Boss Hyper Fuzz FZ-2 Boost what’s it like?

builttospill

Aswell as wanting a PN-2 what is the boost like on the FZ-2?  

ICBM

Like a clean boost with bass and treble controls...

builttospill

ICBM said:

Like a clean boost with bass and treble controls...

That’s great @ICBM, aswell as the fuzz the boost bass and treble controls would very useful for my set up... I hear the the boost has a lot of volume? 

ICBM

builttospill said:

That’s great @ICBM, aswell as the fuzz the boost bass and treble controls would very useful for my set up... I hear the the boost has a lot of volume? 

Yes, from memory it’s huge. I never use it like that so I’m not sure what it compares to - I only use it for a slight boost with the gain right down, purely as a clean boost and not to push the amp harder.

Teetonetal

It's huge.
I always forget it has it as I love the fuzz side so much! Great pedal.

builttospill

Teetonetal said:

It's huge.
I always forget it has it as I love the fuzz side so much! Great pedal.

This is only fueling the gas @Teetonetal ;

builttospill

How does it compare to a Klone clean boost? 

ICBM

It's probably worth mentioning that the Behringer SF-300 Super Fuzz is a very accurate FZ-2 copy, if you're on a budget. I've got both, and I can't tell the difference in sound. The Behringer is £24 brand new, so you could buy three and have one set for each mode, for less than the cheapest, most beaten-up FZ-2...

I do like the cheap orange plastic-ness of the Behringer too . And it seems well-made for what it is - the pots and jacks are perhaps a bit flimsy, but I haven't broken them yet. But I won't be selling the Boss any time soon .

TTBZ

@ICBM is the bypass ok on the Behringer version? I have one of their old EQ pedals and the bypass definitely takes a bit of treble and sustain away. That's the only thing holding me back from the SF at the minute! Love the FZ2 sound.

Kitsune

Speak to the fellow at Fredric Effects. He built me a shin-ei Fy6/super fuzz/fz2 clone in a custom tin for about £90 and it’s immense.

I’ve no ideas what the general boost is like. I just dopethrone it all.the.time

earwighoney

ICBM said:

It's probably worth mentioning that the Behringer SF-300 Super Fuzz is a very accurate FZ-2 copy, if you're on a budget. I've got both, and I can't tell the difference in sound.

I've only got the Behringer counterpart and the boost side of the pedal has a huge amount of volume, but I couldn't really find a usable sound from it but the other two modes of the pedal are a huge amount of fun.

It's a shame Boss hasn't released a Waza FZ-2 (HM2 as well).

Johnnyseven

builttospill said:

How does it compare to a Klone clean boost? 

The volume boost is huge. Even with the gain right down (volume does nothing in boost mode) it gives a big boost. I've never really use it as a boost until last week for a wedding gig when I needed a big more gain from my BD2W and it worked really well. I haven't used a Klone for some time but from memory the FZ2 doesn't have a mid hump and is a cleaner boost with alot of tonal options with the treble and bass controls. I love the FZ2 on mode 1 for some octave fuzz craziness into another dirt pedal, I have 2 of them!

ICBM

TTBZ said:

@ICBM is the bypass ok on the Behringer version? I have one of their old EQ pedals and the bypass definitely takes a bit of treble and sustain away.

I haven’t noticed it, but on the other hand I use it on bass so I might not have...

Teetonetal

Johnnyseven said:

builttospill said:

How does it compare to a Klone clean boost? 

The volume boost is huge. Even with the gain right down (volume does nothing in boost mode) it gives a big boost. I've never really use it as a boost until last week for a wedding gig when I needed a big more gain from my BD2W and it worked really well. I haven't used a Klone for some time but from memory the FZ2 doesn't have a mid hump and is a cleaner boost with alot of tonal options with the treble and bass controls. I love the FZ2 on mode 1 for some octave fuzz craziness into another dirt pedal, I have 2 of them!

It's one of the few pedals where having 2 would make a lot of sense.

Johnnyseven

I keep the 2nd as a spare it's not on my board, just in case the first dies - however unlikely that may be. I also have a spare long chip DD3 in case my DD2 dies.

roberty

Johnnyseven said:

I keep the 2nd as a spare it's not on my board, just in case the first dies - however unlikely that may be. I also have a spare long chip DD3 in case my DD2 dies.

Going OT but how do the long chip DDs compare to the modern ones?

Johnnyseven

I haven't tried them side by side by the first DD3s had the exact same circuit as the DD2, this is the circuit with the long chip.

ICBM

roberty said:

Going OT but how do the long chip DDs compare to the modern ones?

They sound better. Hard to put a finger on exactly why... but they just do. The new ones are perfectly good, but the DD-2/long-chip DD-3 just has some sort of extra magic. I would prefer it not to be so .

builttospill

Just snagged a Boss FZ-2 on ebay a few moments ago... just hoping It’s not borked!! Owners of FZ-2’s are there any good settings I should be aware of.

ICBM

builttospill said:

Just snagged a Boss FZ-2 on ebay a few moments ago... just hoping It’s not borked!! Owners of FZ-2’s are there any good settings I should be aware of.

It’s actually very easy to find what you want - the controls are almost completely non-interactive, compared to many dirt pedals - just set each one how you want, in any order.

For bass I like the gain at 0 - it’s still quite fuzzy there - and the bass and treble about 2 o’clock, with level wherever balances with the clean sound (depends on the bass, but usually 12-1 o’clock). That makes Fuzz 1 my normal dirt sound, Fuzz 2 a huge boomy synth-fuzz, and the boost a slightly bigger tone without much volume boost.

For guitar I like more gain and treble, and less bass - that makes Fuzz 1 more of a Jesus & Mary Chain sound, and Fuzz 2 a great Ennio Morricone spaghetti western tone... you can forget subtlety or controlling it with the guitar dynamics, but if that's your thing you probably don't want an FZ-2 anyway! (I don't use clean boost for guitar really.)

builttospill

ICBM said:

builttospill said:

Just snagged a Boss FZ-2 on ebay a few moments ago... just hoping It’s not borked!! Owners of FZ-2’s are there any good settings I should be aware of.

It’s actually very easy to find what you want - the controls are almost completely non-interactive, compared to many dirt pedals - just set each one how you want, in any order.

For bass I like the gain at 0 - it’s still quite fuzzy there - and the bass and treble about 2 o’clock, with level wherever balances with the clean sound (depends on the bass, but usually 12-1 o’clock). That makes Fuzz 1 my normal dirt sound, Fuzz 2 a huge boomy synth-fuzz, and the boost a slightly bigger tone without much volume boost.

For guitar I like more gain and treble, and less bass - that makes Fuzz 1 more of a Jesus & Mary Chain sound, and Fuzz 2 a great Ennio Morricone spaghetti western tone... you can forget subtlety or controlling it with the guitar dynamics, but if that's your thing you probably don't want an FZ-2 anyway! (I don't use clean boost for guitar really.)

Again many thanks for your input @ICBM ;