Canterbury Scene and fuzz pedals

reading this topic, I wanted to make my contribution.

I was looking at the two Wattson clones earlier. Apparently, they're the most accurate. (They've even been sued by Univox - good sign).

And Polymorphia may be happy to know that clones are indeed available. ;-)

https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/what-are-my-options-for-a-univox-super-fuzz.1796015/

That's interesting ! Could be. 

I was looking up the price of Fuzz Faces yesterday - ha haaaa, thousands for a pedal because it has the original germanium transistors in it. World's gone mad, a bipolar transistor junction transistor is basically a voltage controlled high speed switch. It's like saying a vintage car handles differently due to the wind resistance of the original paint. 

Just found this, a schematic for a Univox Superfuzz. The original transistors are 2SC828's - you can get new old stock ones for 99p each. There are six of them, standard NPN ones. You could actually use BC547's and save a few quid, there wouldn't be much of a difference. Pretty simple to build this on stripboard or design a simple PCB for it. Not that I'm volunteering, too much work to do on the modular synth !!! 

Well, perhaps the thread is actually about "do you know what equipment was used" rather than "let's all go off on a tangent and no we don't", Mosh........ ;-)

This may help. Searchable pedals and effects made from 1960 - 69. Just alter the link to get it to, say, 1972. 

https://reverb.com/marketplace/effects-and-pedals?year_max=1969&year_min=1960

They're the most likely. However, remember that this is an era where decent pedals and amps are scarce in the UK. You can get bassists using guitar pedals, there are obscure manufacturers coming up with a few designs which are only manufactured by the handful - you also get bassists using guitar amps, so unless you get an equipment list or a photo, you can never be completely sure. 

My money would really be on a Fuzz Face or Big Muff Pi. That covers most of the possibilities. However, of course, without knowing what the amp was, you're never going to absolutely replicate the sound. And even if you found an old bass valve amp, which it just might be, modern valves will sound different. And a modern one is probably biased correctly as well. Then there's the bass and string choice. ;-)

You may get close, but you probably won't get *exact*. Although that may not matter. 

I thought I'd include a picture of a tangent at this point. ;-) (Sorry. Mosh. ;-) )

Always difficult to tell, as a lot of distortion can come from the amp as well. 

That's from 1972, so you've got everything from Fuzz Face's to Electro Harmonix's Big Muff. I'd personally bet on it being the Big Muff Pi, they were used a lot by bassists, but - well, difficult to tell. 

I tend to build my own pedals - usually Fuzz Dog ones - quite a few to chose from here if you're feeling experimental and have a soldering iron. ;-)

https://shop.pedalparts.co.uk/Fuzz/cat847125_2465698.aspx


Edited by Davesax1965 - January 16 2019 at 05:12