Dunlop Fuzz Face Reissue

2 knobs???

Really beefs up the sound without fuzz and with fuzz it makes fuzz. does what it says and it sounds great. Good for a lot of sounds from the 60's.

its a piece of metal, probally could drop it 2 stories on concrete and it would still work perfectly.

Excellent product. Simplicity and great sound is what makes it a classic.

It's actually quite touchy to use. Pretty much like all the other reviews. Sounds amazing (nice cream/hendrix tone), think Red House. I turn the volume up to half and put the fuzz to zero. Seems to work! took a while to find the good settings so i'm giving it a 7.

Setup:
Strat with texas special pickups-> fuzz face-> Ibanez ts-808-> vox v847 wah -> 74' Fender twin Reverb

Not noisy at all! works well with the tubescreamer, gives it a volume and tone boost. for hendrix tone: fuzzface volume: 1/2 Fuzz:0 ts-808 OD: 1/2 Tone: 1/4, Level: 3/4
It works well with the amp's natural overdrive. the fuzz wah effect sounds like cream's White Room. I love the creamy tone out of it. (pardon the pun) love the sound

very depentable, very simple on the inside, shouldn't fail for any reason if taken care of. I give it a nine because the battery might die on you(no A.C. jack) or the switch might die but I would depend on it with my life. nobackup required.

Haven't had to deal with dunlop yet.

Great match for the style I play (classic rock, blues)
I've been playing for 1 1/2 years
I would buy again.
Favourite feature- great transistors.
wish it had battery jack, LED
Helps me make make great tones.
Buy this pedal!!!

If you've read the other reviews then you'll know that your guitars volume knob is the main contoller for this unit. If you've got a good handle on your volume pot then you're halfway set. Since the other reviews go into depth on this I won't repeat it here.

I have been playing guitar for around 11 years and have had many pedals in that time; so I am familiar with what a good pedal is and where/how bad ones are lacking. I found this reissue Fuzz Face quite hard to get a decent sound from. There are a few good sounds however and worth spending a while tinkering with.

There is no AC input on this unit. 9v battery only. This is because of the way the temperamental germanium transistor works. It just doesn't function very well with AC power. It was a bit mean of Dunlop to make us open the back with screwdriver to get to the battery though. So change your battery before you go on stage. The whole back casing opens up to the battery that just rattles around inside. The back also has no lip or groves to make it easy to reassemble. You have to hold it to where you think its center and stick the screw in to see if the holes line up.

When you do take yours apart you'll notice that there's hardly anything inside at all. 2 pots, a pcb about 1/10 the size of the pedal and 1 switch. If I hadn't borrowed mine from a friend I would take everything out of the case and stick the whole lot on a Radio Shack project box about 1/4 the size to save room on my pedal board. And I'd swap the in/out jacks too because they are the wrong way around. And probably put in an LED because it doesn't have one.

I own good gear (Tele/Les Paul, viarous pedals, vintage Vox AC50, ENGL 2x12 cab). This pedal really sounds shite with my Les Paul.

In order to get any good sounds I have had the Fuzz and Volume pot up full and the guitar volume pot on about 7. The problem here is that it make a whole lot of noise. Not noticeable when you are playing but terrible when you're not.

This pedal can sound really really bad. Bottom heavy and muddy like a bad recoding of a bad copy of a bad distortion. But with a bit of tweaking there are a few good lead sounds. Think Eric Clapton in Cream. Once you get the thing set right and turn the pedal off when you're not playing, there are some good sounds in there.

Someone else mentioned that theirs has a switch attatched to the PCB. Not the case with mine. Not too much can really go wrong here accept maybe the battery rolling around inside if you were to shake it really hard.

Too big, too noisy, too impractical, too expensive, plenty of better fuzz boxes on the market. That said, there are some good sounds. Gets a 7 from me.

Easy to use provided you are familiar with using your guitar's volume controll. Much like a non-master volume amp, this pedal requires the use of the guitar's volume controll to adjust the amount of fuzz. The fuzz controll on the unit is best set at maximum due to the odd properties of the germanium transistors used in them. Turning down the fuzz controll results in a darkening of the sound that muddies up the overall tone and tends to swamp out the higher strings. By turning down the guitar's volume you can find any range of tones from totally fuzzed out, to subtle clipping, to clean. Rated 7, but an easy 10 for anyone used to controlling tones from the volume pot.

I play two main guitars, a gibson les paul studio with a duncan jb in the bridge, and a fender 72 re-issue strat with a maple neck. This pedal sounds great with both guitars, but it is with the strat that it shines. I play through a '72 fender champ in the studio and through a carvin mts3200 100 watt half-stack with el34's live. The pedal sounds great with both amps. It is far less noisy than most modern distortion pedals or high gain amp channels. The sound of the fuzzface is entirely unique. It is far more natural sounding than todays poor attempts at fuzz. By turning the strat's bridge pickup volume down to about 8.5-9, neil young style over saturated sounds are a great surprise. With volume maxed the sound is more reminisent of 60's psychadelia. Think pink floyd, jimi hendrix, etc. One word of advise...the fuzzface must be first in your signal chain. While it sounds great combined with other effects (especially wha and delay) these units must be placed after the fuzzface. This is again due to pecularities of the germanium transistors.

Big metal housing, dependable unit. It features a heavier metal switch than on boss-style boxes. The baattery is only accessable by removing the bottom plate with a phillip's screwdriver, so make sure to install a freswh one before a gig as there is no ac adapter (once again those germanium transistors, they sound great, but much like tubes they are very particular in what they like from a power supply). Would gig without a backup, but only with a fresh 9 volt installed prior to the set.

Dunlop isn't the best to deal with, but they aren't the worst either. I have had no trouble with them on this product, but I am in the middle of dealing with them about a crybaby classic. The one I ordered was backordered, and arived with a bad transistor. I have since shipped it back and they seem to be dealing with the problem well.

I've been playing both guitar and bass for about 11 years. I own a lot of equipment because I am a total tone freak. I also design guitar rigs for a lot of players I know. Overall this is a great pedal. Perfect for those looking for a vintage sounding fuzz reminiscient of the 60's, or for those who can make good use of their guitar's volume pot. Not a good fit for those looking for a high-gain heavy metal or a natural rock overdrive sound. I've played through many other fuzz boxes, and for the price this one blows them all away. There are some really nice boutique pedals that also use the germanium transistor, but they are extremely pricy, and the difference is negligable. When used correctly, this is a pedal which can help you to capture some classic sounds as well as create some great ones of your own. For those who seem to bash this pedal, they are either looking for something different (like a metal zone or some other terrible sounding distortion box) or just dont know how to use their guitar's volume pot to its full potential. Also, remember that 99% of tone comes from your fingers, the wood of the guitar and your amp's power stage. The greatest setup will not sound nice without experienced hands on the neck. Happy playing.

2 knobs, couldn't be easier, right? Wrong!
You need to use the volume knob on your guitar with this baby. More about that later. That still only makes it 3 knobs of course.

If you're used to "modern" distortion pedals, it will take you some time to find the sounds you want, but man is it worth the effort. I like the fact that I can go from clean to horribly dirty just by using the volume knob on my guitar, so I'm giving it a 9.

This pedal was designed for lefthanded players. IN on the left, OUT on the right.
Let's call it poetic justice, since almost nothing is built for lefties and leave it at that. I swapped the in and output on mine, since I was getting my cables all tangled up, and put cheesy-looking labels on. Adds to the charm of this Ed Wood-like design.

I'm using a Zachary Z2-T (www.zacharyguitars.com), which are the best solidbody electrics in the world, check out my review of that one also on HC.
Crybaby Wha, 2 Marshall BB2 pedals (one for tubescreamer, one for boost) and a Marshall 4104 Combo (JCM800) from the early 80's + extra 2x12 Cab.

The Pedal is not especially noisy. Very quiet for a fuzz.

It sounds very warm, with loads of harmonics.

When the guitarvolume is up all the way, it sounds really mushy, like an angry troll buried under a truckload of cotton. Hard to use, but cool in a weird way.

Roll the volume back a little on your guitar, and it brightens the tone, more attack, amazing sustain, great for leads AND rithm, unlike what some other reviewers said.

Play with the volume on your guitar, and this will turn into one hell of a fuzz-box.

I can go from nice and almost-clean crunch to searing lead to nasty ogre roaring with just a small turn of my volume pot. Add a little univibe, and you're in Hendrix tone territory. Not the exact tone, but very close. A really cool sixties fuzz unit.

I love this thing.

Oh, one more thing : it can be used with a wha pedal, but needs to be placed before the wha. Not after. Otherwise your wha will not function properly.

Dependability : this is a review of a replacement fuzz. The one I first bought worked fine in the store, and when I used it the same night at rehearsal, it stopped functioning.
I brought it back to the store, and after about a month I got a brand new one.
Can't really complain, since they replaced it, and my store treats me with respect.

This one seems to work fine, and has no had a problem for several weeks. Let's see what happens in the long run, but generally Dunlop stuff is built like a tank.

As far as design goes :
The switch is on the PCB, which is really stupid, especially for a pedal in this priceclass. It means that whenever you turn it on or off, the PCB takes a hit. Stupid. This is only done to cut cost and mass-produce them more easily. A real shame.

The housing is rock-solid. Nice and heavy and unwieldy, just the way I like it. Wouldn't be lugging a Marshall around if i didn't. ;-)

I would use it without a backup. If it died on me during a gig, I'd just take it out of the chain, and use my Marshall BB2 pedals instead, who are in there permantly. They're awesome too.

In light of the first one dying on me in less than 24 hours, I cannot give it more than a 7. Only time will tell if that is an injustice.

They replaced my fuzz. Without any hassle. But it took them a month. Oh well.
I once had a crybaby sent back to them, and that stayed away 6 months. I guess their customer service is improving. 6 months 10 years ago, 1 month now. 7 it is.

The crybaby failed because of dust in the pot btw. They were using open potentiometers back then, who the hell knows why, and have replaced them with nice industrial closed pots now. No more dust inside, no more cracking after 4 months use.They're getting smarter, see?

I'm not going to bore you with all my equipment, musicstyles, and blah blah blah.
I've been playing for about 17 years now.
This pedal does exactly what I bought it for (wanted some more Hendrix and Frank Marino tone etc..) and a lot more than that. I probably should have compared it to the Fulltone and Roger Mayer fuzzpedals, but I didn't, and I'm satisfied with what I got.

If it were stolen, I would chase the thief and beat him to death with it.

If it were lost, I would replace it. It's expensive, but worth it. Might try out it's abovestated "brothers" though, just for fun, and who knows, maybe I'll find one that's even better.

Just crank up the FUZZ!!!!

Stratocaster->noise suppressor->compressor->tube screamer->FUZZ->Crybaby Wah->Marshall AVT-50

Not Great for Rhythm but excellent for lead.

With my other effects, I can get a good Jimi Hendrix/SRV tone

Just got it and I have no issues

Blues-Rock

I've been playing for 3 years

I WOULD DEFINENTLY BUY IF LOST OR STOLEN

The only bad thing about it is that there is no jack for an AC Adaptor
BATTERIES ONLY

I compared it to a Big Muff and I thought the sound from this one was better

10 - C'mon, its only got 2 knobs

7 - I use a 1983 strat through a mxr micro amp, fuzzface, then vox crybaby, and i've never been happier about my sound. I've owned countless distortion pedals such as danalectro fab tone and daddy o, boss's blues driver and metal zone, dod death metal, ibanez ts 7, and the fuzzface puts them all to shame. I use this pedal mostly through my fender hot rod. I would not recommed using the neck pickup on this pedal because the pedal is very bassy, but other than that, this pedal is great for leads, but not for rhythm.

Ive only had it for 3 months. I'll check back if it messes up in the near future.

Havent had to call them yet.

8 - I've been gigging around for years and this pedal has been the closest to satifying me any other pedal. Just like every other guitarist, I have spent almost my whole life looking for the perfect distortion pedal, and now I feel alot closer. This fuzz for anthing from Hendrix to Santana. No LED light, not a good match for rhythm players, but for lead its great. The pedal itself is fairly sturdy, wouldnt bust if dropped. Overall its good for anybody who uses a tube amp.

Easy, 2 controls, Volume, and Fuzz

i use a 1965 Fender mustang (humbucker in bridge, and vintage strat single coil in neck) OR Univox Badazz---> Dunlop Fuzz-Face--->DIY Whisker biscuit--->Boss Hyper-Fuzz--->MODDED Dano french toast fuzz--->Rick grams Buzz box--->Dano 7-band EQ--->Marshal valvestate 100 watt head--->Kustom open back 4X12

As you can tell, i have a very Fuzzed up setup. but this thing is mushy, flabby, etc. i had to modify it a great deal to make it decent, man.

Stock wise- it's weak, not a lot of volume. But change Q2 to an MPSA18 transistor, change a few caps, and play with the timmer pots, and you've got a Steroid-Fuzz Face. It's perfect for cream/hendrix-type fuzz-tones.

i've modded it quite a bit, and it's VERY well built and sturdy. The PCB traces are VERY Stuck on there. The Stomp switch is mounted onto the PCB; which could be a problem if you're stupid, and jump up and down on it. But i baby my effects, so no problem here.

However only reason i wouldn't gig without a backup is because there is no external power use available. Which will be my next project.... ;)

Never dealt with em....

i play mostly phsycadelic/acid head trip/bluesish style 60's fuzz rock. It's not the best for it. But it get's me through the Cream covers that we do live.

i've been playing A LONG time, i've owned better....

If it were stolen or lost; i'd just build myself a fuzz face.

so bottom line- If your looking for a Fuzz-face, you'll like it, but when you have a BUNCH of better, older Fuzz boxes at your feet, you won't find much use for it, man.

two knobs - could it be any easier. also, the controls are fairly sensitive and i found it very easy to find the sound i wanted.

i play Gordon-Smith SG through this pedal into my Marshall100 watt head(early '70s model)anda2x12 cab. this pedal is great.i love fuzz, and play in a sabbath/Kyuss type band.this pedal sound really great,very thick and tone-ful. both chords and single notes sound very clear and punchy. to me this pedal captures the sound of the early '70s perfectly.

built very solidly

overall i'd give it full marks, because it's a classic sound. i'd heard mixed reports of these reissues, but straight out of the box this ruled. i love my big muff, but this pedal has now relaced the muff for me. it's very warm sounding, and seems to match the marshall sound perfectly. blows all that boss/ibanez etc crap away.