My good friend David already did a brilliant job on the original Hybrid / Ge Focus Fuzz - which I cited at the time as ’David Reinvents the Classic Fuzz’. He only had parts enough for 250 units back then with the MP38A particularly hard to get hold of. So alas there were several interested parties left out in the cold, and a couple of years of customer petitioning has resulted in the return of that grand pedal.

While David, ever the original, refuses to do things by half - and was ...

So I initially published an article on February 20th - where I gathered together 9 pedals which all had the same Hot Pink Colourway. It was originally inspired by the launch of Great Easter FX Co’s Obsolete Devices OD201 Preamp - so the article was a nod to that.

At the time of posting I had 2 of those in my possession - I guess you could say 3 - as I owned the Lightspeed too already - but not in that colourway - as you will have noted in subsequent references.

So this was mainly done ...

So this is Fuzz Face #104 for me - I always say I have room for one more brilliant one - and this one is one of the very best - it’s properly special sauce! The selected transistors - NKT CV7007 and 2N527 sound amazing together - really vibrant and searing and full on - with all the great hallmarks of classic Germanium Fuzz Face dynamics and guitar volume gain cleanup - but with more range and verve!

You get an external Q2 Bias - which is essential for me - as well as a really cool 3-way ...

I think only 10 of these were made - it’s funny how it sometimes is an advantage to wait out a pedal release - as frequenly a subsequent . later edition / variant tends to be better looking than the original. I’ve learned that for some brands it’s better to wait things out - like Beetronics - as later editions almost always turn out to be prettier than the original take.

With Reeves Electro the dynamic is often quite different as very limited numbers are available - so there it is ...

The Journey!

So this quest started at the tail end of January when the Venus was first teased at the NAMM show. I contacted Christos straight after the show and requested that I be fully in on the launch. I cover most every CTC launch - while typically it’s mostly just from the materials that Christos sends me - which are extensive.

I thought I had indicated that I wanted to be in on an hands-on deep dive review - but I’ve since read my statements and my meaning wasn’t always crystal clear...

First thing I have to say is how dinky this format is - which is shared by the new Dark Star and Pardner Fuzz pedals - it’s around he same size as a square Strymon type which is really cool - as these pedals are relatively easy to accommodate within the Tetris environment of your pedalboard.

So as before this is much more than just a stereo-fying exercise as it massively evolves the original compact pedal format with a load more features. And similar to the Dark Star being a distinctly ...

So - we’ve had 3 incredible guitar gear events this month - covering Birmingham, then Woking, and now London - in probably my favourite venue on the circuit. Studio 9294 is such a unique place - having the outside canal-side terrace, and superb next-door restaurant and bar - in the guise of Number # 90 - which always serve up a very decent lunch! With the sun out - like we experienced at the weekend - this venues is wholly glorious - there’s a cool nearby Sainsbury’s, and indeedned ’Bad Coffee’...

Mooer was due to be at the recent London Synth and Pedal Expo that I attended over the weekend, but ended up being a casualty of the Heathrow Substation Fire - the only pedal that got there in time was its GS1000 Intelligent Amp Profiling Processor and there was some kind of power supply issue with that - so it needed to be retired on the very first day!

I was hoping to see the GL100 Looper and this Prime M2 at the show - while alas neither of those pedals made it in the end! 

The Prime...

I believe this is very specifically a Mick Taylor signature pedal - and he was the one that instigated this collaboration - based on how he liked to deploy his single Argo Octave Fuzz. This Deluxe model takes the Mythos’ Argo Octave Fuzz, based on the Prescription C.O.B. - and adds a sort of Solo Boost into the proceedings. Supposedly the components selected make for a slightly higher gain version of the core octave fuzz!

Controls - FUZZ } Volume, Fuzz, Blend, BOOST } Boost Level.

At ...