Using the fucrackle

[askashrub]

I've been noodling about with a fuck for about a week now, and I'm wondering how the crackle switch fits into everyone's playing.

Do any of you play in crackle mode?

I haven't found a good use for it - except totally wigging out - and I can't help but feel like I'm under-utilizing the pedal.

[JuJo]

ONe one setiing I like to use it as a sort of doubled up fuzz effect making it really gnarly, set the gain high and the threshold high and you get the effect of 2 fuzzes together. On a very similar setting it will become sort of a tone filter, everything gets a bit vowel sounding and sort of old school gnarly (yet not well recorded) fuzzy sound<- this one is my favourite I think.

If you set the crackle to heavy (i think its the heavy one) where the sound cuts out completely and comes back It can get a really jarring type of effect where you dig into a chord and it sort of pops in and out in an unnerving way. I relly love this one too. Same mode, crank your threshold all the way up, but leave it running in normal mode. Then if you have a burst swith (I opted for a latching switch cause it suits me better)use your burst switch to mimic a killswitch or manual square wave tremolo settiing. (Cool effect, but not my preference as Iopted out of having this option for a latching switch)

One day I will likely demo some of this stuff, but for now try it yourself and see what you enjoy.

Also, a properly set threshold on the light mode gives a cool sort of popping / breakup thing going on, similar to listening to some really old vinyl with a really dirty / crappy needle or an amp that breaks ever so slightly with your emotions as you pick away sadly. TRY IT!

[smallsnd/bigsnd]

nice ideas JuJo!

light mode with properly adjusted threshold is my favorite way of using it - it comes through really nicely on recordings and/or passages where you're playing alone or are the dominant instrument... that subtlety can get lost in a full band situation, though.

in one of my band's songs, we have a noise section that builds to a bomb-drop sort of moment. i have a homemade delay (which can get super lo-fi) before the fuck, so i crank the delay to oscillation and drop the delay time while at the same time turning up the threshold on the fuck. the delay cuts in and out like weird thunder and the fuck works like a really powerful noise gate - cutting off all sound. when the time comes, i flick the toggle switch on the fuck to turn off the crackle and BOOM comes the delay. it's pretty rad.

not the best example (not the best performance!) but this will do... 4:18 you can hear the eagle's cry of the oscillating delay, at 4:29 you can hear it resurface for a second then i drop it at 4:35. usually i drop the pitch down before the bomb drop like i do at 4:42... oh well.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_0N__ubCtw[/youtube]

[kbit]

Off-topic, but Brian, I love the sounds you were getting with your set up there. Your playing and ambiance compliments the sound so well, like creating a mood or a stage. Well done, sir.

[skullservant]

I NEEDA LISTEN TO THIS WHEN I GET OFF WORK TO HEAR THIS AMBIENCE YOU SPEAK OF

[fungalattack]

i like crackleyness fuzzies. In my sludgey project, there are a couple of moments where my guitar isn't extremely fuzzed out and I'll use just the fuck with the threshold fairly low and let the dynamics of my playing show. I like hearing my amp pop and sound like it is breaking, it adds to atmosphere of decay and dirtyness. Or at the end of a song when the feedback is ringing, I'll step on the crackle switch and let the feedback crackle and pop with noisey goodness and hopefully people will think I exploded my amp from the intenseness of the fuzz.

I also have been doing a solo project of spoken word/apathetic, dragging singing and a couple tracks of guitar. One of the guitars, the threshold is about half way and I'll play softly but when I really dig into the strings, the chaos ensues. The crackle just adds so much grit and filthiness to the songs. And it sounds wonderful when you got a delay and reverb after it!

Also I was really digging the sounds being emmited from your guitar speakers Brian. very cool stuff

[Ghost Hip]

I used my fuck in crackle mode at a practice once as my only dirt pedal. Strumming lightly for overdrive and hard for torn speaker sounds. I was playing very light for chords and would use the crackle for lo-fi leads when it was time to solo or add a melody. Or I would just hit a chord hard and let it ring out. I think the crackle mode is pretty novelty when playing by yourself but in a smaller band context (three piece or so) can be very fun to use.

[smallsnd/bigsnd]

i used multiple fucks in a noise/drone thing i did last night and i can safely say it was awesome. i ended the set with everything crackling up and dying through some feedback loop'd filter and reverb and it was super nice.

[hazelwould]

On the 12ish frets on GB strings doing a double stop I got this insane octave down punch sound. Very dissonant and powerful. Didn't sound like anything I've heard before.

Ah needz ma fuuuuu Bri!