 | Download Example 1 Volume Max, Fuzz Max |
| Download Example 2 Volume Noon, Fuzz Noon |
| Clips recorded with a Fano JM6 with P-90s through Silverface Fender Champ. | |
Joe Bonamassa, who’s no stranger to the sources of sweet sounds, jumped on the Fuzz Face train in 1995 when—well aware of the pedal’s role in the sounds of the aforementioned masters—he stumbled upon a ’70s model that became an indispensible part of his arsenal. In the years since, Dunlop, who have made the Fuzz Face since the ’90s, worked with Bonamassa to create the ultimate Fuzz Face for his searing blues style and humbucker-centric approach. The end product—the handwired, germanium JBF3 reviewed here—is tailor-made for any guitarist interested in walking Bonamassa’s blues-rock path. But it can also expand the fuzz and distortion options of any rocker who’s interested in a singing, but aggressive and growling fuzz.
Gleaming Like a Newly Minted Penny
Players who have a soft spot for the elegant symmetry of the Fuzz Face’s cone shape will be stopped dead in their tracks by the Bonamassa edition. The gleaming copper shell will repel some purists and thrill more flash-fascinated fuzz freaks. Either way, it’s certain to be the shiniest pedal on your board—at least until it patinas in the fashion of Bonamassa’s much-travelled prototype. The blinding copper shine aside, there’s little to differentiate the Bonamassa signature fuzz from a stock model. There’s a knob for Fuzz, one for Volume, and an on/off footswitch—that’s it.
The real differences are inside. Any fuzz user who’s despaired at the claustrophobic guts of digital boxes and smaller analog units will be delighted by the JBF3’s interior. Like a vintage Fuzz Face, it’s as uncluttered as the engine compartment of a ’62 Chevy with a straight six. You can discern the route of every wire, and every component—including the array of transistors, capacitors, and resistors (laid out just like an Arbiter original) and the British-built Omeg potentiometers used for the Volume and Fuzz controls—is accessible and in plain sight. And in keeping with the period-correct construction and design, this is a strictly 9V battery-powered affair.
Barkin’ and Growlin’
If you’ve only experienced a contemporary Fuzz Face, the JBF3 will be a distinct sonic departure. It takes a little work to find the pedal’s sweet spots, and setting the controls to 12 o’clock and expecting aural bliss can leave you a little underwhelmed. I gave the JBF3 a run with a Fender Jaguar with Seymour Duncan Hot Jaguar pickups, a humbucker-equipped ’90s Les Paul Studio, and a 1986 E-Series Fender Stratocaster running through a silverface Fender Twin Reverb and Vibro Champ, and a Fender Bassman 4x10 reissue. And with each guitar/amp combination the high-noon settings on the JBF3 sounded less full and aggressive than what you’d expect from, say, similar settings on a Big Muff or a Rat.
But if the JBF3 does anything, it rewards the tinkerer—especially the knob twiddler unafraid of getting a little aggressive and dirty with their tone. That doesn’t mean the JBF3 won’t do damage or lend grit and girth to your sound at less wide-open settings. Setting the Fuzz to maximum and dialing the volume way back can give you a great strangled and stinging mid-’60s garage-punk fuzz—particularly when cranking a Les Paul through a little amp like the Vibro Champ. Even the Strat and Jag bridge pickups could be coaxed into a delightfully filthy David Hidalgo-inspired sax-like zone by using the same Volume and Fuzz settings, rolling off the pickup tone and kicking up the volume and bass on the Vibro Champ and Bassman.
More middle-level Fuzz Face settings gave me sweet growling fuzz that worked great with the Les Paul and the hotter single-coils on the Jaguar for chugging rhythm work. You’re still not into a sweetly singing lead zone at these levels on the JBF3, though playing through a higher-wattage amp like the Twin and adding some treble at the amp end of things will start to get you there.
The real payoff from the JBF3 comes when you’re willing to crank the sucker wide open. Bonamassa himself uses this pedal with the Volume and Fuzz set to maximum. David Gilmour got his gritty sustain in the early ’70s using similar settings on his vintage silicon Fuzz Faces. And it’s here that I found the JBF3 speaks with the fire its flashy shell suggests it’s capable of.
At a rehearsal with two guitars, a grinding Hammond-style organ, and drums, our other guitarist ran the Duncan-equipped Jaguar through the JBF3 and the Twin. Each time he kicked on this copper monster, the amp seemed to grow threefold in size and power. The Fuzz Face not only lent a ton of kick, it brought the Jaguar and Twin’s basically clear tones alive with a muscular grit and dimension. Sustain became available in whatever quantity and duration a phrase or passage required. And singing stacatto picking was replete with detail and a cool balance of note-to-note clarity that was surprisingly creamy for all the husk in the signal. It’s a unique and balanced tone for chords that, to my ears, was a welcome deviation from the super-smooth and sustained violin tones a lot of players look for in a cranked, vintage-flavored fuzz. It’s also an interesting convergence of tones that would be considered typical of both germanium and silicon Fuzz Faces of old. If you’re a Gilmour fan who can’t decide whether you’re feeling the germanium tastes of Ummagumma or the silicon shades of Dark Side on any given day, this Fuzz Face might be your ticket.
The Verdict
The JBF3 marks a welcome return of many of the qualities and quirks that made the original Fuzz Face a fave of the greats. It’s not as forgiving, smooth, or harmonically even as many boutique pedals that claim the Fuzz Face for inspiration. But to this reviewer’s ears at least, that’s where the magic of this particular Fuzz Face lies. Even the sweetest sounds lurking within the JBF3 are colored by a little grit that can grab you by the throat, cut through a mix, and snarl with attitude. It’s equally at home with hot humbuckers or single-coils, particularly if you’re willing to explore the potential of a guitar’s tone knob. Subtle it is not. But this Fuzz Face can certainly sing. And if you’re willing to stake out some tone turf on the rougher side of town, this pedal will pay your adventurism back handily.
Buy if...
the dirty-but-smooth flavors and occasionally chaotic nature of a vintage Fuzz Face float your boat.
Skip if...
super-smooth woman tone and harmonically uniform distortion is your cup of tea.
Rating...
Street $199 - Jim Dunlop - jimdunlop.com |
The new AD200 is still designed on the premise that the best tone comes from the shortest signal path from bass to speaker. Whatever type of bass, playing style, or genre of music, the AD200 faithfully retains the tone of that instrument.
The addition of a new clean switch, in combination with a powerful three-band EQ, gives AD200 players an even broader frequency spectrum to dial into their amp. In addition, a brand new output transformer, with 3 inches of laminations, harnesses double the power at 30Hz, offering better response at low frequencies. ‘It now pushes more air, flaps more trouser leg — simple as that,’ explains Orange Amps Technical Director Ade Emsley. From mellow hues to heavy, percussive growl and even slap bass, the ultimate incarnation of the AD200, has just become even more versatile.
Internal changes make the amp easier to service and maintain. Each output valve now has its own 12 turn bias pot, so unmatched valves can sit side by side. ‘Now, any tech with a multimeter can bias the amp and match the valves into the amp,’ explains Emsley. ‘So, if you’re on the road with a band, you can go swap a worn valve for a new one, dial it in and you’re good to go.’ Whilst the four KT88 output valves push 200 Watts of power, the amp will run equally as well on 6550s or a combination of the two.
‘It’s a big improvement on the previous version,’ says Ade Emsley, of his work on the updated AD200. ‘It still does everything the old one does, it’s still the industry standard, but it’s now simpler, easier to use, easier to service and futureproof.’
The new, decluttered front panel design is reminiscent of the company’s iconic 1970’s amps with its original ‘bubble-writing’ Orange logo and the ‘pics-only’ hieroglyphs, all wrapped in the company’s distinctive orange Tolex covering.
Over the last forty years, the Orange Bass Cabinets have become an undeniable industry standard. They have been remodelled to use Celestion Pulse XL bass speakers across the OBC810C, OBC410HC, and OBC115C cabs. The upgrade delivers a tight, punchy low-end with a warm mid-range that’s full of presence. The premium build of these cabinets remains, delivering players, bands and techs the road-worthy dependability they demand. In addition, the popular OBC410HC has been modified by removing one vertical partition and strengthening the horizontal one to be lighter and tighten up low-end response.
For more information, please visit orangeamps.com.
Duane Denison of the Jesus Lizard, EGC Chessie in hands, coaxing some nasty tones from his Hiwatt.
The Jesus Lizard’s sixth album, Blue, served as the band’s final statement from the frontlines of noisy rock for the next 26 years. By the time of their dissolution in 1999, they’d earned a reputation for extreme performances chock full of hard-hitting, machine-like grooves delivered by bassist David Wm. Sims and, at their conclusion, drummer Mac McNeilly, at times aided and at other times punctured by the frontline of guitarist Duane Denison’s incisive, dissonant riffing, and presided over by the cantankerous howl of vocalist David Yow. In the years since, performative, thrilling bands such as Pissed Jeans, METZ, and Idles have built upon the Lizard’s musical foundation.
Denison has kept himself plenty busy over the last couple decades, forming the avant-rock supergroup Tomahawk—with vocalist Mike Patton, bassist Trevor Dunn (both from Mr. Bungle), and drummer John Stanier of Helmet—and alongside various other projects including Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers and Hank Williams III. The Jesus Lizard eventually reunited, but until now have only celebrated their catalog, never releasing new jams.
The Jesus Lizard, from left: bassist David Wm. Sims, singer David Yow, drummer Mac McNeilly, and guitarist Duane Denison.
Photo by Joshua Black Wilkins
Back in 2018, Denison, hanging in a hotel room with Yow, played a riff on his unplugged electric guitar that caught the singer’s ear. That song, called “West Side,” will remain unreleased for now, but Denison explains: “He said, ‘Wow, that’s really good. What is that?’ And I said, ‘It’s just some new thing. Why don’t we do an album?’” From those unassuming beginnings, the Jesus Lizard’s creative juices started flowing.
So, how does a band—especially one who so indelibly captured the ineffable energy of live rock performance—prepare to get a new record together 26 years after their last? Back in their earlier days, the members all lived together in a band house, collectively tending to the creative fire when inspiration struck. All these years later, they reside in different cities, so their process requires sending files back and forth and only meeting up for occasional demo sessions over the course of “three or four years.”
“When the time comes to get more in performance mode, I have a practice space. I go there by myself and crank it up. I turn that amp up and turn the metronome up and play loud.” —Duane Denison
the Jesus Lizard "Alexis Feels Sick"
Distance creates an obstacle to striking while the proverbial iron is hot, but Denison has a method to keep things energized: “Practice loud.” The guitarist professes the importance of practice, in general, and especially with a metronome. “We keep very detailed records of what the beats per minute of these songs are,” he explains. “To me, the way to do it is to run it to a Bluetooth speaker and crank it, and then crank your amp. I play a little at home, but when the time comes to get more in performance mode, I have a practice space. I go there by myself and crank it up. I turn that amp up and turn the metronome up and play loud.”
It’s a proven solution. On Rack—recorded at Patrick Carney’s Audio Eagle studio with producer Paul Allen—the band sound as vigorous as ever, proving they’ve not only remained in step with their younger selves, but they may have surpassed it with faders cranked. “Duane’s approach, both as a guitarist and writer, has an angular and menacing fingerprint that is his own unique style,” explains Allen. “The conviction in his playing that he is known for from his recordings in the ’80s and ’90s is still 100-percent intact and still driving full throttle today.”
“I try to be really, really precise,” he says. “I think we all do when it comes to the basic tracks, especially the rhythm parts. The band has always been this machine-like thing.” Together, they build a tension with Yow’s careening voice. “The vocals tend to be all over the place—in and out of tune, in and out of time,” he points out. “You’ve got this very free thing moving around in the foreground, and then you’ve got this very precise, detailed band playing behind it. That’s why it works.”
Before Rack, the Jesus Lizard hadn’t released a new record since 1998’s Blue.
Denison’s guitar also serves as the foreground foil to Yow’s unhinged raving, as on “Alexis Feels Sick,” where they form a demented harmony, or on the midnight creep of “What If,” where his vibrato-laden melodies bolster the singer’s unsettled, maniacal display. As precise as his riffs might be, his playing doesn’t stay strictly on the grid. On the slow, skulking “Armistice Day,” his percussive chording goes off the rails, giving way to a solo that slices that groove like a chef’s knife through warm butter as he reorganizes rock ’n’ roll histrionics into his own cut-up vocabulary.
“During recording sessions, his first solo takes are usually what we decide to keep,” explains Allen. “Listen to Duane’s guitar solos on Jack White’s ‘Morning, Noon, and Night,’ Tomahawk’s ‘Fatback,’ and ‘Grind’ off Rack. There’s a common ‘contained chaos’ thread among them that sounds like a harmonic Rubik’s cube that could only be solved by Duane.”
“Duane’s approach, both as a guitarist and writer, has an angular and menacing fingerprint that is his own unique style.” —Rack producer Paul Allen
To encapsulate just the right amount of intensity, “I don’t over practice everything,” the guitarist says. Instead, once he’s created a part, “I set it aside and don’t wear it out.” On Rack, it’s obvious not a single kilowatt of musical energy was lost in the rehearsal process.
Denison issues his noisy masterclass with assertive, overdriven tones supporting his dissonant voicings like barbed wire on top of an electric fence. The occasional application of slapback delay adds a threatening aura to his exacting riffage. His tones were just as carefully crafted as the parts he plays, and he relied mostly on his signature Electrical Guitar Company Chessie for the sessions, though a Fender Uptown Strat also appears, as well as a Taylor T5Z, which he chose for its “cleaner, hyper-articulated sound” on “Swan the Dog.” Though he’s been spotted at recent Jesus Lizard shows with a brand-new Powers Electric—he points out he played a demo model and says, “I just couldn’t let go of it,” so he ordered his own—that wasn’t until tracking was complete.
Duane Denison's Gear
Denison wields his Powers Electric at the Blue Room in Nashville last June.
Photo by Doug Coombe
Guitars
- Electrical Guitar Company Chessie
- Fender Uptown Strat
- Taylor T5Z
- Gibson ES-135
- Powers Electric
Amps
- Hiwatt Little J
- Hiwatt 2x12 cab with Fane F75 speakers
- Fender Super-Sonic combo
- Early ’60s Fender Bassman
- Marshall 1987X Plexi Reissue
- Victory Super Sheriff head
- Blackstar HT Stage 60—2 combos in stereo with Celestion Neo Creamback speakers and Mullard tubes
Effects
- Line 6 Helix
- Mantic Flex Pro
- TC Electronic G-Force
- Menatone Red Snapper
Strings and Picks
- Stringjoy Orbiters .0105 and .011 sets
- Dunlop celluloid white medium
- Sun Studios yellow picks
He ran through various amps—Marshalls, a Fender Bassman, two Fender Super-Sonic combos, and a Hiwatt Little J—at Audio Eagle. Live, if he’s not on backline gear, you’ll catch him mostly using 60-watt Blackstar HT Stage 60s loaded with Celestion Neo Creambacks. And while some boxes were stomped, he got most of his effects from a Line 6 Helix. “All of those sounds [in the Helix] are modeled on analog sounds, and you can tweak them endlessly,” he explains. “It’s just so practical and easy.”
The tools have only changed slightly since the band’s earlier days, when he favored Travis Beans and Hiwatts. Though he’s started to prefer higher gain sounds, Allen points out that “his guitar sound has always had teeth with a slightly bright sheen, and still does.”
“Honestly, I don’t think my tone has changed much over the past 30-something years,” Denison says. “I tend to favor a brighter, sharper sound with articulation. Someone sent me a video I had never seen of myself playing in the ’80s. I had a band called Cargo Cult in Austin, Texas. What struck me about it is it didn’t sound terribly different than what I sound like right now as far as the guitar sound and the approach. I don’t know what that tells you—I’m consistent?”
YouTube It
The Jesus Lizard take off at Nashville’s Blue Room this past June with “Hide & Seek” from Rack.
