Rabea anoints the Way Huge Swollen Pickle Jumbo Fuzz MKIIS as the King of Fuzzes in Andertons' recent head-to-head Fuzz-Off
I don’t always pay too much heed to these head-to-head blind tests - as so much relies on luck and happenstance and serendipity - in ensuring that a particular pedal is dialled in to its optimal output. I’ve witnessed many a shootouts before where some of the best pedals were incorrectly calibrated / dialled in, and were not portrayed anywhere near to the best of their abilities - while in this particular shootout I felt that most of the leading lights came off pretty well.
I could not really fault any of Rabea’s decisions - and like him - I was hugely impressed with the sound of the Way Huge Swollen Pickle Jumbo Fuzz MKIIS. Back when the MKIII Smalls version was released at the start of 2020 - that went straight onto the wishlist (while I did not get around to acquiring one yet!). But after I heard the Andertons shootout I decided that I had to have its larger and more granular predecessor MKIIS sibling.
Controls - Loudness, Sustain, Scoop, Filter, Crunch.
I wasn't the only one inspired by this video - as I and another fuzz enthusiast both tried to buy the single remaining one in Andertons stock at the time - he obviously completed the task a split millisecon before I did - while the system told me my purchase had been successful - with a promised Monday delivery.
But when that did not look likely to happen (no notifications on the day!) I chased it up and found out that the other guy had snagged the pedal - and I was on the reorder list! Fortunately the reorder came in pretty quickly and I had mine by the end of the week.
I've featured some of the other key compact enclosure contenders in my above visual - where I already own and really rate the Boss FZ-1W, and Fjord Fuzz Hedda. The Greuter Audio Jumbo Fuzz and JHS 3 Series Fuzz have long been on my wishlist too - I will add those soon enough - while the must-have one here was really that edition of Swollen Pickle - which at times sounded nothing like a Big Muff. Jeorge Tripps obviously made his own idealised version of the Muff Circuit - akin to what he wanted it to sound like - which takes it well beyond the more typical Muff soundscape - with some really bright and searing classic tones onboard too.
I kind of prefer it set with the 3 big dials each at around 2 o'c, Scoop fully CCW, and Crunch fully CW - while there is a tonne of great tones onboard - for instance dialling up the Scoop for more traditional Big Muff tones!
Both MKIIS and MKIII Smalls varieties are available from Andertons' Fuzz selection for the same price of £159 - as mentioned - I always thought I would go for the smaller version - but I was persuaded to get the larger more granular one.
Did you have any other favourites in the selection that I've not touched on - and did you feel that the Swollen Pickle was the rightful and justified winner?
