In honor of the Claybridge Fuzzmaster.

[edkoppel]

The latest d*a*m offering finally got me off my ass to finish the article i started years ago about the Fuzzmaster series by Claybridge over at the Tone Machines blog.
It's up here if anyone is interested: https://www.tonemachinesblog.com/2023/0 ... aster.html <<<<<

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Claybridge Fuzzmaster Advertisement 1971.jpg (180.5 KiB) Viewed 798 times

[edkoppel]

Also, i didn't bring it up in the article, but this is the earliest known advertisement for a Claybridge Fuzz (April of 1966). But when I read it, this to me sounds like a little box you'd sit on an amp that comes with an attachable footswitch. Or am I reading too deeply into it?
What's with the 15' lead? Is this the true Mark I...

AHKlJs6_d (1).jpg (38.89 KiB) Viewed 772 times

[Gary]

Excellent read and sleuthing Ed.

[Zuff-1A]

Cool reading Mysterious Pedal

[DiscoFreq]

Also, i didn't bring it up in the article, but this is the earliest known advertisement for a Claybridge Fuzz (April of 1966). But when I read it, this to me sounds like a little box you'd sit on an amp that comes with an attachable footswitch. Or am I reading too deeply into it?
What's with the 15' lead? Is this the true Mark I...

AHKlJs6_d (1).jpg

I think it could still be a pedal with a cable like the FZ-1?

[edkoppel]

Also, i didn't bring it up in the article, but this is the earliest known advertisement for a Claybridge Fuzz (April of 1966). But when I read it, this to me sounds like a little box you'd sit on an amp that comes with an attachable footswitch. Or am I reading too deeply into it?
What's with the 15' lead? Is this the true Mark I...

AHKlJs6_d (1).jpg

I think it could still be a pedal with a cable like the FZ-1?

It definitely could be, but let's also remember that on the other side of Australia, roughly around the same time, Fi-Sonic not only had a Fuzz pedal (with the Mk IV name), but they also had a little unit that you'd sit atop an amplifier with a fuzz circuit inside...

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fisonicfuzz1.jpg (106.51 KiB) Viewed 743 times

fisonicfuzz3.jpg (104.92 KiB) Viewed 743 times

[Dr Tony Balls]

^ that's awesome and LOL at the handle

[Nick]

Fuzz Face knobs galore!

The description in the 1966 ad also suggests a stompbox with hardwired cable to me. The weird language describing a pedal's operation is something I've seen before in an early ad, for example, the 'Sperrin' pedals in 1966 were described wonkily as having "three controls: volume, sustain and foot (to switch from normal playing to fuzz tone)". Stompboxes certainly weren't as ubiquitous as they are now, particularly in Australia, but I suppose anything's possible...

That amp-top fuzz box is something else though

[edkoppel]

Fuzz Face knobs galore!

The description in the 1966 ad also suggests a stompbox with hardwired cable to me. The weird language describing a pedal's operation is something I've seen before in an early ad, for example, the 'Sperrin' pedals in 1966 were described wonkily as having "three controls: volume, sustain and foot (to switch from normal playing to fuzz tone)". Stompboxes certainly weren't as ubiquitous as they are now, particularly in Australia, but I suppose anything's possible...

That amp-top fuzz box is something else though

Yeah it's probably some type of pedal. And if you check out the later ad from 1971, they have a treble booster with a hardwired cable on there!
One thing is likely, the "Fuzz Boxes" in the April 1966 ad are in some way different from the green Fuzzmaster (that wasn't advertised until September of 1966, from what I can find).
Even if it's simply a different enclosure and the cable, that could very well be what is considered to be the Mark I... But who knows!

And the amp-top Fi-Sonic is so cool! I'd love to find one of those.

[DiscoFreq]

The amp-top thing reminds me of this one: