Compare Fulltone '70 fuzz to Foxrox Hot Silicon fuzz

[monkmiles]

Looking for comparisons of the Fulltone '70 fuzz with the Foxrox Hot Silicon fuzz...

Who's played both? I'm thinking of getting one of them. I'd be using mine with a Les Paul through a Fender amp. For reference, I have owned silicon fuzz faces before (MJM London and a bc108 clone).

[Last Nerve]

IMO, '70 gets crazier with the fuzz dimed.
'70 certainly has more mids, IMO.
I've bought both new before, so they had their internal trimmers set by the builder,
but both can get quite a few different tones with the internal timmers.

[88mm]

I have had both. While the 70 is great I have found the Hot Silicon to be more versitile with a number of different amps / Fender 75 / Sunn Model T (not reissue) Laney Pro Tube /
I can dial in nice fuzz tones with both but the Hot Silicon just has a nice musicality to it that plays well with a number of different amp and pedals. PLus the bias knob on the outside is great!

[monkmiles]

Thanks guys. I'm trying to decide between the two but they seem pretty similar. Is one more versatile than the other?

The Hot Silicon would fit nicely next to my Octron. Though the '70 is nice and compact and would fit as well. Or next to my Fat Boost.

[critter74]

I currently have both. I have said many time that the Hot Silicon is by far my favorite Fuzz Face type pedal (I on about 7 different ones; Analogman, FoxRox, Fulltone, etc).

The FoxRox is more versatile and can get far more gain flavors due to the external bias knob. The Fulltone 70 is fantastic and the mids knob helps a lot.

I play mostly PRS and Fender amps as a reference...

[monkmiles]

Well, turns out I'll be trying both the '70 and Hot Silicon to make my own comparisons. I decided to pick both up from the emporium here and check them both out. Long term I might only keep one of them if I can decided which I prefer.

[monkmiles]

Coincidentally, I've received both the '70 and the Hot Silicon on the same day. I've some a short amount of time with both of them side by side.

Man, both the '70 and the Hot Silicon are awesome silicon fuzz faces. They're certainly similar sounding as you might guess. The obvious differences being the external bias (grit) on the Hot Silicon versus the mids knob on the '70. I have been tweaking the internal bias on the '70. The Hot Silicon has an internal input level that I haven't touched yet. The mids knob on the '70 really makes the fuzz cut through. It makes it feel brighter than the Hot Silicon. I'd say the Hot Silicon is like the '70 with the mids knob around 8:00 (8:00 being the 2nd notch/marking) or so. The mids knob gets too much for me once you get past 1:00 or so, though the real measurement of that would be in a band context which I haven't done yet. Eitherway, it's nice to have that knob to cut through. They both have hefty amounts of gain on tap. Both can get soaring, sustaining lead tones when your guitar volume knob is up high and their fuzz knobs are 3:00 and higher. I'd say the '70 might clean up a tad better, but not by much at all.

Not sure yet which I prefer. I probably won't keep both of them long term, as I also have a Fuzzhugger Algal Bloom and don't need more than two fuzzes on hand.

I think if Fulltone made a '70 with a 4th knob for an external bias, it would be hard to top. Though the thumb screw enclosures do make it easier to get to the internal bias than typical pedals.