Saturday, November 21, 2020

Fuzz Machine: Unbranded Ibanez Standard Fuzz

The Fuzz Machine is clearly an unbranded Ibanez No 59 Standard Fuzz.

I occasionally buy a few parts from a retired guy with a shed full of vintage electronics and components, mostly valves and radio gear. A while back, he mentioned that there were a couple of pedals buried somewhere in the shed.

I was picking up some transistors from him today, and he'd managed to track the pedals down. He was kind enough to let me have a look at it, to test before he sells - he wanted to make sure it worked first and wasn't happy with a bench test.

FUZZ MACHINE (AKA IBANEZ STANDARD FUZZ)

I took the opportunity to open it up and record voltages and scope results for future use, as I have been meaning to make the Ibanez Standard Fuzz for a while but have not got around to it yet.

Apart from a few small cobwebs, it's spotless inside, the battery compartment is in good shape, and the faders feel fine for their age.

And it sounds pretty much as expected... it does what it says on the box. Reassuringly, it sounds a lot like the Super Fuzzes that I've made. Always good to get a side-by-side comparison - I only wish mine looked half as cool as this.