Best Basic Audio fuzz for finger picking/distinct chords?

[Meriphew]

I'm looking into getting a fuzz pedal that has a lot of character for finger picking/distinct chords, but not a brittle sounding pedal. I don't want/need a fuzz that does the sputtery/gated/farty/octave thing, I already have a couple that do that (Spaceman Sputnik, Rx Experience).

I'm drawn to the Basic Audio pedals because I hear only great thing about them, and they look kick ass. Any suggestions from the legion of BA fanatics out there?

 

[Empros]

You might want to email John Lyons directly and ask him because he'll know best.
I don't know about it having "character" per say, but the Futureman fuzz was very dynamic and every note in a chord rang clear.

 

[blobe]

Just did this, with john, we are doing a future man, cause i want something just like the op wants. Going smoothly.

 

[cbpickin]

I would also suggest the Lucky Number. It is articulate, goes from low to high gain, and cleans up with your volume knob. It a very dynamic fuzz.

 

[Empros]

I would also suggest the Lucky Number. It is articulate, goes from low to high gain, and cleans up with your volume knob. It a very dynamic fuzz.

Good suggestion. Having played both the LN and Futureman, I would say the Futureman is more open sounding and lower gain, whereas the LN is more compressed and higher gain. Both can do low-high gain, the LN just has more gain on tap. The Futureman has a more tweakable EQ and the LN can get fatter. All depends on what you want.

 

[cbpickin]

Good suggestion. Having played both the LN and Futureman, I would say the Futureman is more open sounding and lower gain, whereas the LN is more compressed and higher gain. Both can do low-high gain, the LN just has more gain on tap. The Futureman has a more tweakable EQ and the LN can get fatter. All depends on what you want.

I definitely agree. I was just thinking the LN can offer more of a full-on fuzz tone, whereas the Futureman is a lower-gain fuzzy od.

 

[PlexiFuzz]

Both the LN and FM are great suggestions.

If you're going into a clean amp, I'd recommend the Lucky Number over the Futureman, and that's mainly because you said you wanted character, and the LN has a lot of that, especially in the midrange. And the Fat knob really allows you to tweak the bass response, saturation and compression.

The Futureman is awesome, too, but it won't necessarily take over your amp the way the LN does. I prefer using it to give character/boost to an already distorting amp or another fuzz.

A third, more left-field option I'd maybe look into is the Zippy. No gating/farting/octave stuff, but a very unique, zippery decay and a lot of control over how thin/fat the sound is. You'll read a lot about how good the Zippy is for horn/kazoo/etc. lines, but it's a great pedal for chords, too, and has lots of nice shading available with the guitar's volume knob.

 

[AXXA]

BAN, you don't hear the upper octave in the Zippy? Its subtle, but its there

Futureman is probably a good idea if you're doing actual finger picking.

 

[PlexiFuzz]

BAN, you don't hear the upper octave in the Zippy? Its subtle, but its there Futureman is probably a good idea if you're doing actual finger picking.

Hmm ... not really. There's a lot going on with the Zippy for sure, but I don't feel like I really get an octave effect --- at least not in the way something like his Kay fuzz does with double stops or like the Gnarly gives you in the middle Texture positions.

I'll give it another listen to see if my leaden ears can pick it up.

 

[basicaudio]

Axxa
I know what you mean about the octave up. It's more noticable higher up the neck where you get those trumpet sounds on single string runs.
It's a byproduct more than something pronounced but yeah, it's there.

 

[PlexiFuzz]

Figures. Tin ear strikes again.

 

[basicaudio]

Well, it's just a tinge. And it's surely not all the time.

 

[AXXA]

Well, it's just a tinge. And it's surely not all the time.

Absolutely, Im not talking about anything obvious. It behaves like it has an octave IMO, even though theres isn't an obvious octave coming through. Intermodulation happens when multiple notes are played, for example. However, through a dirty amp with the guitar volume rolled back actual octave sounds can be had!