NEW CONTEST: Klon vs. Screamer
Identify the Audio Clips and Win!

Left: Klon Centaur #309, worth over $2,000.Right: BYOC Overdrive 2, a $95 Tube Screamer clone.

It’s hardly a new idea: YouTube is full of Klon vs. Screamer comparison videos.

But this one is different.

Using the same “reasonably scientific” techniques deployed in my recent germanium fuzz survey, I’ve created a blind listening […]

Fuzz Detective:
The Case of the 12 Germanium Fuzzes

As threatened, the Fuzz Detective video:

WHAT: Twelve germanium fuzz circuits compared and analyzed. These represent the sounds of almost every fuzz pedal introduced between 1962 and 1968.

WHY: A tool to help players identify the circuits most relevant to their musical needs. This isn’t about particular brands of pedals, but the circuits they […]

Fuzz Detective: The Plot Thickens!

Man, I’m glad I announced my intentions about this project! Thanks to your links and suggestions, the “Fuzz Detective” project has grown vastly more ambitious. I need a few more days to make my test recordings are assemble the results, but I believe this will be the most complete and “scientific” audio comparison of 1960s […]

Museum of Lost Effects: Klon Centaur

Overdrive from Heaven? Or hype from Hell?

Has any stompbox ever been as steeped in myth and legend as the Klon Centaur? Doubt it. Original Centaurs are extremely collectible, currently fetching around $1,500 on EBay. But for every player who drools over the prospect of obtaining this rare creature, there’s another who’s foaming […]

Octave Fuzz Overdose!
Seven Classic Circuits

These funky homemade pedals represent all the leading octave-fuzz circuits.

I had no idea I had so many octave fuzz pedals! I had no idea they sounded so different! And after spending way too much time auditioning and recording them, I have no idea when I’m ever going to be able to stand […]