DetroitBlues

The fuzz pedal... So many variations, its hard to know where to start. I've had a couple fuzz pedals over the past 20 years or so. Mainly because of the whole Hendrix or Smashing Pumpkins tone. However, being a primary humbucker player, I really do not like the sound of it. What are the tip, tricks, usages, etc people use? When and why do you use a fuzz pedal? What are the differences in the options? I'm rather curious here.

Unfortunately Eljay, unless you're on the inside, there is no way to tell what the plan is really. But I would assume, they are winding down or already wound down the standard line to relaunch the standard II line. Which means a change in production schedules. I'd assume the 535 standard line will come back as a standard II and with finishes we are familiar with.

Thanks Rich. It's not feedback free, but I can control it, mostly by not standing 2' away from it like I do in practice. There are times where I intentionally go up to the amp to get some harmonic feedback to sustain. Sounds so cool when you can keep it under control.

10 years ago, when I finally felt financially comfortable to purchase a new Heritage, it had to be a 535. At the time, I had an Epiphone Dot Deluxe with Seth Lover pickups in it. It was my number one guitar and with its big neck, was easily my favorite guitar to play. When I custom ordered my 535, I wasn't looking to trick it out or make it a flashy guitar. I basically wanted a Heritage H535 that looked like my Epiphone. Flame maple top, wine red, Seth Lover pickups, gold hardware, and a big neck. I added just a couple subtle touches like a bound, inlaid headstock and gold top reflector knobs; an excellent Heritage dealer hooked me up with a deluxe wood package- highly flamed maple top, back, and sides! For many years, I only played it at home, took it to PSP or to a few friends' homes for jams. It never went to a gig. Until last weekend. 2 years ago, I tried it at a gig briefly and couldn't get the tone I wanted, and the feedback was killing me even when I tried it at a few practices. So, it stayed at home atop its wall hanging perch. At first, I thought my problem was the Seth Lover pickups, so I swapped them for Railhammer pickups. While "vintage" voiced, I found those pickups were too clean, too bright. I realized their design was more or less for heavy guitar players in drop tunings and high gain. Earlier this year, thanks to a recommendation Brent, I purchased a custom made A3 magnet Red Rocks humbucker for the bridge pickup. Did a swap and I loved the tone again. Since my personal life went into an upheaval a few months ago, I had purged many of my guitars, with me only really owning a couple now. My Heritages remain with me, but officially I do not own them; I retain them under the premise they get played. So, they do. I had a double header weekend playing a gig Friday and another on Saturday. This time, I took my 535. With exception to 1 song out of 42, the 535 was used for every song and genre. Country, Rock, Pop, didn't matter. Its versatility was amazing! Paired with a Marshall DSL40C (not the gen2) and a few good pedals to spice up the tone, this guitar was perfect. My H150 came with me just to play an open G tune to start a set. Between my H535 and my H150, I really don't need any other guitars to gig with. I found keeping similar guitars (pickup configurations) for swapping on songs, I don't have to mess with tone controls (going from a Tele to a H150 required a lot of eq changes to cut through). This is a "trick" I discovered when I watched a killer cover band and how their lead guitarist used only one guitar the whole night and his backup was a similar guitar (humbucker loaded).

I was watching a local battle of bands contest. Each band played for 45 minutes and all were impressive. One guy pulled out a Marshall half stack and another band, the guy was using a Boss Katana. Both were decent volumes and both sounded good. I have six gigs coming up that require me to carry my gear up 2 full flights of stairs. The idea of a Katana amp being light and easy to carry has me wondering if I might want to consider a Boss (or still had my Quilter). One drawback to this modeling amps is these amps are "disposable" amps. Once they go bad, they get replaced. There is no amp tech going to be able to fix them. I'll still be lugging my 40W Marshall DSL up the stairs this weekend. Its not super heavy, but its enough....

There is a reason why I have the pros work on my 535. Electronics through a tiny opening with my sausage fingers don't go well. If I'm not mistaken, aren't Heritages all buffed and polished prior to electronics? This could be a reason why, especially on exposed electronics on hollow/semi-hollow bodies.

I actually have a Seymour Duncan mini-humbucker with a P90 dogear pickup ring. Love how it sounds.

Some people like me don't even use the hardshell case unless its just for storage. I use a Mono gigbag for transporting as they have the best of both worlds for gigging. Protection of the headstock and neck like a hardshell case, but easier to grab and go with a shoulder strap.

The aged Heritages started four or five years ago, long before the CC lineup existed. So you can find both Standard and CC that are Artisian Aged. This particular example ss a standard core H535, you can tell by the lack of inlays in the headstock and dot inlays on the neck. As early as 2023, Heritage changed the headstock size for the Standard Core to be the same as the custom core. Plus CC only have hand-wound pickups from the factory. This one was $3499, the CC H535 starts at $3999 Looks like you cannot buy this one now anyway, and if rumors are true, you won't be able to at all

Baby got Back!!!!

No one will ever complain about having twin blondes!

Only person from Canada I remember being there was Bolero, but his guitars were borrowed from Pete Farmer.... Of course, there are other members too that I don't always remember where they are from....

Love the look of that new H575, the tort pickguard really stands out. Fine collection all around!

Beautiful 530! Congrats again Rich

I've sort of stopped chasing down tones in my head and chasing tones in my ears. I went down the rabbit hole for tone quests and found that tone in a room sounds different than tone on a recording. Pickups, guitars, strings, amps, speakers, microphones, where you pick the strings, how you pick the strings, post preamp equalization.... its maddening when you start to dig into it. I've only changed pickups in recent years for noise and feedback reduction. I think you'd be amazed how that beautiful H535 sounds depending on the amp and the use of the tone controls. I really love the middle position, I turn the volume on the bridge pickup to around a 7 or 8, roll back the tone to an 8. Then on the neck position, I'll roll the volume back just a touch at a time until it just adds a bit of warmth to the bridge pickup, usually it ends up around 6-7. When I need a bit for a lead solo, I'll go to the bridge and sometimes raise the volume up a bit. All this is accomplished to get a tone that I can clearly hear against the band and sounds good to me. I stopped chasing my hero's tones and just play to the song. One of my favorite tunes lately is Marshall Tucker's Can't You See. I'll play the flute and the lead guitar tracks with any of my guitars; by adjusting the controls I can make any of them sound pretty close to each other and they all have different pickups.... H150 with SD 59's, H137 with Mojotone Quiet Coil P90's, H535 with a Railhammer Neuvo in the neck and a Red Rock A3 humbucker in the bridge. I can use any of those guitars and achieve a tone that sounds good to me even if there is a slight difference in sound. Audiences don't know the difference. In other words, don't get too caught up yet on pickup being a problem, there is a lot more to the signal chain besides the pickups.