Page Fuzz

Pics, info, thoughts on old and/or hairy gear.

Moderator: The Captain

Post Reply
User avatar
Cado
Posts: 1241
Joined: Tue Aug 26, 2008 11:01 am
Location: Queens

Re: Page Fuzz

Post by Cado »

Mr. Nice, thanks for making me look good! I think this is important too:

In 1966, Mayer hooked up with a promising young guitarist named Jimi Hendrix, who was enthralled by the pedal designer’s new Octavia effect. “Jimi was a total tone freak,” recalls Mayer. “That’s all we ever talked about.” Which both Beck and Page maintain Mayer abandoned them once he began working for Hendrix, he flatly denies the allegations. “I think Jimmy and Jeff got intimidated when I met Hendrix and started working with him,” says Mayer, laughing. “They didn’t call me up after that. They could have had anything they wanted had they bothered to ask me!”

Mayer continued to work with Hendrix until the guitarist’s death in 1970.

I think this greatly increases the probability that this fuzz was not used by Page on any Yardbirds or Zeppelin recordings. How good are the Mayer reproductions? :hmm:
User avatar
Cado
Posts: 1241
Joined: Tue Aug 26, 2008 11:01 am
Location: Queens

Re: Page Fuzz

Post by Cado »

I guess that's why all those guys go to Pete Cornish these days.
User avatar
Poorbob
Posts: 1177
Joined: Tue Aug 26, 2008 7:04 am
Location: Palm Desert, California

Re: Page Fuzz

Post by Poorbob »

Thanks for all the great comments guys.

Cado, I don't get why the fuzz couldn't have been used on any Yardbirds or Zep recordings. And for the most part, the Mayer Repo's suck.

Sickle, the link was provided earlier in the thread, here it is: http://www.freestompboxes.org/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=3410

I hope people here understand I'm not actually upset at anyone and especially not anyone here. The thread linked above has some people that think I'm some other guy. I live in Palm Desert, CA and the guy who owned the Mayer fuzz lives in Upland, CA, so all this talk of Don Mare has nothing to do with me.

Side note: Apparently, there are MKI replica enclosures somewhere in Riverside, CA. The guy mentioned it to me last night, but we're gonna go into more detail as to how to go about building a Page Fuzz clone when he gets back around the 3rd.
User avatar
Cado
Posts: 1241
Joined: Tue Aug 26, 2008 11:01 am
Location: Queens

Re: Page Fuzz

Post by Cado »

Poorbob, Page could have used it on those recordings. I just think that the facts surrounding the Mayer pedal lead me to think that he didn't. Here's why: Being that Page wanted the unit to get the "2000 Pound Bee" tone, so it must of had a buzzy quality to the tone. All of Page's Yardbirds & Zep I fuzz tones all have that MKII sound. Around the time he switched from the Tele to the LP, he sarted using the MKIII. That is the Zep II fuzz sound (Lemon Song, Bring It On Home.) After that, there is very little fuzz on his recordings. Tangerine, Black Dog & No Quarter are all that come to mind. I'm not 100% certain & after my last post I listened to clips of the RM Axis Fuzz; I would never use one, to say the least. I wonder if Beck used this on "Shapes Of Things?"
User avatar
Poorbob
Posts: 1177
Joined: Tue Aug 26, 2008 7:04 am
Location: Palm Desert, California

Re: Page Fuzz

Post by Poorbob »

Interesting you say he used an MKIII on Zep II. Is this the Rotosound MKIII that I have? That would be a bonus. :dance:

No worries Cado, I was just trying to gage your reasoning on why you said that.
User avatar
tatter
Posts: 643
Joined: Thu Aug 28, 2008 12:22 pm
Location: Blackpool, England

Re: Page Fuzz

Post by tatter »

Just out of interest, has anyone with a 1965 ever tried to get the early Zep sounds from it, ie. with a Telecaster, volume rolled off a bit maybe?

The Mayer pedal was probably a modded FZ-1 like the MKI Tone Bender so it might give us some clues...
http://www.myspace.com/sinisterfootwear
http://www.reverbnation.com/sinisterfootwear

Fender Vintage Player Stratocaster > D*A*M AA > Arion SAD-1 > Line 6 M9 > Ibanez 850 Mini Fuzz > CAE Boost / Line Driver
User avatar
Cado
Posts: 1241
Joined: Tue Aug 26, 2008 11:01 am
Location: Queens

Re: Page Fuzz

Post by Cado »

Poorbob wrote:Interesting you say he used an MKIII on Zep II. Is this the Rotosound MKIII that I have? That would be a bonus. :dance:

No worries Cado, I was just trying to gage your reasoning on why you said that.
I think it is. Match up the rest of his rig during this period (Les Paul, Marshall) as best as you can, play a few of those riffs & let us know how close you come to the sound. :cheers:
User avatar
tatter
Posts: 643
Joined: Thu Aug 28, 2008 12:22 pm
Location: Blackpool, England

Re: Page Fuzz

Post by tatter »

Sickle wrote:
tatter wrote:Just out of interest, has anyone with a 1965 ever tried to get the early Zep sounds from it, ie. with a Telecaster, volume rolled off a bit maybe?

The Mayer pedal was probably a modded FZ-1 like the MKI Tone Bender so it might give us some clues...
That's only a part of his signal chain, though! What amps was he going into? I've seen plenty of Univox stage shots but what did he record with..

See, now you guys have dragged me into this shit, man!

:fu:
I think he used a Supro combo...

... then there's the micing techniques... :bangs head:
http://www.myspace.com/sinisterfootwear
http://www.reverbnation.com/sinisterfootwear

Fender Vintage Player Stratocaster > D*A*M AA > Arion SAD-1 > Line 6 M9 > Ibanez 850 Mini Fuzz > CAE Boost / Line Driver
User avatar
kb892
Posts: 1606
Joined: Tue Aug 26, 2008 5:50 am

Re: Page Fuzz

Post by kb892 »

I fucking hate when you write a long reply, hit the post button, and the fucking thing dissafuckingpears! Anyways, to make a very long story short.... Beck supposedly borrowed this fuzz from Page to do the intro to Heart Full Of Soul. I tend to buy this as it really doesn't sound nearly as crazy as the MKI used on later Yardbirds tunes but my thinking is that the only Page recordings you'll hear this fuzz on are stuff he did as a session guy well before the Yardbirds stint he did. Just my opinion, of course.
User avatar
tatter
Posts: 643
Joined: Thu Aug 28, 2008 12:22 pm
Location: Blackpool, England

Re: Page Fuzz

Post by tatter »

The very first Tone Bender (gold wedge-shaped one) is also an FZ-1 variant, modded to run on 9-volts. So probably would share the same characteristics as the mysterious Mayer pedal :geek:
http://www.myspace.com/sinisterfootwear
http://www.reverbnation.com/sinisterfootwear

Fender Vintage Player Stratocaster > D*A*M AA > Arion SAD-1 > Line 6 M9 > Ibanez 850 Mini Fuzz > CAE Boost / Line Driver
Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 10 guests