Lichtlaerm Audio's latest iteration of the Altar High Gain Fuzz is the most potent and tweakable Doom Sludge Fuzz to date

So of my recent Lichtlaerm Trio / Trifecta - this was the one that I first got properly to grips with. I thought I would tackle them roughly in order of gain and aggressiveness - so the Altar is first, the Gehenna is next and the Medusa comes after that. I may have to switch the order later - pending my final results. While the Altar impresses almost instantly!

I’ve been keeping tabs on the Altar pedal for about 4 years now - watching it evolve and improve - and in its latest incarnation is has reached peak perfection. The previous edition came close - with the lowest row of controls consisting of a Range Toggle Switch, then Blend Mini Knob, and Clip Switch.

In fact the controls for the older version were - Bass, Depth, Treble, Boost, Gain, Level, Range, Blend, and Clip.

And now for the newest one :

Controls - Bass (±18dB), Mids (±18dB), High (±18dB), Boost (+36dB), Gain, Level, Grind (Boost EQ / HM-2 Curve), Depth (Input Saturation), Comp (Clipping Style Fuzz/OD/Distortion), Boost Footswitch (+36dB), Bypass Footswitch, Internal Doom Switch (↑ UP).

So the new one gets full Active 3-Band EQ (±18dB per Band) - with added Mids Control in place of where the Depth was previously, and Depth drops down to the lowest row  of controls - where it’s joined by fully variable Grind and Comp mini knobs. Those are actually just updates of the Range and Clip switches - as it’s a combination of 2 Clipping Diodes which allows you to crank up the Comp / Compression (as if for Fuzz/OD/Distortion levels of compression), and the (Boost) Range, is now the Boost Grind - so both variants adjust the EQ Curve of that second footswitch - in slightly different ways. The one control that misses out is the ’Blend’ control, which is no longer present.

I of course have a long-term Doom Sludge Champ in the collection already - courtesy of the Blackhawk Balrog - which I dearly love, and has served me well over the years. In fact it was a big catalyst for getting in the Altar too - as I love those cavernous deep almost lava thundering, and slightly saggy gain textures. Note that the Altar is not quite as saggy as the Balrog, while it has a lot more punch typically and generally higher output levels - especially with the boost engaged also.

The Altar really comes into its own when you engage the Internal Doom Switch - that’s where is steps up to, or more properly down to the deep thunderous gain levels of the Balrog. The extra controls here really let you dial in your preferred flavour - and if you want something slightly tighter and less punishing - you simply switch Off the Internal Doom Switch.

The combination of those 9 controls really helps you get the most out of this format - and precisely control the potency of output. Moreover the Boost switch is really useful too - as that not only pounds up the saturation, it can also somewhat sharpen / brighten the final output via its signature HM-2 alike frequency curve. So I have that dial half-way up, while the Highs are @ Min.

When I saw this particular set of controls - I thought to myself that Daniel had really nailed this one now - exactly as I would have done it myself. I really liked the previous version too, but those recent changes make the Altar absolutely essential. And it does not disappoint in the slightest. When I played it the first couple of times I had the Doom Switch set to Off - and thought that the Altar had a much tighter profile than the Balrog. While with the Doom fully engaged those pedals are near enough in the same ballpark - you can just much more precisely dial in your preferences with the Altar - it’s quite a bit more granular and versatile. I still really love both of them, while I feel that the Doom Throne now belongs to the Altar.

I like to have a crushingly deep delivery - I doubt many will go quite as heavy is me, my current settings preferences are : Bass @ Max, Mids @ 3 o’c, High @ Min, Boost @ 10 o’c, Gain @ Max, Level @ Max, Grind @ 11 o’c, Depth @ 4 o’c, and Comp @ Noon.