4 Cool Germanium + Silicon Hybrid 2 and 3 Transistor Fuzzes acquired over the last couple of months

So pedals are often like buses - in that you don’t get a certain type for a while but then all of a sudden you get a cluster of pedals appearing in sequence - all with notable similarities, as happened with this selection.

It’s occasionally difficult to remember in exactly what order they landed, but I’m pretty sure the MXR Custom Shop Hybrid Fuzz came first, followed by the Spaceman Charon, then Loe Sounds BLow, and finally the Hello Sailor Effects Abbey Road Hybrid Fuzz.

Unlike where I set out to do specific genre roundups and collect within a very specific pattern - that was not the case this time around. I principally liked the look of the MXR Hybrid Fuzz, I especially rate fuzzes from Loe Sounds and Spaceman Effects - so it was pretty much a shoe-in that I would get each of those - as simply the latest fuzzes from those brands. While the Hello Sailor Effects Abbey road one was very much pot luck - as the only say on that I had was for it to have an anchor decal! It was Joe Halliday that decided he would make a hybrid variant - in fact the only one in that mostly all-Silicon batch!

So it’s purely coincidental that 4 of my most recent fuzz acquisitions all and exactly fit the same mould - while interestingly, and as is often the case with fuzzes - each is very distinct and has very much its own flavour. This is ever the skill of the fuzz circuit wrangler - and never more so than with at least one of each type. The variance in parts values, forward voltages and leakages - all result in very different behaving and sounding fuzzes.

I really love most of these, while I’m not quite as impressed with the the MXR Hybrid - its transistors don’t seem to be as well chosen / balanced as these others and it’s output is not quite so pleasing or harmonious! It’s still pretty decent, but in the company of the other 3 in this quartet - it comes off as distinctly not being of their obviously higher calibre.

The Spaceman Charon is beautifully balanced and with a really smart tone stack to get the maximum harmonics out of that texture. The Loe Sounds BLow is the thickest and fattest here - as intended, and the Hello Sailor Effects Abbey Road Hybrid kind of shows up the MXR for how that should have sounded - of course the HSE one has several smart circuit tricks up its sleeve including a really cleverly calibrated 3-way EQ switch - where I like it best in its Up / Mids Focused position.

There’s something about my 3 favourites too on the dial-in also - the slightly more predictable and even taper of the sweep. Something about the MXR Hybrid is just a touch off the pace somewhat.

For me the Charon, BLow, and Abbey Road all sound superb - each distinct from the other and depending on your mood most capable of being your favourite fuzz on that day. Each renders very differently from the other - and while there is some degree of overlap - the overall timbres and textures are fairly distinctly different. The Abbey Road is probably the smoothest overall - while the Charon can pretty smooth too. The BLow of course mostly defats to thick, fat and juicy - but you can tame that too do a degree.

All 4 fuzzes have decent guitar volume gain cleanup - and have a decent amount of range. Obviously those with additional tone stacks have a degree more granularity about them. Where you might say that the MXR one could possibly have done with a 3rd knob, while the Loe Sounds BLow is pretty much perfect with just 2 controls.

The range of pricing covers a $110 differential - as follows - from lowest to highest! : Loe Sounds BLow Fuzz ($150), MXR Hybrid Fuzz ($170) Spaceman Effects Charon Ge/Si Hybrid Fuzz ($199), Hello Sailor Effects Abbey Road Hybrid Fuzz (£200 / $260). You’re not necessarily getting like for like - so the relatively pricing isn’t necessarily the be all and end all of the yardstick.

I think most would be happy with all and any of these - while if you line them up one against the other then several differences come to light - so it depends how flavoursome, smooth / rough, fat, searing you prefer your fuzz to be - as each of these provides different results.

Note that I did swap the knobs on the Spaceman Charon - which looks 100% with those soft gold knobs!

Here follow some further details and demos where possible - note that mine is a very unique version of Abbey Road - and there are no demos of that particular one - so we need to use a more generic video reference for that! Listed below in brand alphabetical order as per the visual :