This appeared at my house yesterday and I did a little dance of joy. It’s fun to get mail! It’s more fun to get mail when it’s fuzzy!

From the maker:

SANFORD & SONNY BLUEBEARD DISTORTION/FUZZ PEDAL:
The Sanford & Sonny BlueBeard Fuzz/Distortion is a true-bypass pedal for bass or guitar that won’t lose the low end when engaged and won’t rob any of your signal when bypassed!

Controls are Volume, Tone, and Distortion — simple, and to the point.

This is NOT a clean boost — this is NOT a chilled-out blues overdrive. This pedal is designed to destroy and obliterate!! Think Cliff Burton with more low end or the sound of a Sunn Model T catching on fire and you’ll have a pretty good idea of what the BlueBeard sounds like.

It features a 9V negative tip jack for easy pedalboard integration.

Additionally I surfing around for info, I found the following quote attributed to Sonny, which explains a lot.

“Hello my name is Sonny friend of Surachai. I would like to clear up some things. Along time ago i tried a 70’s lamb’s head big muff that sounded very girthsome for bass. The guy Brian would not sell it too me but let me take it to Alfonso Hermida (www.hermidaaudio.com) to copy so that i could have a true bypass version with a barrel type power supply and a sturdier more beer proof hammond box. I am not an electrical wizard ALL credit goes to Alfonso. Alfonso said he had a friend who could make the PCBoards in small batches of ten this man’s name is JD Sleep El Presidente of generalguitargadgets www.generalguitargadgets.com Once i heard the prototype and a few changes were made my one pedal was going to be a batch of ten as I had several friends who wanted one. JD wanted to move into eventually making pedals full time and we struck a price for 10 assembled. Years and many pedals later I still do not have a web site just a myspace. JD makes pedals for lots of people and oh yeah the lack of paint… When I had the first ten no one wanted to wait for them to be painted and i didn’t want something cheap that would just flake off like alot of projects i had seen I think it would make the build seem cheap. So i looked into powder coating and with every batch i had people waiting saying no just give it to me and after 50 pedals and def after 100 I gave up on the idea of painting them and the idea of engraving or stamping did not work out so well. So I have nothing to hide and all I do is sell to friends and people who hear about me through friends. I pay JD to make the pedals. I do not. There are alot of things to talk about in the world and alot of things to spend time doing on the net but when anyone asks I tell them JD built it and if you get something you want built he is THE man he is now able to build pedals full time for alot of other people. I pass the pedal on to people who want it and in the, i guess 5 years i have been doing this I have always said if this pedal does not work with YOUR rig then you can return it for a 100% refund the only people I have had problems with is some dude that bought through Atomic and was more concerned about hatin online when he could have gotten his money back in full. I do not say that this pedal is the end all be all I waited for the EH BM reissue i even stupidly waited for the line 6 distortion modeler before i made it. I like to use an EQ after but not everyone does that is why i make it as a replacement fdor all the thin black eh out there. I like the green ones but the backdoors and the switches sucking oh yeah and being hella spensive. Well I never pretended to be anything other than a nerd looking for the best bass sound ever I talked to Mike Matthews about the buckets of parts put into the 70’s pedals there is a wide variety of parts in them all and the pedal i copied had aged a few years I am trying to build a pedal for people who want a solid pedal that will not crap out on them in ten years and will be just as awesome when they are old. man i hate typing. I have only taken out one ad and that was for an independent publication… I do NOT want to sell to crappy blues smooth overdrive guys I want to sell to people who kill kill kill. I am not putting out myself as anything other than a conduit. if you don’t like the taste don’t drink the water. I am not gonna proof read this I have to go play bass now nite nite Metal, Sonny”

From the maker:

Why the ‘Destruction Device’:
there’s kind of a story there. the other pedal that i make is called a catastrofuzz and has a bunch of knobs and switches on it.the destruction device is like a stripped down catastrofuzz and so i didn’t wanna just call it like “minor inconvenience fuzz” or anything. so my brain trust settled on destruction device because the pedal has sooo much output on tap.

the only unconventional thing about the pedal is the gain control – it will add a bit of bottom end,gain and a little compression as it is turned up.

i sell direct usually and the destruction device is 100.00 + shipping.you have your choice of white, sparkle red or sparkle blue on the enclosure and led color included in that price.there are several mods i can do to that pedal and i usually try to cut people a break if they want to have it tweaked from stock configuration and will do that once or twice for the cost of shipping.
the best way to contact me on the web is via email :
ianbleague@gmail.com

that’s a set model but, i’m always tweaking things so if i see something one of my pedals needs i won’t hesitate to change it.

For more on Ian from Guttermouth, and his interests and ideas he was kind enough to do an interview as well.

1- When did you get started with electronics?

when i was a kid i guess.i was one of those kids that like to pull things apart to see how they work.
i got serious about it in my teens and early 20’s. i was a recording engineer and went to college
for electronics engineering so i could fix my own equipment.the studio folded and the repair business kind of took over.

2- Where did the name of your company come from?

actually, a friend just suggested it one day. i liked the way it sounded so i kept it.

3- What’s your favorite effect made by someone else?

i’m kind of mental for the early 80’s small box rats with no l.e.d.. they sound great regardless of the amp
you play them through and they’re insanely well built.

4- What’s the favorite effect you make?

recently i’ve been using the catastrofuzz for all my dirt/fuzz needs and i dif it quite a bit.

4.5- Favorite Fuzz

it would be a toss up between the aforementioned rats and catastrofuzz.i’m a sucker for overdriven
marshall type tones and like pedals that can do that sound as well as go a little into
fuzz territory as well.

5- What instruments do you play? Skill level at each?

drums – my father is a drummer and i started getting lessons before i can remember.
guitar- i’m proficient i guess.i’ve been playing for about 20 years.
bass – started playing bass between drums and guitar some time.i’m ok at best.
banjo,lap steel,piano – i’m terrible at all of these but enjoy playing them anyway.

6- Is making effect pedals your primary gig? If not, what is?

no.i’m a repair guy. i do mostly tube audio repairs and tube amp builds.effects pedals have become
a huge part of what i do over the last couple of years. i enjoy building pedals though and do it
whenever i have time.

7- Do you think about bass players before or after you prepare a circuit?

definitely before.there are issues specific to low frequency heavy instruments and certain
things i want to hear from a bass effect. so it’s always easiest for me to start out with a specific
goal in mind and work from there.

8- How many pedals do you sell a month?

it varies pretty wildly due to the way i operate.i would hazard to guess on average 10-12.

9- Triplet :

• E-bay: Savior or Curse?

curse

• Bassplayers: Foreground or Background?

foreground,of course.

• Color: Chartreuse or Magenta?

magenta

10- Any cool products in the pipeline you want to share?

not really at the moment – i’ve always got ideas but it may be a while before i get to implement them.

11- Anything else you want to add?

just want to say thanks to you for your site. it’s always awesome to meet a fellow fuzz junkie.