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Creepy Fingers Effects Fuzzbud Pedal Review

Creepy Fingers Effects Fuzzbud Pedal Review

Creepy Fingers Effects uses the classic Colorsound fuzz circuit as inspiration for their new Fuzzbud pedal.

Setting the Wayback Machine to the early '70s, Creepy Fingers Effects—a company out of Costa Mesa, California—uses the classic Colorsound fuzz circuit as inspiration for their new Fuzzbud pedal. This sparkling green, true-bypass fuzz is the epitome of effective simplicity. With a single Level knob (and a big one at that) and matching green LED, the Fuzzbud leaves little to ponder. In fact, the only real choice is whether to use a 9V battery or an external power supply (I opted for the latter), and which guitar and amp you want to mate the Fuzzbud with. To check out the Fuzzbud, I fired up my 1970 Marshall Super Bass and matching 4x12 cab, and pulled out several guitars.

Fuzzy Feeling

Gripping an Elliott Tonemaster Peter Stroud electric, I set the amp to a dirty clean to hear the fuzz in a typical setting. When I kicked in the Fuzzbud with the Level completely down, there was actually no sound at all. As I inched up the Level knob, fuzz started coming on with a vengeance. At just 9 o’clock, the Fuzzbud was already delivering a hurricane of tone and one of the most gargantuan sounds I’d heard in quite a while. Cranking the knob even more yielded a fuller sound, as well as a volume boost. At full throttle, the Fuzzbud was massive, wooly, and dark, yet it retained a great deal of definition. Backing off my guitar volume resulted in a brighter and clearer distortion that sounded like the Marshall with more bite and gain—perfect for old-school classic rock or even modern garage rock. I had fun opening up my guitar’s volume after playing a backed-off rhythm part and hearing the roar of the fuzz come through like a herd of elephants. So cool.

Switching to a Strat, I found that the Fuzzbud could care less what pickups are in the guitar—it will impart its sound on the signal, regardless. Though Fender single-coils clearly have a lower output than the Tonemaster’s P-90s, the Fuzzbud had no problem cranking out the goods. With the Level in a lower position, the sound cleaned up nicely again, but not in a polite way—it was simply a less raunchy, brighter jangle with a good deal of edge. Ramping up the Fuzzbud’s volume let it rip again, and the pedal’s harmonics and dark, forceful nature raged through, giving me killer Hendrix tones.

With an Epiphone Sheraton (equipped with Tom Holmes PAFs) the result was staggering. What was gargantuan with the Tonemaster was Godzilla-like with the Sheraton. Again, one knob was all I needed to unleash the onslaught of harmonic crushing, infinitely sustaining fuzz love.

The Verdict

Though I’ve never played through an original Colorsound fuzz, if it sounds anything like the Fuzzbud, I can see why Creepy Fingers went in this direction. It’s dead simple to operate with nary a bad sound to be found inside. It’s a one-trick pony, but you’d definitely find this pony in the freak show tent at the carnival. Fantastic.


Buy if...
you want a simple, gargantuan-sounding vintage fuzz.
Skip if...
fuzz ain’t your bag.
Rating...



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