Thorpy unleashes explosive Secret Project #4 WOPR AtomIC Fuzz + Silicon RangeMaster
Thorpy revisits his custom Fallout Cloud + Silicon RangeMaster circuit - originally made for Oli Brown (Oli Brown and the Dead Collective, formerly of Raveneye). Where a few years back said ThorpyFX artist and friend requested that Thorpy combine the RangeMaster circuit from the Silicon Veteran, with his Fallout Cloud take on the Triangle type Big Muff. That was already a really potent combination, while Thorpy latterly decided that he could and should make the fuzz side of the circuit even more explosive!
The Silicon Veteran style RangeMaster section remains unchanged, while Thorpy has totally re-designed the fuzz portion of the circuit - moving it away from its 4-transistor roots to a more aggressive Integrated Circuit (IC) version (hence my AtomIC moniker!) - which fuzz has quite a bit more gain than your typical Opamp Muff.
For me there’s two very obvious directions in which to deploy this pedal. Its inclusion of RangeMaster somewhat takes it into Blakemore Deus Ex Machina territory - which can touch on Tone Bender and more Harmonic styles of textures. And most obviously you can easily dial it into prime Doom Sludge Fuzz territory - with the gain fairly maxed out!
My Ultimate Doom Settings (AtomIC Fuzz side only) = Max Sustain, Max Volume, Max Treble, Bass @ 2:30 o’c.
Ultimate Harmonics Settings (AtomIC Fuzz + RangeMaster) = Range @ 2:30 o’c, Boost @ 3:30 o’c, Sustain @ 2:30 o’c, Volume @ 1:30 o’c, Treble @ Max, Bass @ 1 o’c.
Controls - TIC TAC TOE (Silicon RangeMaster) } Range 2:30 o'c, Boost 3:30 o'c; GLOBAL THERMO NUCLEAR WAR (AtomIC Fuzz) } Sustain @ 2:45 o'c, Volume @ 1 o'c, Treble @ Max, Bass @ 12:30.
As with most high gain fuzzes - overloading the Volume and Gain can introduce too much compression and mush into the signal at the peaks of those dials - so you need to apply them diligently to maintain optimal harmonics and textures.
It's interesting how whichever way you deploy the RangeMaster side - it takes away from the aggression of the peak Doom settings - meaning that the Tic-Tac-Toe needs to be Off for Max Doom Sludge!
While bringing the RangeMaster into play does wonders for making the output more richly-textured and more harmonic.
Those 6 controls make this Fuzz incredibly Expansive and Versatile - and there are a tonne of sweet-spots for the output. I've focused on to of my favourites - indeed the ones that bring me the most joy!
I'm really happy Thorpy rolled this one out - I heard some superb demos of this pedal when I visited Thorpy HQ back in August of last year - while the pedal was still very much in prototype format then!
The WOPR AtomIC Fuzz + RangeMaster is part of the Secret Project Series (#4), and is currently mostly made to order. Of course you can order yours in from the ThorpyFX Webstore - where it goes for a pretty reasonable £264.99 inc. VAT - and equivalent!
The first demo was rushed out a little, and I felt it didn't qdquately show off the more aggressive side of this pedal - and so I waited for the Fuzzed Drones demo to materialise - which took a lot longer than I expected - but it's live now.
This is another Thorpy classic which has already received wide support and is doing really well despite its minimal promotion. Hopefully this post can give the pedal the boost it deserves - highly recommended!
Demos
12 Degrees of Saturation 2023 Compact Edition
