The Perfect Fuzz Face! | Time-O-Lite Fuzz | R2R Electric | ES-335 Tones | 66 Princeton Reverb

Aug 10

Semi-hollow body. NOS OC44 black glass germanium. A swirling all-tube univibe. This time through a 12-watt Princeton Reverb. Welcome back to Edge of Breakup.

Watch all my R2R Electric videos in this playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLY1KzQHoiH19TwvpSLBOzOmEblLQZ0pP

In this episode, the R2R Electric x Waterslide Guitars Time-O-Lite Fuzz takes center stage — piloted by my 1967 Gibson ES-335 loaded with Ron Ellis 60's Bette Humbuckers and Emerson Custom Treble Bleeds, into a vintage 1966 Fender Princeton Reverb. Guest starring the Effectrode Tube Vibe.

The Time-O-Lite is a long-time collaboration between R2R Electric founder Chris Vincent and Waterslide Guitars — over two years in development. The enclosures are genuine Time-O-Lite industrial darkroom timers, converted by hand into fuzz pedals with painstaking care for the original hardware. The concentric potentiometer configuration repurposes original controls: the lower larger pointer for Volume, the upper small red pointer for Fuzz — period-correct CTS units, a 1966 CTS 500k and a 1983 CTS 1k. NOS Allen-Bradley carbon comp resistors, NOS capacitors, a 1979 ITT .01uf chicklet-style cap, and true bypass throughout. Every pedal ages uniquely — each tells its own story before you've played it.

This unit features hand-selected NOS OC44 black glass germanium transistors — a low-noise, high-gain device with warm, musical compression that sits beautifully in a Fuzz Face-style two-transistor circuit. R2R also builds the Time-O-Lite with OC42 and AC107 germanium transistors, each with its own distinct character. The range spans from gated and spitty at low bias to large, open, blooming fuzz at full bias. No buffers upstream — this must sit first in your signal chain.

The 1967 Gibson ES-335 is one of the great guitar-and-fuzz pairings in existence. The semi-hollow body's natural woody resonance and acoustic bloom add a dimension to a germanium fuzz that a solid body simply cannot replicate. The Ron Ellis 60's Bette Humbuckers are specifically voiced for this application — based on the patent-era humbuckers used in early-to-late 60s ES Gibson guitars, fundamentally honest pickups that let the acoustic character of the instrument speak clearly. Hand-wound in Carlsbad, California and named after Ron's mother, the Bettes have beautiful musical timbre on every note — you can genuinely hear the wood of the guitar through them. The Emerson Custom Treble Bleeds keep high-frequency detail intact as you roll back the guitar's volume control — in a fuzz-forward rig, that's not a luxury, it's essential.

What makes this session different from the earlier ES-335 Time-O-Lite episode is the amp. Where the Deluxe Reverb provided 22 watts of bold, authoritative American clean headroom, the 1966 Princeton Reverb's AA1164 circuit — 12 watts, single 6V6, tube rectifier — brings an intimacy and touch sensitivity that changes the conversation entirely. The semi-hollow body breathes more freely into this smaller platform, the OC44 germanium fuzz blooms differently against the Princeton's compressed voice, and the overall dynamic feel shifts from bold and punchy to warm and elastic. Same fuzz. Same guitar. Completely different story.

The Effectrode Tube Vibe adds its all-tube photocell-and-bulb univibe voice — triode tubes running at real amp plate voltages, with Classic swampy throb, Smooth ethereal chorus, and Chorus/Vibrato switching for Hendrix-style vibe or pure pitch-shifting vibrato.

Be sure to join @r2relectric's email list so you know when his ultra limited hand-built NOS fuzzes, boosts and wahs hit Reverb to purchase! They DO NOT hang around long!

https://www.r2relectric.com/how-to-order

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🎸 1967 Gibson ES-335 | Ron Ellis 60's Bette Humbuckers | Emerson Custom Treble Bleeds

🎛️ R2R Electric x Waterslide Guitars Time-O-Lite Fuzz | NOS OC44 Black Glass Germanium Transistors

🎛️ Effectrode Tube Vibe

🔊 1966 Fender Princeton Reverb

Searchable, categorized index of all my Youtube Videos: https://www.edgeofbreakup.studio

Edge of Breakup .

The Perfect Fuzz Face! | Time-O-Lite Fuzz | R2R Electric | ES-335 Tones | 66 Princeton Reverb

'66 Fender Princeton Reverb | Vintage Amp Showcase | Feat. Giordano Guitars Veloce & Sunbear Pickups

Decker Amp Co. Hummingbird 20

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Edge of Breakup
info@edgeofbreakup.studio