Electro-Harmonix Graphic Fuzz

If you know how to use an EQ and how to stomp on a button, then this is for you.

This pedal is extremely versatile, you can get a myriad of sounds out of this sweet puppy. I use it with any amp and its like an amp upgrade.

had it for a couple years, no problems as of yet.

Not had the pleasure of dealing with EHX customer support.

I play space/country/folk/minimal/rock/nebular/drone/core post-reagan era slamwhammy and robonubbins - this pedal is perfect for this genre pair it up with a nice reverb ( i use the holy grail) and a sweet phaser (small stone is lame, check out the nebula by Tone factor) .. I actually took this pedal off of my board because i have a russian big muff II (one of those old tank looking mothers) and i have lately been using this with my guild acoustic guitar (which has no onboard EQ) through an old silvertone 10xl amp with that old timey tremelo ... the graphic fuzz thru the 10xl wit the acoustic... it sounds like rabid fuzz butter warbling through an echo chamber for the ages... its like inspiration.. i was playing last night and i actually got goosebumps.. which was funny because i had considered selling the pedal then i realized OH YEAH.. JUST THE EQ I NEED ... this is such a unique combo.. i will never part with it.. oddly enough they have gone UP in price since i purchased mine... destined to become a collectors item for the ages... HIGHLY RECOMMEND.

Takes a while to get used to the effects each of the sliders have. At first best to keep them all fairly central with little tweaks and the taking it from there.

I play a Yamaha Pacifica with a Seymour Duncan Hotrails in the bridge and a Seymour Duncan '59 humbucker in the neck through > Planet Waves Tuner > Monkey FX Cheeky Monkey > MXR Distortion + > Loooper > EH Graphic Fuzz > Marshall Echohead > EH Small Stone, playing into a Fender '65 Twin Reverb

The range of sounds you can get out of this are amazing, it took me a while to get into it and I was worried I'd made a mistake (like the EH Double Muff I got :o(), but when I got used to how each of the sliders affected the sound I was away. Get metal sounds out of it, hard rock, grunge, blues, anything from overdrive to full on, with the patience you can get anything out of it. We used it to good affect on our recent demo for both rhythm and lead.

It's also a brillian EQ in it's own right because you can switch the fuzz off. I've used the EQ with my Distortion + and I made it sound just like a Big Muff!

Not quite a 10 because the dynamics slider I don't like too much because it's very sensitive and hard to get volume right when you're just playing rhythm. But a high end 9.

Not had a problem with it yet. I've been gigging with it for a couple of months and it's delivered every time. The sliders are a bit fargile looking though and I do keep it in it's box a lot.

I love this pedal and will always be keeping it, it's versatility is a must for anyone who likes to use a wide range of sounds when they play. My only gripe is the size of it, not very practical for gigging and I am looking to replace it for something smaller and without it's own power supply.

However, I would never part with this pedal because it's such a brilliant recording tool, whether as a distortion or an EQ it can really help you nail that perfect sound.

It's pretty straight forward except for the envelope thing. i just leave the envelope and sustain all the way up all the time.

I had a reissue and it wasn't much more than a big muff with an eq. I picked up the original one to compare and it is way better in my opinion.

It is more of an overdrive fuzz hybrid. It retains your chords like an overdrive but sounds like a fuzz. It doesn't sound like a distortion pedal like the big muff. It is also super quiet compared to a big muff. I'm sure the envelope has a part in that but still it is shockingly for an old pedal, for a gain pedal in general.

This is the most usable fuzz i have ever come across. not limited to single notes and fifth chords like others.

This would be best for experimental to punk wall of sound. for 60's psychedelic rock leads it would pass. For classic rock riffing it would be to strange sounding since none of the fuzz pedals of the era could reproduce full chords. won't do metal, soft rock or anything tame.

It is completely beat to hell and rusted out but keeps working perfectly. like the christine of stompboxes.

I'm really glad i found this one. they are pretty rare. To me this is like the fuzz holy grail. probably the coolest pedal electro harmonix ever made and i have tried most of them.

Pro stuff, more than your usual tone, volume, gain controls. I wanted something that you could do lots with and this is it- easy to use even with the mass of sliders.

Currently using a 62 reissue strat with kinman AVn Woodstock plus Pu's into a marshall AVT 100 amp. I have had a few 30-50 quid stomp boxes for years, and was fed up with them because of only being able to get an ok sound for some songs, and thought it was time to invest in something that could really do the business. This thing is just superb. The EQ really does change the sound considerably and can add some great flavour to already superb sounding pickups. You can get a nice mid boost on the thing (+15 db) which really affects the overdrive in a good way. Also the EQ is good for enhancing the guitar overall. The fuzz is just insane! on the OD1 channel on my amp you can get some really great rock tones and on OD2 the level of gain this thing can contribute is superb. More fuzz than you know what to do with- and very very smooth sounding. As standard my amp on its own can sound horrible with the gain turned up, but with the graphic fuzz it really changes the amp into something to be proud of. This is one of those things that i was totally satisfied with for the money i paid for it. I guess it does pay off to spend a bit more money.

hasn't failed me yet

never delt with them

A really good buy, i was tempted by dunlop pedals at first but settled with this beast because of the added bonus of a very functional graphic EQ. I found this pedal to be amazingly usefull and this practically adds a much better channel to my amp. Compared to the average pedals i also own it's a shame i didn't buy this in the first place.

there is a lot more options, sonically & therefore just a bit longer to get the right sound out of.

i actually use this pedal as a preamp for a leslie "825 speaker cabinet, which after an a/b box to lace my late 60's jmp marshall with a real psychedelic fuzz. it works great with the leslie cause it has the biggest output i've ever come across in a pedal, & i find the leslie quite bottom heavy & the eq has let's me sculpt it like it was made 4 guitar

it got wet a little while ago when heavy rains went through the roof and into the sliders, dried it out in the sun the next day & it was good as gold (mate)

for what i use it for (leslie pre-amp pedal) it's rad it, gives me that REAL hypnotic sound i was after. with my ibanez les-paul & line-6 delay mod i am regularly having acid flashbacks!! thanx E>H

It's easy to use just like my ex-wife! Don't know which one has the raunchier feel though...hahaha. Ya got Fuzz and EQ. Easy as pie!

I run 2 120 watt Orange heads with 2 custom cabinets. Each cab has 2 12" G12 75 Celestions and a 15" Peavey BW speaker in it so I gets me high end for soloing and low end for thick punch. A very quiet pedal this graphic fuzz. I run the overdrive about half up and dynamics all the way off and the sustain all the way on. I like it much better than the Big Muff and I liked the Big Muff! I run my heads with a little distortion and when I crank the graphic fuzz on.... I'm a SUPERSONIC DEATH MACHINE!

A 40V DC adapter is a wierd choice of adapter and it has made my pedal board obsolete. Guess I'll have to custom build me one of those too. Haven't tried it out on a gig yet but I'm sure it would be fine plus it's not like I have money to just throw around and have 2 of everything (note... 2 heads, 2 cabs, 6 guitars and this jerk can't afford 2 fuzz pedals!?!).

No clue and I hope I never need em.

Right now I'm playing a style we call "Brutal Sludge". I have been
playing for 18 yrs now. If somebody stole this I would hunt them down and use some good ol street justice on em. For fuzz you just can't beat this pedal.

Once you get a feel for using the EQ sliders in addition to the distortion controls, it's no sweat

To reiterate what has been said before: 1) this thing is ridiculously NOT noisy 2) the EQ is a great touch 3)this is, indeed, surprisingly great for bass and 4)the volume-level-taking-over-your-amp concern isn't an issue once you learn to adjust accordingly. If you're looking to do garage rock (new or old), SRV style leads or even MBV-style shoegazer; the sound is bright, and you can do great things with feedback. For stoner or space rock, though, this pedal is better off adding the color than the heft.

The sliders don't look like they'd last on a long tour; the unit is well constructed, but I would presume that you've got to take the stomp out of stompbox if you want it to remain problem-free.

This is really a brainiac's version of the Big Muff, and for what you can get these used, it's worth the extra $30-40 or so to get the flexibility of this device since it can really model any modern or retro rock sound out there. That said, I'm actually selling mine (bcawn@northwestern.edu if you're interested in buying); I heard a Prescription Electronics Experience pedal the other day and feel that it will come closer to the sonic weirdness i long for than the GF.

Well... you'll have to work on it a little, for it has 6 eq sliders, plus overdrive, compressor and sustainers controls, but when it's done you can get the hell out of it...

'72 Tele, neck humbucker: through [graphic-fuzz reissue] to [125 watts Vox Climax]... no words!!! Absolutely not noisy with EVERY setting! The fuzz is clear and strong, with dynamic response! I play in a '60s-through-'90s band and this is exactly the one i was looking for... if you like The Who, MC5, The Velvet Underground, The Stooges and Neil Young up to Motorpsycho, Soulwax, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, My Bloody Valentine, Eels and dEUS, well, this is the effect for you! Pretty good range, uh?

Like all Electro-Harmonix products, it is sturdy and affordable... I don't think it'll give me troubles, both in studio or on stage...

Never dealt with the company... no troubles with this unit...

I've played rock in its widest conception for almost 10 years; this effect is extremely versatile and I'll surely look again for it if a sort of a f*cker should steal it. I've tried Ibanez FC-10 Fat Cat Distortion (c'mon, be serious), Boss OD-2 Turbo Overdive, DS-2 Turbo Distortion and FZ-3 Fuzz (the worst choices a man could do), Danelectro DD-1 Fab Tone (nice, a little too heavy, but good for kids), Jim Dunlop JH-2S Classic Fuzz (a little bit noisy), Electro-Harmonix Russian Big Muff Pi Reissue (good, but quite uncontrollable)... well, I really wasn't satisfied until I've tried this... try to play The Who's The seeker or the solo on Summertime by Big Brother & the Holding Company with this one and let me know... I only wish I could find a vintage one...

well, it's a 6 band eq which unless you are a total retard you should be able to use graphic eq.

There's an on/off slider switch on the top to turn the fuzz on/off. There's also a slider for controlling how much fuzz is added should you have it on.

The only two tricky controls are the dynamics and sustain sliders. Kinda work like a compressor. Only problem is, with them all the way down (off) the effect is not very loud at all, even with the output volume slider all the way up. I found that to get decent volume i had to push the dynamics and sustain sliders to max and then there are no dynamics at all in your playing (but i guess you really do lose a lot if you have the fuzz all the way up too)

Level output slider- this unit could use more overall volume out of the unit.

also has a stomp switch to turn effect on or bypass it.

sounds great. Sounds pretty reminiscent of big muff type fuzz, but with the added flexibilty of a 6 band graphic eq. If you like the muffs but cant seem to dial in a good tone with the tone knob, check out the graphic fuzz... allows a lot more tonal flexibility.

I used the unit on bass guitar and got a great bmp tone out of it, but was able to get it even better with the eq. Great sound.

I only played it for a few days but seems sturdy like the rest of the EH line.

Only weird thing is that it has an ac adaptor (no batteries) and it converts 120 wall voltage to 40v for the pedal. Now, i think that's rad the unit runs on 40v but if the adaptor takes a shit it might be hard to find a 40v adaptor at any stores.

never dealt with em

great sounding unit. Graduated from the class of big muff, has some more flexibility to custom tailor the sound over the big muff. Recommended if you have the cash.

The ten slider switches are just simply an EQ with a distortion an envelop filter and a volume. As long as you know what you're doing it's easy piss.

Some people may think i'm crazy but i use this for my bass, as i am a bass player in my current band. My setup is 79' Gibson RD artist Bass>Electro harmonix Graphic Fuzz>96' Ampeg Mk2 S.V.T 350 watt head>89' Marshall JCM 800 4x12 360 watt bass cab.
I used to have loads of different distortion and wierd stomp box junk for my bass but it has all gone in the cupboard to join my other old amps and basses etc since i got this pedal. I didn't think the sound could get anymore amazing with my old Marshall B150 but since i got my knew all valve Ampeg S.V.T last week for #150 it's blown my mind, maybe this is because of the jump of 200 watts between the two amps. I actually think this pedal sounds better with a bass than a guitar cause you've got the EQ to keep the low end. If you've got a bass try it out with it.

I can depend on it at every gig i do it but the key to keep it going is to put a duracell ultra battery in it this is the only battery i know that keeps it going. I dinted it a few weeks ago with my DM boots but there was no major damage.

Never dealt with them

I play hard rock metal grunge or anything and it is perfect it is the best pedal for the bass you can buy.

It's so versatile it takes awhile to get the hang of it

Amazing, best distortion i've ever heard, and by FAR the most versatile distortion box i've heard. The guy who posted before me is a moron. Just think about it....a fuzz pedal that you can EQ and shape as much as you want! some of the most bizzare distortions can be dialed in, great box. It really lets the amp breath as well

this thing is like a rock

I play indie and hard rock, and this is an irreplaceable part of my sound, I don't know what i'd do without it

I just bought it and messed around with it. Very simple and strait forward pedal for anyone with a brain.

I tried this pedal out with a marshall jcm-800 head through marshall 412 cab first, guitar was a Gibson SG. My first thought was, why are they calling this a fuzz pedal? It's not so much an independant fuzz or overdrive as it is a signal booster. This is a good and bad thing.
It will not dramaticaly change the tone of an amp...the flavor of the amp is still present...I expected more out of this box. It really doesn't do that much, but I like the little things it does do, so i'm keeping it.

Just bought it

nothing

I play experimental music. It's good for feedback, and for a few weird tones. I don't like how the volume control on the pedal takes over the overall amp volume...in essense, this pedal takes over your eq and volume, and becomes your amp controls. If I lost it or it was stolen, I would be out some cash. Probably would just buy something else, but I'm keeping it, and I like it for now.

Well it's not the easiest pedal to use, but i eventually got the hang of it. It's got ten sliders, and a switch at the top that cuts the distortion on or off. it took me a couple of hours to get the sound i wanted, but it was worth it.

my setup is Fender strats-Graphic Fuzz- Boss Distortion- EH electric Mistress and a fender chorus amp. This is my fourth distortion pedal, and it's the best one i've heard so far. while i was tweeking it, i discovered every distortion sound from light overdrive to a heavy metal sound.

very realiable, but just in case if i'm wrong i have 3 other distortions.

The first one i got was busted, but i sent it back and got a new one.
(I ordered it from musictoyz.com, never delt with the actual company that made it.)
I sent in the warrenty card, but i hope i won't need to send it back for fixing.
Big thanks to musictoyz.com for their prompt and friendly return service!

I play in a sludge rock band, and it's perfect for my sound, and any other sound. Electro Harmonix really knows what they are doing.

Awesome. You've got sliders all over the place that EQ your tone, adjust your volume, deal with envelope filter issues, and control distortion. I got this in a poker game in college, so I never saw the manual. I'm sure you can figure it out. It took me a while to understand the envelope filter circuit though -- basically it increases the amount of fuzz added the the signal based on how hard you play. Really cool, especially if you have a lot of loud/soft sorts of songs.

My set-up is insane right now. I play a Fender Jaguar and a Yamaha Pacifica 12-string and I run them through the following - Boss compression/sustainer, Boss super chorus, Boss phaser, the graphic fuzz, a Tube Works realtube overdrive, a Boss Heavy Metal pedal, a Crybaby, an Ibanez analog delay, and an alesis miniverb rack. All that winds up inside the jangly goodness of a Roland JC-120. So is the Graphic Fuzz noisy? I don't know, maybe. I've got so many effects in my chain that my signal is a bit hissy, but nothing serious. The fuzz sounds great all the time. It's my main pedal. I use the other distortions and overdrives to kick the signal a bit, but I really like the subtlety the Fuzz gives you. I leave the distortion slider all the way down and that gives you a really warm rich tone. My band, The Jealous Type (www.thejealoustype.com) has songs that range from sounding like My Bloody Valentine to Juno to And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead. I use the fuzz on every single song. It's the best I've come across. I hate to sound like a gushing idiot over this, but seriously, when I broke this thing and sent it off to be repaired (see below) my band couldn't even practice. We sounded like shit. No other pedal I've ever played allows you to flow so smoothly from clean quiet sounds to loud nasty sounds.

Well, this thing has taken a beating. I've broken the footswitch and every single slider in the years I've had this. I've always been able to fix it though. I gig with it all the time though, and it's never burned me yet. Still, it has definately gone in and out during practices. Be warned, or else treat it better than I do.

Never dealt with the company. I did send it off to Canada to get it repaired once though, and the guy who did that obtained some parts from Electro Harmonix. So . . .

This pedal rules. I've been playing through it for about 6 years now and if it were stolen I'd stalk the son of a bitch who took it to the ends of the earth to get it back. The envelope filter feature of this pedal is the coolest thing. It allows for all kinds of distortion swells and stuff -- throw some reverb after it and you'll be sounding like Slowdive in no time. Stick a more intense distortion after it and kick them both on for incredible walls of noise. Single notes ring out with clarity, and chords hang together with excellent coherence. I don't really do solos or shred-metal stuff, so I can't really speak to that, but I've used this pedal in bands ranging from stright-up shoegazer noise to Fugazi-ish post-punk and it's never let me down.

Oh baby... This thing is full of usefull sounds. And getting them is stupidly easy too... the controls consist of 10 sliders, an on/off stomp switch, and a small switch on the back that turns off the fuzz circuit if you want to use the unit as a straight graphic EQ. The sliders are arranged into 4 "banks", for lack of better terminology. The first slider is the overall distortion level. Next, there are two sliders that effect the envelope of the signal passing throught the effect. The first is to increase the dynamics of your playing, while the second actually seems to cut the sustain (weird for a fuzz, eh??). You then have 6 band graphic eq section along with a master out. It only gets a 9 cuz it takes a wall wart (a wierd one at that... 24 VAC).

The unit is probably the most quiet that EH ever made... but I haven't heard a 16 second delay yet. No discernable noise when on... at least for a fuzz. Furthermore, I've been told the unit uses FET switching, which again is unusal for old EH pedals. The fuzz circuit is estatically nice to play with. It doesn't have the low end rumble of the big muff. However, the distortion is very smooth with alot of harmonics floating around in it. Coupled with the graphic EQ, you can squeeze many different flavours out of it. I've gotten this puppy to sound from the Stooges to My Bloody Valentine... along with other fuzz dreams. The really cool part of this pedal, tho, is the envelope control. Boosting the dynamics of your playing is really wierd... I'm used to cutting the dynamics with a compressor (I guess that it's an expander circuit in there). Anyhow, when you have the dynamic slider cranked and hit a chord hard, look out!! Your volume (but not distortion level, thankfully) almost doubles that which you'd expect. By doing this and cutting the sustain, you can create some very backwards sounding stuff... a la the Attack/Decay or a Slow Gear (which I can't really say... I've never heard either of these units).

Um.. not as reliable as others cuz I have no idea what chips this thing uses and whether they're replaceable. However, the steel enclosure is pretty solid.

Mike Mathews went out of business in the early 80s, so I guess that I'm on my own if I need help with this thing.

Well.. If I ever see one again, I'll probably scoop it. Especially if it's for under $100 dollars. Gotta love pawn shops that don't know what they're doing!! I'm not going to hold my breath though... this pedal came out at the end of EHs wierd life o' pedals, and thus only a few hundred were made (or so I'm told). Since I got this thing, it's become an intregal part of my setup. It's so dammed easy to make music with it. I was going to dump my BigMuff reissue and Boss OD-1... until I tried running all of them in parallel... whew!! The Graphic Fuzzes wierdness, BigMuffs big bottom, and OD-1s smoothness equated to one big distorted bliss.