Boss FZ-1W Waza Craft Fuzz Pedal Reviews
Fuzz effects have been a pedalboard staple since 1962, when the Maestro FZ-1 Fuzz-Tone pedal was introduced to emulate the sound session guitarist Grady Martin created for Marty Robbins’ 1961 hit “Don’t Worry.” The BOSS FZ-1W Waza Craft fuzz pedal pays tribute to early fuzz circuit designs while eliminating some of the issues of vintage effects and providing modern flexibility. The FZ-1W features vintage and modern modes to give you access to a range of fuzzy tones, from glitched-out sputters and raspy fuzz grind to singing, string-like sustain. In vintage mode, the FZ-1W emulates classic fuzz circuits but with higher gain and a wider expressive range, and a tilt-EQ-style knob simultaneously adjusts the high and low frequencies for dialing in the perfect old-school fuzz tone for any situation. Modern mode is specifically designed to provide a cutting, contemporary sound, with even more gain on tap and some serious fatness. In modern mode, the tone knob has a unique tuning that lets you sculpt the high end without reducing the midrange — you’ll never get lost in the mix! Guitarists at Sweetwater have found that the FZ-1W also doubles as a powerful boost pedal for juicing your tube amp and adding some hair to your favorite overdrive and distortion pedals. Get a comprehensive history of fuzz in a single, Waza Craft-quality stompbox with the FZ-W1 Waza Craft fuzz pedal from BOSS!
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Highest Rated Reviews
Happy with Fuzz
Great pedal. Does what it's supposed to do. Great variations of fuzz. I also like to combine it with another distortion pedal. Sturdy construction.
Great new fuzz pedal
My gear guy Mike Soper was correct when he said this was a killer fuzz pedal. Anything from Eric Clapton's Cream fuzz on the vintage selection to Gary Clark jr When my train pulls in on the modern selection. Sounds awesome. Get with Mike he always takes care of my orders and keeps me informed on everything I order from Sweetwater. Great company and great Rep. Thanks again
THE Fuzz Pedal
This is now my go to Fuzz pedal
I own five fuzz pedals and this is now the one I reach gor. It sounds great has the versatile the others do and is solid as a tank. What I really like is that it has a warm but very dynamic sound. The others tend to be on the bright side and need to be tamed.
Awesome!
My favorite fuzz, organic, vintage sounding, and really versatile.
A modern fuzz that's solidly built
I bought this thinking I had no need for a fuzz. What a great pedal to get into the fuzz world. Boss proven quality and reliability. A+ Bravo.
Versatile fuzz
This is a great fuzz for getting a variety of tones, from old school stuff like ZZ Top to newer QOTSA type sounds. I prefer the fatness of the classic mode, but I do admit the modern mode has a streamlined, better sound quality. I have several "Wazas" and so far love them all.
Twice the Fuzz
Pedal delivers wide variety of fuzz. I am a keyboardist and intend to use it on Moog synths, (gasp!) I'm sure if I were an electric guitarist would be quite pleased!
As always, the SW team pulled off no small miracle in a lightning fast delivery. Thanks guys and gals!!
Works great with the guitar volume
Over the years, I have tried to use fuzz pedals. Never really successfully until this one. The tones in this pedal sound really good to my ears. In fact, I haven't found a sound in there that I don't like. What really makes this a go-to pedal for me is how you can turn the guitar volume down and it cleans up nicely. You can turn the guitar volume all the way down and barely crack it on and it will be like the fuzz is not on yet. The actual output volume doesn't increase hardly at all as you roll up the volume. It increases the gain of the fuzz. You can get it to play clean notes when lightly struck or a nice growly bark when you hit them hard. It's just wonderful. It doesn't seem to matter where you put it in the chain either. It behaves nicely with other pedals. Been using it with a Peavey Classic 20 mini head on the clean channel and it does a great job with blues.
Great alone, but better with Friends
I've had this pedal for a few weeks now and have really enjoyed experimenting with it. Both modes sound great and work well for many different applications. My favorite tones by far though have come from putting a low gain overdrive in front of the FZ-1W to push it into over-the-top lead territory. I've currently settled on the SD-1W as my goto pedal to run in front of the FZ-1W, but have had great results with others as well.
Very musical!
Only played through it briefly, superb sound, both vintage and modern. Low noise, a lot of adjustment in the knobs. Totally makes up for low quantities of the TB-2w. When I couldn't get that I got a JHS Bender which I like a lot but I think this FZ-1w is my new favorite. Thanks Mike Soper!
Great Alternative to the Boss TB-2W
This is my first fuzz pedal. Everything I put in front, in between, and behind cuts through the mix beautifully . Styling, quality and functionality is top notch. This one will likely be on a lot of pedalboards and recordings very soon.
Good Fuzz
I'm not a fuzz guy by nature but this pedal does indeed deliver great sounds. I'd recommend it. Certainly. I gave 4-1/2 stars because I think there's always room for improvement. I would buy it again if I lost mine.
A good unique fuzz particularly with humbuckers
I had heard several people (including well known youtubers who had demoed the pedal) say prior to release that the FZ-1w would be a fuzz that would ignore buffers... I'm here to tell you that this is incorrect, although, I think this is one of the rare fuzzes that handles buffers in a positive way.
Based on initial experimentation, putting a buffered boss pedal in bypass before this fuzz yields a top end clarity, extra gain, and smooth compression. I think I actually prefer it with a buffer in front when using humbuckers. Without the buffer this is a mid-gain fuzz that can do vintage sounds to more modern mid-pushed fuzz tones. That said, it still cleans up really well buffered or unbuffered.
The Tone control is pretty wild though, it's almost as though it's a tone and bias control. Does quite a bit more than just emphasize lows and highs, it can encourage the fuzz to get spitty/nasty/velcro-y(it never goes full on velcro IMO)
If you're looking for a musical fuzz, this is a good place to start.
Not sure what is going on
Ever since I put this on my board all kinds of connection hijinx has occurred, for instance my tube amp is a TH30 after engaging the Fuzz and shutting it off, sputters the whole signal out, going to include a video as well, not sure if it is dangerous or what, but I have too much stuff to chance it, any advice would be greatly appreciated, has a 9 volt on it.
