smallsound/bigsound Team Awesome Fuzz Machine Black/Clear Sparkle

Description & Specs

From smallsound/bigsound:

before i started actually selling pedals, i played in a great band named the Bon Savants. our bassist (dave), for the most part was an always-on-fuzz-guy and used a somewhat clunky and convoluted setup involving around 3 pedals to get his sound. i told him i could simplify things and give him even more awesome toanz and the team awesome! fuzzmachine (or TAFM) was born.

the TAFM was designed for low end heaviness with the ability to cut through a mix, to simply keep your guitar’s pick attack while having a really saturated fuzz-tone or just to have a subtle background fuzz behind your main keyboard sound. the TAFM excels at versatility and fitting in with almost any instrument in almost any musical setting.

the thick, gnarly fuzz is perfectly complimented by a slightly gritty clean blend which retains all the low end you’d need… plus more. rough overdrive, howling feedback, clean boost with fuzzy sparkles, even phase-cancelled signals for pseudo octave-up/weird discordance and everything in between.

you’re either on team awesome… or you’re not.

the team awesome! fuzzmachine is a full-range hybrid silicon/germanium fuzz with a clean blend, originally designed for bass players and low-end lovers. a highly versatile pedal ranging from subtle fuzz to heavy rumbles to cutting mid-range gnar, the team awesome! fuzzmachine can find a home on any pedalboard.

power
please use a standard 9V DC power supply (designed for musical instruments) with a negative center 2.1mm barrel and do NOT run at higher voltages. peak current draw is around 11mA.

controls
input gain: controls the amount of gain at the input stage. this works with the clean boost toggle, so it is important to understand how they work together. with the clean boost DOWN, input gain works as a pre-fuzz control for further saturation. with the clean boost UP, input gain still works on the fuzz but also affects the clean signal, effectively overdriving it as well as inverting the phase. when the clean and fuzz volumes are matched in this mode, you get phase cancellation and nasal, hollow and pseudo-octave-up sounds. different flavors of distortion are obtained by using varying amounts of input gain and fuzz.

fuzz: alters the fuzz amount and harmonic structure. at low settings, fuzz cleans up with instrument volume and at high settings some hum, low rumbles and feedback are normal.

shape: alters filter shaping. counterclockwise rolls off highs, while clockwise brings back high end and mids.

fuzz volume: simple enough. it can be LOUD, depending on the settings of the gain control, so start with it low.

clean volume: also simple enough. there is quite a bit of boost available.

mids toggle: when DOWN, the EQ response is slightly scooped in the midrange. when UP, there is a slight boost in the upper-midrange. a subtle control which is less subtle when shape is turned clockwise.

clean boost/phase toggle (unlabeled): when DOWN, input gain only affects the fuzz. when UP, input gain affects both the fuzz and clean signals, as well as inverting the clean signal. (see input gain control)