Just so you know that we're not comparing apples with watermelons, we're laying all the cards on the table and spelling out the test conditions for the MP3 audio clips on this site.

superfuzz1.mp3

Amplifier: 1955 Gibson GA-30, unmodified

Guitar: 2000 "MIM" Fender Thinline Telecaster, stock pickups, Fender standard "10" strings

Microphone: Shure SM-57

Recording Gear: Mackie 1642VLZ mixer (for mic preamp), Boss BR1600 recorder

Description:

The recording was made in February, 2008, at the Wattson Classic Electronics shop.

The SM-57 mic was placed up to the grillcloth of the GA-30 amp, aimed at the dustcap seam of the 12 inch speaker.

The guitar was plugged into the pedal being tested, which was in turn plugged into the the "Mic" jack on the amp (the "Mic" jack is hotter than the "Instrument" jacks). "Mic" volume on the amp was set at approx. 9 o'clock. Guitar volume and tone were maxed, and only the bridge pickup was used.

Preamp level on the mixer and input level on the recorder were set to peak at about 70% of the clipping threshold.

The first pedal is a Shin-ei Companion "Super-Fuzz", which we believe is either a 1968 or 1969 model.

The second pedal is the original prototype of the Wattson Classic SuperFuzz.

The Wattson Classic SuperFuzz has a balance trimmer in the octave circuit, which the Shin-ei pedal does not have (but which later Univox pedals do have). The balance trimmer was set to the dead center position in order to best emulate the circuit conditions of the Shin-ei pedal.

Both pedals were powered from a bench power supply set for 9VDC.

Once the levels had been set, none of the controls on the guitar, amp, mixer, or recorder were changed during any of the test recordings. The "Balance" and "Expander" knobs on both pedals were set to max. Only the "Tone" switch was changed in order to record each pedal at both tone settings.