Hello Sailor Effects hits the heights once again with its superbly dynamic full-flavour Monmouth Octave Fuzz
When I visited the Brighton Guitar Show and FX Pedal Expo, my good friend Joe Halliday had this surprise in store for me. Another quite brilliant and uniquely personal fuzz pedal creation. In fact a Mini Edition of Joe’s latest Monmouth Octave Fuzz Circuit.
I really could not have specified this pedal better myself - with a beautiful antique and relic’d salmon pink paintjob - covered in a tastefully crackled lacquer, and with Brass appointments throughout - including the knobs, LED surround, and Footswitch washer.
Inside we have a very simple Hybrid, 3-Transistor circuit - featuring a Germanium NKT72U + Silicon 2N3904 + Silicon MPSA13 - and this Octave Fuzz sounds so good.
It’s quite different to my recent JAM Pedals Octaurus - which has a little more thickness to it - while the Monmouth is totally perfectly balanced and beautifully and precisely poised. If you dial it in just right it sound absolutely phenomenal - really cutting and full of flavour - highly potent but not overcooked.
Controls - Volume, Gain.
It has incredible levels of gain and output volume on tap - which still clean up beautifully via your guitar volume knob - totally clean to scream territory.
There was a time when I did not much like 2-knob pedals - but this Monmouth, and my recent HSE Anchor Drive are two of my very favourite effects - and despite minimal controls actually both have a vast range of tones onboard - there really is a significant degree to how they interact and impart different texture and character.
As there are no markers on those brass knobs - it’s nigh impossible for me to say exactly where those dials are pointing - but I tried it both ways around - having both knobs start CCW, and then CW - and I prefer to go Max on both sides and then dial those knobs back to suitable levels - there’s so much volume and gain on tap - that both dials on full can be a little much - which is sometimes the right setting too! While with both dials on max you get a little extra compression - where I normally nudge them both back - the Gain more than the Volume!
In any case this is every bit as good as my JAM Pedals Octaurus - I may even prefer this one just a smidge - while they’re both at the top of the tree for that genre of fuzz - just phenomenal really.
Owning one of these fully represent the joys of fuzz - so lively and visceral when engaged - the feeling you get when you play through a perfectly balanced fuzz - is truly one of the greatest pedal experiences.
Joe has pulled out all the stops on this one - I have to say this is something of a masterpiece - and brings me a similar joy to my HSE Anchor Drive. It’s very much instant satisfaction! It positively sings at times and has excellent sustain too.
As you can see in the below visual - I've gone from zero to six Hello Sailor Effects pedals in a relatively short span - while truly this is still just the start of the journey - and I'm very much looking forward to the next chapter.
Joe's attention to detail is just next level - and his pedals - while very personal to himself - are also, and possibly even more so personal for the recipient. I've not specified the looks of any of my HSE Pedals - bar asking for silver knobs on the FreeRange. Joe has created the perfect pedal for my sensibilities on each occasion - he instinctively seems to know the kind of thing I'm likely to love. All my HSE Pedals are very different and represent different facets of Joe's design vocabulary. And we still have at least a Rebel Rebel Leia and a Butterfly design to go.
The only tiny niggle with my Monmouth - same as I had on the Shipwreck is that at times you struggle to discern which knob is volume and which is gain - as both impart volume and gain to a significant degree - where a little further due diligence identifies which knob delivers the greater degree of gain - while in terms of blind adjustment it can be tricky at times! The knobs are highly interactive too - where I often have the Volume at or near Max, with the Gain dropped back a bit!
I will be doing an HSE recap article in reference to the composite visual below - in probably a week's time or so.
I'm also due to send Joe my defunct Keeley I Get Around - for him to use the chassis and knobs for another unique creation - of his own devising. Very exciting times ahead for sure!
Do keep your eyes on the Hello Sailor Effect Webstore - for incoming Mini Monmouth Octave Fuzzes. Those typically retail for £200, and there are larger editions which go for up to £280 - alas none in stock currently following the recent Brighton event - but surely more in stock soon!
Don't sleep on this one!
Demos / Sound Samples
12 Degrees of Saturation 2023 Compact Edition
