Analog Lab #11

1. • Fuzzrocious Pedals – https://fuzzrociouspedals.com
     • Fuzzrocious is a boutique, Philadelphia-based pedal company that specializes in analog fuzz pedals. I think that this company is particularly interesting because of how inventive they are even with fuzz pedals, which often seem to be relatively straight forward. Pedals like the Cicada Fuzz, an oscillating fuzz tremolo, or their Croak, which they describe as an “expressive double filter fuzz” highlight this creativity. I also love how all of their pedals are built and painted to-order, which, while takes a long time, makes the craft much more interesting and meaningful.
   • Zvex Effects – https://www.zvex.com
     • Zvex is another smaller pedal company, most famous for their Fuzz Factory pedal, a fuzz with particularly unique gate and “stab” controls. The fuzz is paired with filters that can make the sound resemble anything from a computer glitch to tearing velcro off the wall, and the pedal is designed so that the fuzz cuts off as soon as you stop playing, which is an interesting feature that I really love.
   • BOSS – https://www.boss.info/us/categories/stompboxes/
     • BOSS is perhaps the biggest pedal manufacturer in the world, and I have certainly used and own a few of their pedals. While their analog distortion pedals like the DS-1 Distortion and Metal Zone are very often attacked with (not unfair) accusations of producing derivative, unoriginal, and static tones, they certainly are ubiquitous. I actually have a BOSS DF-2, which is both a distortion and feedbacker which I believe was discontinued in the 1990s. This “SUPER Feedbacker & Distortion” provides both a classic BOSS distortion sound and allows the user to hold down the pedal to hold out an feedback-like overtone of the sound going through the pedal, which I love and have used quite a bit over the years.

It seems that larger companies often make the most basic forms of each effect, often creating the baseline, while smaller companies focus on more creative and specialized modulations of effects.

A pedal that seems unique is Fuzzrocious’ “Playing Mantis”, a drive pedal that also features a very strange synth-like oscillator that can double the signal. Even after reading so much about it, I feel that it is best understood by just watching this demo video:

A momentary button sends a momentary signal and would pop back up again to allow for another immediately. A latching button holds down and sends a constant signal and would have to be manually turned off.