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Post by zman on Aug 20, 2005 15:49:43 GMT -7
How does the Ghia react when using a Fulltone 69 or soulbender? I tried both pedals awhile ago and really liked the soft mild fuzz they gave. I know the Ghia can be fussy with some pedals and would like to hear from someone that has tried the 69 or soulbender with the Ghia before I purchase one.
Thanks
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dewman
Junior Member
Posts: 86
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Post by dewman on Aug 22, 2005 5:15:35 GMT -7
I have a 69 pedal with it and it sounds generally ok-better through a Marshall non master volume amp though. There is some buzziness as with many fuzz/overdrive pedals and the Ghia, but not complete uselessness like when using the Fulltone fulldrive. I got a cheap coiled Radio shack extension cord to add some capacitance and cut off a little of the high end and it helped. The woofiness isn't there with the 69 given the bias knob, and I think the real nice feature of the pedal is the contour knob, which allows you to dial in some of the tone to help reduce any buzz. I backed off the fuzz a hair on the pedal too and that helped. For recording crank it and you'll hear better tones and a better match of the pedal and amp, but its a little buzzy at low volumes with the full fuzz and full volume knob setting. The EL84s compress the sound quite a bit from the get go, so not a lot of pedals (which do the same thing) can provide a nice match. I also had the opportunity to try to Duncan tweak fuzz last Thursday night when a friend brought his over, and I A/B/C'd the 69 w/ the Tweak and a modded Big Muff Pi. The 69 had a raw tone by comparison, the Big Muff had a tubular (lack of good adjective) sound to the tone, and the Tweak had a really nice warm tone on at least two settings of the 'tweak' knob. I liked it, and probably will buy one soon...big surprise. In general, the 69 is a fine pedal that I found can work well with most amps. It has an internat trim pot that I didn't play around with that helps set the transistor bias and can tone shape as well to suit the application. I found this pedal better than most overdrives for minimal squashing of the sound due to compression incompatibility issues. In fact, I think the fuzzes I compared were all not bad at all, and certainly in a band situation would sound better once the drummer kicked in...
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Post by G'OlPeachPhan on Aug 22, 2005 9:02:13 GMT -7
I'm a broken record here, but if you want great fuzztones with the Ghia, try a Hellbilly through a cookin' Ghia. I've found all full-on fuzzes to be too much for the Ghia, and a good Germanium boost is capable of taking me ALL the way to where I want to be. I don't think full-on fuzzes were really meant to be used with amps that create as much of their own distortion magic as the Ghia does.
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Post by Laroosco!! on Aug 23, 2005 23:07:19 GMT -7
McFuzz or McFuzz HOT.
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Post by zman on Aug 24, 2005 17:52:16 GMT -7
Thanks guys for giving some answers to my question. When I heard the 69 I really liked its low gain fuzz. I also like the bias and contour knob on the pedal. Im sure one of those knobs help adjust the geranium transistor to the climate like the AM Sunface dial.
People always suggest the McFuzz but if I can't tweak the geranium transistor to the climate externally and have to open the pedal up to tweak it to the climate its not worth it to me.
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Post by Laroosco!! on Aug 24, 2005 19:51:23 GMT -7
The McFuzz is a hybrid so it's not going to act like a full germ fuzz. I've alwways used hybrids and have never had issues wwith climate or temperature except in extreme cold(below 60degrees)
The McFuzz Hot is a Si with a very useful tone control. Just because the HOT is Si doesn't mean it is super bright or super high gain. You can control that.
Don't wwrite it off until you've tried it ;D
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Post by G'OlPeachPhan on Aug 25, 2005 6:28:24 GMT -7
Laroosco!! --
I've had a McFuzz standard and didn't really like it with my Ghia, or the TopHat Club Royale I had at the time... It was kind of harsh and buzzy. I DID however buy it used, so maybe I received one that had been abused some how.
On the same token, the Hellbilly is also a Bob McBroom (McFuzz maker) creation that he did specially for tonefactor. The Hellbilly also has an external bias control, and while it's tonally very Germanium, it uses a Silicon transistor to stabilize the Germanium transistor. Works unbelieveably well with the Ghia to give a fuzz flavor, with all the touch response and great harmonic overtones of a good fuzz, while not pummelling the Ghia's input. It does the fuzzface at a conservative setting thing better than any other pedal I've tried.
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Post by bustertheboy on Sept 10, 2005 17:39:00 GMT -7
an overdrive or fuzz face sounds great with the ghia if you change valve 2 to a 12BH7- it really needs the extra head room i'm using a TS808 clone and a germanium fuzz face with this valve hint: when using the fuzz face style pedals roll back your guitar volume- even better put a .001 uf cap across the in and out legs on your guitar valume and do this- gets rid of the over compressed sound a lot of fuzzfaces have the tone with a tele or humbucker guitar kills with the ghia and 12BH7- got it at BOI audioworks all the best
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