FUZZrite

[charge]

In honor of dev beating us to yet another germanium FUZZrite, I thought I'd start a thread for peoples to add their favorite 'rite clips.

To get it started:




@ 2:32

[devnulljp]

Pretty sure this is a Fuzzrite


This too

[psycho*daisies]

The 2,000 Pound Bee - Pts 1 & 2 (10/62)

House Of The Rising Sun (10/64)

The Creeper (10/64)

Bird Rockers (2/65)

Love Potion #9

Fuzzy & Wild (Wild Things LP, 1966)

# It's believed that the fuzz used on The Ventures recordings was custom made by Red Rhodes -
amongst the very first, if not thee first fuzz pedal(s) to be built.
The Red Rhoads fuzz circuit is arcane, but the FUZZrite may be based on its' design,
as they seem to have similar tonal characteristics.

Davie "King Fuzz" Allan definitely used a Mosrite FUZZrite (with a Mosrite guitar) on the following...
Davie Allan & The Arrows - Blues' Theme (Wild Angels, 1966)
Opening Sequence:

original trailer:

Fuzz & wah here:

Davie Allan & The Arrows - Make Love Not War (Teenage Rebellion soundtrack, 1966)

edit: 1st Feb, 2015 (dead video links fix'd)

[Gemma Thrush]

[quote="charge"]In honor of dev beating us to yet another germanium FUZZrite, I thought I'd start a thread for peoples to add their favorite 'rite clips.

To get it started:





This is excellent - some impressive dancing as well, especially that guy in the striped pants

[charge]

In honor of dev beating us to yet another germanium FUZZrite, I thought I'd start a thread for peoples to add their favorite 'rite clips.

To get it started:





This is excellent - some impressive dancing as well, especially that guy in the striped pants

There are some pretty interesting Playboy After Dark clips from the Grateful Dead, Canned Heat, James Brown, and an especially good one from Ike and Tina Turner. A few are lip synced, but most are live.

[waveclipper]

Love the fuzzrite -some brilliant tracks on here already


1968 - me guessy this is a silicon fuzzrite - Lost Agency



The Psychotics - nasty thin and buzzy with lovely funky drumming, very cool



I hope this one is a fuzzrite, my little tribute to the doomers among us
Singer sounds like Clancy Brown's 'the Kurgan' in the highlander flick, which of course can only be awesome! Why the hell is it that there is so much fuzzy garage madness from Texas? I ain't complaining...

[psycho*daisies]

...Must be fuzz in the water (in Texas)...

HELL yeah, Steve. Great stuff there!! That Purple Sun is somethin' else!!
(my mom's side is from Houston, so there's some Texas/fuzz pride there -
Irish descent too...but Scotch-Irish (cast-outs!) heh heh...

Btw, here's a little FUZZrite Q&A (with Ed Sanner!!) i found:

Fuzzrite Facts - Q&A

"Just recently I asked my friend xxx xxxxx from Japan to trace the battery door from his original Fuzzrite so I could make one to finish my restoration. His model is very close to mine in age. During our conversations by email, xxx asked me some interesting questions. I forwarded these questions to Ed Sanner... The best person to answer them. Because xxx and I believe that any information about Mosrite is precious, we would like to share this information with you. Here the answers to xxx's questions from Ed Sanner [my comments will be in brackets]:

Q: How many versions of the Fuzzrite exist ?
A: There were three circuits.
(1) The original 250 units with germanium transistors.
(2) Many thousands were made with discrete parts on a paper phenolic circuit board, using silicone transistors.
(3) 20,000 were made with the orange module. But there was only one case made for all of them. [Ed told me that the first units using germanium transistors would malfunction if the Fuzzrite was placed on a very cold concrete floor. Subsequently the circuit was modified to accept the silicon transistors which were not affected by the cold temperature.]

Q: When was the first version released?
A: Some time in the middle of 1967. But it took almost a year for them to catch on.
(edit: so, if Ed's recollection is correct, the ones we've seen with '66 pots may have been made from a stockpile of eyear-old pots - entirely possible...My Ge FUZZrite has Jan '67 pots, so that might have been about current - for a mid '67 build, after their stockpile of '66 pots ran out -p*d).

Q: Was it requirement from The Ventures?
A: No, it was my idea at the request of a friend that was a steel guitar player. The Ventures didn't know anything about it until it was ready for market, as far as I know.

Q: Did The Ventures actually use the Fuzzrite at their recording session?
A: I don't know positively, But I'm sure they did. [I believe The Ventures used the Fuzzrite on the "Wild Things" album for the first time. The first fuzztone that Nokie Edwards used was designed and built by a man named "Red" Rhodes (now deceased). He also made a compressor that Nokie used back then and still uses to this day. Red's fuzztone had lighter harmonics than the Fuzzrite and actually made the Mosrite guitar sound more like a saxophone. The original fuzztone was eventually stolen from Nokie.]

Q: How many Fuzzrites were sold in total during the period of 1966-68?
A: I don't know for those two years, but look at answer number one. That covers through, maybe, the early 1970's.

Q: Some have gold plated finish, some have silver (mine). Was there any intention for it?
A: All were a brushed chrome plating on a steel can when new. But the clear lacquer finish over the lettering turned yellow with age, on some of them. This information is to the best of my remembrance. It has been more then thirty years. [Mosrite guitars were finished in nitro-cellulose lacquer and it follows that the Fuzzrite silkscreen graphics would be spray coated with the same. After removing the black paint from my Fuzzrite during the restoration, my housing also exhibited a golden cast."

[waveclipper]

I'll have some of that fuzzy water! Wish I could claim some of that Texan fuzz blood, but it's nice to know Mr Hendrix was a healthy mix of African American, Cherokee and Irish - reckon we've overcompensated for the goddamn dark winters and constant rain...

Really interesting stuff there - thanks for posting Dave Ed Sanner is still alive, right?
Basically the fuzzrite wasn't really in the public domain for purchase until mid '67 then? That's really helpful as it seems some tracks I thought may have been a fuzzrite from '66 were more likely than not actually maestros - and presumably the original Ge fuzzrites were loaded with 2N2613 transistors which probably perpetuates my confusion . The orange (sprague?) modules were presumably used in the rosac nufuzz and other variants into the late 60s and 70s...

Am I right or wrong in saying that the fuzzrite circuit was also built into a few amplifiers in the late 60s/70s also?

I have 5 clones of the fuzzrite, one of which an unknown homebuild with 2N2222 transistors which gives a very buzz-saw synthy sort of sound (taken from the amp schem?) but my absolute favourite has to be Chris Mahoney's 'buzzrite' with TZ82 transistors - really razor sharp ugly sounding son of a bitch
It would be really great to hear a face off between the different versions mentioned in that article - somehow I have a feeling that Devnulljp would easily have all the versions covered?!!

[psycho*daisies]

Hey man, those Psychotics sure are great!!
Thanks for posting...i didn't know these tunes and stumbled
onto another keeper by them crazy cats!

My friend in Chicago says this sounds like they were influenced by The Pretty Things
and Them. (says some of the early Michigan bands were heavily into The Pretties, believe it or not)

"Dave , This has a bit of a Pretty Things / Them influence , I think. Both bands were influential in Detroit , which I think was a target audience or "Test Market". Labels used to try to break British bands with LESS commercial potential by pushing them outside the big 3 or 4 markets , if they could , first. The Pretties were so popular in Detroit , even the SRC did a few of their songs in the early 70's..."



btw, i have that '67 Ge one (Jan '67 pots), an early '68 one with Si on phenolic board
and then a super clean '68 one with Sprague encapsulated circuit. Jerms has a bunch
too, (early ones), and i know we've probably done a FUZZrite face-off already, but we
can surely do another...The Sprague one doesn't do the 3D depth effect quite like the Ge
one but the sound is nice and buzz/beefy - perhaps more consistent and classic fuzzrite sound...
The DAM FUZZrong nails the early Ge FUZZrite sound, btw. Just great!
\

[waveclipper]

Aha! - that probably explains part of the reason why Michigan is another hot spot of excellent fuzz garage gems! Seems like the Kinks, Stones, Them, The Yardbirds and The Pretty Things were a massive influence in the American garage bands of this era, possibly more so than the Beatles (although their influence was heavily pervasive of course). Perhaps it's just that the stuff that I really love was influenced more by the 'alternatives' - it's very easy to become a little bit 'twee' if influenced purely by the Beatles perhaps, particularly their early years (don't get me wrong - they were a great band!!). Poor old Pretty Things never really got the popular acclaim they really deserved - they were particularly hard done by when SF Sorrow was delayed (in America) allowing Tommy to get the credit for being the first 'rock concept album', despite SF Sorrow being much more intricate, inventive, subtle and involving (imo!)...
Awesome you have one of the early 250 germ fuzzrites - I would assume that the earlier fuzzrites for the Ventures and Davie Allan et al were pretty much the same circuit? Sure is a great shame the Red Rhodes build has gone AWOL - I would be a hell of a lot more interested in getting my paws on a clone of that beauty than the Page tonebender, but I guess I just like 'em dirty and ragged with their sonic guts spilling out all over the place. It's about time I got myself a DAM, and since there's a low probability that there's gonna be a new run of '65s I think I may have to get myself on the FuzzRong list....

Reckon this one is a searing silicon fuzzrite?! With the old recording techniques and scratchy vinyl fuzzrites sound almost like musical static - love it! Love the drumming and seriously groovy organ too...
Smith Vinson 'hallucinations'