John's Fuzz.

[eugene]

Hi there !

Anyone know the secret of John Rostill's Fuzz?

I don't understand why he could do such a fast on-off swiching on "Bombay dack" "Tennessee Waltz".

I'm a guitar player,so I don't know much about Bass.

But I want such a brilliant fuzz on playing the guitar.

Cheers.

eugene

[JimN]

Hello, Eugene,

This question has been answered within the past year or so on this forum.

John's fuzz-unit was a stomp-box sold as the Burns Buzzaround. The circuitry was effectively the same as that inside the "Tone Bender" fuzz-box designed by Shadows fan Gary Hurst. The main difference between a normal Buzzaround and John's example was that instead of a "latching" footswitch, John had one with a non-latching switch. This meant that the fuzz sound was only engaged whilst the switch was depressed. Lifting the foot just once meant that the sound reverted to "clean", allowing those little riffs on Tennessee Waltz and Bombay Duck to be produced with half the usual number of foot operations.

The Shadows did appear on British television in early 1967, promoing Bombay Duck with a live performance (though not Maroc 7, if I recall correctly), thus proving that John could get the sound live on stage!

I hope this helps,

JN

[eugene]

Thanks,JimN

Your information is a great help to me.

John's fuzz is this one with a non ratching switch typpe.
http://www.thewho.net/whotabs/equipment ... ender.html

I hope I want this very much

Sincerly yours.

eugene

[Iain Purdon]

I've found I can get near it with an old Zoom bass pedal with tone settings to ape John's underlying sound and Fuzz controlled from zero to full by the pedal. Pumping the pedal does the rest!

[JimN]

I saw this item today.... just the job for adapting a fuzz-box into a Rostill Special...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SPST-MOMENTARY-OFF-ON-foot-switch-1-SWITCH-/370291725420?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_Guitar_Accessories&hash=item56371b546c

JN

[andykombi]

this is that fuzz that john used