A three-channel distortion/fuzz mashup.
Portland, Oregon (June 12, 2019) -- Hovercraft Amps have created a 3-channel distortion/fuzz stompbox – The Laguna Sunride – as a new set of sonic wheels to take a good long trip into riffland.
This pedal is the striped and sidepiped showpiece of many design and build sessions in the Hovercraft garage. The Laguna Sunride can drive and reshape a mild tube amp beyond its stock tone and gain capabilities, wake up a clinical sounding solid state rig, or even function as a preamp. The controls are designed to be interactive just like a tube amp. From dirty blues overdrive to fat riff rock, blissed out singing fuzz to full contact metal aggression, this pedal stacks solid sonic reflexes into your amp. Ease the seat back and hit the gas.
Features:
- Handmade in USA
- 3 channels: Lead, Fuzz & Crunch
- All metal construction with cast metal ‘goofy foot’ control guards
- Simple controls: Gain, Tone, Master Volume dials with 3–way voice switch
- True bypass on/off switch
- 9v battery or DC wall wart operation
- Sweet 8-track inspired woodgrain side panel & kustom van graphics
The Laguna Sunride is ready to roll worldwide for $199.
Watch the company's demo video:
For more information:
Hovercraft Amps
Hovercraft delivers sophistication and menace in this massive-sounding fuzz.
A couple years ago, I started to catch whispers about an amp company based out of Portland creating hot-rodded, vintage-inspired amps. The name, Hovercraft, was too cool to forget. But before long I started spotting Hovercraft Amps t-shirts at local stoner rock and metal shows—a sure sign that something was up among those notoriously gear-fixated communities. Given that, it wasn’t much surprise to hear that Hovercraft was now dabbling in fuzz. What is surprising, perhaps, is how versatile the new Hovercraft Ionostrofear Fuzz (v2.5) is. More than just another contender for the heaviest fuzz around—it’s both primed for sonic destruction and an agreeable partner in overdrive applications.
The Mean White & Green
The Ionostrofear has moved through a few permutations already. V1 editions were all custom and less than 50 were made. The V2s numbered 100 units and sold out in days. That brings us to the V2.5 reviewed here. With lime green paint and a strip of white vinyl glued beneath the footswitch, it looks snatched from a muscle car customizer’s parts bin.
is the pedal for you.
The three knobs look like those found on a Kustom tuck ‘n’ roll amp, and there’s one for gain, one for tone, and one for volume—beautifully simple. Two metal “roll bars” protect the knobs from accidental “adjustments” on rambunctious stages. They also hint at their amp-designer pedigree and Hovercraft’s love of all things Orange. The Ionostrofear can be powered with either a 9V battery or a 9V DC adapter. So far, so familiar.
The Sound of Uranium
Given that the Ionostrofear outwardly screams “stoner rock,” I grabbed a DeArmond M-75T I keep in C# standard for my first session. With the gain at a minimum, unity volume is somewhere around 12 o’clock. And as you add gain it becomes apparent just how much headroom is available—things can get loud fast. At these lower gain settings it’s easy to hear the airy but biting essence of a vintage Marshall whether you’re using it with a clean Fender or a dirtier Brit-style amp. There’s also very little white noise, which makes it easy to enjoy the pedal’s capacity for the sweet crunch that you’d hear on a ’70s Mountain or Joe Walsh cut. You also hear excellent individual note clarity and impressive, singing sustain that’s rarely, if ever, spoiled by fizzy artifacts in the decay.
Ratings
Pros:
Meaty but sonically sophisticated. Well built. Lots of headroom. Loud
Cons:
High tone levels required to extract airier tones.
Tones:
Ease of Use:
Build/Design:
Value:
Street:
$149
Hovercraft Ionostrofear Fuzz
hovercraftamps.com
Single-coils benefit enormously from the Ionosrofear’s versatility—especially if you’re looking for extra mass. They also reveal how deep the Hovercraft can sound in the bass registers. Using a Fender Stratocaster and Orange OR50 (pushing four 12-inch Celestion V30s) and playing in a full band situation, I typically needed to bring the tone control up around the 2 o’clock range to get leads out through the mix. Chords can also sound extremely dense and a bit amorphous. The high end is definitely there. But you may have to use counter-intuitively high tone levels to get it.
With a Gibson Les Paul, I ventured deeper into high gain realms. If you’re a fan of fuzzy flat 5ths, full stacks, torn speakers, or bands with cannabis references in their name, the Ionostrofear is the pedal for you. The crazy “I’m nose-diving a jumbo jet into a volcano” tones that Matt Pike put in the intro of Dopesmoker? Turn the Ionostrofear’s gain past 3 o’clock and you’ll get sounds of equivalent magnitude. The output can rattle windows and the sustain sometimes seems to push on into the infinite. But with the tone knob set right (and again, you tend to need a fair bit of high end—especially with humbuckers) the Ionostrofear’s capacity for note-to-note detail remains intact.
The Verdict
At $149, the Ionostrofear is a slice of heavy fuzz heaven. That doesn’t mean it will be for everyone. It absolutely kills if you’re into anything heavy. But some players will miss the more ’60s style high-end response that the Ionostrofear traded for continental-scale mass. Given all that heft, though, it still delivers incredible note-to-note detail—a tough tightrope to walk. It’s also worth noting that it doesn’t need to be supercharged to sound great either. It would be right at home with a little slide guitar and a hint of gain for dirty blues. And the impressive headroom means that lower gain overdrive sounds have an airy, even sophisticated harmonic presence. It’s also remarkably adaptable—regardless of pickups, amplifiers, or even instruments (it sounded amazing, massive, and growling with an Epiphone EB-3 bass.) No word yet on how limited this run of Ionostrofears will be, but if you’re into heavy jams and still like a little sonic nuance and control, you’d be wise to sweep one of these mean green machines up before they disappear again!
Watch the Review Demo:
Production of this completely customized amp will start in the Spring.
Portland, OR (September 8, 2015) -- Hovercraft Amps is now making the ‘Caribou’ a brand new amplifier of their own design. Each customer can pick the exact appearance and sonic personality to end up with their dream sound. This tube amp brings the cherished capabilities of vintage, unobtainable amplifiers and puts incredible potential in the hands of guitar players.
With the release of these new vacuum tube powered guitar amplifiers, Hovercraft Amps is building the perfect tool for musicians chasing audio bliss. Production of their new Caribou amplifier is starting this spring, bringing highly desired rockstar grade sound to musicians all over the globe.
“I started out with piles of burned out amps, pallets of surplus and unwanted parts from warehouses and estate sales, and scrap wood scavenged from dumpsters and construction sites. Figuring out how to resurrect stuff that was headed for a dumpster was a huge learning opportunity. You could hear the difference in these old parts. By working on hundreds of amplifiers from multiple eras, I saw right away what did and didn’t work, what caused them to break in the first place. Those lessons all went into our new Caribou.” says owner, Nial McGaughey.
“By using our improved circuit designs and carefully tuning each amplifiers sound response, the new owner is guaranteed a one of a kind amp that would typically cost several thousand dollars and can take up to several years to have made elsewhere.“
“We build these amps one at a time, each one is different, as individual as a fingerprint. We speak directly with the person that will use the amp, and that helps us tailor their Caribou amplifier perfectly for their needs. Because the amp is ordered directly from us, that saves the customer thousands of dollars, and cuts down on manufacturing time. The research we put into learning about old amps and the advances made in our new designs help the Caribou amplifier be extremely flexible. The new owner can get many amazing styles of sound from just one amp.”
Each customer is interviewed to find out what kind of sound they want. An audio archive of rare and vintage example amplifiers, as well as a short questionnaire, form help guide the design of the new amplifier being made. Nial McGaughey’s goal is to build a permanent, inspirational relationship between the customer and their amplifier.
A musician can use their new amp in a variety of styles, settings and tasks from home practice to full on live gigs by just switching a few options. Tens of thousands of dollars of irreplaceable vintage equipment can now be left at home when a touring musician hits the road: they are able to find their sound using a custom amp made for them by Hovercraft.
For more information:
Hovercraft