The rich, searing octave fuzz of the Kay Fuzz Tone lives on in a ferocious and versatile reinterpretation.
The "Legends Of Fuzz'' series is a collection of the world's most historic, rare, and sought after circuits.
At JHS, fuzz pedals have been in our lineup for over a decade. We have designed original circuits, replicated classics, and we have seen the trend of fuzz popularity come and go. The "Legends Of Fuzz'' series is our tribute to the most important fuzz circuits ever made. It is our way of ensuring that the stories of these effects live on in the music that you are going to make. From the earliest days of fuzz in the mid-60's London scene to the 1990's ex-Soviet military factories that brought the Big Muff back to life, fuzz tells a story, and that story includes guitarists just like you. There is nothing more primitive than plugging your guitar into a vintage fuzz circuit; it is raw, untamed, and so pure that it pushes the boundaries of what your instrument can accomplish. Plug into a fuzz and plug into sixty years of beautifully broken sound.
Kay Musical Instruments was founded by Henry “Kay” Kuhrmeyer on July 1, 1931. Although Henry quickly shifted production focus to all types of stringed instruments (including basses, violas and guitars), they didn’t enter the guitar pedal market until the late 1960s with a series of knobless, treadle-based delightfully odd plastic pedals. Each of these four units (the Fuzz Tone F1, Tremolo T1, Wah Wah W1 and Bass Boost B1) were housed in knobless, treadle-based enclosures allowing one parameter of each effect to be adjusted by foot. The Kay Fuzz Tone was most likely released in late 1968/early 1969. Initially designed as a low-cost-version of the Shin-ei/Univox Superfuzz, this fuzz is one of the Edge’s go-to pedals. Fifty-four years later, JHS is releasing our spin on the Kay Fuzz Tone: the Mary-K. We’ve even added knobs and an expression pedal output for those who want to use it as it was originally intended.
Rather than using a treadle chassis, we allow Mary-K users the option to control the Frequency knob with an expression pedal. We recommend the Nektar NX-P and Roland EV-5 expression pedals, but many other expression pedals should also work. Be advised: some expression pedals may introduce a hum/noise into the signal chain in high electromagnetic interference environments. Therefore, we recommend using plastic chassis expression pedals with short cables to avoid unwanted noise in a high EMI environment.
A dynamic drive generator that’s as much fuzz as filter.
Many unique and varied drive and fuzz sounds. Surprising dynamic range. High-quality construction. Killer studio potential.
Internal master-volume trimpot. Can be pretty noisy.
$225
Death By Audio Germanium Filter
deathbyaudio.com
I really needed the shot of adrenaline I got from Death By Audio’s Germanium Filter. I appreciated the reminder that stompboxes should prod you along reckless creative vectors. It felt great to play something so simple that sounds so cool in so many ways. It also felt good to tap into a mainline source of sass and attitude.
Obviously, Death By Audio is famous for devices that provoke such reactions. But their new Germanium Filter doesn’t thrill just because it’s weird. It excels at overdrive, distortion, and fuzz. And the germanium circuitry makes it capable of great dynamic nuance. But it’s also positively explosive, buzzes like a two-ton mutant hornet, and gets fantastically trashy. For a pedal with just two knobs and an internal trimpot, its capacity for tone variation and richness across so many different sounds is impressive.
Dynamite Kegger
Even by DBA standards, the Germanium Filter looks crazy cool. The vertically aligned flying saucer knobs for gain and filter are easy to read at long range. A third trimpot for master volume is situated inside the enclosure. That’s a bummer, because the volume can profoundly change the functionality, flexibility, and sound of the pedal by adding copious extra power, thump, and contrast.
One way to extract maximum potential from the Germanium Filter—particularly at higher volume levels—is by employing a dynamic touch. The Germanium Filter is sensitive to guitar volume attenuation in the same way a vintage germanium fuzz like a Fuzz Face is. It’s also responsive to picking dynamics, and even at aggressive gain levels you can clean up with a light touch. This dynamism makes the Germanium Filter an expressive vehicle for heavy electric fingerstyle improvisation. And though it can be a tad noisy in delicate-to-loud applications, I’d argue the tactile thrills are worth it.
Filter to Focus
The filtering aspect of the Germanium Filter is not subtle. The pedal’s output is compressed and highly focused. Yet it can readily shift emphasis from brilliant, scalding top end to heavy-swinging low-midrange without sacrificing potency or its capacity for chord detail. As a result, the number of possible sounds and applications stacks up fast.
There’s plenty of the piercing, gnarly, and funky sounds that Keith Richards would have died for in his ’66–’68 period.
Tone touchstones are elusive when describing the Germanium Filter’s voice. Fuzz sounds at maximum gain are super ripping, especially at treblier settings. DBA mentions recording console drive as an inspiration for the circuit, and it’s easy to hear and feel traces of a vintage console’s input overdrive tendencies. Some early germanium fuzzes could also be a kissing cousins. But the Germanium Filter is more compressed and focused than most mid-’60s fuzzes, and often more savage for it.
Among the cleaner, bass-heavy overdrive sounds there is a hint of the high-mid clang you sometimes hear from a big Marshall stack. The heavy side of the filter can also contribute to the illusion of a 4x12’s sense of mass if you’re trying to make a little amp sound big. But even higher-gain settings sound organic, cohesive, present, and punchy in the top end in a way that makes your amp feel like a living, breathing thing. Indeed, one of the most beautiful things about the Germanium Filter is that it sounds so bold without feeling like an awkwardly grafted appendage to your rig.
Needless to say, it’s pretty easy to craft tone oddities with the Germanium Filter. There’s plenty of the piercing, gnarly, and funky sounds that Keith Richards would have died for in his ’66–’68 period. Some tones could have been a parallel-universe path Jimmy Page might have taken to Led Zeppelin. Mick Ronson probably would not have objected to a go at it either. But the Germanium Filter is by no means just a retro-rock trip. The tight, concise nature of many of these drive tones makes them a perfect pairing for expansive reverbs, delay, and modulation that turn more full-frequency drives to mush. And many post-rock, shoegaze, and improvisational players will dig the way the Germanium Filter sparkles and remains articulate among thick, stacked effects.
The Verdict
Sometimes the right pedal hits you at the right time. And the Germanium Filter sparked a fire that I hadn’t felt in a while. I’m keenly aware that a lot of these tones won’t be for everyone. Players seeking wide-spectrum or transparent drive tones might find the focus of the filter too narrow and many of the tones just plain odd. But I found the Germanium Filter’s stylistic range engaging and vast. Even its most pedestrian overdrive sounds bristle with deviant attitude. Other sounds suggest weird old catalog amps and audio engineers slamming recording console inputs and tweaking EQ to creative ends. And the fuzz tones are among the most exciting I’ve heard in a long time.
It’s probably smart to give the Germanium Filter a go before you buy. At 225 clams, it’s an investment. And some players in search of more even-tempered and predictable tones may struggle to make sense of it. Accordingly, the tones and value scores here should be considered fluid. Players with more conventional goals may want to round down and approach with caution. Weirdos, however, should probably round up and pounce. For players craving a shot of pure, super-heated sound energy, new directions for solos and riffs, or a way to elevate a performance or mundane mix, the Germanium Filter is a treasure in waiting.
Death By Audio Germanium Filter Demo | First Look
Recording console style drive and a flexible filter combine to yield full-spectrum filthiness.More First Look videos: https://bit.ly/FIrstLookSubscribe to PG'...An octave/fuzz/modulation combo platter fit for freaks of all stripes.
Wide variety of wacky and practical tones on hand. Intuitive controls. Effective expression pedal control.
Extreme settings might be dangerous to your speakers.
$199
MXR Poly Blue Octave
jimdunlop.com
MXR’s Blue Box has always been an outlier on the octave-pedal scene. One of the company’s earliest offerings, it drops a guitar signal by two octaves and blasts it with fuzz. Despite remaining active in the MXR stable throughout much of its history, the Blue Box is mostly celebrated in the deepest pedal-nerd hang sessions once all the classic fuzz, overdrive, and delay pedals have been discussed and things get weird.
The new Poly Blue Octave significantly expands upon the Blue Box by adding improved polyphonic capabilities, phase modulation, and a fuzz that works independently of the octave and modulation effects. It maintains the quirky personality of the original while opening avenues for players that need more flexibility than a dedicated octave-down pedal can offer. With four separate octave voices and expression pedal control, there’s a wild world of interactive sound waiting to be discovered inside the pedal’s sparkly blue enclosure.
More Knobs, More Possibilities
Much of the charm of the original Blue Box comes from its simplicity. With just output and blend knobs, it’s easy to use and doesn’t take long to figure out. The Poly Blue Octave has three times as many knobs as a Blue Box. But the controls are still simple and self-explanatory. Five of the six knobs are level controls: wet/dry, sub-1, sub-2, oct+1, and oct+2. The modulation knob turns the modulation effect on and increases the rate as you sweep clockwise. (All octave voices and fuzz are modulated when it is engaged.) LED-illuminated buttons switch on the fuzz and toggle between monophonic and polyphonic modes. The wet/dry knob also functions as the fuzz volume when the fuzz button is engaged and held down for a few seconds. An expression pedal jack allows players to fade between settings and ramp up modulation speed with an expression pedal oruse an external foot switch to activate and switch between fuzz and clean or polyphonic and monophonic modes
Wooly and Woozy
The Poly Blue tracks well, so at clean settings, it’s easy to evoke baritone and bass sounds. The fuzz circuit, meanwhile, is full-bodied, so I approached fuzz settings by starting with a dry sound and adding octaves to taste. With the fuzz applied in polyphonic mode, the higher octaves soar, with the oct+2 creating a whistle-like tone in higher registers. I used sub-1 at almost implied levels to bulk up my sound further. Lower position playing gets muddy with sub-2 settings, especially when it’s used in conjunction with sub-1, so using a bass cabinet is a smart proposition if you intend to use a lot of low notes. Turning off the fuzz, of course, makes the low-end sounds less chaotic.
Monophonic mode sounds truest to the old Blue Box and has a thicker voice. It also either tracks less steadily or responds more sensitively to overtones in my guitar signal. So I had to carefully tweak octave-level settings to tread between flavorful fuzz and blown-out mayhem. But when I got it just right, I was thrilled to achieve crushing tones that rival the Rust Never Sleeps version of “Hey Hey, My My.” Adding modulation to these settings in monophonic mode generates a phase effect that induces serious additional wooziness.
Express Excess
Creative possibilities expanded when I hooked up my expression pedal to the Poly Blue Octave. Polyphonic mode evokes faux-organ vibes from the get-go. And by setting the expression pedal to fade-in a lower octave and increase modulation speed, I felt like Jon Lord taking a solo break at Budokan. If that’s not cool, I don’t know what is.
While you can also use an expression pedal to turn the fuzz mode on and off or switch between a monophonic and polyphonic modes, you cannot smoothly fade between those modes as you can with, say, the modulation rate. Even so, the ability to have clean or fuzzy signals at either end of a heel/toe sweep, combined with other effects means extremely different preset sounds are possible.
The Verdict
The Poly Blue Octave captures the spirit of the original Blue Box but transforms it into something much more flexible and full of possibilities. I wouldn’t be surprised if I hear that the two-octave-below setting blows more than a few speakers—it might even require a warning label. But for users who approach the Poly Blue Octave with a creative, open mindset and look beyond simple octave pedal functionality, the deranged fuzz tones, modulation, and expression pedal capability will mean many unexpected sounds.