To paraphrase William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 59, there ain’t nothin’ new under the sun. Though Bill was spouting this more that 400 years ago, the concept often holds true today when it comes to music products—especially new pedals or amps that always seem to include references to existing amps or pedals, while still touting themselves as “new.” Engineer James Brown of Amptweaker boasts an impressive resume with his 25-plus years of bringing a number of amp designs to market, but he still admittedly contends that “tweaking” sounds is his specialty. And while Brown didn’t invent distortion, he has definitely found a way to harness and sculpt it to new levels.
With his company Amptweaker, Brown has been making quality guitar and bass pedals with direct input from players on features and tone. This open-door approach has endeared his gear to the likes of Reeves Gabrels, Doug Pinnick, and Steve Stevens, as well as many lesser-known players that have just as much input into the construction as a superstar musician. One such user-tweaked bass pedal is the new Bass TightFuzz, an extremely versatile bass distortion that’s packed with smart features and great tone.
That Warm, Fuzzy Feeling
An evolution of Amptweaker’s original TightFuzz for guitar, the Bass TightFuzz is a stocky 2-pound beast that is most likely not going to move once planted onstage. Sporting a silver finish that contrasts its black knobs and settings-saver bar, this pedal looks like it would be at home on an Apollo mission. The Bass TightFuzz runs with either a 9V or 18V power supply, or any voltage between, with different performance specs depending on the adapter chosen. (Rumor has it the pedal works with as little as 6 volts as well.) When powering with a 9V supply, the signal is the most distorted, and with an 18V, the tone is cleaner and louder. Using a supply also powers the LEDs imbedded in the knobs.
For the 9V-battery purists out there, Amptweaker has one of the most ingenious battery compartments I have ever seen: It’s a slide-out chamber that is held in place by magnets. With no screws to drop or plastic tabs to break, it enables what could arguably be the fastest 9V change in history. That said, 9V swaps shouldn’t be happening too frequently with the pedal’s on/off battery switch that saves battery life when not in use.
The Bass TightFuzz is packed to the gills with controls, but don’t worry, the manual is one of the easiest I’ve read. And if five knobs and three switches sounds like a lot for a fuzz box, it’s really not. You’ll quickly realize why each control is important and how they add to the overall function of the Bass TightFuzz. If you have used bass distortion before, you will find the typical volume and fuzz knobs intuitive. And when digging into the tone and tight controls, you’ll notice that the distortion spectrum opens up considerably. Rounding out the pedal’s control panel, literally, is the dry low knob, which adds clean low end to your signal.
Tucked just below the knobs are the three switches that hold the keys to making this pedal special. First up is the ’60s/’70s switch, and it toggles the fuzz between a bright tone to a fuller, beefier tone. To its right is the germanium/silicon switch which moves from a lower-gain germanium output stage to a high-gain silicon transistor. And finally, the edge/smooth switch can keep your fuzz relatively even and contained when set to smooth, or give it a more aggressive but not overbearing attitude when in the edge mode. These three extra features take the contour and flexibility of the Bass TightFuzz to another level, yet still keep the tone usable and warm.
If these controls weren’t enough, the pedal also features 1/4" effects send and return jacks to create your own series loop, enabling you to add pedals to alter this fuzz box even further. And underneath the Bass TightFuzz is an effects loop pre/post switch to set according to your signal chain and preferences. With everything this box has packed onboard, it really wouldn’t be that surprising if the Swiss Army ordered a few to de-engineer and figure out how Amptweaker got so much into one pedal.
Here Comes the Fuzz
Setting up the Bass TightFuzz between a Warwick CCL 210 and a vintage StingRay for an initial run through, I went to town. I was impressed with the options afforded me, and with so many tones available, it was hard to stick with just one. I found myself making small adjustments to each knob and finding a sweet spot that had me rocking, but would then move one of the switches over, and poof, yet another great tone.
Ratings
Pros:
Keeps the bottom end big with lots of usable tones.
Cons:
A little heavy on the pedalboard. Price could be in the high side for those only looking for occasional fuzz.
Tones:
Ease of Use:
Build/Design:
Value:
Street:
$220
Amptweaker
amptweaker.com
Starting with all of the controls off, I slowly eased up the tone, dry low, and tight knobs, while leaving the fuzz control down. What I found was a great little preamp of sorts—fuzz free—with the dry low giving the StingRay huge bottom end. Switching from edge to smooth took the fuzz-free signal from crisp to more subdued, again creating another useful setting. And after setting up a nice, clean tone, easing the fuzz control up a little at a time took me from a slight dusting of dirt to a John Entwistle-esque solo tone in just a half a turn. Only when the fuzz is cranked does the square-waved chainsaw sound arrive, but even then, the tone still stays in check because of the pedal’s tight circuit.
When A/B’ing the two modes of the ’60s–’70s switch, it was like switching amp heads, with the ’60s mode boasting more bite than its ’70s counterpart. Yes, the bass tones from the 1960s and 1970s are in there, but I also was pleasantly surprised to find more modern, hard-hitting dirty tones as well.
It’s the tight knob that really keeps the whole pedal together by taming the signal and slightly squashing it the more you add. Getting to an SVT-like driven sound is just a matter of rolling it all the way up. But if you do like a wide-open, harmonics-ringing fuzz tone, leave the tight knob off. I got to the Bass TightFuzz’s edgiest sound—though still useful and musical—by taking it to the extreme through spiking the tone and fuzz, and turning off the tight control. However much I tried to make this pedal sound bad, I just couldn’t.
The Verdict
It’s rare you find a pedal with this many features and a $220 price tag. The Bass TightFuzz is well made, well thought out, and most importantly, it’s a fuzz pedal that’s truly tuned for bass. A common issue with many bass fuzz boxes is the lack of low end, but this pedal keeps your signal intact and gives a boost with its dry low control, which helps to keep your tone authoritative and massive. The tonal possibilities are so wide and effective that you’ll want to try out all your basses through this box. You can emulate a lot of eras and familiar tones with the Bass TightFuzz, and its spectrum of tones truly inspires with even the slightest adjustments. So if you need a fuzz box that keeps the fuzz beefy and doesn’t compromise your tone—while simultaneously packing a lot of character and range into a user-friendly presentation—the Bass TightFuzz is worth a long look.
LR Baggs Align Reverb Acoustic Reverb Pedal
The Align Series Reverb was built from the ground up to complement the natural body dynamics and warmth of acoustic instruments that we love so much. The circuit seamlessly integrates the wet and dry signals with the effect in side chain so that it never overwhelms the original signal. We shaped the reverb with analog EQ to reflect the natural voice inherent in acoustic instruments. Additionally, the tone control adds versatility by sweeping from warm and muted to open and present. The result is an organic reverb that maintains the audiophile purity of the original signal with the controls set in any position.
Cory Wong—a funky player with his own signature-model Strat wiring.
Guitarist, songwriter, and producer Cory Wong is renowned for his solo work, his band Fearless Flyers (with Mark Lettieri, Joe Dart, and Nate Smith), and collaborations with artists such as Vulfpeck, Jon Batiste, and Dave Koz. His playing style is deeply rooted in funk rhythm guitar, with a heavy dose of rock and jazz. Well-known for playing a Stratocaster, his signature model was released in 2021, and it’s a unique offering. If you want to build your personal Cory Wong Strat, here is your shopping list, starting with the primary structure:
• Alder body, scaled down to slightly smaller than a regular Stratocaster, with Fender American Ultra body contours
• Maple neck with a rosewood fretboard with rolled edges, modern Fender American Ultra D neck profile, slightly larger headstock, 25.5" scale, 10" to 14" compound radius, 22 medium jumbo frets
• Locking tuners with all short posts, a bone nut, and two roller string trees
• Vintage-style 6-screw synchronized tremolo
• Hair tie around the tremolo springs (which mutes them to enhance the rhythm tone)
• .010–.046 strings (nickel-plated steel)
“While these are all interesting features, resulting in a very comfortable guitar, you don’t need to copy every detail to transform one of your Stratocasters into a Cory Wong-style Strat.”
For the physical build, as you can see, Wong and Fender created a real signature instrument to his specs and wishes. While these are all interesting features, resulting in a very comfortable guitar, you don’t need to copy every detail to transform one of your Stratocasters into a Cory Wong-style Strat. My personal favorite of these is the hair tie for muting the tremolo springs. A lot of my funk-playing customers are doing similar things on their Strats to get a dry sound, and they’re using all kinds of funny things in there, like foam, rubber bands, and pieces of cotton, as well as hair ties.
Now, let’s have a look at the electronics:
• Seymour Duncan Cory Wong Clean Machine SSS pickup set
• Standard 5-way pickup-selector switch with classic Strat switching matrix
• 250k master volume pot with a 90/10 audio taper and Fender treble-bleed circuit PCB
• 250k tone pot with a 90/10 audio taper and Fender Greasebucket tone control PCB for only the neck pickup
• 250k audio push-push tone pot with Fender Greasebucket tone control PCB for only the bridge pickup; the push-push switch overrides the 5-way switch and defaults to middle + neck pickup (in parallel) as a preset
• Middle pickup is without tone control
Let’s break this down piece-by-piece to decode it:
Pickups
The pickup set is a custom SSS set from the Seymour Duncan company with the following specs:
• Overwound hum-canceling stacked bridge pickup with a 3-conductor wire and shield in permanent hum-canceling mode (red wire taped off), bevelled alnico 5 magnets, approximately 14.5k-ohm DCR
• Overwound middle single-coil, RWRP, beveled alnico 4 magnets, approximately 7.1k-ohm DCR
• Overwound neck single-coil, bevelled alnico 4 magnets, approx. 7.0k-ohm DCR
The pickups are voiced for clear highs, which perfectly suits Wong’s funky playing style and tone. While a lot of pickup companies will have pickups in that ballpark, it will be difficult to put together a full set that really works as intended. The Duncans in the Cory Wong Strat are available as a balanced set, so if you want to get as close as possible, I think this is your best bet.
5-Way Pickup Selector Switch
Nothing special here, just the standard 5-way switch with two switching stages that is wired like a classic Stratocaster:
bridge
bridge + middle in parallel
middle
middle + neck in parallel
neck
The upper tone pot is assigned to the neck pickup, while the lower tone pot is connected to the bridge pickup, leaving the middle pickup without tone control.
Master volume pot and treble-bleed circuit.
The 250k master volume pot is a standard CTS pot with a 90/10 audio taper found in all U.S.-made Fender guitars. The volume pot has the treble-bleed circuit from the Fender American Pro series, but uses a ready-to-solder PCB from Fender instead of individual electronic parts. The PCB is available from Fender individually (part #7711092000), but I have some thoughts about it. While using a PCB makes a lot of sense for mass production, it has some downsides for us mortal human beings:
• Soldering on PCBs requires some training and also special soldering tools.
• The PCB is quite expensive, while the individual electronic parts are only a few cents.
• The PCB uses ultra-tiny surface-mount parts, so it’s very difficult to repair or mod it to your personal taste.
I don’t think we need a PCB for adding a treble-bleed circuit, so let’s do this project using conventional electronic parts. The treble-bleed PCB contains a 1200 pF capacitor with a 150k-ohm resistor in parallel, plus another 20k-ohm resistor in series. Using individual parts, it looks like this:
Courtesy of single-coil.com
In general, a treble-bleed circuit will help you to combat the “volume vs. tone problem” when using passive single-coil pickups. When you turn down the volume (even just a bit), the high end or treble loss is not proportionate. In other words, a small cut in volume creates a far greater loss in your guitar’s treble response. Using a treble-bleed circuit is an easy way to get rid of this problem, as long as it is calculated carefully.
ONLINE ONLY: If you want to find out more about treble bleed circuits please have a look here: https://www.premierguitar.com/diy/mod-garage/treble-bleed-mod
Next month, we will continue with part two of the Cory Wong Stratocaster wiring, bringing it all together, so stay tuned!
Until then ... keep on modding!