NRG Effects' Fuzzer is a glorious vintage-inspired, warm and richly textured extended-range 2-Transistor Classic Silicon Fuzz
I’m delighted to finally be adding some NRG Effects pedals to the Reference Collection - it’s been a long time coming - and now’s obviously the right time for it. I’ve known about NRG Effects for several years - where I was always intrigued by those striking and colourful hand-painted animal head enclosures with idiosyncratic names, and equally left-field control labelling. I loved the look and lore of the brand then with its rainbow of colours and knobs of different hues - but parts of it felt a little opaque for me to a degree and not necessarily the easiest to decipher and fully get to grips with!
It only started to make 100% sense to me really - when Neil first introduced his sort of more tour-grade ’Monochrome Series’ - with fully descriptively labelled controls. That was a far easier gateway into the brand, and it roughly coincided with my first significant interaction with Neil - at the inaugural FX Expo Show - which took place in Stourbridge in June of 2022 - literally just the other side of Covid for most - or in fact the start of Covid for me - as my bonus for attending that Stourbridge show was 2 weeks of full-on blazing brain-shredding Covid!
In any case from thereon in I bumped into Neil more and more often on the UK Guitar and Pedal Show circuit - and started campaigning for a collaboration, while Neil always said that the timing wasn’t quite right on each of those occasions. As he was actually still working on a bigger overarching plan for his range - which was yet to fully come to fruition.
The size and variety of pedals being made all got a bit much in and around 2023 - where Neil effectively had 4 different lines / enclosure sizes of pedals. His original hand-painted custom ’Animal Heads’ Full Colour Series, the burgeoning Monochrome Series which was evolving into 2 different enclosure sizes, and then he also had the Mini Monochrome Series - and therefore around 4 key wholly different variations for each circuit - which obviously was too much!
His latest innovation was to default to the smaller of the Monochrome compact sizes - which would require some simplifications to his dual-channel circuits in particular. He could then replace 3 of the former enclosure formats with just one universal variant - which needed a certain degree of flexibility in manufacture to accommodate all the different options.
Within this process there were 2 further key innovations required. Firstly switching the control labelling to 0.5 mm thick aluminium knob insert discs - which are surface penetration printed by a Laser - which essentially 'burns' an incredibly crisp and refined wholly permanent design onto the surface and a few micro-millimetres further into the substrate. This means that no amount of rubbing or abrasion will ever remove the design / label as it has penetrated into the metal too!
This new labelling flexibility, accompanied by a much smaller Face-plate - which simply features the logo and pedal name - gives an enormous degree of flexibility in manufacture. As a result Neil could use the same compact 1590B Hammond enclosures in multiple variations - to accommodate from 2 to 5 knobs, and one or two footswitches. As part of that same engineering process he figured out how to simplify his earlier dual-channel circuits - via a single 'Plus' knob and footswitch - which engages both a Gain and Level Boost simultaneously.
It wasn't until Neil had fully figured out this new universal format - that he was finally ready for a Guitar Pedal X collaboration - such as exactly this! I then committed to acquiring 4 of his new pedals - two of which are out already - the Fuzzer and Purrer, and two of which will materialise within the next quarter or two - the Gnawer, and Mauler. With a view to then do a full range overview once I've reviewed those 4 pedals individually.
It made sense to get the first 2 in the standard Grey / Silver enclosure, while for the Gnawer and Mauler - the more aggressive pedals - it made sense for those to be in the textured black finish! Neil already has some superb ideas on how he's going to evolve the Gnawer - and I'm really looking forward to seeing the final execution of that - probably early next year now!
This article though is mostly about the Fuzzer - but since it's my first proper NRG Effects article - I obviously need to provide some background and contextual details too! So this post is going to be a somewhat epic journey of sorts - please fasten your seatbelt!
2023 Mini Monochrome Series and the Overall Range
The best reference for the full NRG Effects Range of pedals is last year's Mini Series overview (as pictured above) - where that series is now obviously discontinued - but it serves as a great guide to the key circuits that Neil makes. Obviously the Fuzzer has been introduced / reintroduced in addition to that - so you could argue that there are 8 core circuits in the range, 7 of which featured in the Mini Series (alphabetical) :
- GNAWER [Vintage-inspired Distortion (Rat)]
- HUMPER [Midrange-focused Clean Boost]
- KICKER [JFET Boost & Tone-enhancer]
- MAULER [Aggressive vintage-inspired Feedback Fuzz]
- POKER [Vintage-inspired Frequency Boost]
- PUMPER [High-Headroom Boost & Tone-enhancer]
- PURRER [Natural-toned Overdrive]
In what I'm calling the Silver or Universal Series - we currently have 4 circuits :
- FUZZER [2-Transistor vintage-inspired Fuzz (Face)]
- POKER [Vintage-inspired Frequency Boost]
- PUMPER [High-Headroom Boost & Tone-enhancer]
- PURRER [Natural-toned Overdrive with Boost]
From which I own the full-fat Fuzzer and Purrer editions - i.e. with all the possible external controls and dual footswitches.
As mentioned I'm already committed to getting the Gnawer and Mauler in black at the very least, and we have still to see Universal editions of the Humper, Kicker. Although Neil might very well streamline some of those kind of Booster models - as there is a degree of overlap with them, or at least perceived overlap!
If you scroll through all the NRG Effects Instagram posts (like I did - several times over!) you will note there are several more semi-discontinued circuits - which include the BARKER Overdrive/Distortion, BUFFER, DUCKER Analogue Optical Tremolo, PUSHER Boost, and ROARER Fuzz/Distortion to name a few. There are also myriad custom artwork editions of the various different circuits.
The Custom Full Colour Series is still available - what I call the 'Animal Heads' series - in those slightly larger black textured enclosures with multi-coloured knob combinations and colourful hand-painted kawaii outline style animal heads.
Here below is a selection of those custom Full Colour Series editions - which require even more work, and thus carry a higher price!
In terms of the general pricing for the Silver / Universal Series - that spans from £219 for a 2-knob, single-footswitch Fuzzer (2K-1FS) to £299 for a full-fat Purrer in black and with all the controls (5K-2FS). Those prices include 20% Vat / Tax - which American obviously need not pay!
Examples of Full Colour Series Custom Editions
Meticulously Handmade Precision-Engineered Pedals
Neil R Grimes has been making pedals for around a quarter of a century now, and is still based in a picturesque village just north of Eastbourne on the South Coast of England as far as I'm aware. His meticulous attention to detail would have made him a very fine detective inspector if he had not chosen the path of pedal engineering.
Nei's consummate attention to detail is evident in everything he does - and is most obviously reflected in his elegant rectilinear wiring arrangements. I often design specific background templates for brands - as befits their personality, and I'm particularly proud of the one I devised for NRG Effects - as below - which conceptually combines Neil's Rectilinear Wiring, an Overhead City Block Plan, Blueprint, and a flavour of HR Giger!
The NRG Effects Experience!
Do note that due to the intricate nature of their handmade manufacture - all NRG Effects Pedals are made to order, and typically take around 6 weeks upon completion of payment.
NRG Effects is fairly unique in documenting the process of the build as routine - and you can see snapshots and clips of the enclosures being prepped and drilled, the circuit boards being filed down and populated, And then the actual pedal assembly with its neat soldering and intricate wiring.
Once the pedal is built, tested, and given a final all-around playback and QA check it arrives on your doorstep in the neatest of packaging. The outer box is slightly unremarkable - but when you open that you're presented with one or two tubes of smartly square indented corrugated style cardboard (I obviously acquired 2 at the same time) - which wraps around those forever cool NRG Effects Tins.
The tins have been lined with a thick packing foam, and the pedal is further wrapped in black chiffon paper - all neatly held and fixed together with just a handful of strategically applied NRG Effects stickers - Neil evidently has very nimble fingers! The unboxing - or un-tinning experience as such is really quite special!
The 4-Knob 2-Footswitches Fuzzer Classic Silicon Fuzz - £269
Controls - Loud (Level), Bias, Gain, Tone, On/Bypass Footswitch, Full Footswitch (Gain & Tone Bypass).
Note that there is also an Internal Fuzz Intensity control that is default set to Max, I felt no need to adjust that - but then again I do prefer a fuller flavour. The option is there for you to Temper the Fuzz Intensity though should you feel the need!
Note also - that the core of the circuit is vintage-inspired - so this fuzz needs to be treated as if it were Germanium - and placed at the front of the chain, and therefore before any buffers!
What we have here is obviously a vintage inspired Classic Silicon Fuzz Face variant - with superbly selected 2N3053 Transistors that deliver plenty of warmth and rich texture.
The Bias control takes you from starved and spitty through saturated and squashy to open and searing, and onto slightly sticky voicings. While the 'Full' Footswitch could just as easily have been labelled 'Hairy' or 'Woolly' as that's kind of what it does - in bypassing the pre-Fuzz Gain and Tone controls - It gives you the maximum raw output gain of the pedal - which indeed can be best described as being somewhat hairy and woolly.
There are two different approaches you can have here - dialling in your favourite standard Setting, and then tweaking that some more for the Full output. Or like me - find the perfect universal sweet spot that works best across both,
All the key Fuzz Face elements are present - I would definitely classify this as a Type III Fuzz Face - i.e. Silicon with a Germanium character - along similar lines to BC183 and 2N3904 transistor types. It works beautifully with your guitar volume - allowing you to easily dial back to clean. In fact this is a perfect incarnation of a vintage inspired Classic Fuzz, but with modern tweaks to give it more consistent and more potent output. There is plenty of range on each of those dials and this can get nice and loud - a really fantastic take on a classic fuzz - sounds amazing and is a joy to deploy!
Of course you can deploy a variety of different settings on the Fuzzer - while I always go quite hard and full-on - and then I can just dial it back with my guitar volume if it gets a bit much.
My favourite current settings are. : Loud @ 4 o'c, Bias @ 4 o'c, Gain @ 2 o'c, and Tone @ 2 o'c - and as mentioned above those setting work great for the Full / Woolly Max Out Footswitch Mode too!
There are currently 2 variants available - a 2-Knob single Footswitch edition (2K-!FS), and my 4-Knob 2-Footswitches edition (4K-2FS). The 2-knobber is £219, and the 4-knobber is £269 on the NRG Effects Webstore - where you can also elect to go for a textured black enclosure - which carries a £10 premium.
For me it made sense for my Fuzzer and Purrer to be in the standard Silver / Grey enclosures, and my forthcoming Gnawer and Mauler - the more aggressive types to be in black. While I know a lot of you like the all-black aesthetic - where I have so many pedals as is - that the variation in hue for me is great for indicating what kind of gain pedal I'm dealing with - at a glance! And thus I prefer to have a variety of different hued enclosures so I can more easily identify and differentiate each pedal / type.
The Fuzzer is my 103rd Fuzz Face to date, and is a perfect incarnation of that Type III warm and Germanium-like fuzz. It conveys all those vintage characteristics superbly but with extended range and a much more consistent and more generous level and quality of output!
Demos
