Zander Circuitry Elegantly Revamps, Refines and Improves its Compact Series Pedals
I’ve been a huge fan of the Zander Circuitry Compact Series - since the Siclone Silicon Chaos Initiator Fuzz first appeared in late 2020. Zander’s Alex Millar has long intended to further refine and iterate those pedals - and that’s what he’s been working on over the last year or so - where the newly revised range launched on the 1st of this month.
There used to be 9 pedals in the range - where I have 8 of those - or all bar the Sono Bass Fuzz & Preamp. In fact the Sono, Siclone Fuzz, and Surplus Overdrive have all been discontinued - and we now have 6 core pedals in the range - as pictured above :
- American Geek High Gain Fuzz Machine
- Siva Op-amp Fuzz
- Cranium Murine Distortion
- Cafetiere DistortoFuzz
- Foxxton Woods Upper Octave Fuzz Generator
- Terra Firm Power Amp Distortion
At first glance little seems to have changed - as at a distance the pedals look pretty much exactly the same - while if you look closer - you will see that a number of the controls are different - and it’s on the inside where most of the improvements have taken place.
All 6 pedals benefit from improved momentary and latching switching - which delivers improved feel and operation to the dual footswitches. Most of these have also has some fairly significant circuit tweaks - with many featuring upgraded components and revised circuits / routing - to deliver better sounding and more consistent and robust output.
Some found the original controls a little hard to understand - particularly say Shift 1 and Shift 2 combinations - and so Alex has replaced those with more conventional and more easily understood tone stacks.
I already felt that the original series was pretty much perfect - while it’s obviously even better now - and still at the same fantastic £149 price point. Of course available right now from the Zander Circuitry Webstore.
The core 8-position Clipping Diodes are largely the same as before - but with some slight upgrades - and where their application is particularly salient to the Cranium / Rat type.
All of these are favourites of mine and I of course recommend each and everyone of these. Alex already did a fantastic job on the originals and he’s managed to find a whole other level for the class of 2024 - it’s actually really difficult to pick out a favourite - you need them all!
8 x Clipping Diode Options :
- Germanium
- Silicon
- LED
- Asymm Germanium
- Asymm Silicon
- Asymm LED
- Transistor / MOSFET
- None
American Geek High Gain Fuzz Machine - £149
[Transistor Multi-Muff]
Previous controls : Gain, Tone, Shift 1, Shift 2, Blast, 8 x Clipping options, Level, Blast Footswitch, Engage Footswitch.
New : Gain, Bass, Mids, Treble, Blast, 8 x Clipping options, Level, Blast Footswitch, Engage Footswitch.
Tone, Shift 1 and Shift 2 are out! And Bass, Mids, Treble are in!
We also have :
- Increased output via adjustable internal trimpot
- Updated gain control with more usable range
- New 3-band tone stack for more flexibility
Siva Op-amp Fuzz - £149
[Opamp Multi-Muff]
Previous controls : Gain, Tone, Shift 1, Shift 2, Blast, 8 x Clipping options, Level, Blast Footswitch, Engage Footswitch.
New : Gain, Bass, Mids, Treble, Blast, 8 x Clipping options, Level, Blast Footswitch, Engage Footswitch.
Same as per the American Geek - 3 tone controls have been swapped out for more conventional ones.
We also have :
- Increased output via adjustable internal trimpot
- Updated Gain control offers more usable range across the full sweep of the pot
- New 3-band tone stack for more flexibility
Cranium Murine Distortion - £149
[Multi-Rat Distortion]
Previous : Gain, Tone, Frequency, Body, Blast, 8 x Clipping options, Level, Blast Footswitch, Engage Footswitch.
New : Gain, Tone, Input, Blend, Blast, 8 x Clipping options, Level, Blast Footswitch, Engage Footswitch.
Frequency and Body controls sitched out for Input and Blend.
We also have :
- Tone : Upgraded tone control with smoother sweep and more usable range
- Input : Increased gain and flatter frequency control (similar to 'Reutz' mod)
- Blend : 100% dry blend with internal trimpot for clean level (similar to Juggernaut variant)
Clipping Diodes 'Rat' Applications :
- Germanium (You Dirty)
- Silicon (Classic)
- LED (Turbo)
- Asymm Germanium (Zander)
- Asymm Silicon (Solo)
- Asymm LED (Solo)
- Transistor / MOSFET (Fat)
- None (Deucetone)
Cafetiere DistortoFuzz - £149
[Harmonic Percolator style Fuzz/Distortion]
Previous controls : Gain, Tone, Starve, Input, Blast, 8 x Clipping options, Level, Blast Footswitch, Engage Footswitch.
New : Same Controls!
Internal updates :
- Improved Circuitry with upgraded transistors and small circuit tweaks for better fuzz stability and reliability
- Upgraded Tone control with smoother sweep and a more usable range
- Starve reduces the voltage available in the circuit for a more spitty/gated texture
- Input control allows you to increase / decrease the gaining low end available in the circuit
Foxxton Woods Upper Octave Fuzz Generator - £149
[Foxx Tone Machine style Octave Fuzz]
Previous controls : Gain, Tone, Shift, Body, Octave Level, 8 x Clipping options, Fuzz Level, Octave Footswitch, Engage Footswitch.
New : Gain, Bass, Mids, Treble, Octave Level, 8 x Clipping options, Fuzz Level, Octave Footswitch, Engage Footswitch.
Tone, Shift and Body replaced with more conventional 3-Band Bass, Mids, and Treble controls.
We also have :
- Upgraded Octave diodes which deliver more consistent and pronounced effect
- New 3-band tone stack for more flexibility.
- Increased output level on both Octave and Fuzz sides
Terra Firma Power Amp Distortion - £149
[Sunn Model T style Stoner/Doom Rock Distortion]
Previous controls : Gain, Tone, Shift, Body, Blast, 8 x Clipping options, Level, Blast Footswitch, Engage Footswitch.
New : Gain, Tone, Scoop, Input, Blast, 8 x Clipping options, Level, Blast Footswitch, Engage Footswitch.
Shift and Body controls replaced with Scope and Input.
We also have :
- Diodes have been moved to a different section of the circuit - which delivers more variation between the different modes, and a better response to the gain control
- Tone - upgraded low-pass-filter control that remains usable across the full sweep
- Scoop knob works with the tone control to carve out the mid-range frequencies fora tighter 'metal' sound
- Input knob adjusts the gain going into the second gain stage - which produces more over-the-top fuzzed-out sounds
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