fuzz

Fuzz is an effect that produces a thick, buzzy tone by heavily clipping the audio signal, an extreme form of distortion known as square-wave clipping¹². In its purest form, a fuzzbox creates square wave clipping, a term technicians use because that is what the waveform looks like on an oscilloscope³. The heavy clipping adds almost infinite harmonics, producing overtones and undertones that maximize the distortion⁴. Fuzz tones typically offer a lot of sustain, harmonic richness and compression, often with a loss of presence in the mids⁵. Broadly, fuzz pedals group into distinct tonal camps: Fuzz Face, Tone Bender, Big Muff, or "modern"¹.