INTERVIEW with Ryan from FUZZROCIOUS

Right, so this was an interview that my ladyfriend Margo did for her blog (http://www.margopage.com) for her regular Indie Artist Spotlight column.  Here it is:

Fuzzrocious is a fantastic duo of husband and wife team, Ryan and Shannon Ratajski. They are fabulous people who build fabulous bass/guitar pedals. How do I know this? Well, sadly I am not the rock star some may think I could be. I don’t even play a string instrument. I herd about this two through Colin. He is always receiving packages in the mail, mostly bass pedals and gear. I often sit an watch him open these packages because he seems like a child opening birthday presents, it’s very exciting. I watched him open a box the other month and this super cool pedal came out it was hand painted!!!! and had the coolest name! No, surprise it was from fuzzrocious and by the way they sound as good as they look!!!! With out further ado….

1. What is your name, where are you from and what do you do?
Who is your daddy and what does he do?……Ryan and Shannon Ratajski (Ruh-tie-skee) here from Fuzzrocious Pedals! We’re from Mount Laurel, NJ and we build guitar/bass pedals for wild musicians who like to play loud and dirty. I (Ryan) build the pedals and Shannon hand paints each one.

2. Tell us a little more about yourself?
Fuzzrocious is not our main job, although it would be amazing if we made enough money for it to be…We both work in Early Childhood Education (preschool) full time. Besides work, our time is eaten up by our two monsters. Our lives revolve around our children, work, and pedals. Shannon is in her last semester of Grad School and I am ¼ of the way through my Master’s Degree…We’re a liiiiiittle busy!
I play bass in a band called, “CAVALE”.

3. How did you acquire your craft/art? 
My buddy and old band mate Lukas Judge McCutcheon got me into building guitar pedal kits from General Guitar Gadgets. He had these plain boxes on his pedalboard that did all kinds of wicked stuff. People always told me that I would LOVE a big muff, so I asked me dad to teach me to solder! We sat down and after a few beers and hours, I had my own GGG-tuned BMP clone! From here, what Brian at smallsound/bigsound calls “the black hole” began…I contacted every friend in music I knew and started building them pedals! A year and half later, I started working on stripboard and taking existing designs and adapting/modding them further to do what I wanted them to do to become the beasts that we make today!

Shannon’s grandmother painted as a hobby and taught her how to paint as a child. This grew into a passion for her through high school and led her to The University of the Arts to obtain a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts (Painting). She meticulously paints each pedal by hand.

4. What inspires you?
My first foray into effects was a Boss DD-3 delay pedal. I used to scream in a band called, “TWO DAYS…” and I loved how the singers in bands like Deftones and VOD used delay effects on their vocals, so I tried it for a hot minute too.
When I started playing bass, my bandmates (James Gross and Lukas) were my first inspirations in playing pedals for real. Once I learned about pedals, I couldn’t stop listening to music without listening to the effects that were being used…annoying…
Bands like Failure Cave In, Deftones, Botch, Coalesce, Minus The Bear, fordirelifesake, Third Eye Blind, RATM, etc. made me appreciate and fall in love with effects totally, especially the dirtier effects.

5. What is your creative process?
I don’t want to put this in writing haha.

6. What do you find to be the secret to your success?
On a personal level, Shan and I find it gratifying to have people love something that we had a hand in making just for them. We have some pretty amazing customers that I chat with on the regular who make building pedals worth doing!
When we get to work with dudes in bigger bands, it’s a dream. I love music, period. Being able to build real friendships with dudes I respect from bands is worth every hour I spend breathing in harmful soldering fumes. 95% of the band dudes we’ve worked with are down-to-Earth, normal dudes who love pedals. I reach out to dudes who I think will be similar to me and my interests. I’d rather shoot the **** for a few hours with someone I can have a conversation with than some doucher who only cares about free pedals or doesn’t care about hanging out with real people.
Because we are so small, we get to be selective!
Monetarily, I wouldn’t say that we’re a success yet, since we’re not making much money at all from this.
Also, Talkbass' effects community is literally supporting us in total. We don’t have to advertise anywhere else at this point because they keep us so busy. I am eternally grateful for this forum and the people who are on it!

7. Where are you now in your creative business and where will you be in the future?
Our customers always want to pay us up front. The reason that we don’t take money until production starts on a pedal is that we don’t know what the future holds! Health, school, family, etc. could cause the end of Fuzzrocious in a heartbeat. We are pluggin’ along right now. I’d like to be moving faster with production, but our day-to-day just doesn’t allow that.
In the near future, I’d like to move faster with production. At this time, I can only see Shan and I doing this as a two person team.

8. Any words of wisdom to share with fellow artist/crafters?
Check your email, respond to messages within 24 hours, give people concise answers, and be honest.

9. What is your most favorite handmade item you have had to part with?
Nothing yet! I don’t make any hardcore attachments to our pedals like that. If I want something, I can just build another!

10. Why do you love doing what you do (what fuels the fire)?
I like making things that make lots of noise. More than that, I like having people like what we make. Being able to have people go ape**** over a pedal that you made for them is totally gratifying.

11. Shameless advertising, go for it babe? We want all your info!
http://www.fuzzrociouspedals.com
http://cavale.bandcamp.com

Electro-Harmonix Bass Big Muff Pi XO

Wow.  My first fuzz pedal (my first pedal ever, actually, if truth be told).  I figured when I was deciding (and boy did I contemplate this for a while, as I always do) on my first fuzz pedal that I should start with the “standard” and really get to familiarize my self with what the original muff sound was all about before I could really appreciate more extravagant fuzz pedals.  Whether or not that worked is subject for some debate, but at least I had good intentions, right?

Electro-Harmonix pedals are something of a standard in the effects world (just like BOSS/Roland or any of the other “biggies”).  Although some of their effects releases of the past, namely during the nineties were not the greatest (what was with those cheap aluminum enclosures, I ask you?!), they always sounded killer and were known for their innovative approach.  I think that their muff circuit (aptly named the Big Muff) was the first fuzz pedal that was produced and a later version, the Russian Green Muff (also known as the Sovtek Green Muff, or the “Civil War” Muff) is what this current production model is based on.  

CONSTRUCTION:

Thank (or insert your favorite deity here) that EHX decided to revamp their product line with the new XO series pedals.  The build quality and the quality of the enclosures are NIGHT AND DAY better / sturdier than the big, bulky aluminum enclosures of their early pedals.  The circuit boards are properly mounted and the construction quality is much higher overall. 

FEATURES / TONE:

The proprietary Muff controls of Volume, Tone and Sustain are here in full force with the addition of a three position mini switch with Dry, Normal and Bass Boost modes (more on that later).  This circuit also features not only an effected “wet” output but also a “dry” output for blending your clean and effected signals at a later point in the signal chain, or running into two separate amps, one effected and one dry.

The big three controls on this pedal are standard for pretty much all muffs and their various clones with the Tone knob controlling a sweep in the mids going from muffled to bright (for a muff).  The Bass Big Muff Pi is definitely not the most versatile pedal ever made.  It designed to be a wham-bam-thank-you-m’am type of pedal.  The three position helps expand the versatility of this pedal somewhat, but it is still a simple pedal at the end of the day.

The three position switch with Dry, Normal, and Bass Boost modes don’t offer the most variety ever, but they are effective at what they do.  The Bass Boost mode is really useful for bringing the hammer down on the mix and filling the low end out to make up for the “where’d my bass go?” syndrome that seems to plague most muff circuits (do to the sweep/scooping of the mids).  I liked leaving the pedal in the boost mode the best because I had it set for DOOM and it really felt like another cabinet was added to the mix when this pedal was on.  Honestly, there have only been a few pedals that really kicked me in the chest like the bass boost mode did on this pedal, however the scooped mids inherent to the muff’s design still cause some of the “disappearance effect,” but that is something you always run into with standard muff circuits.  

The “dry” mode is improperly labeled in my opinion because the dry output on the pedal is also labeled as such and that can be quite confusing before you get your mind wrapped around this pedal.  The three position switch has zero effect on the dry output of the pedal, which is always present if the dry output is being used.  The “dry” position on the three position switch is EHX’s version of a built in blend, mixing the fuzzy tone with your clean signal.  

The shortcoming of this setting is that you have no control over the ratio of wet to dry ratio like you do on other pedals.  Even though the volume knob is supposed to affect the way the wet and dry signals intermingle.....it isn’t that apparent...or useful.  

Overall this pedal is a great introduction to muff-type pedals, and fuzz pedals in general for that matter and I am glad that it was my  first pedal.  It was very  helpful as a starting point into the wide world of fuzz pedals and muff clones and I recommend if not for that purpose alone.

  Great for the price point, and you can pick them up on the used marked for dirt cheap if you look around ($45-65).  


www.ehx.com

Wounded Paw FX: Battering Ram

Ah the mighty Battering Ram from Wounded Paw FX.

Wounded Paw FX is an effects pedal company based (see what I did there?) out of Toronto, Canada.  They make a couple of different products, some of which are specifically geared towards the bass guitar (see: Attack Goat, Bass Fuzz) and most of there other pedals at least work well with the bass.  They also make several non-effects pedals that are highly useful, such as four channel mixers and routers, blend and mute pedals and expression pedals.  Super cool company and my experience with them was smooth.  Although, since this company is based out of Canada, you will have to deal with a longer than average wait time if you are ordering from America when the pedal is crossing the border, because it will probably get stopped at customs.  Just be ready for that. 

From Wounded Paw:

The Battering Ram is an Overdrive plus Fuzz pedal which works equally well for guitar or bass or anything else you want to plug into it. Stomp on the OVERDRIVE switch and you turn the pedal on and activate the Overdrive section. It's a smooth overdrive which can go from completely clean to growling distortion via the DRIVE knob. The LO switch adds in the lower frequencies to make it full-range for bass or other instruments. The HI knob lets you either boost or cut the highs to dial in the tone you want. The LEVEL knob on the Overdrive side controls the output volume of the Overdrive section only. Overdrive plus Fuzz means that while the overdrive is on all the time, the fuzz can be added on top of the overdrive, without affecting the overdrive's volume or tone. This is a parallel processed pedal which means the fuzz section works from the clean input signal and gets mixed with the overdrive instead of one section following the other like in 2 stage pedals. The FUZZ section is switched on via a second stomp switch and has it's own LEVEL knob to control the Fuzz volume separately from the Overdrive. The fuzz sound is snarling and raspy and can get right out of control if you crank up the SUSTAIN. The deep lows are filtered out to keep it tight and bright. The TONE control goes from high-end cut to flat to a mid-cut, high end boost. And for another set of sounds there is the OCT switch to change the fuzz section into an octave up fuzz. Crazy. This pedal can be used in a number of ways. Have the overdrive on all the time for your basic tone and stomp on the fuzz for that important bridge, chorus or solo. Or use both sections to shape your total distortion sound. Use the overdrive for the lower frequencies to keep the growl without getting muddy and use the fuzz for the searing top end. Or keep the overdrive section tame and use the fuzz section with the octave switch on to add that one bit of octave up. Heavy Duty 4.7" x 3.7" Aluminum Enclosure True Bypass Bright Blue and Red LEDs CONSTRUCTION: Superb.  This thing is build like a tank.  Strong true-bypass switches, sturdy knobs and stitches, quality metal jacks.   GRAPHICS: The enclosure is professionally silk-screened and has a textured feel to it.  Definitely sturdy and won't chip or scratch easily. TONE: As stated above in the message from Wounded Paw, this pedal is more like two pedals in one box, rather than one big circuit, if that makes sense.  There is the overdrive side, and there is the fuzz side.  The  left foot switch, which is labeled "overdrive" should probably be labeled "bypass" instead because that is what turns the pedal on and off completely.  This switch engages the left most three controls (Drive, Level and Hi) as well as the "Lo" switch.  The low switch is a must for bass players in my opinion, but you can get some sweet Chris Squire-Rickenbacker snarl from this pedal when the low switch is not engaged.  The Level knob is self-explanatory and there is a ton of volume on tap.  I got some great drive tones out of this pedal even though I felt that the low-gain-just-a-bit-of-break-up thing was not it's forte.  This has some snarl and it likes it that way. Then there is the fuzz "side" of the pedal which is engaged with the right foot switch labeled "fuzz." Convenient, huh?  It is important to note that this switch cascades the overdrive section of the pedal into the fuzz side of the pedal and that the controls on the left side of the pedal effect the fuzz tone as well.  Think of it more like having a separate overdrive and fuzz pedal one after another on a pedal board except that they are hooked together.  The fuzz controls are the right most three (Level, Sustain, and Tone) and the "Oct" switch which engages a subtle octave up signal into the mix.  I love the fuzz in this circuit.  Awesome.   Here's the rub, and the main reason that this pedal (though fantastic) is not on my board at this moment.  Overdrive side: killer.  Fuzz side: killer.  Finding a tone that suits both: problem city.  I love the overdrive side of this pedal, and I love the fuzz side too, but the problem is that if I got the settings on the overdrive side to where I wanted them, I felt like I had to compromise the settings on the fuzz side.  Or if I set up the fuzz just the way I wanted, the overdrive wasn't really what I wanted either (since the overdrive is cascaded into the fuzz tone).  I know that this is inherent in the construction and design of the pedal, but if there was any way to release a deluxe version of this pedal where there was an overdrive side and a six knobbed version of the fuzz on the other side, I would buy it again, no questions asked. Then again….maybe I just didn't think to use this in all the ways it could have been used.  Like having the overdrive side on all the time as is described in that bit from Wounded Paw above, and just kicking in the fuzz side for the heavier bits…even if it is not as beefy as a Muff or whatever, it may still just be used as a really gnarly overdrive.  Hrumph.  I may have to find one of these used now and try it out again.  And I thought these reviews were supposed to help my gear addiction!! Check out Grygrx's review over on Bassfuzz.com for clips and video. http://www.woundedpaw.com/effects/effects.htm

Boss RV-3 Reverb/Delay Pedal

I had this pedal for quite a while and loved every minute of it.  I’ve had a fair few Boss pedals during my tenure and they have always impressed me for their price point to sound quality ratio (although some of their effects are dramatically better than others).  Although this pedal is discontinued, you can usually find them on the used market for around $140 if they are in good condition.  I’ve heard of people getting lucky and finding them for much lower than that though.

FEATURES:

This pedal has four knobs, a wet/drive knob labeled BALANCE, a TONE knob that also acts as a feedback knob depending on the setting, a Reverb/Delay time knob and an 11-position rotary switch to change the reverb or delay setting that the pedal is producing.  The rotary knob breaks down like this:

01> DELAY (32-125ms)

02> DELAY (125-500ms)

03> DELAY (500-2000ms)

04> DELAY & REVERB (ROOM 1) |

05> DELAY & REVERB (ROOM 2) |--All with 32 - 1000ms of Delay time

06> DELAY & REVERB (HALL) |

07> DELAY & REVERB (PLATE) |

08> REVERB (ROOM 1)

09> REVERB (ROOM 2)

10> REVERB (HALL)

11> REVERB (PLATE)

This is really neat because you essentially get two pedals in one.  

CONSTRUCTION:  

It is made by BOSS and their name has pretty much become synonymous with “tough.”  In fact the reason most people (including professionals mind you) love BOSS is their unwavering reliability.  Over the years, they have become the standard by which all other pedals come to be judged (at least construction wise).

TONE:

At first the delays on this pedal didn’t really knock my socks off.  Pretty much standard boiler plate, I guess.  Maybe it was because the delay was digital (which can be a hard barrier to overcome for most tone purists), or because I bought this pedal specifically for use as a reverb, but I never really used the delays on this pedal.  I think the biggest stumbling block in that sense was that I pretty much have to have tap-tempo for my delays....I just do.  I wish I didn’t, as there are a lot of really cool delays that I want to try (namely the Malekko 616 and Echo600 Dark).

I mainly used this reverb on the HALL setting (rotary number 10) with the reverb time just past noon (closer to one o’clock) and the feedback knob around eleven o’clock.  This setting is lush, full and big.  I used it with my volume pedal for chordal swells and general epic-ness.  This setting isn't necessarily good for that quick spring reverb sound that is almost like a slap-back tone, but honestly, who cares? EPIC = WIN.

I've heard that a lot of guitar and bass players prefer this pedal to the newer RV-5.  I haven't had both of these pedals at the same to compare them to each other, but I definitely love how lush and full sounding the reverbs were on the RV-3.  I guess one of the structural improvements of the RV-5 is that it has stereo inputs and stereo outputs, while the RV-3 only has stereo outputs.

This pedal sounds rad.  I really liked the fact that this pedal has a wet / dry blend knob and that you can really dial the amount of un-effected signal.  One thing that I wish would be on more reverbs and delays is not just a blend knob, but also a level knob, so that you can boost the overall signal.  That would be nice.  Sometimes it seems that signal just disappears.  The only reason I sold this pedal was because my board real-estate is always at a premium and it took up a little too much space for me to be comfortable with. Great sounding reverb though, I would own another one in a heart beat.

Ampeg SVP-PRO REVIEW

Alrighty so breaking up the pedal monotony (which is always fun, I admit), I thought I’d shake things up and introduce a review of this preamp. 

This preamp is basically the same circuit that is in Ampeg’s famed SVT PRO series heads (like the 2-Pro and 4-Pro specifically) with a few modern, and professional features.  

The controls on the front are pretty straight forward, but the EQ is powerful and versatile.  There is the now standard PAD control to buffer the input stage from hot active pickups and the proprietary MUTE switch (which mutes the every outgoing signal except for the “TUNER OUT” jack in the back for connecting the preamp to an auxiliary tuner (rack or otherwise).  

The GAIN and DRIVE controls work together to control the amount of preamp gain and overdrive that this preamp can deliver.  Trust me when I tell you that heavy overdriven tones are there a plenty. 

The front panel also boasts ULTRA LO, ULTRA HI, and BRIGHT switches that help boost their respective frequency ranges.  I am particularly partial to the BRIGHT switch on this preamp as it gives you that modern edge to the sound that I just love.  Next in line are the BASS, MIDRANGE (with a five position FREQUENCY knob) and the TREBLE knob.  Pretty standard stuff here.  Also for your tone shaping pleasure is the foot swtich selectable 9-Band graphic EQ, that has it’s own level control.  This is neat because you can either have it set to a subtle EQ change with a boost for soloing or whatever, or you can go really crazy and change your EQ drastically for different basses or styles of music.

One thing to note about this preamp is that it is not whisper quiet.  For one reason or another noise is just inherent in the design of this circuit.  I’m not sure why, but most people have commented on this at one point or another.  I have found, however, that if you put a lower gain tube in the V5 position (such as a 12AT7 or 12AU7) that the noise (which is similar to 60-cycle hum or white noise) is reduced to usable levels.  

Another way you can reduce the hum is to set the preamp to lower gain and drive levels and crank the master volume.  This also will give you an extraordinarily fat sound (a thick old school tone....awesome) that is just killer.  I think when the volume knob is past noon it really engages the tubes that are in the V4 and V5 positions that normally don’t add as much tube-y goodness to the signal.  Unfortunately, when I was using this preamp, I was paring it with my QSC PLX 1602 (highly recommended) and with that much power, close to 1600 watts at 4 ohms, having the master volume set that high on the preamp was just WAY TOO LOUD.  Like metal band loud.  Maybe if you had a bunch of cabinets or just a lower powered power amp it would be more of an option to crank the master like that.

It’s important to note that this hum and noise is only noticeable when you are not playing (or when no one else is playing).  As soon as you start playing, and the guitars and drums kick in, no one will ever be the wiser.  I gigged this way for close to three years like this and had zero issues.

Unfortunately, Ampeg stopped production on these preamps a few years ago (along with the SVP-CL, which I would love to have).  You can generally find these preamps in good condition on the used market for less than $450.

Peace,

-Colin

Fuzzrocious Dark Driving

Ok, first things first, my love affair with Fuzzrocious pedals.  I have been drooling over Fuzzrocious pedals ever since I first joined talkbass.com back in 2008 or so.  Fuzzrocious pedals are hand made by Ryan and are hand painted by his wife, Shannon.  Originally, Ryan made clones of pedals from General Guitar Gadgets (link) and came up with sweet new names for them (i.e. Green Stache, TS El Oso, Munch The Muffin, and many more).  Alas, they went on hiatus (seemingly for an indefinite amount of time) to focus on family and school.  Fortunately for the rest of us, Fuzzrocious came back online a few months ago and have started cranking out ridiculously good original designs (no more clones!).  So without further ado, the Dark Driving from Fuzzrocious pedals.

Direct from Fuzzrocious:

"DARK DRIVING is a dark, low gain overdrive based upon the BJFE Blue Berry Bass OD and Honey Bee OD. The trimmers are set at stock for the most amount of bass repsonse and gain. There is NO low end or mids loss with this pedal! There is a treble roll off, creating a "dark overdrive." You can tweak the internal trimmers to taste, close the box back up, and go about your business. The only knob you have to worry about is the external volume knob! Perfect for an "always on" OD!

• True bypass
• "Boss"-style power
• Hand-painted (black SPARKLE enclosure w/ different color planet and ring on each pedal)
• Built to order just for YOU
• External volume; internal trimmers - SET AND FORGET!
• Bright violet LED"

CONSTRUCTION:

Everything I'd hoped it be.  High quality components, clean soldering points.  The top mounted jacks are a blessing for super jammed pedal boards (like mine).  The switch is super sturdy and the volume knob is secure.  When my Dark Driving arrived in the mail from Fuzzrocious, although it was superbly packed (Ryan is well known for his packing and shipping abilities), the Violet LED had popped out of it's socket.  Easy enough fix, it popped right back into place.  Surely not  a built flaw.

GRAPHICS:

Shannon's designs are awesome!  Well painted, and whimsical.  Honestly it's one of the things that brings the most character to Fuzzrocious and it is what really brought them to my attention in the first place (apart from the killer sound clips).  Each Planet and ring on each Dark Driving that goes out is different so no two are alike!

TONE:

Dark.  Haha, that goes without saying, I guess, but there it is.  This pedals brings the beef.  There is plenty of volume on tap so you can get heavy enough to kill small children at twelve feet (not that we condone that here at MotherTone).  The two internal trim pots will go from virtually no low end and no gain, to doom.  I liked keeping the trim settings on the "factory" default: maxed.  

Overall, the tone of this pedal is immense.  Gobs of low end that refuses to get lost in the mix and with the hybrid setup (tube preamp, solid state power amp) that I had when this pedal was mine, added a thick tube-y growl.  I really wish that I still had this pedal, as I recently acquired an SVT-2-PRO (all tube) amp in a game of chance.  I think that they would pair really well together, with this pedal's ability to drive the power tubes into super sweet distortion.  At the time, however, this pedal was just a little too dark for my tastes.  I'm generally more into the snarling RAT type of distortion that has more bite and a little bit less "wooly-ness" to it.  Your mileage may vary.

What I really liked about this pedal, and that it is something that I honestly didn't fully explore when I had it, was your ability to clean up this overdrive with your bass' volume knob and/or a volume pedal.  My main bass (an Ibanez SR506) has two volume knobs so I don't use this option as much as I should.  

CUSTOMER SERVICE:

Some of the best in the business. You'd be hard pressed to find another builder that will take better care of you than Ryan at Fuzzrocious.  Only from boutique builders, and never from a conglomerates like Boss or Electro-Harmonix.  

Please go check out Ryan at Fuzzrocious.  Clips and Ordering information is on their website:

http://www.fuzzrociouspedals.com

More to come.

Dredge-Tone Angler

This pedal was sent to me via a TourBox from then man himself, John at Dredge-Tone.  This pedal is killer (so are tourboxs).  Thanks John!

So I had a practice and a show in the past two days of having the Angler, and I have to say that it is pretty sweet.

Construction is really solid, the knobs feel sturdy and the switch is confident.

I personally like the detents on the tone and dredge knobs. It satisfied some anxiety that I have about my knobs being changed en route to a gig. I can see how not being able to put the dredge knob in between lets say three and four might seem limiting to some, but I loved it.

I liked how the volume knob had plenty of gain on tap to compensate for lower dredge and/or tone settings. 

My favorite setting was a lowerer dredge setting (like 3 or 4 out of 10) and the tone knob just to the left of center. Great low-gain pedal. It really sounded killer in the band mix, but I didn't really care for it by itself (well let's just say it didn't blow me away). 

Let me say again though, that it did sound KILLER in the band mix. No low end loss, or loss of presence, even at high dredge settings.

http://www.dredgetone.com


Here are some links to other reviews:
Bryan R. Tyler's Clips
bigtexashonk's clips

TAFM VS Gnomeratron VTF (bass)

-->Battle Royal<--

Here is some more info on the Gnomeratron VTF from McSpunkle Gnome Works:

Gnomeratron VTF
SavingGrace's Sweet Mini-Review

And of course the Team Awesome! Fuzz Machine from smallsound / BigSound:

http://www.smallsoundbigound.com

Construction: Similar quality builds. Both well thought out and versatile. Solid aluminum construction on both, both ready to withstand years of service (enlistment in case of the Gnome army ).

Graphics: Both pedal's graphics are killer, IMO. The TAFM tourbox that I have momentarily is a bright yellow which adds some color to my board, but I bet the other color schemes (especially the bronze splattered ones) would be stunning as well. The Gnome on the other hand was also expertly applied and is amazing. One of the things that really sold me on the Gnome in the first place was the buyer's ability to choose from the 8 (!) killer graphics. Yes, I'm vain, yes, this was a huge selling point .

TONEZ: Alrighty here is what we've been waiting for. Battle Royal. Both of these pedals are versatile tone machines. I felt like more tones on the TAFM were instantly usable (I.E. fewer "dead" spots where something was lacking a bit), but that could be just because the Gnomeratron is SO incredibly tweakable that it takes longer to get fully comfortable with the settings, YMMV. 

What I mean is that like most users of the Gnome have probably encountered, some settings (or when switching settings) create lack of low-end weird, potentially unusable tones. I honestly think that this is mainly because of a lack of familiarity with the circuit and how all of the (extensive) controls affect the sound. The awesome thing about the Gnome is that those killer sounds are in there....all of them. Ever. 

When I got my TAFM in the mail, after a bit of knob twiddling, I quickly found my favorite setting (a grindy, articulate, ballsy fuzz). Then, in the interest of comparing all of my fuzzes, I started playing around with my Pickle Pie B and the Gnomeratron VTF. I was super excited when I found a very convincing imitation of the TAFM ballsy, grindy fuzz tone (I almost like it better, actually) on the Gnome. Needless to say I fell in love with the Gnome all over again. 

There is a ton of bass (low-end), a ton of beefy fuzz and a lot of awesome crammed into the Gnomeratron. This thing will get everything from heavy overdrive/rickenbacker tones (awesome), to brassmaster octave tones, to sweet muff tones..Its all in there you just have to be vigilant and find it.

Oh yeah, here is the settings for my new favorite tone on the VTF:

Clean(ish): 9 o'clock
Tone: 10:30 - 11 o'clock
Magic: Left (or right to taste)
Diode 1: Far Right
Diode 2: Far Right (but Far Left sounds really good for this too, adjust volume accordingly)
Octave: Right
Filter: Far Right
Fuzz: 2 o'clock
Gain: 11 - 11:30 
Gate: 2:30 o'clock
Tone: 8:30
Trim 1: 9 o'clock (looking straight at the trim knob) |
Trim 2: 2 o'clock (looking straight at the trim knob) |
Trim 3: 11 o'clock (looking straight at the trim knob) |<---Adjust the trims to taste/volume
Trim 4: 2 o'clock (looking straight at the trim knob) |

Again I have the "standard" gnome (Si, LED, Si, Ge)




Here are some more settings:


Ok here is a sweet muff (ish) tone:

Clean Blend: To taste
Tone: To Taste
Magic: Right
Diode 1: Right
Diode 2: Right
Octave: Left
Filter: Right
Fuzz: 1:30-2 (adjust with clean volume)
Gain: 10-11
Gate: 10-11
Tone: 9 o'clock

I have the "standard" Gnome (Si,LED,Si,Ge)

Also, a synth-y gated tone (sounds great with my noisebox):

Clean(ish): 10-10:30
Tone: 10:30-11
Magic: Left
Diode 1: Center
Diode 2: Left
Octave: Left (or right )
Filter: Right
Fuzz: 11-11:30
Gain: Noon
Gate: Maxed (well all the way before no sound comes out)
Tone: 2 o'clock




EDIT: I was also getting some SWEET metal-type overdrive tones out of this bad boy. Really gnarly grindy sounds that weren't fuzz per se, just awesome.