MGR/Brian Johnston « From Classic Fuzz to Full Bore Modern Distortion-Fuzz »
Published on 10/08/20 at 13:53
Best value:
Excellent
Audience:
Anyone
It’s a great time to be a guitarist, with so many affordable effects coming to market. Sonicake certainly fills that niche with their line-up of effects, and the Fazy Cream muff-style fuzz pedal is no exception. Besides a fantastic price ($29.99 USD at the time of writing this review), the Fazy Cream excels in two other areas – it is a micro pedal that takes up minimal room on a pedalboard, and it is extremely diverse, ranging from a vintage warm fuzz to a modern and aggressive distortion-like fuzz… and everything between.
Operation is simple, although there is a lot of tweaking possibilities. The Volume works as expected and with plenty of headroom; for the entire accompanying demo I kept the Volume at 12-noon, whereas more than that made my guitar too loud in the recording. The Tone knob is very broad, ranging from dark and brooding to a tone that cuts and slices (although not shrill or overly bright). Seriously, this pedal could work with the darkest or brightest of amps, and whatever else you can throw at it.
The Fuzz (gain) knob also has a significant range. When turned all the way down the fuzz is apparent, but more in the way of a warm and slightly broken up overdrive – dirty enough to give a clean amp channel some raunch or to push a dirty amp into a different dimension. Once you get the Fuzz knob around the 9-10 o’clock position, you’re into some serious vintage Muff. Anything around 12-noon and beyond is getting hardcore. The huge spectrum of fuzz sounds occurs as you tweak the Fuzz and Tone knobs – what can sound too heavy and thick suddenly becomes lucid and defined with just a slight turn.
The only downside, which is minor, is that pushing the Fuzz at 2-o’clock and beyond with humbuckers does make the signal a bit messy, which is where a noise gate comes in handy. However, this is not as apparent with single-coil pickups. Regardless, with humbuckers I found the amount of fuzz and ‘heaviness’ more than enough at the 1-o’clock or less position on this pedal.
Overall, for the price, size and diversity of tones the Fazy Cream is about as good as it gets. It is not as subtle as some other fuzz pedals (preferred by those who only want a hint of warmth in their tones), but if you’re looking for a psychedelic, proto-metal or modern high-gain option, the Fazy Cream is a solid choice.
Operation is simple, although there is a lot of tweaking possibilities. The Volume works as expected and with plenty of headroom; for the entire accompanying demo I kept the Volume at 12-noon, whereas more than that made my guitar too loud in the recording. The Tone knob is very broad, ranging from dark and brooding to a tone that cuts and slices (although not shrill or overly bright). Seriously, this pedal could work with the darkest or brightest of amps, and whatever else you can throw at it.
The Fuzz (gain) knob also has a significant range. When turned all the way down the fuzz is apparent, but more in the way of a warm and slightly broken up overdrive – dirty enough to give a clean amp channel some raunch or to push a dirty amp into a different dimension. Once you get the Fuzz knob around the 9-10 o’clock position, you’re into some serious vintage Muff. Anything around 12-noon and beyond is getting hardcore. The huge spectrum of fuzz sounds occurs as you tweak the Fuzz and Tone knobs – what can sound too heavy and thick suddenly becomes lucid and defined with just a slight turn.
The only downside, which is minor, is that pushing the Fuzz at 2-o’clock and beyond with humbuckers does make the signal a bit messy, which is where a noise gate comes in handy. However, this is not as apparent with single-coil pickups. Regardless, with humbuckers I found the amount of fuzz and ‘heaviness’ more than enough at the 1-o’clock or less position on this pedal.
Overall, for the price, size and diversity of tones the Fazy Cream is about as good as it gets. It is not as subtle as some other fuzz pedals (preferred by those who only want a hint of warmth in their tones), but if you’re looking for a psychedelic, proto-metal or modern high-gain option, the Fazy Cream is a solid choice.
