Amptweaker TightFuzz

The Bass TightFuzz is a flexible fuzz, from great germanium clean tones to heavy silicon fuzz, and has a Dry Low blend. While most vintage fuzz boxes have very few controls, the Bass TightFuzz includes a Tone control to tame the fuzzy edges and the Tight control, a mainstay of Amptweaker pedals, which varies the pick attack from smooth and thick to tight and aggressive. This is particularly helpful for tweaking a fuzz tone, since many tend to be too flubby on the lowend and with the added Dry Low knob, you can tighten up the Fuzz and still blend back in some deep lows. While many modern fuzz boxes have chosen to create wacky over-the-top fuzztone, the Amptweaker approach is to make something that has a lot of flexibile but usable tones. The most requested feature was the Germanium/Silicon switch, which changes the output stage from a softer, lower gain Germanium to a heavier, high gain Silicon transistor. This cool pedal also has the ability to get lower gain tones easily, with an Auto Bias that adjusts appropriately with the Fuzz control, to get the cleanest and nastiest distortions possible with one control. It also has an Edge switch with a Smooth setting to further knock the edge off, and a 60’s/70’s switch that transforms the pedal from tighter, lower gain 60’s tones to fatter and heavier 70’s tones. One of the important differences between the Bass TightFuzz and most ‘reissue’ fuzz boxes is that with the addition of the Tight control in front of the fuzz circuit, the input of the fuzz circuit is effectively buffered from the bass but in a compensated way. A common problem with the original fuzz designs is that circuits with low output impedances like those in overdrive pedals or from active basses, can completely change the bias and gain structure. The result is often an odd sound or squeals, unusual feedback etc. The buffering in the Bass TightFuzz simulates the impedance of a passive guitar, so that the fuzz circuit works in the normal way it’s intended, and any low impedance circuit CAN be used in the loop or in front of the pedal. Standard Amptweaker features include an effects loop with Pre/Post switch to add delay or combine other distortion and EQs to further tweak your fuzztone. Other features include the LED illumination of controls, Battery On/Off switch, and magnetic battery access door.