Walrus Audio makes the 5-State Series a Trifecta with its excellent new extended features Eons Fuzz

I guess it was kind of inevitable that Walrus Audio would follow up its Ages Overdrive and Eras Distortion with a suitable 5-State Eons Fuzz in a similar vein. The main question of course being what would be the base for said fuzz circuit. And as soon as you see the artwork it seems pretty evident that the core circuit is based on a Ram’s Head Muff of some description - massively elevated by another killer 5-option clipping selection.

While it’s fine to have just Bass and Treble EQ for most Overdrives - I’m of a mind that you need the 3rd Mids EQ Band to get the most out of a Distortion or Fuzz. Nearly all my favourite Distortions are some variant of 3-Band EQ, and the majority of my Big Muffs have some sort of Mids EQ - either 2- or 3-way switch (Scooped / Flat / Bumped), or a fully variable knob.

Mid-band frequency control is really great on most fuzzes, yet it’s incredible rare to see 3-Band EQ on a fuzz. So where I don’t mind that the Overdrive has no Mids control - I’m a touch bothered that it’s missing off the Eras and Eons. Obviously not enough to put me off the Eras as I have both those earlier pedals, and for sure am getting the Fuzz too!

The cool clipping selection makes up for it in a lot of ways - in giving that extra sharpness and punch that a mids-control can get to - while we don’t get 5 fully individual and distinct Modes as there are sorts of 2 overlapping pairs - plus a unique Germanium clipping.

Here are your 5-State Clipping Options :

• I : SILICON CLIPPING - traditional fuzz that’s well rounded with a huge sound = compressed and smooth
• II : SILICON CLIPPING + BASS BOOST - that boosts the low end at the beginning of the circuit = compressed and crunchy
• III : GERMANIUM CLIPPING - with a feel of ’what if a distortion and fuzz had a kid?’ = crunchy and dynamic
• IV : LED CLIPPING DIODES - with a slight high-end cut = dynamically dark
• V : LED + HARD CLIPPING SILICON TRANSISTORS + SOFT CLIPPING SILICON DIODES - The rowdiest of the Modes with tons of gain = compressed, loud, and angry

Controls - Volume, Voltage / Starve : 3V-18V, Gain, Bass, Mode : I-V (as above), Treble.

There’s obviously an internal charge pump, as the pedal only takes a 9V supply, with 100mA current draw. It’s not clear whether this is based on discrete silicon transistors or a combination of those with an opamp or two - enduring sustain seems to hint at opamp inclusion - while there is likely to be one anyway for the charge pump circuit.

I quickly scanned through the demos and headed straight for Brett Kingman - who in the absence of Andy Martin usually gets straight to the point. The Eons is certainly a very capable device with lots of different textures and tones onboard - even though there is some degree of overlap with the Clipping section. In combination with the EQ, Volts and Gain - you get a whole spectrum of different voicings just per each single clipping state - let alone the overall coverage.

These are definitely priced to fly off the shelves - at a very reasonable $229 - and as always, this late in the month - I’ve long since spent my budget - looks like October is going to be quite a fuzzy month - while I have 2 very significant genre rundowns to share in said month too.

I will try to get my hands on an Eons as soon as I’m able - it may be a sort of Multi-Fuzz - but it will also be my 98th Big Muff! If only this had been the J Mascis’ signature fuzz!!

Who’s onboard for an Eons?