FUZZ-FUZZROCIOUS Cat Tail ... 9 lives? no ...9 sounds :-)

$160.00 USD

FUZZROCIOUS 

CAT TAIL||   

It is version 4 of a very high gain Hardclipper Distortion that pushed will go into Fuzz territory. It is fizz free and that is very unusual. There are arguably similarities but this is NOT a Rat pedal. 

The layout is Volume, Gain, and Tone with 2 different levels to

blend in 2 different clipping diodes. A toggle boosts the gain. 

⃠

   CONCLUSION __ 

It easily does several distinctly different sounds.

I have no qualms in giving it a 10 out of 10. 

The price is reasonable.  

       

PREAMP- TONE KING Imperial Tri-tube Pre___NEW___ serious sh@t, serious $,

$600.00 USD

Tone King  

Imperial  

It is basically the preamp from their amp which is loosely based from a Marshall JTM in a pedal but with many with 

extra features. Even the effects are now stereo. It has far 

too many features to waste your time reading especially 

as Henning Pauly's video does a great job taking you 

by the hand thru it.

     CONCLUSION __

Yes it is pricey!!! Big but. The Friedman IR pedals 

are $500 each and another $100 is not a crazy 

jump once you hit that price. If you are primarily 

a pedal guy this is 'it'!!! Get one and forget about 

upgrades to another pedal or format forever!!! 

 

OVERDRIVE- SOLAR GUITARS Chug Lite__NEW__ bullseye!!!

 SOLAR GUITARS  

CHUG   L I T E O

$200.00 USD

Ola Englund is if nothing else the spokesman for Metal gear. He has been a Youtuber for years while touring his band in Europe. He has has own very successful brand of guitars that are sold direct and are designed to be a no excuse tools for Metal at a reasonable price. Two years ago he brought out the Chug pedal. A preamp aimed primarily to put into an amp's loop to relace it's pre although it can be front loaded. The Lite is aimed at the opposite. It can go in the loop but it is more of a traditional OD meant to be front loaded

The layout is Volume Gain, Treble, Bass and Mids with a Freq, parametric sweep control to cut or boost and find your own sweet spot.

   CONCLUSION ___ 

It is voiced perfect for Thrash Metal and related genres and nails it. 

You could argue it has no character as it totally focused on an 'every-mans' 

sound and nothing unique. It certainly is!!!! It is why I love it. If I want 

'my thing' I simply stack another pedal on it.

COMPRESSOR- MOZZTRONICS CO-4k FET COMP ___NEW___ damn impressive

Mozztronics 

CO-4K FET COMP || 

$150.00 USD

The earliest compressors as you may have guessed used tubes. When the FET transistor came along it operated and sounded very tube like 

so the switch was very rapid as it was if nothing ese far, far cheaper to make and very reliable. This pedal took it's topography from a fold back mic  placed in the studio that let the engineer hear anything the players wanted to say without having to go into the booth. 

The layout is Dry, that functions as a master volume, Ratio is the amount of compression and Wet pushes the compress sound up louder than the clean sound as you turn it up. 

   CONCLUSION __ 

It's tube like quality's really give it a sweet sound. The fact it was designed for a mic needing as much clarity as possible gives it a transparent sound. The lack of needless bells and whistle keeps 

it easy to use, free of any bad coloration and keeps down the 

price. Quite simply its big feature is good design. 

FUZZ- PIGTRONIX Gas Giant Fuzz ___NEW___ a Muff with disc brakes

P I G T R O N I X

GAS GIANT 

$150.00 USD

Founded in Brooklyn N.Y. in 2004 they were one of the early handmade gourmet brands. Over the years they have formed partnerships with first Supro and then D'Angelico. They love the vintage but also loved to try anything nuts. They always kept it in mind that the players needed good very usable gear ...cheap. I have had their Philosophers Tone Compressor mini on my board for 10 years. There has been a version of it since the beginning.

This new pedal is a basic Muff with a wild wall of sound made bigger with a mid boost or kept traditional with a scoop. A Gate adds a very usable bit of tightening and noise suppression. 

CONCLUSION __  

It meets my every expectation. Totally usable and just rough enough around the edges to have some real character. In short it always does the job but has not had the soul ripped out of it. 

As Mavin their mascot space pig would likely say

"Quirky but never crappy.'' Love it!!! 

FUZZ- ANARCHY AUDIO Baa Bzz Fuzz... a 1972 Roland Bee Baa Fuzz __clone

 ANARCHY٢AUDIO 

BaaBzz

$165.00 USD

Before Roland headed into total Synths they made all sorts of gear. 

Drum Machines, Amps etc. In 1972 they released an original design 

Fuzz a couple of years before making a separate dept. for pedals 

that they called BOSS. This is a clone of that Fuzz.

The layout is Volume, Tone, and Gain. Shift lets you blend 2 different voices. The toggle switches in a low pass filter that cuts the highs.  

 

CONCLUSION __ 

It has its own sound that goes from old school crazy BIAS 

sounds to a more modern Fuzz Distortion. I love the Fuzz, 

Distortion Overdrive like sound that does not sound like

a Rat but can easily serve the same purpose. 

COMPRESSOR- MXR Studio Compressor... under the radar

MXR

     studio compressor

$200.00 USD

A compressor meant to be used only for guitar was invented by MXR.  

The Dyna Comp of which a version is still in production. Robert Keeley built his empire of pedals by modding it. We now have dozens of Comps 

to choose from. Many really are a Studio-Comp-in a-Box. Eight years ago MXR decided to strike back with their own. Perhaps too little too late? 

The layout is Input, Output, and Attack which allows the guitar sound to get thru before the comp comes in. Ratio is the amount of compression. 

CONCLUSION __ 

It has always been under the radar. The myth is that the perfectly transparent Comp is the best and the best are transparent. 

The best one like all effects is the one that sounds great.

I think this pedal suffers from doing too good a job to be neutral, lol. It is vanilla ice cream in a store that has dozens of gourmet 

flavors. That said I do like it. It is easier to get the job

done and ignore that rabbit hole of "could I get a better sound,'' lol.

....the demos are both sparce and lame. 

This is simply the best in spite of the language factor ...click on the sub-titles

 

REVERB- JOYO R-31 Para-verb ___NEW___ Strymon clone

 JOYO R-31 PARA-VERB  

$85.00 USD

It is over 10 years since the guitar world went breathless when they heard the Strymon Blue Sky ambient reverbs.

It would not have been possible without the digital chips that arrived at that time. The Strymon is still made and even more popular. The chips are now quite dated and therefore relatively cheap. That said they count on a programmer to make great sounds for them. The good news is 2 or 3 great sounds is enough and many new budget in a blindfold test would fool even the 'cork sniffers'. 

      CONCLUSION ___ 

Nothing Joyo makes us is not at least on the first rung of the pro ladder. In short if your favorite Star 

player used this pedal on a great tune you wouldn't

even blink. My only beef is it is needlessly big. 

 

FUZZ- KINK GUITAR PEDALS Jackalope Fuzz ___NEW___ a MUFF with Bells & Whistles

$190.00 USD

  KINK  

GUITAR PEDALS

Jackolope Fuzz

Virtually a Big Muff with extras. The layout tells the story.

Volume, Tone, mid Shift and Gain. A toggle bypasses the 

tone control so you get OpAmp distortion that is more 

Overdrive like. Two other toggles are clipping diode 

choices. 

CONCLUSION ___

Like all hot rod Muffs they too are more 

the same than different. Without two 

or more side by each you will never 

find the best for you.

 

___THE UPDATER___APRIL 2025___NEW GEAR NEWS___UPDATED 24/7

THE UPDATER

April 2025

Separate those pedals that are a steal from

those that are stealing from you at any price!

IF ITS WORTH KNOWING IT WILL BE HERE FIRST

_____________________________________________________

________________________________________________________

MY MONTHLY RANT 

So in the 1930's some genius in government thought he could save the country with tariffs. Two years latter 20% of everyone was out of work and it took 10 years plus to go from frightening to just plain bad. That was fallowed by WW2 where everyone was invited. All your problems were solve. You were dead.

THE GOOD NEWS

Excellent news!! A rather drab and dreary month is over, 😒 We did get the Wampler Cryptic Fuzz! Many will think it is the Big Mac of Fuzz ...but some of us like a Big Mac, lol. The Two Notes Reload ll is a one size fits all attenuator that can redirect your amp even if it is a Marshall stack one day and an Axe-Fx the next. It can bring down your stack to bedroom levels and still give you a great sound. It is stereo too.

TOYS FOR THE

 OLDER BOYS

BOSS OD-3 OVERDRIVE

Boss lowered the price to $95 on this overlooked 1995 gem. It was not a modded OD-1 or a better SD-1.  It was a very complex and totally new circuit designed to capture the sound of a half stack 50 watt Plexi going thru the bright channel. It became the go to for the hardrock bands featuring a very commercial sounding Pop singer. This sound was on all the radio hits of the day. A lot of middle America small town rockers with a  Bruce Springsteen vibe. These days it is ideal to take the Tube Screamers role minus the mid hump but plus fattening the whole sound and adding bite. 

GUPTECH DOnot DISTORTION

A clone of excellent quality of the infamous 1976 Crowther Hot Cake that is still occasionally made by the inventor and his wife for a small fortune. They are in their 80's, 😇 It is famous for it's touch sensitivity and bite. $100.00 USD.

 

UPDATED MARCH 21

Fuzzy the Germanium says...
''I just got started!!''
"New stuff every minute!!''