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Rangemaster and Fuzz Combo


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Posted

Recently a good friend of mine, Ryan Hawthorn (Hawthorn Electric Arts), called me to tell he that he had a cool Analogman Sunface Fuzz that he wanted to sell me for a REALLY good price. Well I went over to his house to check it out, and sure enough it sounded great. But while I was there, he let me try out a combo pedal that he built which is based on a Dallas Rangemaster (NOC OC44 transistor) and a vintage fuzz circuit. Well I fell in love with this pedal, so I passed on the Analogman, and convinced him to sell me the pedal that he built. One of the things that I love is the way the Rangemaster side pushes the fuzz circuit and adds treble. I also love the fact that it has a bias knob which controls the voltage to the transistors on the fuzz, which really makes it easy to dial anything from gentle hair to snarling/spitting fuzz. This is what it looks like (check out the turret board construction and attention to lead dress)...

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Well last night I finally got a chance to do a good demo for it. There are four tracks. 1) Acoustic rhythm Gibson J45 2) clean electric rhythm Zemaitis with MR200SB pickups straight into Clark Beauford 3) fuzz electric Zemaitis into Hawthorn fuzz into the Clark 4) electric slide Zemaitis into Hawthorn fuzz into the Clark.  Reverb was added to the mix later. The fuzz stuff is always panned slightly to the right, and at the end I really wack it into gear for the outro side guitar...

 

 

Posted

That really kicks that slide guitar into high gear.   

I never played with a treble booster.   I probably didn't understand what they did so many years ago.   Fuzztones, wah,  Octavia  I understood.    I remember reading about lots of people using a Rangemaster in the 60s on records.  Don't remember anyone I know having one.  If I recall correctly,  It helped boost the top end of AC30s, probably before there was a Top Boost model.    At least that was what I read in a magazine that a fellow guitar player gave me.   That's where most people learned about stuff like that.  

 

 

Posted
21 minutes ago, TalismanRich said:

That really kicks that slide guitar into high gear.   

I never played with a treble booster.   I probably didn't understand what they did so many years ago.   Fuzztones, wah,  Octavia  I understood.    I remember reading about lots of people using a Rangemaster in the 60s on records.  Don't remember anyone I know having one.  If I recall correctly,  It helped boost the top end of AC30s, probably before there was a Top Boost model.    At least that was what I read in a magazine that a fellow guitar player gave me.   That's where most people learned about stuff like that.  

 

 

I think what happened was the JTM 45s and the VOX AC30/AC15s would get a bit dark when overdriven so the treble boost just restored the high end. In the case of my fuzz box the fuzz circuit is pretty dark so the Rangemaster side is just giving it back the bite. What I like is the harmonic content that it gives to what I'm doing. In that lick you where I play the C chord (then add sus4) to the D chord (then add sus 4), and then back to the descending G to E, it gives it a cool overtone to those chords. And when I'm picking the single notes back close to the bridge pickup it's almost like it's doubling the notes, very early Zeppelin like.

Posted

I use a box that I bought from BYOC in kit form.  It has 3 different boost circuits in it but the one I always use is based on a Rangemaster. 

Posted

Another swell demo...of course.  The three contrasting tones are a terrific demo context for any of the three guitars.  Great sounding fuzz!  And yep early Zep...well a lot of 60's Brit recording tones.  I was trying to focus on just the fuzzy Zemaitis and immediately thought of a lot of Faces guitar dubs.  And the J-45, or your recording of it, has a lot of high end presence for a Gibson acoustic!  Records well in a way I prefer!  It has a really nice voice here.  Ryan's build looks exquisite!

Posted

that was pretty fantastic!!

I have a rangemaster clone & a treble booster, plus some fuzzes. haven't used them in a while because I veered away from pedals

I should re investigate

I found they worked best for me, if you can crank the amp up

Posted

nice tones, well done demo

I have an Italian boutique booster with NOS OC44
I love it, it can be used as boost, od, fuzz
nice to control through right hand (I'm righty) and guitar volume

enjoy yours ?

Posted
On 1/10/2020 at 5:42 PM, bolero said:

that was pretty fantastic!!

I have a rangemaster clone & a treble booster, plus some fuzzes. haven't used them in a while because I veered away from pedals

I should re investigate

I found they worked best for me, if you can crank the amp up

I couldn't crank the amp because I did that demo at 11:00 and people were sleeping:)

Posted
On 1/11/2020 at 4:22 AM, Gianluca said:

nice tones, well done demo

I have an Italian boutique booster with NOS OC44
I love it, it can be used as boost, od, fuzz
nice to control through right hand (I'm righty) and guitar volume

enjoy yours ?

that's also what I like that you can control the tone/dynamics with the guitar volume control because it cleans up nice!

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