16 Secret Weapon Fuzzes

Controls - Level, Clipping x 8, Sustain, 5-Band Graphic EQ, Clean Blend Control, Left Engage Footswitch, Right HM-2 EQ Footswitch.

This is pretty much my first recommendation for Opamp Muff - where the hybrid KMA Machines Chief Disruptor is a close second - but obviously in far higher circulation - so that one doesn't qualify for less well known status. There's really not that many 2 Stroke Beavers around - which are also branded as 'Shelob's Lair' it's the exact same circuit - and per my edition it was original called the 2 Stroke Beaver. You get 5-Band EQ here along with Clean Blend - and the ability to shape the output to the most extreme or nuanced degree - really sounds superb!

Controls - Bass, Mid Cut, Treble, Volume, Bias, Gain, Impedance : MKI / FZ-1 / MKII + FF, Tone : FF / MKI + FZ-1 / MKII

This recently reviewed multi-fuzz is a monster of its kind - covering off so many of those early classic fuzz types with 4 superbly well selected and calibrated Silicon Transistors. Thomas has properly tweaked it to new levels of refinement in this V2 edition - really takes you different places - and of course allows you to go far beyond those classics if you want to - to deliver your own style of searing or subtle fuzz. This one really should be selling by the bucketload - still really well priced too!

Controls - Volume, Gain, Tone, Clean Blend, Mid Boost.

And onto my big white whale of the moment - which I'm still eagerly trying to revive - both on behalf of classic fuzz fans and the Shoegaze crowd which exclusively uses this pedal with Reverb pushing its front - so the clean blend is essential. I and more traditional i.e. non-shoegazers just love its mid-pushed combination of Brian May Solo tones and MKIII Tone Bender - just a brilliant sounding unique fuzz that was cut off in its prime and evaded the notice of most everyone - including me at the time. Along with Bob Guido - I've been trying to vigourlously uncover one of these - and get it back into production in some guise - with Blake Hickey in some way onboard - even if just to give his blessing and nominate a favoured builder to carry out that task. I've been privy to a couple of new fuzzes which get into similar territory - but are slightly different, and don't have the clean blend. I feel this one is special enough to deserve another run or few! Please add your support to the campaign!

Controls - Patch : Flanger / HP+LP Filters / Bit Crusher / Reverb / Notch Filter / Ring Mod / Pitch Shift / Delay, Mode : Dirty / Clean, Ctrl1, Ctrl2, Tone, Gain / Ctril0, Volume, Mix.

Readers will know that this one's sibling - the Frazz Dazzler is one of my all time favourite fuzzes - often cited as my favourite fuzz - because of its supreme versatility - two gain channels, 3-Band EQ, Clean Blend and Voltage Starve - what's not to like! While the BitQuest is very much its equal - and has I believe a somewhat similar but less EQ-granular Fuzz at its core (not aas high-gain either) - which you can then shape up and enhance with a 8 secondary effects including Bit Crusher, Ring Mod and Flanger - all to really superb effect. You can of course run it in clean Mode too - just for those effects in a more stand-alone fashion - while this pedal is a lot more fun with the Fuzz engaged - it's a quite brilliant sounding Modulated Fuzz. All those Patch options are superb - while it would be nice to have an updated version with the addition of tremolo / LFO - that works so well with fuzzes - and would raise this one up even a step further!

Controls - Shift (Mid Scoop > Flat), Tone, Fuzz, Boost, Octave, Level, Fuzz Footswitch, Boost Footswitch.

The Drunk Beaver catalogue is immense - with so many gems to be found within it - but this is probably my favourite fuzz from that range - a superbly voiced Big Muff at its core with a potent Boost, Mids Shift Control and great sounding Upper Octave. This is really a proper next generation Big Muff - it sounds rich and full and just amazingly textured at all times. The cutesy artwork might do it a slight disservice - but this fuzz is immense!

Controls - Volume (Master), Contour.

Interestingly this very fuzz circuit is also at the heart of Chase Bliss's Limited Run Ayuhuasca Trem Fuzz - which mixes it up with a choppier version of the Gravitas Harmonic Tremolo. The Os Mutantes Regulus VIII was a very special high gain variant of Fuzz Face which can sound almost Muff-like at times. Another really potent pocket rocket in this format - built by an American native transposed to Spain - these weren't around for too long, and the maker has alas passed away in fairly recent years. It took me a long time to track down one of these - a few years I think it was! 

Controls - Volume, Gain, Tone / Filter 1 (HPF), Octave Bias, Tone / Filter 2 (LPF), Momentary Tone Bypass Footswitch (Mid Boost), Bypass Footswitch.

Daniel Thornhill doesn't have a bad fuzz in him - all of his are grand! - while for me this Gjallarhorn V4 is incredibly special - and quite the different animal to the more recent Fenris - even though they are both based on the Super Fuzz circuit. Where the Ferris is more strident and searing, the Gjallarhorn is so well named as it's capable of the most magnificent wall-of-sound foghorn style of fuzz - deep, and resonant and just immense - a really booming style of fuzz that seems to carry that epic viking style foghorn sound through the ages. It's two Tone controls (HPF & LPF) take a while to get used to - but when you get them set just right - you get the most immense sound emanating from this pedal. Definitely something of a forgotten classic - which I've been trying to get Daniel to revive in another new edition. I'm guessing it may be a pedal of the month variant at some stage - but it's not on the schedule yet!

Controls - Volume, Sustain, Tone.

This was another one that I had to hunt down for several years. It's a take on the Big Muff circuit - but sounds really distinct - incredibly potent for its size - and just with the most wonderful range of singing sustaining tones - touching on the most beautiful liquid distortion at times, and pairs supremely with overdrives and distortions for the most beautiful of tones. I'm so glad that I managed to get hold of one of these - this fuzz is incredibly aptly named. I'm trying to track down more of Free Fall Diver's fuzzes - they did a superb Super Fuzz variant too - but these all seem to be as rare as hen's teeth nowadays - not seen any in the wild for the longest time now!

Controls - Volume, Fuzz, Intensity (Input Gain), Active Hi EQ, Active Lo EQ.

This one is still somewhat under the radar while more generally available still. A 6 x Silicon Transistor Fuzz that is not a Super Fuzz - but somewhat adjacent to that. It deliver a really interesting mix of Regulus VIII style high gain Fuzz Face, Jordan BossTone, and Super Fuzz - with all manner of in-between voicings. A really expansive palette with some suitably clever controls - including Input and Output Gain and 2-Band Active EQ. A really potent versatile fuzz that deserves more attention.

Controls - Presence : Normal / Bright / Dark, Transistor : Ge / Si, T Input Cap : Stock / Thin, Range (Bias) : Hi / Lo, Volume, Gain, Bore (Thickness), Mood (Bias).

Yet another one which took me years to track down - fortunately pre-Brexit as I found this one in Italy - several years ago now - already at a high price - but not the obscene prices that these command nowadays. When I got mine - Paul was still making the occasional one - while his refusal to ship outside the USA is a problem for us Fuzz Fans in other parts of the world. I wanted one of these for several years - before one popped up for sale on Reverb.com - that was within my reach. It's a really unusual and versatile fuzz that does everything from subtle overdrive and fuzzy drive to almost Tone-Bender style voicings - courtesy of 8 really smart controls. The circuit is gooped up so it's not entirely clear to see what's going on - but it contains two Silicon Transistors and one Germanium I believe - where you can switch the second Q2 stage between Germanium and Silicon. Really sounds superb with lots of nuance and expressiveness a real chameleon of a fuzz. There are several Bone Machine variants - where the GTX is the DLX version - with the 8 controls and the most variety / granularity in its output.

Controls - Level, Drive, Attack.

Despite his well documented character flaws, Scotty Smith is a really great circuit engineer and designer - and this is surely one of his finest ever creations. The MKIV moniker kind of indicates a Tone Bender adjacent nature - but even though it can overlap a touch with that smooth MKIII style liquid distortion sound - it's kind of it own thing really. It's a hybrid 3 transistor fuzz - utilising 2 x BC237B + 1 x CV7112 Ge Transistors and it has a really cool inherent smoothness and that smart interplay between 2 highly interactive Gain controls - Drive and Fuzz. It produces some really distinct fuzz and fuzzy-drive textures - most definitely a perennial favourite of mine!

Controls - Altitude (EQ), Overtone (Harmonic Overtones), Speed (Modulation Rate), Silence (Output), Awareness (Envelope Sensitivity), Pad : Guitar / Line-in, Mode : Step Modulation / Envelope.

Rainger FX's celebrated Dr Freakenstein Chop Fuzz has gone through as many as 11 major iterations over its lifetime, where I also own a black limited edition of the V3 / DrFF-3 full-size Chop Fuzz. This shrunk down limited edition was every bit as potent as those full size versions - of course with some concessions for its greatly reduced dimensions. I could have cited the Bleep Fuzz here - but that is probably in too wide a circulation to be considered a Secret Weapon. This Stealth enclosured device doubly fits the bill as a Secret Weapon - with is spy machine vibes. A fantastic sounding mini-fuzz for sure - which all 3 mini fuzzes in this selection undoubtedly are - and each distinctly different and unique. David was advised to release this as a limited edition - which is a shame really as I feel as many people as possibly should be able to get their hands on one of these - a really cool one-off for sure. And since the large format version has been discontinued for a while - we're probably due another version of that seminal fuzz very soon - I would still have liked to have seen this one remain in production - I guess more joy for those who snagged one!

Controls - Volume, Divide : -2 > -1 Octaves / Mix, Octave (Level), Treble, Bass, Fuzz (Gain), Bypass Footswitch, Octave Footswitch.

I recently covered the very similar Way Huge Stone Burner - which conceptually is a somewhat stripped down version of the Honey Badger. Readers will know how much I value a second footswitch to switch in and out the Octave function - and it makes the Honey Badger extra special. Also the ability to blend the -1 and -2 Sub Octaves. I'm a huge fan of both Upper and Sub Octave Fuzzes - while there just aren't as many Sub Octave Fuzzes around - and certainly not of this caliber. The new Stone Burner sounds decent - but this is the original Mac Daddy - with even more up its sleeve. Of course another Thorpy production too - and he definitely has a way with fuzzes!

Controls - Level, Dirt (Self Oscillation . Random Octaves / 8 Bit / Glitch, Gain, 3-way Harmonics Switch - Less / More High Frequency Harmonics, Mode Dial : Low Gain, Gated, Octaves Down / Up, Arpeggiation, High Gain etc.

One of my all-time favourite fuzzes and probably still the most versatile one made - for the range of different fuzz tones you can eke out of it. Shift Line's Oleg recently posted a prototype teaser - where he's working on a new version of this long discontinued fuzz. I am so looking forward to getting my hands on one of those - and I hope it builds on the self same killer formula of the original - with its broad sweeping Mode dial. It can be a little fiddly on the dial-in every now and again - but it's supremely fun in discovering all those wonderful textures - both classic and quirky!

Controls - Treble, Voice (Upper Bass > Low Treble), Bass, Fuzz Mode : XF eXtreme Fuzz + Octave Up / F1 Fuzz Only / F2 Fuzz + 2nd Harmonic Distortion. Deep (Bass Knob Range) : Up for Guitar / Down for Bass / Baritone, Gain, Content (Harmonic Content per Mode) : XF Octave Up Level / F1 Fuzz Level / F2 2nd Harmonic Distortion Level, Volume.

This was my first Toneczar pedal - which I serendipitously picked up second hand from an Australian Reverb.com seller. I had had my eye on this for a while - and at that moment it was perfectly priced for a quick buy - being also in pristine condition. This is a sort of High Gain Superfuzz which really has a wide palette of tones - via 3 core voicings and a smart 'Content' control which varies per voicing. Interestingly there are 3 killer Super Fuzz variants in this listing - the Crankled Bitoun, Gjallarhorn and this one - and they all sound quite distinctly different from each other - which is often the case with fuzz. You can have a similar core circuit delivering enitrely different results. The Crankled Bitoun is thick and textured, the Gjallarhon is resonant and booming, and this Vault is Searing and Sizzling - kind of leaning more into the high gain thing - but with tonnes of nuance too. It's a little pricey comparatively - but it really delivers! Actually - the Akuma Fuzz can also be included in this company - that one's sort of Super Fuzz adjacent - and again has its own distinctive tonality!