Robot Factory Tentacle Love Super Fuzz!

Robot Factory Tentacle Love Super Fuzz

Alrighty, so this pedal was co-designed by Grygryx over at BassFuzz.com in an attempt to produce the ultimate bass fuzz pedal.  Whether or not they succeeded in creating that pedal is subject to debate as well as personal taste, but I was able to get my hands on one of these pedals for a month or so and got to know it pretty well.  According to the initial release from bassfuzz.com:

BassFuzz.com (October 26, 2008):

• 
  Things are moving along very well in the fuzz project I have underway with Mario of Robot Factory Pedal Co and I thought it was time to start the sharing. Here is a photo of the prototype for the ‘Tentacle Love Super-Fuzz'.
  This pedal is a melding of my lust for bass friendly fuzz and his wild mechanical genius. This pedal is born from the Shin-Ei Superfuzz, but to call it a clone is doing a disservice to what is going on here. Here are a few highlights:

• Buzzwords: True bypass, buffered, clean-blend
• Both modes of the Superfuzz are available via a stomp (with a light to inform you what mode you are in).
• Each mode has it's own adjustable volume.
• The Timbre control will manipulate the amount octave up signal in ‘Saw' mode.
• Small enclose with top mounted jacks and power (note: no battery inside… NO ROOM!).

• 
  There are some other details I'll address as we get a even closer. Our goal is to provide a kick-ass heavy fuzz (not subtle fuzz) with a wide range of flexibility. An initial run 10 pedals will be produced to ‘test the waters.' Details of timing and price will be worked out shortly.

More info over on the Effects Database!

CONSTRUCTION:

The knob to pedal-size ratio is pleasantly high with this ultra boutique pedal and with top mounted in and out jacks, it takes up virtually no room on your pedal board.  This pedal is actually about the size of an MXR sized pedal (a la the Phase 90) except that it is aligned horizontally, and maybe just a bit wider.  The fact that they were able to cram six knobs and two switches into such a small pedal says a TON about Robot Factory’s attention to detail.  Super sturdy true-bypass switches round out this little guy.

One interesting thing to note is that the skinny MXR sized enclosure that is pictured above was only done for a short while.  Unfortunately due to time and insanity constraints, the guys and gals over at Robot Factory decided to move to a bigger enclosure like this one:

TONE

It’s hard to describe a super fuzz variant if you haven’t heard one before.  It isn’t very similar to a classic “muff” type fuzz sound.  There is a much harsher, snarl to the fuzz that is very in-your-face and biting with a bit of octave up, not laid back, smooth and creamy.  If that makes any sense.  

So the right foot switch on the TLSF bypasses your signal (on and off, duh), while the left foot switch toggles between “Saw” and “Hook” mode.  Try and think of it like the Saw mode being the “standard” tone and the Hook mode to be in addition to this sound. 

The two controls in the middle of the six knobs are master controls for both sides of the pedal, with the Clean Blend control balancing your dry and wet (or effected) signal and the Fuzz knob controlling the total drive or gain level of the pedal.  On the Saw side of the pedal there is a volume knob (each side gets it’s own independent level control) and a Timbre control.  The Timbre knob controls the amount of the fundamental relative to the octave up in the fuzz signal.  In addition to the volume level control on the Hook side of the pedal, there is the Filter control.  The Filter knob controls the amount of mid-scoop depth.  It is important to note that the Hook side of the pedal is set for maximum octave up regardless to what setting the Timbre control is set to on the Saw side of things.  You can also use an expression pedal to control the amount of mid-scoop in real time!

FINAL THOUGHTS: BYE BYE

So at least based on this pedal, I think that the super fuzz sound is just not what I’m looking for in a fuzz pedal.  As I said before this pedal is very in-your-face and I think is better suited for lead-ish runs and snarling riff-age, not DOOM.    I thought that the Filter setting did do a decent job of getting more of a muff type of tone, but I didn’t think that it was what this pedal was really shooting for.  I loved the independent volume controls for each setting and I really liked the way that you could switch from one mode to the other while the pedal was bypassed and thanks to the LEDs, you could tell exactly which  mode you were in.  Very handy.

You can pick up the newer (brand new!) version of the Tentacle Love Super Fuzz direct from Robot Factory HERE.  Of course, it will be the larger enclosure, and it will be $250 plus shipping (ouch).  If you are patient and look around, you can find the “Talkbass.com Edition” mini TLSF for sale on ebay and on TB’s effects sale forums from $200 to $250.  Mine made it’s way all the way to Australia.  Happy Hunting!