Page Fuzz

[Poorbob]

Ok. It's been awhile to say the least. And the glorious search for tone has died. The clone was close, but no cigar from what the guy tells me. He sold his fuzz and Supro amp to a collector for 10 G's, which I can't blame him for. He, however, took a ton of notes and has access to the fuzz whenever he wants. He wants Dave to build the posts that hold up the board or something like that so that he can continue to create a clone, but I said to just give him some pics to see if he can figure out the component names. I'm not real technical, but I was wondering if people could help out in figuring what the fuzz is most like. Here's what I gathered from our conversation:

It is most like the Gary Hurst Reissue fuzz in sound.

It is basically a modified Maestro Fuzztone/MKI.

It is gated, I'm assuming like the Hurst fuzz.

It has these two caps, the key part of what makes it great according to this guy. They are both big, brown, bug-looking, caps that have no markings. They are an input cap with a value of .01 that is supposed to produce some sort of treble boost and an output cap with a value of .2 that is supposed to give it the bass.

The trannies are Mullard OC81D's that need to be set up like this: 1st: 70-80 2nd: 90-100 3rd: 120

The pots are different, like one or two megs (sp?)

As you can probably tell from now, I have absolutely no clue when it comes to components. Anyone know what this is sort of like? He'll be out of town for a week starting saturday, but it would cool to get some pics of this and reverse engineer it utilizing the board's knowledge. Some of you are probably sick of me talking about this, but it is a fuzz circuit created by Roger Mayer for Jimmy Page, so I believe that some respect is needed. I mean, this could be Mk1.25

[jimi_dylan]

Interesting...

[tatter]

There's a discussion on this on freestomboxes.org, mentioning this thread. It's here:

http://www.freestompboxes.org/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=3410

I think Page probably did have a pedal made by Roger Mayer but nobody will ever know what was in it and if he used it on the Zeppelin recordings. Some of the live stuff does sound like a bog standard MKII.

It's a bit of a wild goose chase in my opinion, unless Page actually donates his pedal to someone to reverse-engineer we'll never know 100%

[Poorbob]

Frankly, I could care less what others think because I heard this box in action and it was amazing. It might not be Page's pedal, but it is different and a really great fuzz.

And I just love when my comments are called bullshit. Yes, you got me, I'm an eighteen year old kid who loves to just mess with people's minds and disseminate this "bullshit".

This thread is mainly for those that are interested in cloning the Mayer built pedal that the person I know has now sold. Now, why would someone buy an amp and fuzz for $10,000 cash on the spot if it didn't sound dead on Zep? Even if people could care less about Page, the fuzz is worth investigating. And for those watching, my first name's Trevor so

[Poorbob]

One more thing after reading our stalker's thread again. This reminds me of the movie 12 Angry Men and I'm the only guy believing it, but everyone else is already convinced. Why would Mayer be involved if it is a straight MKII? Was he just around for kicks or does anyone believe he modded something? The story I was told is that Page had an MKI originally and had Mayer put that in an MKII casing (sturdier) and mod it. Can anyone describe the tape on his pedal? So how could this be so well proven if there is at least one unknown. The truth is, like another said, it will never be proven until Page gives his pedal away. Therefore, why can't I be just as right as anyone else?

I'm not saying I'm right, I'm just saying I'm not wrong and no one else is right or wrong either. This investigating is just for kicks anyway. I mean, I'm not obsessed with figuring this out, but it would be cool if I could convince someone with a clone and then that is universally recognized as the Page Pedal.

P.S. Sickle, no one here. The other people think I'm someone named Don Mare or something.

[starlingbrothers]

but it is a fuzz circuit created by Roger Mayer for Jimmy Page, so I believe that some respect is needed. I mean, this could be Mk1.25

So does that make a demo/pre-production/test version of the MK1 the MK0.75 ? Or maybe the MK0.99 (almost there but not quite ?)

[starlingbrothers]

And I just love when my comments are called bullshit. Yes, you got me, I'm an eighteen year old kid who loves to just mess with people's minds and disseminate this "bullshit".

We love you here Poorbob !! 18 year olds are meant to opinionated and not to listen to their elders. What had Jimmy Page done when he was 18 ? Wasn't he poncing around at bleedin' art college doing girlie stuff like painting ? Give us more messing with our minds, Poorbob Fuzzpants, yeah

[starlingbrothers]

We love you here Poorbob !! 18 year olds are meant to opinionated and not to listen to their elders.

So you're the one calling him a kid!

I'd adopt Poorbob if he came over to England !! He has far too much knowledge for a 'normal' 18 year old. At that age I was playing music,shagging,drinking and selling dodgy motors to fund all my recreational activities

[Cado]

For what it's worth: I remember reading an interview with Page where he stated that Mayer built him a fuzz box. I may be mistaken, but I'm under the impression that this unit was made during his session days. Pre Tonebender MKII?

[the_original_mr_nice]

For what it's worth: I remember reading an interview with Page where he stated that Mayer built him a fuzz box. I may be mistaken, but I'm under the impression that this unit was made during his session days. Pre Tonebender MKII?

According to Roger Meyer's website :- http://www.roger-mayer.co.uk/page1.htm
"In 1964 I designed my first fuzz guitar effects pedal that was used by Jimmy Page and Big Jim Sullivan and featured on many early hit records".

Also from an interview with Roger Mayer at :-
http://www.gear-vault.com/roger-mayer-reveals
-history-of-hendrix-page-and-beck/

His career got a boost in 1964 when Page, then an up-and-coming session guitarist, brought the electronics whiz a copy of the Ventures’ surf-fuzz hit song “The 2,000 Pound Bee.” Could Mayer create a pedal that emulated the song’s distorted tones? asked Page. Indeed he could.

“The first pedals that I made for Page and Beck ran off a six-volt battery and were housed in a custom-made casing,: says Mayer. “There were controls for gain and biasing as well as a switch that modified the tonal output. They were rather unlike the pedals that you see today in that they had a separate footswitch attached to the box by a length of cable.”

Like other fuzz units of the day, Mayer’s employed germanium transistors. Sensitive to heat, and unpredictable, they were the only variety of transistor publicly available at the time. “I was already using silicon transistors in my work with the government,” says Mayer, “but they cost the equivalent of a week’s wages.” Not that germanium transistors were cheap. “One of those—and that was just one of the components of the boxes—would cost around one-tenth of what the average person earned in a week,” he says.