Japan's Greatest Fuzzes
When we think about the world of guitar pedals and fuzzes, especially vintage fuzzes, we think about Japan. And rightly so. So many classic circuits came from this island nation, like the Ibanez No. 59 Standard Fuzz, the Univox Super Fuzz, the Roland Bee Baa and the BOSS FC-2. Tons of amazing pedal companies got their start here, too.
That said, there is one brand that is consistently overlooked and it's honestly infuriating, because I’d venture that they make the best fuzzes that Japan ever made. Period. I’m talking about Guyatone, also known as Tokyo Sound. Guyatone technically gots its start in the 1930s, but they officially entered into the guitar world as we know it in the fifties with tons of electric guitars, moving into effect pedals in the 1960s. They managed to not only hold their own against powerhouse companies like BOSS and Ibanez, but they released truly the best fuzz pedals in Japanese, nay, in world history.
I’m not sure I can hype this up any more than I already have, so let’s just talk about the pedals already.
Buzz Box FS-1
The Guyatone Buzz Box FS-1 is a triple threat: underrated, incredibly cool and super collectible. It comes in my favorite box out of all the pedals I own. It’s just the greatest fuzz that Guyatone ever made. That’s a lot of superlatives for just one pedal, but if the shoe fits, play it, right? I’m also 99% sure that the Buzz Box FS-1 was the first fuzz that ever came out of Japan (it would have been released in early 1967).
The circuit is a Tone Bender 1.5, which is basically a Fuzz Face. It uses Japanese transistors, which have a kind of a different nature and frankly sound incredible.
Fun fact: there’s a version of this pedal that is the rarest Guyatone fuzz in existence. The rare version says Bazz Box instead of Buzz Box. It's a misprint. I know that I'm never gonna find it, but hope springs eternal, right?**
**Completely unrelated: if you have the rare version of this pedal, I’d be open to doing a reasonable trade. Or an unreasonable trade. I just really want it.
FZ-2000
The next Guyatone pedal– which is also one of the greatest Japanese fuzz pedals ever made –comes from the totally forgotten years of Guyatone. This stuff is hard to find, but you can find it if you dig long enough. It's initially made as a Japanese-exclusive release, but then it gets brought over to the U.S.? The narrative is a little confusing. The pedal is called the FZ-2000 Fuzz. It was made in the year 1999, which tells me that the folks at Guyatone weren't under their beds hiding from the Y2K bug at the turn of the millenium. They were looking towards the future: the year 2000.
This is their take on, “Hey, let's take a Fuzz Face and let's replace the germanium or silicon transistors with FETs.” You could even call it a FET Face. I kinda wish they had.
Pro tip: this is the ideal pedal if you’re going for a slacker rock sound.
Sustainer FS-6
In 1973, Guyatone released the Sustainer FS-6. Based on the enclosure shape, you might think it’s a Fuzz Face clone, but there’s one big difference: the Fuzz Face has two knobs, and the Sustainer FS-6 has three.
In fact, the Sustainer FS-6 is a Triangle Big Muff, which sounds completely different. This also debunks a theory I shared in a previous Patreon episode that the Jordan Creator fuzz is the first Big Muff clone, because I think the FS-6 actually came first. The timeline is a little murkier than I’d like (it was the seventies, after all), but as obsessive-compulsive as I am about dates, sometimes “this pedal probably came first” is the best I can do.
Crazy-Face
In 1972, Guyatone cloned a Fuzz Face, which resulted in the Crazy-Face Fuzz. The Crazy-Face has two transistors and shares its topology with the Vox V816 and the Tone Bender 1.5. I love the color of this pedal (sort of a light metallic green), but it does break my heart that the circuitry of the Crazy-Face Fuzz from my personal collection was destroyed by its previous owner. This is a pedal crime. If you know who did it, let me know, and I may just have to go full-on Liam Neeson from Taken and use my particular set of skills– which is mainly dating vintage guitar pedals and bike riding –to make that person pay.
The Crazy-Face is a truly spectacular Fuzz Face circuit (the Japanese germanium transistors give it a very velcro-y tone), but the only working version I have is a cheapo version from the Sears catalog, which is made with the kind of quality where you're pretty sure it's gonna fall apart at any moment. It’s kind of invigorating. That tension keeps you on the edge of your seat, because every time you play it might be the last time.
Now, I’ve seen Reverb listings that date the Crazy-Face back to the early sixties, but that doesn’t hold water. The Fuzz Face wasn’t released until 1966, so unless the engineers at Guyatone time traveled to the future, this clone couldn’t have been made that early.
PS-009 Multi Octaver
The Guyatone PS-009 Multi Octaver was released around 1981. I know what you're thinking. “Oh, is that an octave fuzz?” Well, no. It's an analog Octaver. There’s a difference.
But I still like to use this pedal to get a fuzz sound, just because I can. Even if a pedal isn’t advertised as a multi-effect stompbox, it can still do multiple effects. This is true across the board. Sometimes a pedal says distortion, but it'll do overdrive or it says overdrive and it might do fuzz. In the same vein, the PS-009 Multi Octaver can do octave fuzz.
TZm5 Torrid Fuzz
Last up is the TZm5 Torrid Fuzz, which was designed by a friend of mine: Toshi Torii. Toshi is an incredible designer who’s worked with tons of companies, but some of his best designs have been with Guyatone. The Torrid Fuzz is from the Mighty Micro series, released around 2009.
The Torrid Fuzz doesn’t have a fuzz control, which is a little strange, but it does have knobs for level, tone and depth. Depth does give you a certain level of fuzz control, even though it's not controlling fuzz in the typical way that a Tone Bender, Fuzz Face or Big Muff works. I like saying that the Torrid Fuzz is one of the best fuzzes on earth ever made to do things other than fuzz. Specifically, the Torrid Fuzz works beautifully as an overdrive pedal.
Conclusion
With the exception of a few vintage pedals that are hard to find, most of the fuzzes on this list are fairly cheap, which means you can build up your pedal collection without breaking the bank. I hope I've convinced you that Guyatone currently makes, has previously made and will always make the greatest fuzzes from Japan.
Don’t get me wrong. I love the other brands, but there's something special about Guyatone.