#Fuzz pedals are nasty! I'm not talking about tone, I'm talking about their soul.. they are just little assholes.. especially boutique, ultra high-quality ones. They come with very few knobs, very simple if any manual and you just think to yourself "wait until I plug that thing.." and you fantasize about how you're gonna play those Hendrix tunes and it's going to sound amazing and blah blah blah... well, not so fast. You will have to learn how to feed your #fuzz with the right signal and tune it just right for your amp and then, do it again, with a different guitar or amp maybe..
Most of what I'm going to discuss here is relevant to all types of fuzzes, at least all the physical or "real" ones. Although #Muff, #Germanium and Silicon fuzzes are all different beasts, all of them share the same asshole attitude. Having said that, once you unlock them, they are just pure joy, if that's the sound you like!
Rule #1 - Push An Already Pushed Tube Amp
Fuzz pedals like to feed slightly overdriven tube amps! (why tube? because that's the only way I could ever enjoy a fuzz and I tried both, so that’s my advice) The reason is that fuzz basically takes your Sine signal and transforms it into something that is closer to a square wave and square waves sound buzzy and cold by themselves. You can very well experience that sound with nearly any type of Synth, software or hardware. Anyways, a driven amp takes that square and distorts it, which makes it smoother and less harsh on your eardrums...
That means that bright high headroom amps generally speaking do not pair very well with fuzzes. Although like with anything creative, they might give you unique colors that will fit very specific applications... I think "Satisfaction" by The Rolling Stones is an example of such a pairing, but I'm not sure...
Rule #2 - Ride Your Guitar Knobs
Reach out to your guitar volume knob and learn how to use it. You will not believe how much it changes your sound, and I'm not talking about volume, I'm talking about character and dynamics. I have an MJM London Fuzz, which is a #Germanium vintage style fuzz pedal. I really love that pedal (when it's connected to my amp), but the funny thing is that its most popular application for me is glassy almost clean tones. When dialed properly, this thing produces amazing clean tones, with any guitar I played through it (Starts, Teles, Les Pauls, single coils, humbuckers, mini-humbuckers and P-90s). So don't forget your guitar knobs and start with the volume!
MJM London Fuzz (germanium) - Volume Knob Example
Rule #3 - Clean Up Your Signal
Anything on your signal chain can make an expensive, handmade, boutique, divine fuzz pedal sound like crap! When you bring a new fuzz home, first of all, connect it straight to your amp through your best cable. If you don't have decent cables, don't buy an expensive fuzz pedal. Actually, if you don't have decent cables, make sure you get one and don't use any pedal until you have enough good cables to chain them all. Bad cables can make ultra-expensive gear sound like a broken radio.
Rule #4 - It's Unpredictable
The fact that your fuzz sounds great at home, doesn't mean it will sound so great on your next session. Well, it might, but you can't be sure unless you bring all your equipment with you! Oh yeah, and #Germanium transistors are very sensitive to temperature changes, which makes them even harder to predict...
Rule #5 - Careful with That Buffer Eugene
Some fuzzes, especially #Germanium based, sound wildly different when fed with a buffered signal. Most people will say they sound horrible, but I'm not taking sides here, just be warned. My best advice is to position your fuzzes first in the chain to keep them in contact with your pickups.
Big Muffs
Big Muffs are different. They tend to be mid scooped and therefore will many times benefit from a little mid-range boost, especially when paired with single coil pickups, or guitars that have less mid-range. Another fact about Big Muffs is that they are much less sensitive to guitar volume changes compared to most other fuzz pedals.
To sum up, fuzzes have a lot of attitude. They require a lot of experimentation and sometimes they just won't fit your rig or playing style. They will make you sweat with no guarantee for any reward, but once you find that tone you were after, you won't be able to stop drooling over them... so make sure you have a box of tissues at hand!
Bellow are a few samples of fuzzes and muffs I own.
Cheers!
Fuzz Sound Madness
MJM London (Germanium) Fuzz
Wren & Cuff The Caprid
Electro Harmonix Double Muff