9 of the Best Compact Doom Drone Sludge Stoner Fuzz Pedals!

So the above video demo of the M-13 Slomatics Edition and some of the material from that self same Belfast-based band are what inspired this post. While there is some degree of complication in deciding which version of this fuzz will actually be best for me. In many ways I really quite want the simplest version per the reference, but there seem to be at least 4 variants to choose from :

• M-13 Meathead
• M-13 Meathead Dark
• M-25 Meathead Deluxe - 3-knob Compact
• M-27 Meathead Deluxe - 3-knob Medium Vertical

Most of the varieties of this fuzz come in somewhat unappealing pastel colours - typically baby blue or pink. While I like the more monochromatic efforts. By all accounts the 3-knob editions are a little more fiddly to dial in because of a somewhat quirky range taper on the dials. So I'm probably thinking this is one instance where a single knob may be preferable. I will likely try to seek out a Slomatics edition in black as pictured here. Notably also is that this is one of David Main's D*A*M flagship pedals - and it literally has hundreds of clones out there - including two on this very listing.

It seems the magic of the Meathead is in its use of two unmatched / disparate Silicon Transistors. Whereas with Fuzz Faces you normally have two of the same kind evenly matched, the Meathead uses variously at odds combinations including - 2N3904 + BC107, BC337 + BC182L, BC182L + 2N3904 and BC182L + BC239C etc!

I keep meaning to get something from Earthbound Audio - Throat Locust, Iron Pig, Centurion and now of course probably its best known pedal the Supercollider - which used to sit in a medium vertical enclosure, but now occupies a silver or black compact 125B style shell. This is a very distinct Big Muff style circuit with a huge low end component - perfect for sludge. It has 6 controls :

• Tone = Dark > Bright
• Mids = Mid EQ
• Mass = Sort of Body character of frequency profile, bottom end in particular
• Level = Output Volume
• Gain Mode Switch = 2-way - Less/More Toggle
• Gain = Gain / Saturation Control

As mentioned previous, most of the Sludgy Fuzz pedals tend to be largely Fuzz Face style circuits with 2 or three unmatched transistors of different types, there are of course several specialist varieties of Muff style circuits too which are good for this style, but they're not always obviously labelled or identified as such. Note that I could not find any demos of the latest compact format - so we use the slightly older model - per above.

This was in fact my first Sludge Fuzz as such (OpAmp based) - and a pretty good example of the genre it is too. Which really mostly needs to be in Vintage Mode to get the most of that deep Sludge impact. The Modern mode tightens things up considerably which actually can sound pretty amazing too, but you don't get all that low frequency goodness that way! It has 5 useful controls :

• Volume = Output
• Gain = Grind / Saturation
• Mode Switch = Vintage / Modern
• Tone = Dark > Bright
• Body = Character and Structure of low end frequencies in particular

This is a really cool example of the type, I would like it to be even a little more grind though - doesn't quite go to 11!

This is a slightly different and distinct execution of Fuzz which you can easily dial into the required territory, but has lots of other aces up its sleeve too. It has a droning oscillator option and upper octave at its core and essentially two different modes of use. It also has 5 simply numbered controls as follows

• 1 = Volume
• 2 = Input Gain / Presence, CCW more towards 8-bit sounds
• 3 = Attack / Octave Up Intensity, in Oscillation mode CCW makes it deeper and glitchier
• 4 = Mode Switch : Down for Oscillation Drone and Saturation, roll guitar volume down for bass synth tones
• 5 = Tone/Frequency/Compressions - CW is more saturated and compressed, CCW is louder, more open bigger and clearer sound; in Oscillation modes CW gives you an almost arpeggiation effect

For ultimate sludge you would likely be turning dials 2, 3 and 4 pretty much all the way down! There's tonnes of fun to be had with this pedal - and it looks like MidValley are carving out a really interesting niche for themselves, I also have their pretty phenomenal Secret Weapon fuzz. I pretty much like everything they do - and will likely look to get in most of this fuzz range at some stage or other - including for sure the Fuzz Vision, Peaks and Takeover Fuzzes!

I included Minotaur Sonic Terrors in my Best of Greek Pedal Makers overview a while back. At the time they did not quite make my top 9 - there are obviously some very heavyweight Greek builders out there - the likes of Crazy Tube Circuits, JAM Pedals, Tsakalis Audioworks and VS Audio. On balance I think actually that Minotaur ST would be in the top ranks if I did the same exercise today. They have a number of suitable candidates for sludge monsters, but in the Compact Pedal stakes it's really between the Evil Eye MKI and earlier MKI version of Mud Giant. They also have the larger / mid-size enclosure Fuzz & Burn and Swamp Lord pedals, which don't fit the size criteria for this listing but would otherwise qualify. There are just 3 controls on the Mud Giant :

• Level = Volume
• Mud = Fuzz / Saturation
• Tone Switch = 2-way Mids control - more/less

I weighed up between the Evil Eye and Mud Giant - and it was a 50/50 sort of decision. As I went for the 1-knob D*A*M Meathead - I though I may as well go with the 3-control version here rather than the 1-knob Evil Eye.

I believe this is still the best value Meathead style sludge fuzz you can get, and many believe it to be Jonathan Wesson's best effort to-date too. Available in red or black livery, I of course went for the sludgier black - just waiting for that to land now, should be with me any day now. Be interesting to see which transistors Jonathan has used here (actually 2N3904 + BC182L). This is in effect, but not exactly a D*A*M M-13 Meathead clone - with just the typical single knob. Sounds great, and is light on the wallet! Surely every home should have one therefore.

I have two of Adrian's pedals - this and the former Amethyst Dope Fuzz. I believe the Furious Dope is just a little bit more doomy and it has that cool array of 3 switches all in a row.

• Tone = EQ
• Loud = Volume
• Doom = Fuzz / Gain / Saturation
• Clipping/Boost 2-way Switch = Left for more gain/harmonics, Right for less
• EQ Filter 2-way switch = Left for more crunch, less bottom end; Right for more low-end
• Mids EQ 3-way switch = Left - Boosted, Middle - Scooped, Right - Flat

He has since launched and even more heavy-weight medium-enclosure Dope V2 Fuzz - which I'm still considering - it obviously does not fit the criteria of this selection, and in any case - if I can - I would rather have my fuzzes in compact enclosures!

I believe this is another self confessed D*A*M Meathead clone - Dark variety but with some differences - the addition of a Low Pass Filter 'Low' and 3 selectable Input Capacitors named Dark, DLX and 666 as below :

• Dirt = Gain/Volume
• Low = Body/Mass, Degree of Low-end Sludge
• 3-way Mode Switch = Dark / Deluxe / 666 (Ultra Evil)

Sunmachine has produced a variety of these - the newer ones are in a sort of Zvex-style horizontal compact enclosure which I have never liked. I would be looking out for some of the slightly rarer previous limited editions - like the one pictured above - which is my favourite edition of this particular pedal to date. Of course this means you need to bide your time and stalk Reverb.com for the perfect opportunity!