I met Janek Gwizdala backstage at my first Bass Player Live back in 2009. I performed as Vato Negro and was very intimidated to be in a room full of my peers. I remember I was speaking to Bass Player Magazine editor, Chris Jisi, about Jaco Pastorious and Janek overheard me saying something about Jaco’s feel and groove, so he jumped in on the conversation with similar opinions to mine. We quickly bonded and have been friends ever since.

Janek has played bass for so many talented musicians- just Google him and you’ll see what I mean. Whether it’s holding it down for one of Jaco’s favorite guitarists, Mike Stern, or legendary guitarist John Mayer, Janek is a phenomenal player. Like me, he has a hunger for pedals. He owns over fifteen Boss OC-2’s octave pedals and isn’t afraid to show up with a couple of pedalboards to a recording session. He loves his fuzz pedals and in this installment, Janek presents his current favorites:

First off, we take a look at Malekko's fuzz pedal from their Omicron series. This is a great fuzz pedal for those who need to save space on their pedalboard. It has a lot of bang for it's buck, and is the smallest fuzz pedal we've featured so far on Fuzz Wars. We then showcase another Zvex fuzz pedal, but this time it is the Wooly Mammoth. Wren and Cuff's Pickle Pie Hella Fuzz gets a run through, and we then close this segment with a fuzz pedal made by Russia's own Pump Labs dubbed, "Fuzz Against the Machine." All of these fuzz pedals are solid and have such unique characteristics - you can hear just why they're Janek's favorites.

You can purchase these pedals and more at Reverb.com

-Juan

Blog

Fuzz Wars: Janek Gwizdala’s Favorite Fuzz Pedals

Pedals and Effects