Pete Cornish Death Pedal. Lou Reed Fuzz.

aram · Jan 24, 2021

Made a clip of this today. Pete Cornish NG2 Death Pedal Fuzz, made for Lou Reed. You can still see Lou's settings on this controls, and of course those are the ones that sound best, but I try out some other ones here. Recorded with a Rick Kelly Bowery Pine Telecaster through a 1964 Fender Deluxe Reverb Amp. AEA R84 Ribbon mic through API mic pres.

Enjoy!

AXXA · Jan 24, 2021

Not sure what you got going on there, but it sounds great!

ndparse89 · Jan 25, 2021

AXXA said:
Not sure what you got going on there, but it sounds great!

This is the "Imminent Amp Death" fuzz he designed for Lou Reed.

aram · Jan 25, 2021

ndparse89 said:
This is the "Imminent Amp Death" fuzz he designed for Lou Reed.

Yup that's it. And having used this pedal on my amp right before it died, I have to say that that combo was even more incredible!

drbob1 · Jan 25, 2021

Sounds like a Muff Variant tuned for velcro?

sonichronic · Jan 25, 2021

drbob1 said:
Sounds like a Muff Variant tuned for velcro?

it basically is. the NG2(3) is 4 transistor fuzz (muff) with basically a fuzz face on the end stage and a bias control (only on NG3 and modded NG2's) that allows for gating.

not sure what the changes Pete made from the NG fuzz to the NG2 were.

this pedal above is actually Lou's pedal.

aram · Jan 25, 2021

sonichronic said:
it basically is. the NG2(3) is 4 transistor fuzz (muff) with basically a fuzz face on the end stage and a bias control (only on NG3 and modded NG2's) that allows for gating.

not sure what the changes Pete made from the NG fuzz to the NG2 were.

this pedal above is actually Lou's pedal.

Yes, the bias control does allow for gating, but Lou also used it for live situations that were very hot, like shows in Italy, where the Germanium would act wonky. The bias helped out with those situations. I don't know the electronics behind it, just remember it helping with heat at shows.

drbob1 · Jan 26, 2021

aram said:
Yes, the bias control does allow for gating, but Lou also used it for live situations that were very hot, like shows in Italy, where the Germanium would act wonky. The bias helped out with those situations. I don't know the electronics behind it, just remember it helping with heat at shows.

A lot of builders are adding a bias pot to fuzz face type circuits, or Ge Tonebenders (like Analogman's Sundial, or Jimmy Behan's excellent TB Mk II) to compensate for temperature changes. Of course, in addition to being able to tune the response of the transistors to a consistent "good" sound, in spite of temperature, they can also be used, as above, to make the sound harsher and less sustaining!

aram · Jan 27, 2021

drbob1 said:
A lot of builders are adding a bias pot to fuzz face type circuits, or Ge Tonebenders (like Analogman's Sundial, or Jimmy Behan's excellent TB Mk II) to compensate for temperature changes. Of course, in addition to being able to tune the response of the transistors to a consistent "good" sound, in spite of temperature, they can also be used, as above, to make the sound harsher and less sustaining!

For sure, I have a couple of other fuzzes with the bias pot, great for ****** fizzle effects.

adolan · Jan 27, 2021

All Hail the NG-2/3

I love mine, it is a REALLY great Fuzz.

splatt · Jan 27, 2021

sonichronic said:
it basically is. the NG2(3) is 4 transistor fuzz (muff) with basically a fuzz face on the end stage and a bias control (only on NG3 and modded NG2's) that allows for gating.

not sure what the changes Pete made from the NG fuzz to the NG2 were.

this pedal above is actually Lou's pedal.

this FF circuit likely has some special self-oscillation points/values innit..... which also might include some effect w/the Muff section.
killer!

sonichronic · Jan 27, 2021

aram said:
Yes, the bias control does allow for gating, but Lou also used it for live situations that were very hot, like shows in Italy, where the Germanium would act wonky. The bias helped out with those situations. I don't know the electronics behind it, just remember it helping with heat at shows.

interesting... I always thought that the NG was only Germanium because of it's diodes just like the G2.
It does not make sense as I think the stability and variability of Ge transistors would drive Pete mad.
Pete does describe the NG-2 as having a 'Stabilized' Ge second stage preamp (here)... but I always assumed that meant Ge diodes.
though looking at this schematic which I believe the tracing is correct components may be off...
now I'm not the best at reading schematics but if it were that Q4&Q5 were both Ge that would mean that the only one of them were Ge?

what this word salad means isn't to second guess your claim about the bias knob because it is true that in fuzz faces adding a bias trim to Q2 certainly does help get a hold over Ge stabilization in heat and cold.
it's just that I don't think I've ever experienced any difference in sound due to heat with my unit? which I've always attributed that to it being mostly silicon transistors and Ge diodes...

have you @philrob1 @adolan anyone else I can think of who has an NG2 and or 3 experienced sound difference in heat or cold?

tinkercity · Jan 27, 2021

So cool

aram · Jan 28, 2021

sonichronic said:
interesting... I always thought that the NG was only Germanium because of it's diodes just like the G2.
It does not make sense as I think the stability and variability of Ge transistors would drive Pete mad.
Pete does describe the NG-2 as having a 'Stabilized' Gesecond stage preamp (here)... but I always assumed that meant Ge diodes.
though looking at this schematic which I believe the tracing is correct components may be off...
now I'm not the best at reading schematics but if it were that Q4&Q5 were both Ge that would mean that the only one of them were Ge?

what this word salad means isn't to second guess your claim about the bias knob because yes in fuzz faces adding a bias trim to Q2 certainly does help get a hold over Ge stabilization in heat and cold.
it's just that I don't think I've ever experienced any difference in sound due to heat with my unit? which I've always attributed that to it being mostly silicon transistors and Ge diodes...

have you @philrob1 @adolan anyone else I can think of who has an NG2 and or 3 experienced sound difference in heat or cold?

No idea, but I'm pretty sure that it's germanium. There were a couple of gigs in Italy where we had fans on the pedals, along with reflective blankets to keep them cool. It was a mess, but I also remember that tweaking the bias knob was a big help.