Captain Coconut 2 Owner's Manual

FuzzFoot

The FuzzFoot section is based on the most famous fuzz of all, the Dallas Arbiter FuzzFace. The FuzzFace has gone down in history as one of the most erratic, but coolest sounding fuzz effects ever made. They all sounded slightly different due to a number of variables including temperature, transistor gain & quality, battery level and pickup output levels. FuzzFaces could sound dull, bright, smooth, gritty, and sometimes so choppy that they were even unusable. The FuzzFoot circuit addresses all of the common complaints about the FuzzFace, while retaining the same basic transistor based circuit. The "Grit" knob controls the transistor bias, which is the key to getting the coolest sounds. The "Drive" knob gives much better distortion control than the original "Fuzz" knob found on the FuzzFace. The FuzzFoot can be adjusted to work great with most wah wah pedals and is surprisingly easy to tame. The input of the FuzzFoot likes to see a single coil guitar pickup. For the best results, buffered, non-true bypass pedals are not recommended in front of the FuzzFoot (or in your signal chain at all, for that matter).

There are several different ways to use the FuzzFoot. Here are some examples for getting some great sounds.

Bright, Kazoo-like fuzz: If you set your amp up with a clean, bright tone, and turn the FUZZ control up, you’ll get that familiar “kazoo” type of fuzz sound. It’s a sound with a lot of high end but not a ton of sustain. This sound is good for recording, but it can be a bit too extreme for live use because of the massive tonal contrast when switching from clean to Fuzz.

Overdrive Fuzz-boost: Set your amp up for a nice, slightly dark overdriven sound. A tube amp or high quality overdrive pedal is recommended. Kick the FuzzFoot in with FUZZ around %80, and GRIT around the middle, or lower. Using the volume control on your guitar, you can go from a semi-clean tone, to a nice, fat lead fuzz boost just by turning the guitars volume knob. TIP: You’ll get the best results if your guitar uses a LOG TAPER volume pot and your pickups are passive. This is the key to getting the best, most organic sounds out of the FuzzFoot. By achieving a balance between your amp’s natural overdrive and the distortion that the Fuzz adds, you can get that magic tone that most electric blues players long for. There’s a definite chemistry between the Fuzz and the amp, so take the time to experiment. This is the best setup for the FuzzFoot and it sounds great when used at the same time as the Provibe.

Clean boost: If you already have enough overdrive in your setup and don’t need a fuzz, you can use the FuzzFoot the same way you would use a clean boost pedal for pushing your amp harder. By turning the FUZZ control down, there's plenty of gain available and the signal is slightly compressed. Use the GRIT control to dial in just enough sputter in order to add some classic character to your leads.

Controls

FUZZ: The Fuzz control allows you to back off on the intensity of the fuzz. This is useful when looking for special vintage sounds and when driving more overdrive stages. This is also great if you want to dial in some wimpy fuzz tones for effect. If you want the fuzz to clean up when you role back you guitars volume knob, back off a little on the Fuzz control. You can dial in a massive range of great sounds just by playing around with the GRIT control, the FUZZ control, and your guitar’s volume and tone controls.

GRIT: One thing that makes FuzzFoot different from other similar fuzz boxes is the GRIT control. This knob allows you to fine tune the attack, tone and fuzz level. The control is subtle, but very effective. As a continuous control, you can dial in the exact sound you want. Here are some examples of what to expect as you try out different GRIT settings.

Counter clockwise: Dull loud tone. Sounds great when overdriving a tube amp, or pushing an already overdriven amp over the top. This is a very fat fuzz sound that can be heard on lots of old recordings from the ‘60s and ‘70s.
Middle: Even tone with lots of fuzz and sustain. This the most user- friendly of all the settings. The tone is very round, without sputter. If you like to clean up your sound by turning down your guitar’s volume knob, this is where the GRIT control should be - the 10:00 - 1:00 settings work the best.
Clockwise: Clipped, farty and burnt out. If you’re looking for some of the nastier fuzz sounds, experiment with GRIT settings in the 2:00 to 5:00 (max) area. The sound gets very choppy while you pick and the sustain trails off abruptly. This sound can be pretty ugly at times, but it’s great for reproducing certain vintage tones that originally occurred due to unmatched transistors or drained batteries. Extreme GRIT settings sound great when your amp is turned up loud. Stand near your amp and play around with the feedback.

VOLUME: The FuzzFoot is set up to have more than enough gain for those who like it LOUD. Changes in the GRIT control have a direct effect on the output level, so you may need to make some volume adjustments while dialing in your sound.

INPUT TRIM: The FuzzCard includes an on-board trim pot that adjusts the amount of loading at the input stage. See the FuzzCard section for more information on this.