
An all-new circuit designed to blend the best of vintage fuzz character with modern flexibility, offering guitarists a shape-shifting fuzz experience.
Features
- The Character Control (Bias Knob) ā The heart of the Cryptid Fuzz, this knob redefines your fuzz tone.
- Turn it down for a smooth, distortion-like fuzz with warm sustain.
- Crank it up for gated, Velcro, glitchy chaos inspired by the Fuzz Factory and experimental fuzz sounds.
- Chime & Tight Switches
- The Chime switch adds three levels of harmonic sparkle without making your tone harsh.
- The Tight switch sculpts three levels of low-end response, letting you dial in a thick, heavy fuzz or a sharper, punchier tone that cuts through any mix.
- Fuzz That Cleans Up ā Like the best vintage fuzz pedals, the Cryptid Fuzz reacts dynamically to your guitarās volume and tone knobs. Roll back the fuzz control for glassy cleans or turn it up for full-throttle fuzz intensity.
- More Than Just a Fuzz ā With Volume, Tone, Fuzz, and Character controls, the Cryptid isnāt limited to one soundāit goes from gnarly, woolly sustain to tight, distortion tones, making it entirely usable as an overdrive as well.
- A Unique Circuit, Not Just a Clone ā The Cryptid Fuzz is a blend of transistors, FETs, and an op-amp stage, designed from the ground up to provide a brand-new fuzz experience - this isnāt yet another copy of any other existing fuzz pedal.
āIāve always felt something was missing from fuzz pedals,ā Wampler explains. āI tried to get there with the Velvet Fuzz over 10 years ago, but I knew I could go further. The Cryptid Fuzz is the culmination of everything Iāve ever wanted in a fuzz pedal.ā
Designed to honor legendary fuzz tones from artists like Jimi Hendrix, Mick Ronson, J. Mascis, and Jack White, the Cryptid Fuzz also inspires individualityāgiving players a tonal playground for discovering new sounds and textures.
Whether youāre after classic, soaring leads, heavy, bass-driven fuzz, or glitchy, spitty, unpredictable tones, the Cryptid Fuzz delivers.
Pricing & Availability
The Wampler Cryptid Fuzz is available now at a street price of $199.99. Learn more athttps://www.wamplerpedals.com/products/fuzz/cryptid-fuzz/ or visit your favorite authorized Wampler dealer
On our season two finale, the country legend details his lead-guitar tricks on one of his biggest hits.
Get out the Kleenex, hankies, or whatever you use to wipe away your tears: Itās the last episode of this season of Shred With Shifty, a media event more consequential and profound than the finales of White Lotus and Severance combined. But thereāll be some tears of joy, too, because on this season two closer, Chris Shiflett talks with one of country musicās greatest players: Vince Gill.
Gillās illustrious solo career speaks for itself, and heās played with everyone from Reba McEntire and Patty Loveless to Ricky Skaggs and Dolly Parton. He even replaced Glenn Frey in the Eagles after Freyās death in 2017. His singing prowess is matched by his grace and precision on the fretboard, skills which are on display on the melodic solo for āOne More Last Chance.ā He used the same blackguard 1953 FenderĀ Telecaster that you see in this interview to record the lead, although he might not play the solo the exact way he did back in 1992.
Tune in to learn how Gill dialed his clean tone with a tip from Roy Nichols, why he loves early blackguard Telecasters and doesnāt love shredders, and why you never want to be the best player during a studio session.
If youāre able to help, here are some charities aimed at assisting musicians affected by the fires in L.A:
https://guitarcenterfoundation.org
https://www.cciarts.org/relief.html
https://www.musiciansfoundation.org
https://fireaidla.org
https://www.musicares.org
https://www.sweetrelief.org
Credits
Producer: Jason Shadrick
Executive Producers: Brady Sadler and Jake Brennan for Double Elvis
Engineering Support by Matt Tahaney and Matt Beaudion
Video Editor: Addison Sauvan
Graphic Design: Megan Pralle
Special thanks to Chris Peterson, Greg Nacron, and the entire Volume.com crew.
New RAT Sound Solution Offers a Refined Evolution of Distortion
ACT Entertainment ās iconic RAT brand has unveiledthe Sterling Vermin, a boutique distortion guitar pedal that blends heritage tone with modernrefinement. With a new take on RATās unmistakable sound, Sterling Vermin delivers a new levelof precision and versatility.
āThe Sterling Vermin was born from a desire for something different ā something refined, withthe soul of a traditional RAT pedal, but with a voice all its own,ā says Shawn Wells, MarketManagerāSound, ACT Entertainment, who designed the pedal along with his colleague MattGates. āBuilt in small batches and hand-soldered in ACTās Jackson, Missouri headquarters, theSterling Vermin is a work of pure beauty that honors the brand legacy while taking a bold stepforward for creativity.ā
The Sterling Vermin features the LM741 Op-Amp and a pair of selectable clipping diodes.Players can toggle between the traditional RAT silicon diode configuration for a punchy, mid-range bite, or the BAT41 option for a smoother, more balanced response. The result is a pedalthatās equally at home delivering snarling distortion or articulate, low-gain overdrive, with a wide,usable tonal range throughout the entire gain spectrum.
The pedal also features CTS pots and oversized knobs for even, responsive control that affordsa satisfying smoothness to the rotation, with just the right amount of tension. Additionally, thepolished stainless-steel enclosure with laser-annealed graphics showcases the merging of thepedalās vintage flavor and striking design.
āFrom low-gain tones reminiscent of a Klon or Bluesbreaker, to high-gain settings that flirt withBig Muff territory ā yet stay tight and controlled ā the Sterling Vermin is a masterclass indynamic distortion,ā says Gates, an ACT Entertainment Sales Representative. āWith premiumcomponents, deliberate design and a focus on feel, the Sterling Vermin is more than a pedal, itāsa new chapter for RAT.ā
The RAT Sterling Vermin is available immediately and retails for $349 USD. For moreinformation about this solution, visit: actentertainment.com/rat-distortion .
$149
Marshall 1959 Super Lead
The very definition of classic, vintage Marshall sound in a highly affordable package.
Thereās only one relevant question about Marshallās new 1959 Super Lead overdrive/distortion pedal: Does it sound like an actual vintage Super Lead head? The answer is, simply and surprisingly, yes. The significant difference I heard within the voice of this stomp, which I ran through a Carr Vincent and a StewMac Valve Factory 18 kit amp for contrast, is that itās a lot quieter than my 1972 Super Lead.
The Super Lead, which bore Marshallās 1959 model number, debuted in 1965 and was the amp that defined the plexi sound. That sound is here in spades, clubs, diamonds, and hearts. Like the Super Lead, the pedal is easy to use. The originalās 3-band EQ is replaced by a single, rangeful tone control. The normal dial and the volume, which together mimic the character created by jumping the first and second channels of a plexi head, offer smooth, rich, buttery op-amp driven gain and loudness. And the high-treble dial functions much like the presence control on the original amp.
The pedal is sturdy and handsome, too. A heavy-duty metal enclosure evokes the classic black-with-gold-plate plexi look and a vintage-grille-cloth motif. Switches and knobs (the latter with rubber sides for slip-free turning) are ultra solid, andārefreshinglyāthereās a 9V battery option in addition to a barrel-pin connection. Whether with single-coils or humbuckers, getting beefy, sustained, historic tones took moments. I especially delighted in approximating my favorite Super Lead head setting by flooring the high treble, normal, and tone dials, and turning back the tone pots on my Flying V, evoking Disraeli Gears-era Clapton tone. That alone, to me, makes the 1959 Super Lead stomp a bargain at $149.Two guitars, two amps, and two people is all it takes to bring the noise.
The day before they played the coveted Blue Room at Third Man Records in Nashville, the Washington, D.C.-based garage-punk duo Teen Mortgage released their debut record, Devil Ultrasonic Dream. Not a bad couple of days for a young band.
PGās Chris Kies caught up with guitarist and vocalist James Guile at the Blue Room to find out how he builds the bandās bombastic guitar attack.
Brought to you by DāAddario.
Devilish Dunable
Guile has been known to use Telecasters and Gretsches in the past, but this time out heās sticking with this Dunable Cyclops DE, courtesy of Gwarsenio Hallāaka Jordan Olds of metal-themed comedy talk show Two Minutes to Late Night. Guile digs the Dunableās lightness on his shoulders, and its balance of high and low frequencies.
Storm Warning
What does Guile like about this Squier Cyclone? Simple: its color. This one is also nice and easy on the back, and Guile picked it up from Atomic Music in Beltsville, Maryland.
Crushing It
Guile also scooped this Music Man 410-HD from Atomic, which he got just for this tour for a pretty sweet deal. It runs alongside an Orange Crush Bass 100 to rumble out the low end.
James Guileās Pedalboard
The Electro-Harmonix Micro POG and Hiwatt Filter Fuzz MkII run to the Orange, while everything elseāa DigiTech Whammy, Pro Co Lilā RAT, and Death by Audio Echo Dream 2āruns to the Music Man. A TC Helicon Mic Mechanic is on board for vocal assistance, and a TC Electronic PolyTune 3, Morley ABY, and Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 3 Plus keep the ship afloat.