Fuzzbox

Fuzzbox || Matt Williams

Fuzzbox.org is yet another domain name owned by Matt Williams (current total about 700). The purpose of this website is to play host to some pictures of my guitars, amps, and basically vent my spleen regarding my gear fetish (or GAS, Gear Acquisition Syndrome). I've improved actually, I've only got one amp, a Rivera M60, and a couple of guitars. And some effects.

Hamer Explorer

Guitars

These are what I've got. On the list to buy are a standard PRS McCarty, and maybe a Tele and a Gibson Explorer. But actually, I don't need any of those, I just want them.

What I've got:

  • My Hamer Explorer serial number 0253 which Hamer shipped on November 21st 1979. It's got an all black Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates in the lead position because the original DiMarzio PAF expired after I tried to wax pot it. It's also got a Gibson stop tailpiece with fine tuners which I keep experimentally removing, and then discovering that I like the way it sounds. And I like the way it lets me keep the guitar in tune. So it stays. Years ago I had the nut replaced by Chandler Guitars. The whole thing plays like a dream, and sounds incredible. It's like it is alive. Sometimes, playing loud through my Rivera it's like the strings are alive, and I can feel it through my fingertips. I feel very connected to this guitar.
  • My Strat, which is almost entirely unoriginal, with a Floyd Rose trem and a Mighty Mite neck that I've given a serious shave. It may have a prototype Floyd Rose locking nut on it, if the guy who sold it to me was telling the truth. Regardless, the Strat is the guitar I feel most at home playing. It's got an EMG81 lead pickup and a pair of Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pro Strat pickups. The EMG makes me feel like a fraud, I plug it in and it sounds (to me) like I'm a good guitar player.
  • My Tokai Les Paul, which has been reliced by someone in England to a very high standard. It's got a very nice flamed maple top. I'm planning on experimentally replacing the original chrome covered pickup with a Pearly Gates which I've had in a box on my desk for about 3 months waiting for the opportunity to stick it in. When I play this guitar I feel like I have no skill. It sounds awesome, with a very real Les Paul sound. But when I play notes I feel like the guitar is in charge, not me, and it's being kind to me. When the going gets rough it ditches me and I feel like my fingers have turned to lead. Still, it's a challenge, and in time I think I'll be able to play well on it.
  • There's also a reliced Strat, in baby blue, rosewood neck, but I'm just the keeper of that guitar...
  • I've got a 12 string Fender acoustic. My friend Andy said "it's amazing what they can do with railway sleepers these days, isn't it?" when I showed it to him, which was a crushing put down, and unfortunately fairly accurate. It's more or less impossible to keep in tune.
  • There might be something else in the loft, I try not to think about it.
Rivera M60

Amp

I used to be a Marshall man. But living in a flat put paid to that, so I gradually traded down, and then sideways, and ended up with my Rivera. It's the most amazing amp. It sounds awesome with everything except the relic Strat. No need for overdrive or distortion pedals, you just dial it in, crank it up, and pure tone comes out. It's got an Electrovoice EV12L speaker. I've tried Celestions, but the EV has the right level of treble for me, it just sounds better. When I crank the Rivera up it sounds like it's on the verge of catching fire.

MXR Phase 90 and Dyna Comp

Effects

I try to keep it simple. For years I just had my Roland SDE1000 delay, with a 376ms delay carrying a touch of modulation. But when the MXR Eddie Van Halen Phase 90 came out I had to buy one, it looks so cute. And now I know what a phaser is like. Sometimes I leave it on all the time. It is so heavy metal. I recently bought an MXR Dyna Comp because I felt I should get better at playing clean guitar sounds and this might be a way in. I might get it modded to sound like a Ross compressor though because although the volume pumping effect is characterful, I'm not sure it is my character.

In my wardrobe I've also got a Boss stereo chorus, noise gate and flanger, but they never see the light of day. I've also got Andy's Morley wah wah.

Guitar Port and Riff Tracker

I got one of these recently. It's fun, and I hope to make some MP3s to stick on fuzzbox.org just for the hell of it, but really, I'd rather play through an amp. It's more real.

 

Finally, some more of Matt's websites and domain names:

Revs.org | Asperger Syndrome| South Yorkshire| Obsidian Sky

Ezekiel 25:17. "The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you."