A signature fuzz for Boris's guitar sorceress is a unique twist on the Big Muff formula.
Easy to navigate. Unique fuzz tones. Range-y knobs reward tweaking.
Trebly settings can be harsh.
$149
EarthQuaker Devices Hizumitas
earthquakerdevices.com
Boris know a thing or two about fuzz. As volume dealers by trade, they've spent nearly three decades dousing audiences in waves of distorted decibels. So, when the folks at EarthQuaker Devices decided to honor Boris guitarist Wata, they looked to her favorite vintage fuzz, the Elk BM Sustainar.
Let's get one thing out of the way: It's simply not possible to capture all the deep, dark, and bone-crushing tones of Wata or guitarist/bassist Takeshi in one neat little box. Whether the band is drawing from early Sabbath, playing at balefully slow tempos, or manifesting explosive sounds that evoke a five-alarm fire blazing into the night, Boris does many kinds of heavy. But while the Hizumitas can't cover every heavy Boris tone, its sounds are a treat.
Sent from the Source
The Elk Sustainar is an early-1970s Japan-made copy of the triangle Big Muff. Look for a vintage unitāusually under the name Elk Big Muff Sustainar, Elk Super Fuzz Sustainar, or Electro Sound Co. Big Muff Sustainarāand you'll encounter nutty prices that reflect their rarity and reputation. When EQD designed the Hizumitas, they checked out vintage Sustainars and Big Muffs and concluded that there was too much variation to nail down a faithful copy. So, they went to the source and Wata graciously shipped her own Elk pedal around the world to EQD HQ.
Familiar Design, Different Results
The 3-knob layout of the Hizumitas will be familiar to any Big Muff user, though Hizumitas's controls behave in some unusual ways. The output is hot and unity gain is around 9 o'clock on the volume knob for most sustain settings. The sustain knob increases distortion, but don't look for clean tones at the lowest settingsāit starts hot and goes from there. The tone control is responsive and the knob you'll probably reach for most. But heads up: Rolling the knob all the way counterclockwise is the most trebly setting and it adds bass as you work clockwise.
Because the pedal sustains so well, I could use the tone knob as an almost synth-like filter control on sustained notes, letting embers of drop-D riffs slowly burn and change shape as they decayed.
Devastating Bass
While it's easy to find tones in a pedal with three knobs, one of which is output volume, the wide range of the sustain and tone knobsāand the interactivity between those controlsāleads to surprises. Like a lot of people that will be interested in the Hizumitas, I was most curious to see how much low-end it had on tap. Using my Gibson SG and a Deluxe Reverb, I started with the sustain and tone cranked. These settings resulted in my favorite sounds. The bass is huge but doesn't get overly woofy or dark. Low power chords and riffage on the bottom three strings benefitted from the added heft, and single notes were strong and rich with sustain.
Adding treble tightens up the pedal's focus, but it can be an unusual ride. I sometimes imagined I was hearing bass bumps as I worked my way back toward trebly settings. High treble tones can be noisy and might sound harsh to some players. But others will love how cutting those settings can be. When I plugged my guitar directly into my interface using nothing but the Hizumitas and a little reverb, the sizzling tone burned right through the heavy, low-end riff I was tracking over.
The way the tone control works with the sustain control is another big part of the Hizumitas' charm. Because the pedal sustains so well, I could use the tone knob as a noise filter on sustained notes, letting embers of drop-D riffs slowly burn and change shape as they decayed.
The Verdict
Without a vintage Elk Sustainar on hand, I can't really speak to the accuracy of EarthQuaker's reproduction. And, of course, I'll never achieve Wata's tone. But Hizumitas is well-suited for anyone trying to reach noisy, slow, and low spaces. By offering tight bass-boosted tones, well-seared lead textures, waves of sustain, and knob-twisting fun, the Hizumitas will inspire you to stay there.
Boris + EQD = FILTHY FUZZ ā EarthQuaker Devices Hizumitas Demo | First Look
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Some of these are deep cutsāget ready for some instrumental bonus tracks and Van Halen III mentionsāand some are among the biggest radio hits of their time. Just because their hits, though, doesnāt mean we donāt have more to add to the conversation.
Naturally, every recording Eddie Van Halen ever played on has been pored over by legions of guitar players of all styles. It might seem funny, then, to consider EVH solos that might require more attention. But your 100 Guitarists hosts have their picks of solos that they feel merit a little discussion. Some of these are deep cutsāget ready for some instrumental bonus tracks and Van Halen III mentionsāand some are among the biggest radio hits of their time. Just because their hits, though, doesnāt mean we donāt have more to add to the conversation.
We canāt cover everything EVHāJason has already tried while producing the Runninā With the Dweezil podcast. But we cover as much as we can in our longest episode yet. And in the second installment of our current listening segment, weāre talking about new-ish music from Oz Noy and Bill Orcutt.
A dual-channel tube preamp and overdrive pedal inspired by the Top Boost channel of vintage VOX amps.
ROY is designed to deliver sweet, ringing cleans and the "shattered" upper-mid breakup tones without sounding harsh or brittle. It is built around a 12AX7 tube that operates internally at 260VDC, providing natural tube compression and a slightly "spongy" amp-like response.
ROY features two identical channels, each with separate gain and volume controls. This design allows you to switch from clean to overdrive with the press of a footswitch while maintaining control over the volume level. It's like having two separate preamps dialed in for clean and overdrive tones.
Much like the old amplifier, ROY includes a classic dual-band tone stack. This unique EQ features interactive Treble and Bass controls that inversely affect the Mids. Both channels share the EQ section.
Another notable feature of this circuit is the Tone Cut control: a master treble roll-off after the EQ. You can shape your tone using the EQ and then adjust the Tone Cut to reduce harshness in the top end while keeping your core sound.
ROY works well with other pedals and can serve as a clean tube platform at the end of your signal chain. Itās a simple and effective way to add a vintage British voice to any amp or direct rig setup.
ROY offers external channel switching and the option to turn the pedal on/off via a 3.5mm jack. The preamp comes with a wall-mount power supply and a country-specific plug.
Street price is 299 USD. It is available at select retailers and can also be purchased directly from the Tubesteader online store at www.tubesteader.com.
The compact offspring of the Roland SDE-3000 rack unit is simple, flexible, and capable of a few cool new tricks of its own.
Tonalities bridge analog and digital characteristics. Cool polyrhythmic textures and easy-to-access, more-common echo subdivisions. Useful panning and stereo-routing options.
Interactivity among controls can yield some chaos and difficult-to-duplicate sounds.
$219
Boss SDE-3 Dual Digital Delay
boss.info
Though my affection for analog echo dwarfs my sentiments for digital delay, I donāt get doctrinaire about it. If the sound works, Iāll use it. Boss digital delays have been instructive in this way to me before: I used a Boss DD-5 in a A/B amp rig with an Echoplex for a long time, blending the slur and stretch of the reverse echo with the hazy, wobbly tape delay. It was delicious, deep, and complex. And the DD-5 still lives here just in case I get the urge to revisit that place.
Tinkering with theSDE-3 Dual Digital Delay suggested a similar, possibly enduring appeal. As an evolution of the Roland SDE-3000rack unit from the 1980s, itās a texture machine, bubbling with subtle-to-odd triangle LFO modulations and enhanced dual-delay patterns that make tone mazes from dopey-simple melodies. And with the capacity to use it with two amps in stereo or in panning capacity, it can be much more dimensional. But while the SDE-3 will become indispensable to some for its most complex echo textures, its basic voice possesses warmth that lends personality in pedestrian applications too.
Tapping Into the Source
Some interest in the original SDE-3000 is in its association with Eddie Van Halen, who ran two of them in a wet-dry-wet configuration, using different delay rates and modulation to thicken and lend dimension to solos. But while EVHās de facto endorsement prompted reissues of the effect as far back as the ā90s, part of the appeal was down to the 3000ās intrinsic elegance and simplicity.
In fact, the original rack unitās features donāt differ much from what you would find on modern, inexpensive stompbox echoes. But the SDE-3000ās simplicity and reliable predictability made it conducive to fast workflow in the studio. Critically, it also avoided the lo-fi and sterility shortcomings that plagued some lesser rivalsāan attribute designer Yoshi Ikegami chalks up to analog components elsewhere in the circuit and a fortuitous clock imprecision that lends organic essence to the repeats.
Evolved Echo Animal
Though the SDE-3 traces a line back to the SDE-3000 in sound and function, it is a very evolved riff on a theme. I donāt have an original SDE-3000 on hand for comparison, but itās easy to hear how the SDE-3 bridges a gap between analog haze and more clinical, surgical digital sounds in the way that made the original famous. Thanks to the hi-cut control, the SDE-3ās voice can be shaped to enhance the angular aspect of the echoes, or blunt sharp edges. Thereās also a lot of leeway to toy with varied EQ settings without sacrificing the ample definition in the repeats. That also means you can take advantage of the polyrhythmic effects that are arguably its greatest asset.
āThereās a lot of leeway to toy with varied EQ settings without sacrificing the ample definition in the repeats.ā
The SDE-3ās offset control, which generates these polyrhythmic echoes, is its heart. The most practical and familiar echos, like quarter, eighth, and dotted-eighth patterns, are easy to access in the second half of the offset knobs range. In the first half of the knobās throw, however, the offset delays often clang about at less-regular intervals, producing complex polyrhythms that are also cool multipliers of the modulation and EQ effects. For example, when emphasizing top end in repeats, using aggressive effects mixes and pitch-wobble modulation generates eerie ghost notes that swim through and around patterns, adding rhythmic interest and texture without derailing the drive behind a groove. Even at modest settings, these are great alternatives to more staid, regular subdivision patterns. Many of the coolest sounds tend toward the foggy reverb spectrum. Removing high end, piling on feedback, and adding the woozy, drunken drift from modulation creates fascinating backdrops for slow, sparse chord melodies. Faster modulations throb and swirl like old BBC Radiophonic Workshop sci-fi sound designs.
By themselves, the modulations have their own broad appeal. Chorus tones are rarely the archetypal Roland Jazz Chorus or CE typeātending to be a bit darker and mistier. But they do a nice job suggesting that texture without lapsing into caricature. There are also really cool rotary-speaker-like textures and vibrato sounds that offer alternatives to go-to industry standards.
The Verdict
The SDE-3ās many available sounds and textures would be appealing at $219āeven without the stereo and panning connectivity options, a useful hold function, and expression pedal control that opens up additional options. The panning capabilities, in particular, sparked all kinds of thoughts about studio applications. Mastering the SDE-3 takes just a little studyācertain polyrhythms can be dramatically reshaped by the interactivity of other controls and you need to take care to achieve identical results twice. But this is a pedal that, by virtue of its relative simplicity and richness and breadth of sounds, exceeds the utility of some similarly priced rivalsĀ, all while opening up possibilities well outside the simple echo realm
Reader: T. Moody
Hometown: Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Guitar: The Green Snake
Reader T. Moody turned this Yamaha Pacifica body into a reptilian rocker.
With a few clicks on Reverb, a reptile-inspired shred machine was born.
With this guitar, I wanted to create a shadowbox-type vibe by adding something you could see inside. I have always loved the Yamaha Pacifica guitars because of the open pickup cavity and the light weight, so I purchased this body off Reverb (I think I am addicted to that website). I also wanted a color that was vivid and bold. The seller had already painted it neon yellow, so when I read in the description, āYou can see this body from space,ā I immediately clicked the Buy It Now button. I also purchased the neck and pickups off of Reverb.
I have always loved the reverse headstock, simply because nothing says 1987 (the best year in the history of the world) like a reverse headstock. The pickups are both Seymour Duncanāan SH-1N in the neck position and TB-4 in the bridge, both in a very cool lime green color. Right when these pickups got listed, the Buy It Now button once again lit up like the Fourth of July. I am a loyal disciple of Sperzel locking tuners and think Bob Sperzel was a pure genius, so I knew those were going on this project even before I started on it. I also knew that I wanted a Vega-Trem; those units are absolutely amazing.
When the body arrived, I thought it would be cool to do some kind of burst around the yellow so I went with a neon green. It turned out better than I imagined. Next up was the shaping and cutting of the pickguard. I had this crocodile-type, faux-leather material that I glued on the pickguard and then shaped to my liking. I wanted just a single volume control and no tone knob, because, like King Edward (Van Halen) once said, āYour volume is your tone.ā
T. Moody
I then shaped and glued the faux-leather material in the cavity. The tuning knobs, volume knob, pickguard, screws, and selector switch were also painted in the lemon-lime paint scheme. I put everything together, installed the pickups, strung it up, set it up, plugged it in, and I was blown away. I think this is the best-playing and -sounding guitar I have ever tried.
The only thing missing was the center piece and strap. The latter was easy because DiMarzio makes their ClipLock in neon green. The center piece was more difficult because originally, I was thinking that some kind of gator-style decoration would be cool. In the end, I went with a green snake, because crocodiles aināt too flexibleāand theyāre way too big to fit in a pickup cavity!
The Green Snakeās back is just as striking as the front.