Following up on the 1973 thread, what was your first distortion pedal???
I'm trying to remember but it's gotta be either a Big Muff or MXR Distortion+ for me.
I remember the Muff Fuzz and Little Muff and Fender Blender, but hmmmm.... now that I think about it, MXR Distortion+????
Probably not an answer anyone is looking for, but a Boss DS-1, circa 3-4 years ago :D Before that I played an acoustic guitar, and later an electric with no effects... hard to believe.
I've been using onboard amp overdrive since I started playing years ago. The first stompbox distortion I've used is honestly your Rocket. Thanks, by the way. I love it!
BOSS metalzone. Loved it at first, now I'm only using it for shredding around to piss off the other band members :D
My whole first rig was a hoot! A Teisco E-210 with the accompanying 2-knob Teisco amp. I think it was bought as a set. With the guit & amp was also a Shin-ei Fuzzwah which was noisey & great. If I could have played much then it would have been cool. I've actually recently purchased a National(Shin-Ei) fuzzwah & a Teisco ET-210(2 PU plywood special) and have been reliving my childhood only now I can actually play a bit so it's slightly disturbing hearing the sound you had as a kid, only with actual music being played on it. Big fun :D .
Regards
RDV
Quote from: smoguzbenjaminBOSS metalzone. Loved it at first, now I'm only using it for shredding around to piss off the other band members :D
The metal zone was my first (and only) distortion, appart from my amp's dirty channel. I simply can't live without a high gain distortion, and the mt-2 does it big time.
Quote from: smoguzbenjaminBOSS metalzone. Loved it at first, now I'm only using it for shredding around to piss off the other band members :D
hehehehe When I was purchasing a distortion pedal a while back (before this hobby), I could buy any Boss pedal. I tried the Blues driver (cause Larry used it) and a bunch of others and I chose the METAL ZONE! 8)
Perfect match with my 80's Charvel!
YEAH!
Hi,
if the FuzzFace is named as a distortion, this is my fist pedal,
if not, i added some hardclipping diodes switchable to a TubeScreamer.
bye
Oliver
The 'limited edition' Olson Electronics "FRIZZY FUZZ".
Long since dead and scavenged decades ago.
It had two transistors hanging from a 'cat's cradle' of surrounding components...no board...and plugged directly into your guitar jack...don't even need another cord.
It made alot of Fuzz and Boost, I wish I knew what circuit it was, with so few parts...couldn't have been much more than a dozen.
It had one knob and a switch...I can't remem their exact functions, the knob varied output level and maybe gain.
It cost a Mere 4.95 .. circa earkt 70's. Thhe jacks mounted on flimsy sides of the box...bendable end tabs, and the hanging garden innards insured a short life...it underwent numerous fixes and was never reliable after the first week of use...
That thing had me grinnin' from ear to ear at the time...it had one very intense, not very finely tuned Fuzziness...
The 'next first' one was a BM, no idea which one, I got and repaired and used for a year or so before I finally had to give it up...I got 10$ for the repairing + a years use..lol..it became infinitely more valuable after it began working...
Enter MXR Dist+...for decades my main box. Always worked like when I got it. I used it all the time 'till I looked for it after a setbreak...dohh....wondering what the hum was...there's the cords tip contacting the stage carpet...right where the Dist + ISNT...had to play a couple hard rock gigs with a honkin' 100w plexe..."Without" ....[no-pedals}...stnading there with the guitar near 'off' setting and let the other guitar pull slack...that sucked !!!
The switch from the Frizzy Fuzz is probably somewhere in the world...I used if for the 2 humbucker Mod on my [got ripped off too] Melody Maker [Xmas present[...use the trunk in 'questionable'areas or all the time when possible. Sorry, I guess I'm still looking for that Gibson MM.
So it was the Frizzy Fuzz for certain...My First Fuzz Box. I loved it.
Argueably one of the rarest [not sought after] Fuzz units of the 70's...anyone ever even "SEEN a Frizzy Fuzz?...abbreviated that's FF /// I wonder...like I say ...sounded pretty 'crude'
I still use my MT-2 and I just found a great sweet spot which sounds like a huge cranked stack, on a small 10W amp. The transition from clean to dirty sin't pleasant though, because you go from small sound to huge sound in a split second... So I leave it on ;) That new setting's definately re-awakened my interest in this pedal :D My shredding is more annoying than ever! But it sounds dark and cool 8)
I still gotta make a nice blues overdrive though :D Oh and aron, I used to buy boss pedals because they were boss pedals, guess we were in the same boat ;)
I couldn’t afford effects when I was a lad so I didn’t get my first overdrive til I was sixteen. Raydon I think it was called?
Lots of friends had gear though and I got to play through a coloursound or two, usually with something that looked like my mother's dining table only guitar shaped (a combination that many of a certain age in the UK will remember).
A mate of mine also had a vox fuzz box which was equally awful (but I’d probably love it now!).
rocktek distortion
My first fuzz was a DIY Tychobrahe Octavia. Built it 2 years ago, with help from all of you! I have played bass for about 10 years, abd started foolin' with a guitar 3 years ago.
I use to have a DIY distortion with 2 BC548 4 resistors and 3 caps, now 18 years ago, you ask?? a cloned Fuzz face i thinf but the first y buy, and i miss it, Ibanes Fat Cat.
Saludos, Marcelo.
some crappy old DOD distortion pedal.. absolutely horrid sounding.
I've never bought another DOD product since... it was THAT BAD.
"-)
An original 1970 (71?) Vox hollow body guitar, a Vox tonebender and a Fender Vibro champ. I remember ended up geting some nice sounds out of it. I ended up trading it for a VW bug. I'd love to have all tat stuff back now. The bug didn't last all that long.
Bill
Hello Hello--
Vox Tonebender, St George guitar [quickly replaced with a Gibson Firebird I] , Vox Berkley amp [piggyback, 2-10" speakers].
Brian.
A NKT275-equipped Fuzz Face bought in 1975 for £5 (battery wire had fallen off). Sounded great. Easy to repair, easy for a fellow muso to steal two years later. :evil:
A ProCo Rat 2...still have it and use it occasionally.
Phillip
.....I had a Supro electric guitar plugged into a little red Sekova Booster then into a little Kay tube amp with 10" speaker-I found an old reel to reel tape I made of it years ago...........what was I thinking?..........that's what started all this.......
An early 90's Big Muff, the Big Green Russian ones. I thought it was so cool!!! In fact, the big muff is still my main distortion, though its now a 78 and not the green one, but I still have a special little place for it in my heart... aww... :D
The second one I got was an expandora, the original kind, that had those little switches on the inside. I was into sonic youth and the like and I wanted to make some really weird noises. When you flipped both of the little switches to the "off" position, you would get some really cool gated sounds that interacted a lot with how you played your guitar. I'll have to dig that thing up again.
some red peavey pile of dog meat
A hand-me-down Rocktron in a cheap plastic case with the battery hanging out. You had to stomp on it a MINIMUM of 3 times to get it working. And you had to stomp frigging hard! It had a decent enough distortion sound though.
DS-1 :-D
baught it in like '96. Still the same price it was then, $40. What a deal.
A LM386 circuit VERY similar to a Little Gem. :D
First unit of somebody else's design was an Anderton tube sound fuzz or a Data-Kit fuzzface clone. (#2 and #3)
My first (and still only) purchased distortion was/is a Boss HM-2.
Take care,
-Peter
Hmmm, a very cheap japanese plywood guitar/amp combo.. The amp had just tone and volume, was solid state and for fuzz it had a loose fitting plastic handle on top that would buzz like nobody's business. The first pedal I bought was the roland beebaa which was cool at the time, but It was kinda buzzy, wish I had it now for the treble boost/enclosure (stainless!). :D
Regards,
Lone
My First Pedal was a Boss HM-2 (Heavy Metal Pedal). I got it about '85-'86 something like that. Black pedal with orange lettering that I played through and old phonograph/8-track stereo that had a 1/4" jack in the back to plug in a guitar (a Japanese copy of a Gold Top Les Paul with a bolt-on neck).
I actually bought my first distortion device before I even properly owned a guitar! I was playing a borrowed 59' Guild Starfire when I first started playing, and due to the influence of way too many Miles Davis Japanese imports circa 1975, I became obsessed with a Thomas Organ Stereo Fuzz Wah for sale at Pampalone Music in Boston. I bought it before I owned either the guitar or a proper amp. Guitar/ Dyna-Comp/ Fuzz-Wah/ Phase 90 was my signal chain for years until I got a TS9 in the early 80's. Then it became Dyna-Comp/ TS9 / Ibanez CS505 chorus. And then came the EH Micro- Synth years...
http://home.earthlink.net/~bwanacentral/sonic/fingersym.mp3
Kerry M
Quote from: petemooreThe 'limited edition' Olson Electronics "FRIZZY FUZZ".
Long since dead and scavenged decades ago. Argueably one of the rarest [not sought after] Fuzz units of the 70's...anyone ever even "SEEN a Frizzy Fuzz?...abbreviated that's FF /// I wonder...like I say ...sounded pretty 'crude'
(http://i23.ebayimg.com/01/i/01/5d/1f/09_1_b.JPG)
This just sold for $35 BIN. Wish I had got it. I'd have given it to you!
My first was a Jimi Hendrix JH-2 fuzzface. Now it's beat up, repainted, and houses an NPN (AC127) fuzz face circuit.
My first overdrive was the Voodoo Labs Sparkle Drive. My first distortion build was Steve Daniels' Tweak-o, which got me started in all of this. I didn't purchase a true "distortion" until recently, the Boss DS-1 (which I promptly modded).
Alex
:o I must have been fourteen years old, and the first distortion was Mica Wau-Wau Fuzz. I had quite nice Hagstrom Viking semiacustic (just what Elvis used) which I unfortunately get rid of for financial reasons.
Later I did diy a Fuzzface copy from Finnish tech magazine. Thank you Aron, R.G and Jack at amz-fx and all others I now about 30 years later know that it was a Fuzzface. Of course it was misbiased, and I chose BC109´s, because they were low noise. The component shop had box full of original BC108´s
Later I had cheap small Shin-Ei stomper, and EH Little Muff or something named small case like LBP-1 but it had one opamp and diodes in a feedback, but a friend kind of borrowed it and maybe has it still
RM Classic Fuzz when they first came out. Shortly after, a non-LED block logo Dist.+ through a "Smith" Strat that I didn't like the first year because it wasn't Fiesta Red.
All three are still my favorites today.
http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/mw252001/album?.dir=/82%27+Smith+Strat
haha, well, like one of the posts (sorry terrible memory) said, I too had my first distortion prior to having my own guitar. I was playing a borrowed (oh yea, high quality) Austin Strat, I hated that guitar..., through an equally borrowed kustom 16w SS amp. I bought a DOD Death Metal, and actually liked the sucker, but then I used it as collateral to buy a new pickup, and started using a BMP sovtek black and liked it, then when i got it back, and still liked my DOD, i put it in my friends car at school and someone broke in and took it. pissed me off...
..Ibaneze LA-metal....together with a Hondo strat and a Gorilla amp ( -86 )...it didnt sound very good, even I could tell even though I was just starting out....
Johan
Heh, heh, My first distortion wasn't a pedal, but the recording preamp of a Teac reel-to-reel, which was also my first delay :D My first pedal was a Maestro Super Fuzz. Actually I think the Teac sounded better.
The year was 1976,
the pedal was- MXR Distortion+
Ed R.
Hi All,
my first distortion was an MXR distortion+. I had an awefull strat copy (plywood body and awefull neck). I played this thru a Peavy SS amp. Eventually, I got more money and moved to a Gibson tube amp (Explorer GA-15RVT). I also bought a Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face reissue.
Then, I stoped playing for quite some time. Recently, I got back into playing music. I bought a Fender American strat and a POD. The POD is nice to 'emulate' amps that I will NEVER be able to purchase. The big down side, it doesn't work well at all with pedals in fron of it.
I recently bought a Tube Works pedal (real 12AX7 tube inside). And I recently built a bluesbreaker overdrive pedal.
That's about it distortion wise!
Cheers,
Stephane.
first for me was an Arion stereo overdrive. It was somewhat tube screamer-y.
a rockman W/ tc electronics booster for leads. i used them for the album
i did w/ bill ward.
- tom
Quote from: Ed G.first for me was an Arion stereo overdrive. It was somewhat tube screamer-y.
Me too. I think I got it it in 85. I remember it as being very noisey, but at the time I loved it!
After the Shin-Ei Fuzzwah came an Original BMP with the tone switch. Then someone gave me an LPB-2, and I bought an original Ibanez TS-808 & a CS-505 which lasted till I didn't think the 808 had enough distortion and sold it and a Fender Deluxe w/a 25watt celestion for $200.00 and bought a HIWATT thinking I'd sound like Pete Townshend.....well I didn't. And the guy I sold my really wonderful(in hindsight) rig to wouldn't sell it back. Imagine that.
Regards from the memory vault.
RDV
Hi,my first stompbox wasn`t able to resist my stomping.It was a booster/overdrive that a friend from school build for me.Little did i know and put it in a black bakelite box.A few weeks later,in my enthousiasm,i stomped the thing litterly in two.
The big muff came next.
Greetings,Ed
An Anderton "Optimum Fuzz Adapter" I built in '74 or '75. A few yrs later I had an MXR D+.
Doug
My first pedal was a Metal Zone but I got sick of it and sold it (and then bought another one - and sold it... only to buy another one) (and sell it again)... LOL seems it's hard to get rid of the little dark bugger... after that came a TS9 (which I screwed - tring to mod) and to day I play with may tube driver or the sweet drive of my amp (classic 30).
(I wonder how long it will pass befor I'll get anothe MT-2... to sell once more - ofcourse...)
LOL
:lol:
The first distortion device I used was a Sony cassette recorder.
I ran my guitar into the mic input, then took the signal from the earphone out and ran it into the input of my Premier 1-12 tube bass amp.
My guitar was a Gibson non-reverse Firebird with a bent-piece-of-metal vibrola. I turned the tube amp all the way up and muffled it with a beanbag chair. The kid next door said it sounded like a hydroplane.
Next one after that was an Anderton Tube Sound Fuzz (still have it, but can't find it in all my crap after 5 moves).
First purchased distortion was a Big Muff Pi direct from E-H in 1983, just before Mike closed the doors.
Quote from: Doug HAn Anderton "Optimum Fuzz Adapter" I built in '74 or '75.
Wow Doug, you've been building stuff for as long as I have been alive! I hope that you are OK with that :D
My first distortion pedal was the Boss Super Overdrive SD-1, I still have it and it still sounds great for an off the shelf unit. I've never modded it and still use it from time to time. It was my second pedal, my first was a Cry Baby.
Quote from: Jay DoyleQuote from: Doug HAn Anderton "Optimum Fuzz Adapter" I built in '74 or '75.
Wow Doug, you've been building stuff for as long as I have been alive! I hope that you are OK with that :D
I'm ok with it, Jay, if you are. :D
I built that fuzz box and a treble booster in high school. I tried the "leslie sim" (on JD's site) back then too but never got it working. It was fun scavenging electronics magazines for projects, different world then... Didn't do much since then except for a buffer and a tube fuzz until about 5yrs ago when I got bit by the bug again here.
Doug
smash drive ! ;p
i mainley used my amp distortion before i started building pedals (mmm mesa)
C
i think my first pedal was a RAT.
my first build was a jack orman "son of screamer."
My first was a Black Cat OD-1 clone. That was two years ago.
A DS-1 over 20 years ago. Didn't know what I was buying, and didn't really appreciate it until recently. I like it more now than ever.
Took 15 years of playing (1981-1996) before I finally bought a decent amp and an Ibanez TS-7. Sold it last week on e-bay.
First build was an NPN fuzzface, then tube-sound fuzz, then several more, and recently a Bluesbreaker, modified Distortion+ and some Miss Piggies.
My first distortion device was my father's home stereo, over the christmass night I got my first guitar.
Then I started pluging that axe into anything I could, and my 'wireless transmitter was born'....a 70's portable tape recorder: guitar into mic input, tape recorder 'taped' to guitar strap, and adhesive 'tape' (tape tape tape again) fiddling with the 'REC' sensor.
And then I got my first distortion box. It wasn't a pedal, it was a Radio Shack delay, so crappy you could only get like 100ms out of it, but it did sound in an interesting way...
then DOD came with Supradistortion, Grunge, and that's it for DOD pedals. Enter Digitech RP-5 (all of them sold; delay was lent and never came back). Enter BOSS MetalZone...
Enter DIY!!! --: tube screamer, bigmuff, dist+, smashDrive., blueBox (great tone by itself)
1973, Lafayette Fuzz Sound. $9.95 plus shipping from the Lafayette Catalog. Same one shown on top of page 15 in "Stompbox" book by Art Thompson. used a double-A battery, not a bad Fuzz, don't have it any more.
JD
Big Muff back in 76 or 77. Bought a russian BM and it still sounds good.
Started building my own effects couple of years ago.
>Following up on the 1973 thread, what was your first distortion pedal???