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BlackHatSound - Vintage Fuzz with NOS Transistors and Bias Control
BlackHatSound - Vintage Fuzz with NOS Transistors and Bias Control
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£380.00 GBP
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£380.00 GBP
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This is a variation of my 183Sound Fuzz with an added external bias control.
A high octane fuzz with more grainy, vocal, on edge tone reminiscent in tone of the Mk1 Tonebender. However to clear up some confusion this is NOT a MK1 circuit, it just has some of the snarl and attitude of it. ('Tonebender' is a trademark of Solosound Ltd -they are also awesome)
This unique fuzz uses a matched pair of super rare vintage 'New Old Stock' ME4003 TO106 cased, 'Blackhat' transistors from the 1970s, creating a pedal that sounds full, musical and full of force. Its a very pick sensitive fuzz, letting your guitars character show through, there are many usable tones when dialling back the guitars volume control. There is also thunderous bass available with the bass switch in the up position and the tone has enough mids to be heard in the mix, but not to many to sound muddy. The bias control can go from smooth and flowing Gillmor tones, though voltage sag on the front of the note and a gated finish, think Neil Young buckling his Tweed Deluxe, spitty, saggy, huge and glorious, to the nasal Fuzztone in the intro to the Rolling Stones Satisfaction.
While it sounds killer with any guitar, however this circuit really lifts humbucker type guitars adding lots of pick attack and presence.
The bias control has a very smooth sweep and acts more like a contour or filter, until the last 20% where the tone starts to gate and break up, at this end you will find some very convincing FZ1 Fuzztones - especially with the bass cut activated.
This pedal has chewy broken tone in the lower register, still keeping plenty of the huge bass these pedals are known for as you play further up the neck, the notes clear and get sweeter but still keep their 'cut' in the mix. It also cleans up fairly well from your guitars volume pot , however the note decay does finish slightly more gated. If you need to take out some bass there is an output cap switch that will limit the bass (a little), this pedal is also great to use with a bass guitar too, as the low frequency headroom is insane with the bass cut on full.
In all if you like your Fuzz messy and squelchy but still with plenty of tight bass this is the pedal for you.
I build these fuzz pedals in my garden workshop in Northamptonshire UK. This includes painting, drilling, and acid etching my design onto the enclosures. Constructing the entire circuit ‘Point to Point’ only using the components, theres no boards or circuit traces to dilute your signal purity. I finish the entire pedal to a standard that I think looks as good inside, as it sounds on the outside. It might be covered up but when you’re in that moment you KNOW the mojo you have under the hood.
Please be aware, these are totally hand built and so there might me some slight cosmetic variation between each pedal. The acid etching process produces a gunmetal patina on the enclosure with will vary from pedal to pedal. This is most noticeable on the sides and imparts a unique character to each pedal. Tonally, I play each one to make sure they sound as good as the first one, before signing off, no tone generator, no gadgets – just a telecaster and my ears.
Please note, all my silicon pedals have a boss style 2.1 center negative DC jack only, there is no battery snap. Silicon transistors are not sensitive to DC supply type unlike their germanium counterparts.
J
It's like an endless well of Dark Matter to readily dip into. The Black Hat Sound can go from gnarly sputtery velcro type fuzz to a thick doomy harmonically rich fuzz with resounding low end, all the while retaining it's clarity. The craftsmanship is just on another level, absolutely some of the best handy work you'll ever see in a Point 2 Point handmade pedal.
Thanks Markus!!
F
Une pédale fantastique, rien qu'avec le réglage de bias la multitude de textures que l'on obtient est incroyable. Très certainement ma meilleure fuzz. Encore un travail incroyable. Merci Markus et Izzy pour votre excellent job.
K
I have looked forward to having one of your pedals for a long time, I was really excited I was able to get a BlackHatSound at the last minute. While I’m not a huge fuzz guy, your pedal sounds fantastic. It’s going on the board and it’s a piece of art. Wonderful cteation, thank you.
Kelly
B
Lovely grit! Musical fuzziness. I love it. Harmonics abounding. A dash of crunch and a dash of compression and a dash of overtones. Auditory sweetness. I think my favorite so far.
B
Fantastic pedal!
M
Love my new BlackHatSound Fuzz…amazing powerful tones, my fellow band members noticed right away! I live in U.S and and the shipping and customer service was great as if it was sent to me locally. Can’t say enough good things about this pedal and brand will be looking to add more pedals for them!
D
What can I say, my fourth Reeves pedal this year, I’m addicted. These pedals are works of art and sound amazing!
Thank you Markus!
G
My Black Hat Sound took a while to get here but it was completely worth the wait, and instantly I was able to appreciate the time and craft Markus and team put into their creations. These pedals look fantastic.
One of the thickest - clearest - fuzz tones I've ever heard! The range of the knobs is quite something and I couldn't get a bad sound out of it(not that I was trying!) -and that's with the volume around 3 on my Magnatone combo.
The only problem I have is that I also have a Facet IZ- also exceptional - and I can't put both first in the chain on my board! A good problem to have for sure - and a great reason to start a second board ;-)
J
The tone, craftsmanship and quality
M
Absolute beast of a fuzz, believe the hype! Mick and Dan aren't usually wrong, and they weren't with this either. Inspirational.
M
From the moment I plugged my black hat sound in I knew it was something special. It is a really cool combination of comfortable and relatable, and totally unique. The fact that it's also a piece of art, from the outside etching, to the interior wiring, makes it one of my favorite purchases for guitar gear ever. And as a any good guitar player, I've made a lot of purchases.
J
What an absolute monster tone!
Most people can't help but comment when they see the beautifully detailed and pristine guts of all of the Reeves pedals and (purely aesthetically) they are sublime. The level of craftsmanship and care inside is verging on the ridiculous.. but that's not what these pedals are about.
The BlackHatSound has got to be one of the meatiest silicon fuzz pedals out there. It certainly dwarfed the two highly regarded (and expensive) ones I had in my collection before*. The tone is perfectly balanced. There's real weight to the sound but without losing the snarling mids and crispy top end. If you've got a bass heavy rig or want to leave some sonic space for your bassist then the bass reduction switch is also really well balanced. It reduces the bass without leaving a thin or anaemic compromised sound.
So, yes.. I'm a fan! Thank you Marcus for creating such an instant classic.
* I like those pedal builders too much to name names ;)
s
Beauty and the beast! Beauty staring up at me from the etched design, and full on beast mode when you step in it.
It’s hard to believe that such a stunning work of art can overwhelm the rest of my pedals so much, but it does just that.
If you’re looking for ‘one to rule all’ this is the weapon.
S
The guys at That Pedal Show are right; this thing has a special feel to it. There's a ton of volume on tap but I'm not a super loud player, so I was a little worried that my Princeton set at 3 just wouldn't do the Black Hat Sounds justice.
I may not be tapping it's full potential but I can report there are glorious sounds aplenty at low volume.
Sweeping the bias knob took me from gated spitty knarley tones all the way up to full singing lead lines. A slide will bring out incredible definition and some really beautiful tones. But there are a lot of different and useable sounds across the entire range of that bias.
Of course the build quality is just stunning. True art in a box. Everything from the visual design and etch work to the point-to-point wiring is done by Mr. Reeves and it is worth the price of admission on it's own. The sound feels like something living and breathing under your fingers and I truly connect with it.
P
This things a beut! You could clear your bank account trying to find another mark one of this quality. And if you had to pay the price for that alternate you would. It has great attack and definition, nice distortion around the edges. And with the bass cut switch it really gets nice maestro tones except not thin and irritating like the original. And it passes the cave test. Put it through my custom vibrolux which has 10" speakers and reduced negative feedback and it caved just enough to get "the sound" but still clean in the right frequency range to put the note through. So unless you're railing out on a little Princeton or something you won't have anything to worry about with this little wonder. But any amp with headroom and decent size speakers and you're set for life.