Conclusion:
Here is a pedal that that is wildly capable of a ton of fuzz types. The span of the drive knob when combined with gating and clean blend provide nearly limitless possibilities as to the layers of fuzz that can be provided. Thick compressed synth fuzz and wild sloppy are equally available, AND everything everything in between.
There are few points of concern that one might have about this pedal. One is pretty obvious, where is the tone knob? It would be nice to shift the frequency a bit to really pop the sound “your way”.
The second concern is more of an observation, and I’m unsure how I really feel about it. The gate of the pedal occurs before the clean is blended back into the signal. This means that if you dial in a high gate setting and a very audible clean amount you get sounds that sustain to different lengths (with the fuzz signal cutting off first) or the opposite if you use a big compressed fuzz sound that sustains.
The last thing is that because the pedal doesn’t have a master volume, it can be a little difficult to both dial in the sound you are looking for, and then adjust it to the volume level you want to achieve without changing the sound in the process.
Those niggles aside, this is probably the greatest example of combined versatility and great sound of any fuzz I’ve tried to date. It’s hard to be good at nearly everything, but the Chunk Systems Brown Dog makes it look pretty easy. A truly fine example of design and functionality, I look forward to trying some of their other pedals in the future.
As always, if you have any questions, leave a comment or let me know
Note: A rating of 5 = acceptable and should considered a ‘good’ basic score
Versatility: 8
Sound: 7
Value: 5 High Price, Great Options
Overall: 7
| View all items... | (Powered by: WPeBayAds) |
very informative. i knew very little on this box before this review. i thought the Brown Dog looked a bit bulky and the color scheme did not catch eye. Shows me how much emphasis i place on design appearance. :) The fuzz possibilities sound fantastic, and you show the construction to be functional. It is that price tag that however, that will keep this great fuzz from joining my ranks any time soon.