FUZZ- MAESTRO FZ-M Fuzz Tone ....if it's not the original FZ-1 ...is it any good ???

MAESTRO

FZ-M FUZZ TONE 

I bought the Gibson/Maestro FZ-1 in '64. Except for a volume pedal even a Pro shop did not have any pedals back then.

They had a good reason. There weren't any to buy. Yes you my here different but in those cases the pedals mentioned had no distribution. Maybe Sam Ash might buy 'one' to check it out and if it sold he might get 2 or 3 more. 

Unless you live in NY or LA or perhaps London you wouldn't know that even the Fuzz Tone existed. In fact I got mine by accident. A small store sold Gibson Amps so to get some pedals out there they gave one free if you bought their best amp. I was in the store when a country guy bought an amp. He tried the pedal out. I heard 2 things, A cool new sound and the Country guy yell loudly "piece of shit !!!" So when he went up to check out I offered just the money I had for it. I was just a kid so $14 in change was all I had, lol.

I think Maestro made a smart move. they made it sound like the ToneBender. It was a modded FZ-1 that came out in '65. Doing so it sounds Pro not garageband, lol. They added atone control a switch to bring in a boost.They made it much more FZ-1 like with it's raspier sound than a ToneBender. 

CONCLUSION

It simply a damn good Fuzz. If they named it something else I think much more Pro's would try it and indeed buy it. But there are more guys who just want for a hobby etc. and the name Fuzz Tone brings them in to buy the myth. The bottom line to me a Fuzz is a Fuzz you can cill it Tinkerbell and if sounds great ..it is!!! It sounds great!!!!