

I've never used a Fuzz Face, but I've listened to a million records with one on there. As for using fuzz pedals in general, I've only really used my EH Little Big Muff (really cool pedal - go check it out). This pedal sounds good, but it's not quite as fuzzy as I expected. The Little Big Muff sounds HUGE, and I know that the Free Fuzz is a totally different animal, but it doesn't have as much fuzz as I thought it would. That is, it doesn't have as much fuzz if all you're using is a clean amp. If you put an overdrive in front of this, it really cooks! You can get a great sound without any extra juice, but you either need to drive this thing (it's really sensitive to what's in front of it) or put it in front of a dirty amp to get the smooth sustain like those old records you're probably trying to imitate. Overall, this is a good fuzz with suprising clarity. The Big Muff sounds more like what I associate with a fuzz sound, but the Free Fuzz has a great sound nonetheless.

BBE stuff is awesome. They hold up to anything - they are built well.

I've called them a few times - once with a tech problem, and a couple of times for just general help. They are really great - the best customer service of any company (not just music companies) I have ever dealt with.

If you're looking for a cool vintage-style fuzz, this is a good option. I bought both this and a Big Muff, and they both fill very different fuzz roles. I used this with a Strat into both a Fender Blues Jr. and a Vox AC15.

This product is incredibly easy to use. There are two controls. Volume and fuzz. The battery access is via a plastic panel on the back. If you have any problems...well you might need to reconsider using pedals at all.

Ok. I am the pickiest, pain in the arse, discerning picker I know. Ok, maybe not the most, but nonetheless, things that make most players happy don't always jive with me. So, when I played this pedal, I put it through several amps as a test. Guess what? It sounded good with all, and fantastic with some. I am a Hendrix FANATIC, and I am here to say that the pedal can get those tones...as well as some Mick Ronson stuff too. I have always heard that silicon transistor fuzzes were harsh..but this one is on the borderline of being dark sounding.
Remember, it is a fuzz, not a distortion per se. I think there might be some variances with these pedals too, since mine doesn't sound exactly like the one online in the videos at the BBE site. Then again, I don't have a Marshall JCM800 to play it through (boo hoo)
My only quibble is that the pedal is a bit bassy. Dark tone might be the word, which in some cases is a good thing. I hate nasty treble.
But, it really fattens up a bright amp.
This is a two transistor circuit. Silicon. Very cool.

It looks solid...worried a bit about that plastic battery cover.

Haven't had a chance to talk to them as of yet....

I play a wide variety of stuff...and while this doesn't get that super tweaked fuzz face sound of say a Eric Johnson on "ah via musicom", it can get close to that and closer to Jimi's sound on say..."Band Of Gypsys".
Actually, I think in some ways it sounds more like a warmer sound.
I haven't used it with a loud tube amp yet.....so we will see.
It diminishes the effect of the way...but not totally like my Germanium fuzz does.....
If it were lost...I would try to get another...Nice product BBE!

Very easy. Volume and Gain. Basic.
True Bypass. Im surprised this product is not up here already - perhaps its new?

Exactly the sound I want.
very Vintage creamy sugary sweet distortion.
You can also get a "Pure Morning' (Placebo) type sound which is very important for me.

Note - Distortion and Fuzz are DIFFERENT! Fuzz is supposedly a torn speaker effect, i dont know, never ripped a speaker but its a Fuzz as opposed to distortion. A lot of the other pedals i tried out like Tweak Fuzz by SD were more Distortion than Fuzz. Be clear on what you're looking for.

This will not give you the extreme feedback/alien noises/ type sounds, its basic sweet melodic - always melodic Fuzz.

looks like its built like a rock. Never gigged with it yet.

no idea, didnt need it yet

perfect for me. On 1 -10 I give it a 9 because its excatly what i wanted personally - simple controls, and melodic/sweet sound that sounds like a Fuzz instead of a distortion.

True Bypass as well.
Oh and I got it way cheap new, on ebay (79 bucks). For that money its a deal.