7 Great Fuzz Pedals Under $100
By Nick Jamison
Fuzz pedals are some of the coolest pedals you can buy. They can be loud, nasty, creamy or or add sustain to your tone. Some believe you need to spend a fortune buying your fuzz pedal from a “boutique” builder. Smart marketing will make you think that buzz words like “rare components”, “handwired” and “highly sought after” will make the pedal be a million times better than the affordable alternatives. This is not the case.
Fuzz pedals are are some of the easiest and cheapest pedals to manufacture and only a few are worth the major price tag “boutique” builders are asking for. Try out some of these pedals before you make the mistake of spending $300 for a fuzz face.
Electro Harmonix Octavix- $71 used
Electro Harmonix has been a major player in the fuzz game since the 70’s and this pedal is one of my favorites of theirs. The Octavix is an octave fuzz with tonal similarities to an Octavia fuzz designed by Roger Mayer.
Tone Tip: try setting the boost at around 9 o’clock, volume at 3 o’clock and octave all the way up.
TC Electronic Rusty Fuzz- $45 New
The Rusty Fuzz is a fuzz face style silicon fuzz that is really easy on the wallet. When I first got this pedal I wasn’t expecting much but it really impressed me. The added tone control is a great bonus to help sculpt your tone to make it more rig friendly.
Tone Tip: For the best fuzz face tone (in my opinion) this pedal needs to be played into an edge of break up tone.
Behringer SF300- $25
This pedal is a clone of the discontinued Boss FZ-2 which sells for almost $300 on the used market because of it’s rarity. This pedal is a crazy octave fuzz that gets super nasty and I has a secret mode built in. Don’t let the plastic casing fool you this pedal is a super beast.
Electro Harmonix Big Muff Reissue Series- $70-103 new or used
As I said earlier Electro Harmonix are legends with fuzz and many other pedals. Big Muff has a long history and many variations, so Electro Harmonix decided to take those classics and put it in smaller, pedalboard friendly cases. These pedals are great because they exactly the pedals they are based on so there is no need to pay $200 for clones that some companies try to scam you for.
Tone Tip: Put a reverse or gated reverb before a big muff for some crazy shoegaze tones.