Neo fuzz: why not so popular?

[pold]

I am surprised the neo fuzz is not as popular as other fuzzes, I heard clips and giving attention to it I think it sounds killer. I have a sunface nkt 275 and dunlop jhf1, love both, how do you compare them with the neo fuzz?
Here some clips and old threads links
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akdlGlgI5aI
http://www.thegearpage.net/board/sho...lind+fuzz+test

[ungarn]

Had one...maybe just too tweakable allowing for less than desirable tones...it is OK for sure, just was not a keeper for me.

[Dave]

The Neo is an underrated fuzz IMO. I have had one for a while and I love it. It's basically a FF with powerful EQ controls. In addition to volume and gain you have control over lows, mids, highs, bias and load. How cool is that? Compared to my Sun Face NKT it's not as smooth, it's a bit more raspy, not in a bad way at all though. With the "load" control set just right the Neo can clean up with your guitar's volume control every bit as well as the Sun Face.

I love the Neo. It's a great sounding germanium fuzz that is super flexible.

[charless]

I've just replaced my Fuzz Head with the Neo Fuzz.

I love the Fuzz Head as a lead booster (into an OCD), but IMO it cannot function as a standalone fuzz cause it's stradles the overdrive/fuzz line a bit. The Neo can double up duties but I'm not sure its a better lead boost than the Keeley just yet though it still sounds great.

I chose the Neo because it really sounds fuzzy and I wanted a more fuzzy fuzz than the Fuzz Head. The options to tweak its sound is both good and bad but mostly good. It took some time to dial in an appropriate lead boost sound but I think I got it right. Key is to keep the toggle bright switch in the center to cut through.

The Keeley Fuzz Head is an awesome pedal though and the jury is still out on the Neo as I have yet to truly test it with my band but regardless it's a cool little box. .... I'm also curious about the G.I Fuzz!

[auratnik]

I'm the one who recorded some of the first youtube videos of Neo. At that time I just started to explore the fuzzes before that I had only drives and distortion pedals. Neo is cool pedal but in my opinion it feels kind of sterille after some time and controls are really annoying. It's clear what I talk about when you try some other germanium pedal specialy Sunface from Analogman. Anyway I found very great silicon based fuzz from Thunder Tomate that sounds very much like germanium, I just love it.

[pold]

Originally Posted by auratnik

I'm the one who recorded some of the first youtube videos of Neo. At that time I just started to explore the fuzzes before that I had only drives and distortion pedals. Neo is cool pedal but in my opinion it feels kind of sterille after some time and controls are really annoying. It's clear what I talk about when you try some other germanium pedal specialy Sunface from Analogman. Anyway I found very great silicon based fuzz from Thunder Tomate that sounds very much like germanium, I just love it.

I heard your clips, thanks

[GBStratman]

Originally Posted by charless

The Keeley Fuzz Head is an awesome pedal though and the jury is still out on the Neo as I have yet to truly test it with my band but regardless it's a cool little box. .... I'm also curious about the G.I Fuzz!

I have the GI Fuzz, which replaced my London fuzz. Since I have vowed to keep only 1 fuzz on my board it's a bit of a compromise. The London is a great germanium fuzz and sounded really nice cleaned up but I found it just too hard to control and unusable with humbuckers, so I switched to the GI. The load controls on the MI audio fuzzes are great -- makes a fuzz usable with any guitar. GI or Neo -- just depends on your preference for silicon or germanium. The clips on MI audio's website are pretty accurate.

[pold]

I have problems with muddiness with the strat neck pickup and guitar vol all the way up, it's not the end of the world anyway. But I think with a neo fuzz I would have more options. Between GI and Neo I would go definetely neo, since I am addicted to germanium trannies now, nothing can replace that wildness.

[charless]

Originally Posted by charless

I've just replaced my Fuzz Head with the Neo Fuzz.

I've just replaced my Neo Fuzz with the Fuzz Head.

Well, I was able to get the Neo to sound as close as possible to Fuzz Head (for boosting an OCD v3) and through all that I learned 2 things. First, that the Neo Fuzz is an awesome fuzz pedal in its own right and secondly that it's just a little shy of beating out the Keeley as a booster into an OD pedal. The Keeley has more bite (courtesy of the internal tone knob dialed up for treble) and sounds sweet and clear when playing single notes and chords. It just cuts better.

The Neo Fuzz, like any traditional fuzz has a woofy low end that for me is too mushy for lead playing, on the Neo if I dialed out the bass the entire fuzz sound became thin, the controls interact with each other, the Tone and Body (mid). Better for me would have been a trad. EQ type setup.
The Fuzz Head is tight on the low end, but has some lower mids emphasis with the stock cap set in place. I haven't switched it out but there is an option to remove some of the bass, I think it sounds good though stock.

BTW .. If anybody wants the settings for Neo Fuzz emluating a Fuzz Head let me know .. I'll post em. Took hours and hours to find it but its very close.

If I was using fuzz for a rhythm sound I would use the Neo over the Fuzz Head. Since that is not the case, the Keeley works better for my setup.

Charles

[therhodeo]

I had one and it was the best tone I ever had for slide. I just never play slide.

[Painasusual]

Neo is a lovely fuzz box. One of the best ones I've had. Maybe it's not "in" on tgp because there is no wait list and it's not filled with unobtainium, to quote a fellow forum user.

I've become quite tired of the hype that certain manufacturers have on tgp. If you dare to disagree with the cult following, you are a hater/liar/whatnot...

[Aran]

If I were to make a guess I'd say the name has a lot to do with it.

[aldoaldo]

is Neo good for humbucker?

[Painasusual]

There's the "load" control which makes it easy to adjust it to suit single coils/buckers.

[StompBoxBlues]

Originally Posted by aldoaldo

is Neo good for humbucker?

Neo (and G.I.) are excellent for humbuckers, because they have the "load" knob. You can "tune" it to your pickups so it retains the good old guitar vol dynamics.

That said, I really like the Neo, but side by side I felt like the G.I. did sound close, and had more sounds in it as well as more useable volume in the volume knob.

Tone controls, bias, fuzz, three voicings...

Personally, I tend to like to keep things simple, but honestly these knobs are VERY easy to use, give the fuzzes different good sounds, and are not complicated.

An exception, I do love my Fuzz Factory, but that was not as intuitive, and took a little learning on my part.