We at Reverb always like to see how reissues stack up to their vintage counterparts, so that’s exactly what we did in today’s installment of Funky Vintage! We took a look at a ’69 Fender Blender fuzz pedal, and then checked out the more recent reissue to see how they compared.
1969 was a big year for fuzz: The first V1 Triangle Big Muff was released, along with a few other choice units, including the Fender Blender. The original Fender Blender gives you an awesome blend of sustain, octave, and some killer fuzz. Some of the controls are pretty standard, like the volume and tone knobs, but others are a bit more peculiar. The sustain knob can serve up a ‘60s silicon fuzz sound, but if you dial it up, you’ll hear some harsh, wall-of-noise octave-sustain chock-full of artifacts.
The tone boost gives the Fender Blender its sonic signature, but the blend knob can be a little problematic in this case: you can blend in your wet and dry signals, but the volume can be very inconsistent.
Due to popular demand, spurred by guitarists like Kevin Shields and Billy Corgan favoring the pedal in the ‘90s, Fender reissued the Fender Blender. Aesthetically, it really hits the mark; they’re almost indiscernible from one another, save for the reissue’s 9v adapter. Sonically, however, is another story. Where the original Fender Blender consisted of all-silicon transistors and diodes, the reissue is purely germanium.
So which one sounds better? Well, it’s all subjective, but the difference is definitely there. Which Fender Blender do you prefer?
Fender Fender Blender