I'll Frazz Your Dazzler. [Demo]

[Blurillaz]

I just thought about it for a while and this may have been the case. I let a friend borrow it for a bit, and he knows basically nothing about pedals so he may have used the ACA one for my DM-2 to power it, or even the one for his Alesis Micron to power it instead of the correct one I lent him to use it with, resulting in the death of a frazz. Always a possibility, but I kept a pretty close eye on how he used it and I don't believe I let that happen... Just another piece to the puzzle...

[Ryan]

Hmmm I don't know if there's a problem... the sizzle control sounds normal, the distortion tone sounds normal, I think this is maybe a case of amplifier headroom.

When I say the Frazz is very loud, it depends on the amp it's going into. For example, I play it into a Triple Rectifier set totally clean.. this thing has clean headroom for days with the amp gain set fairly low... so the volume on the Frazz can make it go much louder. But say you used it with a solid state or low wattage amp with out clean headroom, without the ability to be made louder by a pedal into the front end, then it's going to be unity gain with the volume cranked but the volume will sort of be like a gain control. Also, when I play my Frazz on the dimed distortion channel of my Rectifier the Frazz can't make that channel any louder, only the master volume on the amp can as there's no preamp headroom, the amp gain knob is dimed. So the Frazz stays at unity and the volume basically adds distortion/gain, turn the volume all the way down and the amp gain cleans up a bit.

Same with a clean booster pedal or any pedal that can raise the gain of the signal.. if the amp it's going into can't go louder then you just get more distortion/gain on the signal. But not volume. And I'm not sure what Jared's playing through in these videos but that could be part of it.

I'd of course be willing to check that Frazz out and make sure though, just seems like everything's working normally and I don't think the output amplifier in the circuit would work partially, it either works or doesn't work, so I'm just wondering if it's a headroom thing.

[Ghost Hip]

Yeah, the headroom issue I've run into a lot, but it isn't this big of a problem with my other pedals. but regardless it sound fucking awesome with overdrive. If didn't just acquire so much devi fuzz I'd get one to pair with my cc/dc.

[Blurillaz]

Yeah, but what worried me was that my other pedals i would use at the same time would still go louder, at say 60% volume than 100% mix and volume on teh frazz. My main amp can go fairly loud, >120 decibels so it should be going pretty loud.

[Ryan]

Right, Davey, I remember you saying that... that it should have made your amp louder like other pedals did but it didn't. OK, I think we better have a look at this Frazz!

[pillof]

[doralin]

Any update on whether the demo-ed pedal is shot?

Was thinking of getting a Frazz but if it barely goes above unity cranked then it's out.

Fuzz is more of a lead tone thing if you ask me and for that there has to be sufficient volume boost

[Ghost Hip]

Any update on whether the demo-ed pedal is shot?

Was thinking of getting a Frazz but if it barely goes above unity cranked then it's out.

Fuzz is more of a lead tone thing if you ask me and for that there has to be sufficient volume boost

Pretty sure it might have a problem, in my opinion and from wht Ryan says it should do.

[Gunner Recall]

Any update on whether the demo-ed pedal is shot?

Was thinking of getting a Frazz but if it barely goes above unity cranked then it's out.

Fuzz is more of a lead tone thing if you ask me and for that there has to be sufficient volume boost

My frazz is loud. VERY loud. You don't have to go far to hit unity.
I wouldn't worry about it. I think the demo pedal has something wrong.

[Hector_G]

I'll have to disagree with pillof when he says, "the blend knob is pretty weak and kills volume too much I admit, but I want the fuzz to eat my guitar so it doesn't really matter to me."

I found the mix knob is TOTALLy interactive with the volume knob and really useful. It'll only "kill the volume" if you have it set to very low settings. I find when set to completely dry, the mix knob is at the exact same level as your signal when bypassed. Mix in just a tad and that's where the volume knob comes in to play. Correct me if I'm wrong when I say that the volume adjusts the fuzz only signal. With Mix around 9 o'clock and volume almost maxed, I get an even mix of fuzz and dry. Anything past 1 o'clock then the fuzz pretty much trumps the dry signal. And that is when you get into really loud territory.

[Ryan]

Frazzes are loud for sure, but again, it depends on how they're used. For some people depending on their gear and how it's set up a Frazz won't make their signal any louder at all. For those of us who play clean with a lot of headroom available the Frazz can be loud as hell. A 1-watt audio amp drives the output so it has the push to go very loud, if the situation will let it.

The mix control is not part of the volume so I think maybe PP or B-man are expecting the Frazz to be loud when the mix is dialed in but that's not going to happen, the dry side of the mix control is a simple buffer and the dry signal stays at unity gain. So if you want your dry signal louder the Frazz won't be able to oblige and that's not something I plan on changing, I personally think dry mix controls should mix back to the exact same signal as when the pedal is bypassed.

I'm getting one of those Zoom recorders soon and I'll be able to do quick videos to demonstrate stuff like this, but first and foremost I want to show how much push the Frazz has available. And then how it won't raise the volume of the amp at all in another situation...

[Ghost Hip]

My other fuzzes re way louder than the frazz. I don't run a hot amp at all, as you can tell from other demos, i like to keep things clean. I turned the frazz on and it was unity volume with it cranked. My other non-freak out fuzzes are louder; the aenima, electric brown, etc. The only thing I could of in my set up that could prevent the frazz from being loud is if it has all its volume in the low end.... but I'd doubt thats the case since it has a sizzle knob...

[Ryan]

My other fuzzes re way louder than the frazz. I don't run a hot amp at all, as you can tell from other demos, i like to keep things clean. I turned the frazz on and it was unity volume with it cranked. My other non-freak out fuzzes are louder; the aenima, electric brown, etc. The only thing I could of in my set up that could prevent the frazz from being loud is if it has all its volume in the low end.... but I'd doubt thats the case since it has a sizzle knob...

Hey Jared, so when you turned it on and it was unity with the volume cranked... was the mix set all the way wet? Just curious as that could explain things if you had it set quite dry. Regardless, I wanna check this sucker out so howsabout you send it my way instead of back to David and I'll give it a thorough and highly invasive physical!

[Ghost Hip]

Yeah it was full on wet. PM your address, and I'll send it to you when I send David his pedals back.

[Blurillaz]

Are we operating on a first name basis now, Ryan?
dang that doesn't really work....