Loe Sounds' BLow Hybrid Fuzz is a gloriously thick and chewy, and properly high gain affair in a luminous enclosure

According to Matt Foy - this is the second iteration of this circuit - where the previous version was presumably single knob and all-silicon from what I can gather - while that model entirely passed me by! I was quite late to this one also - as I don’t always see the Loe Sounds Insta notices - and often the monthly budget is blown by the time I find out. Aisha and Fiona though are such wonderful souls tough and ever so accommodating towards me - and if they can find the parts, they typically find a way to make just one more for me! - while I’m sure there will come a time when I alas will have missed the bus entirely as such!

This is a very simple circuit in operation - reminds me a touch of the Coloursound One Knob Fuzz / D.A.M Meathead - while that has always been composed of just 2 smartly chosen typically Silicon variety transistors and here we have 3 in hybrid configuration. Both the Silicon varieties of Transistor used in my BLow as pictured - are properly high gain as can be seen by their ’C’ classification - which denotes the highest gain category. And they pair beautifully with the slightly softer grit of the complementary Germanium Transistor.

The Controls could not be simpler - with Volume on the left, and Fuzz / Gain on the right. Both of them can really pile on the gain and compression as you dial them up - and while with single coil pickups you can probably ride the Fuzz knob all the way up, with humbucker guitars it can get a touch overblown - sort of blown / ripped speaker sounding at extremes with lots of compression and a high density of distortion.

There is decent amount of guitar volume knob cleanup so you can utilise that to attenuate the gain to lessen the compression and textural density.

If I’m not wanting to dial back the guitar volume, then around 9 o’c on the Fuzz dial sounds about right for me, with circa 3 o’c on the Volume dial. Alternatively you can wind up both knobs a fair amount - and then finely control the output from your guitar volume as mentioned.

It’s a great sounding fuzz for sure and it really does what it sets out to do - but is overall somewhat better paired with single coils; for hunbucker guitars it would have been nice to have had an additional 2-way toggle switch which just cuts out some of the low-end frequencies (SC / HB). I used the punch-in EQ of my start of chain JA Bloom Compressor quite bit - which is set up for a Bass-cut. That produces a more even output for the humbucker pickups on this fuzz.

Loe Sounds are really specialists in full-flavour fuzzes with beautifully intricate harmonics, and this is yet another cut from that mould. There are so many smart touches here inside and out - while I do think this circuit could benefit from a 3rd Tone Knob or some sort of switch to better accommodate humbuckers - perhaps something for the next edition!

The BLow Fuzz is actually the 3rd of 4 Hybrid Fuzzes I’ve landed recently in short succession alongside the MXR Hybrid Fuzz, Spaceman Effects Charon Ge/Si Hybrid Fuzz, and Hello Sailor Effects Hybrid Abbey Road Fuzz - I will be doing a follow-up roundup / comparison feature on those 4 - most likely some time towards the end of next week.

Whenever there is a Germanium Transistor involved I typically like an external Bias control too, but I’m not sure that would be warranted for this Fuzz - I would rather see something in the EQ department!

Per the visual below - this is my 4th Loe Sounds Fuzz - and I truly love them all - the additional controls on the others make them a touch more flexible - while this one is their equal in its beautifully textured tone signature.

I’m already looking forward to my Loe Sounds #5 - will be exciting to see what that turns out to be!

I believe the BLow Fuzz is alas wholly sold out now - but you can always check in with Aisha and Fiona if they have suitable parts to build one more! Possibly that ship has sailed now though as I was very late to the party!