I have been a fan of Ryan and Shannon Ratajski’s pedals for quite a while, but I’ve somehow not yet ended up owning any until this Lil’ Fella, even though there are a number of Fuzzrocious pedals sitting on my wishlist, and I’ve featured quite a number on this site already. Readers will know that I have quite an extensive priority wishlist which chops and changes all the time - the timing of the Li’l Fuzz is just perfect on this occasion!
For me Fuzzrocious is best known for its Feed Me and lunaRecplise multi-clipping pedals, 420, Cicada, Croak and Grey Stache Fuzzes, Knob / Octave Jawn Octaver, Electro-Faustus Greyfly collaboration, Cat Tail and Cat King Rat-style Distortions, and The Demon / Demon King Overdrive / Distortion which the Li’l Fella is evolved from.
So the Li’l Fella compacts and expands on the prowess of The Demon, and significantly extends its range into more Fuzz flavours too. You have smart dual Gain Stage controls in the form of the Drive and Gain knobs - which give you every shade of Overdrive and Distortion when combined. You then move things into more crunched, chuggy, and fuzz-like flavours by engaging the Gate - and then fine-tune to taste with the Volume and Tone controls. Actually a really simple control topology, but calibrated for maximum impact with a wider range of Tones and Gain than in the core The Demon.
The aesthetics of the pedal are just perfect and feature a cool Peacock Spider graphic by Shannon - undeniably the world’s cutest spiders - hailing from Australia, and typically only about 5mm in size! As is common for Fuzzrocious, these come in a variety of different colourways via different dealers. The stock default model is pictured far left - the ’white’ variety, while my favourite and the one I acquired from good friend Scott at Axe and You Shall Receive is the Canadian Dealers’s Purple Metalflake special edition. That iridescent finish and colour combination is just spot-on. I feel that on this occasion the Canadian Dealers have a somewhat unfair advantage!
These are typically priced at $160, with some of the special finish editions a little more - should be at most dealers by now, or very imminently. Also of course available direct from the Fuzzrocious Webstore. Any of you readers taken a fancy to the Li’l Fella?