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Ahhh, the Neo
Fuzz. This is the crème de la crème of fuzz.
Vintage fuzz at its best.
The circuit concept is the same as that of
the GI Fuzz, but instead of NPN high gain
silicon transistors, the Neo Fuzz is built
around a pair of hand selected early 70s NOS
AC128 germanium transistors. There's also a
third silicon transistor which is not
involved in the fuzz tone generation. The
tone is pure germanium. Each germanium
transistor is tested for leakage current and
gain, and only the best of these transistors
is used in the Neo Fuzz. The other cool
feature is the high intensity pink LED. Very
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The tone of
the Neo Fuzz is remarkably different to the
G.I. The Neo is much more vintage sounding,
a lot smoother, with less bite and buzz.
It's gain is also a lot tamer, but don't
worry, there's still plenty on tap.
Once again,
the Neo Fuzz is not a clone of
anything out there. It is new design which
I worked on for about a year.
The other
features of the Neo Fuzz are the same as
the GI Fuzz, namely:
- A huge
gain range, from nothing to
sustain-for-days
- It can
be used as a low gain device (for a fat
bluesy bite), which is fairly unique for
a fuzz pedal, since fuzz pedals tend to
have a very narrow range of gain.
- To tame
this pedal, there's an internal gain
trimmer to wind things back (which I
recommend)
- A
load control, which is a
variable input impedance. This can be
used to match the Neo Fuzz to humbuckers
as well as single coils (Fuzz pedals
tend to have low input impedance which
is a better match for single coils. Now
you can also use humbuckers without any
problems). You can also use it to go
from a tradition fuzz sound (low input
impedance) to a more articulate sound
with detailed highs (high impedance)
- A
bias control to set up the
operating point of the transistors, from
a fat symmetrical fuzz, to an
asymmetrical 'mosquito' buzz, and
beyond, to a gated synth-like sound
(almost sounds like your amp is about to
die!)
- A
body control, which full range
mid range control. The mids, of course,
are the most important frequencies for
determining how your guitar tone sits in
with the rest of the band.
- A
tone control, which controls
both lows and highs, as opposed to
simply a high cut filter. This is like
bass and treble controls rolled into
one. The combination of the tone and the
body controls is like having a
low/mid/high EQ
- A
volume control with output to
spare. You can use the Neo fuzz to
overdrive your amp.
- A 3
position bright switch to
help tame the top end. This is useful if
you're going to use your Neo Fuzz with a
bright 'modern' voiced clean channel, or
if you're going to use the Neo with
overdrive pedals (which tend to be
darker, and by comparison, make a normal
fuzz sound shrill)
- A heavy
duty 3PDT True Bypass
footswitch for no tone loss when the Neo
Fuzz is bypassed.
- A 9V
adaptor plug (2.1mm barrel connection).
-
Super quiet
operation, due to its unique design.
- High
quality overrated components for
rock-solid reliability. In fact, you can
use the GI Fuzz with anything up to 25V
DC power source, although for a fuzz
pedal, 9V is the best operating voltage.
- Each and
every GI Fuzz is hand-made by me in
Sydney, Australia.
- As with
all my pedals, it carries a 5 year
warranty.
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