Markus Reeves unleashes his beautifully crafted and precisely calibrated Twin Sound Upper Octave 3 Rare Silicon Transistors Fuzz

'Transistor Tester on the right'

So here finally is Markus's recent excellent whistle-stop 5-minute Workshop Tour - just take in how neatly everything is arranged - including all those tiny parts drawers - which weirdly mostly have red handwritten labels on them - which I wouldn't imagine could be quite as contrasty and easily legible as black text - of course Markus knows exactly where everything is placed and can locate immediately - while I would assume anyone else would have a hard time finding specific parts. You have cool specialist metal drawers for tools, drawers for drying enclosures under the spray-booth - and of course that roving trolly - which all serious builders should have at least one of. I recall from many a Boutique Amp Distribution videos that they use those Bakery Rack Style trolleys - where you can stow away pedals on as many as 20 sort of rack / shelf levels - anything from a precisely proportioned tea trolley to catering, laboratory and surgical trolleys will do!

I can't think there is a better appointed workshop shed to be found anywhere in the seven kingdoms! :

The above video was posted not long ago on Markus's Instagram - and I specially asked him to save to YouTube also so I could embed within this article. I feel the workshop says so much about the degree of finesse and fastidious meticulousness that also goes into the crafting of these pedals!

Which are your own favourite parts of the workshop?

And so to the actual pedal that is about to be launched - in fact tomorrow Saturday 25th at 8pm GMT. Only 10 will be up for order at the princely sum of £310 on this occasion. They are excepted to be snapped up incredibly quickly - so best of luck to everyone on the day. This will surely be another Saturday Minute! Make sure you're locked onto the Reeves Electro Webstore with all your details fully loaded in advance!

It's very much an Octavia style fuzz - loosely based on Tim Escobedo's 'Push Me Pull You' circuit from the 1990's - which also puts in an uncredited appearance in the JHS x EHX Lizard Queen.

As is always Markus's way though his circuit is much evolved from the Escobedo classic with not just different parts and values, but different controls too.

Controls - Level (Output), Attack (Intensity)

It has an inherent smoothness to its profile and does those cool brassy / saxy tones at lower degrees of Attack - slightly reminiscent  of the Basic Audio Zippy, And when you max out the attack you get wonderful harmonic oscillation occurring on double stops in particular - a really rather mellifluous octave fuzz overall.

Markus puts so much effort into sourcing, identifying and pairing up the perfect transistors for every one of his circuits - where on this occasion we have a 1968 Micro Electronics BC137, then a 1980 white ceramic CIL BC108, and finally a 1980's Philips BC549C silver face. It's that rare octave fuzz that sounds great with Single Coils and Humbuckers alike.

Definitely one for the collection - while I'm lagging a little behind at the moment - I think I'm going for a BHS-D next, where I have a few of the more recent ones still to get - including the Izzy-made DaughterBoard Series Darlington Flyer. Those should be coming out in more colours next year, and as Izzy picks up more speed - we might see a few being in stock eventually - versus just 10 at a time every fortnight.

Here follows Jackson Brooksby's really great demo of the Twin Sound - I was sold even ahead of that - once you've witnessed Markus's setup you're fully onboard with the entire experience - you're of course buying into his own meticulous tastes - and of course those  very precise ears. I always say that if you like most everything by a certain pedal builder you're kind of fully subscribed to their listening - and how they personally appreciate and are able to replicate those tonal profiles they have in mind!

So remember that if you want to get your hands on one of the first 10 Twin Sound Octave Fuzzes - then this Saturday 25th November @ 8pm GMT is your diary date!

We then have 25 of the DaughterBoard Series new Facet I.Z. Fuzzes going up for sale on Friday December 8th - same usual 8pm time.

And finally where I'm looking to play my Joker (It's a Knockout reference!) is the December 16th BHS Deluxe Wedge - next 10 release - and yes if you're anything like me you need to start saving now - as those go for £450.

To cap a nigh perfect day I got to share dinner with Markus and his equally lovely partner Sarah at the wonderfully lit Kino Lounge - pictured above. I got on so well with the pair of them that I feel I must surely have known them in a previous life! And they graciously also offered to drop me off at the errant station I had arrived at - such lovely folks! Of course the extra distance back to the wayward train station meant I got to spend even more time with Markus and Sarah - apologies for the detour - but it was kind of worth it!

Further interesting fact and most unbeknown to me until after the event - as when at the Witney Pedal Party 2 - I ended up having lunch at sister restaurant Como Lounge - with now also good friend Pedal Experiments Phil - or PEP as he may very well now come to be known as! In both places I ended up with a great tasting burger - deliberate choice at the Como Lounge, while the Kino Lounge had run out of my first choice! Both cool venues - but where the Kino Lounge kind of wins out with those formidable and clustered lighting fixtures.

Markus is obviously a connoisseur of the arts - and a particular fan of the Art Deco period - which designs decorate most of his pedals. He spends hours pouring through old Art Deco references to find suitable out of copyright source materials that he can adopt and adapt to his pedals - via his incredibly intricate etching methodology.

I'm trying to encourage him to explore the Midjourney + Discord route - which is capable of producing great Art Deco artworks with the help of AI. My own background in the two pedal pics above was from Midjourney. And it's capable of some truly mesmerising artworks - the way you word your /imagine prompt is so important for achieving optimal results. In any case I look forward to hearing from Markus on how he gets on with Midjourney if indeed he decides to check out that route.

Also I keep referring Markus to my Pickup Modeller Enhancer - which I keep forgetting the brand name of - it's of course the Keyztone Exchanger V2 version - while Markus has the full complement of classic guitar types all in his workshop - SG, Les Paul, Tele and Strat - so he really has everything he needs already. I mostly like the PAF style humbucker sound - and it's cool to be able to kick in a decent single coil voicing when you need to - and for my preferences - the Keyztone Exchanger is far superior to any kind of coil split!

Here endeth the travelogue! If you're a fuzz fan - you definitely need one of Markus's pedals in your collection - they really are that good. I thus far have copper interior BlackHatSound, RedDotSound and Zo. The BHS-D is most definitely my next target - and then I will try to scoop up those I don't yet have. I'm hoping that in the new year - that Izzy's DaughterBoard series will become a little more available - via larger and more frequent batches for instance - as I will already be 2 out - come the 8th of December!

For those of you who made it all the way to the end - I've left a little preview Easter Egg for you - with a twist.

One of the coolest pedals I came across in the workshop was an all-yellow Facet IZ prototype - which I loved. I loved the symmetry befween the yellow-dot transistors, yellow boards, capacitors / components and interior and exterior paint jobs.

The actual production models will feature the more vintage style brownish-hued copper-tracked boards - versus the yellow silver-track boards above.

I definitely think Izzy should make a special run of these - failing that - I would love to get my hands permanently on this unit - I'm such a fan of tone-on-tone symmetry. I feel Markus may want to keep it in his own reference collection though - very likely this unit is not for sale! But really cool though right?

As below!