Fuzzrocious Grey Stache

Fuzzrocious GREY STACHE

Here is another pedal from the lovelies over at Fuzzrocious: The Grey Stache.  I’m not really sure where they got the whole mustache thing from...except that beards are SOOOO in right now.  All I know is that the original General Guitar Gadgets muff clones that they used to build were called the Green Stache, so this is a natural extension of that line of thought.

Metaphysics (What is it?):

As I said before, the Grey Stache is the natural evolution of the GGG-Tuned Big Muff that Ryan used to build in the (pre)historic days of Fuzzrocious.  He took the basic circuit and blended it with the circuit from a  “Civil War” Sovtek Muff (the battle tank green one, that everyone loves).  He kept what he liked and got rid of the rest leaving one awesome fuzz in its place.  He also added a Mids knob to the circuit that helps give you a BIG boost in the mid-range frequencies so that you don’t disappear in the mix.

Knobblies (How you Control it):

The Grey Stache has four knobs, a three position switch and two stomp switches.  From left to right on the top row the knobs are Volume, Tone, Sustain and the bottom row holds the Mids knob.  The tree position switch toggles between the two different diodes in the clipping section...but if it is a three position switch..........I KNOW DAMN IT WE’LL GET TO THAT.............right.  Where was I? 

The three positions are as follows: left is a set of silicon diodes, the middle position is without either set of diodes engaged (there, happy?) and the right position brings a set of LEDs into the clipping section. 

The switch on the right of the pedal is the standard bypass switch, cleverly enough, it is labeled “bypass.”  The switch on the left is either a switch that bypasses the tone stack of the pedal destroying eardrums and killing small animals at ten feet, or it the switch forces the fuzz into oscillation depending on where the Sustain knob is set.  The coolest part about the ordering of the Grey Stache was (as in not in production anymore, we’ll get to that, too) that you could choose whether you wanted the tone stack bypass modification, or the oscillation mod.  Very cool.  

My pedal I got used from Behndy over on Talkbass, and he had his Stache especially ordered with a momentary foot switch instead of the standard latching foot switch.  This is really neat because you can toggle in the oscillation into your signal when you want it.  NEAT.

TONEZ (How does it sound?):

Let’s start with the silicon clipping section.  Silicon diodes are the sort that are traditionally used in most Big Muff’s and their variations.  Silicon diodes are more compressed, with less overall volume, but they are nice and warm.  Perfect for a muff, right?  This setting has all of your traditional muff tones in it.  With the Tone and Mids knobs pulled back a little bit you can get a really smooth sounding muff tone.  Classic.  Cranking the Tone and Mids brings the signal back into your face without every wanting to leave.  Killer.

The middle toggle switch without any diodes engaged in the clipping section creates a big jump in overall volume (good thing there is an output volume control, huh?).  This mode is fuller and bass-y-er, but not quite as warm as the silicon section.  Disengaging both sets of diodes also reduces the overall gain on the circuit which I liked because it let me dial back the amount off fuzz and clean things up a bit.  

The third clipping section uses a LEDs (yep, just like in everything else) to create a loud, brash and open sounding fuzz.  This was probably my favorite setting on the fuzz and with the Mids and Tone knobs cranked gave you a really snarling sound that I is really great for quick riffs.  I kind of wish I was a pick player, because I have a feeling that this setting would be killer for that sound.  

Now for the oscillation.  The oscillation on this version of the Grey Stache is completely dependent on the setting of the Sustain knob.  Anything lower than 7 (out of 10 or maybe 2 o’clock) won’t really sound like much.  The pedal will feed back if you are next to your speakers (awesome), though.  Pushing the sustain towards max causes the circuit to emit this really awesome feedback oscillation that really sounds wild.  It isn’t really like what happens when a digital or analog delay starts to get into infinite repeats.  It is more like you gain the ability to control the frequency of the feedback.  Sweet.

This pedal is, alas, no longer in production (limited runs are sooooo boutique), but fortunately for everyone Ryan redesigned and expanded the circuit into his Grey Stache PLUS.  You gain (see what I did there) the ability to send the Grey Stache Plus into oscillation on a toggle where it automatically throws the oscillation and sustain on full.  Sick.  Let’s just say, I WANT IT.

Also, coming up is a review of the MOMSTER.  Another Fuzzrocious beast of a pedal that is like a higher gain version of the Grey Stache, with a built in Gate.  

As always, feel free to send me an comments, criticisms, or concerns.

-Colin (mothertonegear@gmail.com)