Options Explained

This section attempts to explain all the mods offered with our products to help customers choose the right options.

All our products can be fitted with an LED and DC socket.  A lot of our products are built with germanium transistors, and most of these are PNP (positive ground).  This requires the DC socket to be wired for reverse polarity power (centre positive), meaning that a standard Boss-like power supply won’t work with the pedal.  An adapter, such as those sold by Voodoo Lab or Pedalsnake, is all that is required to overcome this.

The LED is very useful but it adds to the pedal’s current draw, which will drain the battery a little faster.

The external bias pot is a handy option that allows the bias settings to be changed without having to open the enclosure.  Germanium transistors are very finicky about ambient temperature fluctuations, and require bias adjustments in less than ideal situations.  The bias knob is implemented with a narrower adjustment range, so that it allows to fine tune the bias more precisely.  This works in conjunction with an internal bias trimpot (Germanium Fuzz only), which has full range bias sweep.  A full range bias control can be requested at no extra charge.

Please note: the external bias control in Fuzz Bender Mk I works a little differently to what is described above.  There is no internal trimpot in Fuzz Bender Mk I, and the external knob here allows you to extend the Attack’s range.  It’s a very useful feature to go from extreme gating to great sustain, and anything in between. Highly recommended!

It is highly recommended to run fuzz pedals on batteries to get optimal performance.  However, leaving these connected permanently on a pedalboard will continuously drain the battery even if the pedal is switched off.  There are two option to stop this from happening: disconnect the input jack when you’re done using the pedal, which is not very convenient, or install a battery toggle switch to disconnect the battery while leaving the pedal connected.  It’s a very handy option for extending the battery’s life.

This option is useful for controlling the amount of signal that hits the fuzz circuit.  It acts very much like the volume pot on a guitar.  In our Germanium Fuzz, in particular, this option allows to clean the signal up, and control the maximum amount of fuzz that the pedal can produce.

You can select any knob configuration from the examples below.

Enclosures

Enclosure options are available for some products.  Below are the colours currently available.  Please note that colours may change slightly due to the variations in the powder coating process.