Manufacturer D*A*M
Model: Meathead Dark
MSRP/Paid: £155/$325
New/Used/Loan: Used
Battery: Yes
Power Supply: Yes
Size: 3″ W, 4.5″ L, 2.25″ D (Approx: including Jacks and knobs)
Available from: Vintage and Rare Guitars

From the maker:

For those of you who do not know and haven’t worked it out as yet. This is the Meathead “Dark” Named and brought back to life by teh good Pope and based upon the very early Meathead as used by the handsome fellows of Slomatics. These are heavier than the the bass heavy set of Black ‘n’ Gold Meatheads we sold a while back. These are HEVAY.

Quick history lesson.

The very very early Meatheads were basically a dark Overdrive booster. More closer to the Muff Fuzz than the Fuzz Face, which the present day Meat is obviously related too…though I could say its related to a Tone Bender MKI.5 or even a Vox Distortion Booster but that will confuse matters so I won’t.
It was intended just as simple kick up the asre box for a tube amp and kinda like an intro to D*A*M stuff for folks not wishing to take the gamble on our other gear. This idea didn’t last very long, well as long as it took until I scored a tasty 1970’s hammerite blue DMI Fuzz Face. This thing was a horrid chewy bastard and gated like hell fire but was somewhat endearing to me. I cloned the circuit in this pedal and tweaked it to how I saw fit. Louder, more gain, more focus, less noise. To quote: “Volume! Clarity! bass! We must have bass!” That pretty much sums up where I was taking things. Any ways, The stage was set. The Meathead was born for real. An ugly little purple bastard that would chew of your face, spit it out and then take a piss on it.

I starting selling the things on eBay and a few via the site. People were confused. “Its too loud!, how do I turn it down?, can’t you make one with two knobs?, can I have my money back? and so forth. One of the few guys that actually “got it” was David from Slomatics. This gave me great hope. Wow! This guy actually likes the pedal and digs that it has one knob. Its weird, when you start out in this game as you really only know what you like personally, I like simple pedals. One knob seemed obvious to me but it don’t mean that anyone will buy em.

The confusion gang was kinda out weighing the the getting it crowd so I eventually changed the Meathead to a more mid humped contraption. This was more aggressive than the current standard model and probably made matters worse. I eventually found a middle ground, which wasn’t until say 2007, where the standard became as such. Plenty meat but with enough salad to make it palatable.

So the Dark. A beast from days gone by. This is how the Meathead (proper) was meant to be. No salad, nah fuck it, no dressing or ketchup even, just a huge slab of raw bloody horribleness.

I guess I have just been the divining rod in this affair. This nasty little fucker wants to exist so allow it to be so.

And no you can’t have a switch fitted to switch between the two flavours! That isn’t the point. That pig won’t fly.

Initial thoughts:

I’m a D*A*M whore and this pedal is just another symptom of that condition. It’s the rare pedal that I keep around for the long haul, as I’m fickle. When something isn’t working for me, regardless of its cool factor, it has to go. That has been the case with all of the D*A*M pedals I’ve had since the Ram Head (my precious), but I’ve got high hopes for this little guy.

Manufacturer:Sonic VI
Model: Champion Fuzz Unit
MSRP/Paid: ?/$150
New/Used/Loan: New
Battery: Yes
Power Supply: Yes
Size: 6″ X 2.75″ X 3.5″  (Approx including jacks and knobs)
Available from: Direct

From the maker:

The SonicVI Champion Fuzz Unit, the only exact clone of the vintage and rare Barnes and Mullins Fuzz Unit (aka:B&M Fuzz Unit, Barnes and Mullins Champion Fuzz, G.B. Fuzz Unit, CMI Fuzz Unit, Protraffic Fuzz Unit).

Initial thoughts:

This is a pedal that just randomly appeared in my universe…. maybe it was kismet. SonicVI was doing a small run of this pedal and posted on the D*A*M forum about making them available. The pedigree seemed nice, the build quality looked impressive, and the price was more than reasonable. I waited patiently and got excited when my name came up on the list. My initial reservations about the size of the pedal and the layout quickly melted away as I began to explore the fuzzy bliss…

Manufacturer: Lovetone
Model: Cheese Source
MSRP/Paid: Out of Production / Trade
New/Used/Loan: Used
Battery: Yes
Power Supply: Yes
Size: 8″ X 8″ X 3.25″ (Approx including jacks and knobs)
Available from:Used

From the maker:

SOURCE
The Source is an instant flash-back to that dynamic, singing late 60’s / early 70’s brown sound that is associated with countless classic records spanning the whole musical spectrum. It offers unparalleled purity and touch sensitivity and an uncannily warm “valvey” grunt with the absence of the unnatural fizz associated with most overdrive pedals. It imparts a tangible sense of electricity (so prized by samplists in vintage recordings and so elusive with computer-based technology and will make any new guitar or bass sound 40 years older!

Three classic ways to use the Source with a guitar are for snap crackle and “pop” into a clean amp, dripping fat into a cooking amp and controlled feedback with singing harmonics into a driven amp. On bass, its soft rounded distortion and inherent compression makes it reminiscent of the toneful and plummy psych era bass sounds. In the studio it can perform amazing transformations and blended with the straight signal can be used to add a touch of dirt and girth to those unfashionable clean cut sounds!

CHEESE
The Cheese is a loving homage to the buzzy, gorgeous and harmonically rich early fuzz. However, while having many of the classic characteristics that every fuzz fan will relate to it goes beyond to create an absolutely distinct character of its own. Its innovative controls can take it from almost “gated” break-up to overkill of shred proportions. Far from being just a guitar effect the Cheese is eminently useful for seeing to any sound with the temerity to be naff (with particularly amusing consequences in the lower regions). To lovers of “furrrzze bass” it offers thunderous, buttock-clenching mayhem. The Cheese works exceptionally well in the fx loop of the Meatball and can transform virtually any instrument into a super-squelchy synth with no tracking worries (especially with an octaver immediately before it for the classic double octave effect).

Initial thoughts:

I acquired this pedal in a trade and it’s been lurking here in the periphery for a bit. It’s one of the pedals that presents so many options that it causes problems for me to capture the feeling of it with a couple of minutes of video and a couple of dozen words. That isn’t to say I won’t try, but it’s always with a bit of hesitation that I tackle these types of pedals.

Manufacturer: Copilot FX
Model: Orbit
MSRP/Paid: $160
New/Used/Loan: Loan
Battery: No
Power Supply: Yes
Size: 4 5/8″ x 2 1/2″ x 1 1/2″ deep (Aprox including jacks and knobs)
Available from:Dealers

From the maker:

Orbit is an Frequency Modulated Fuzz, offering plenty of control to hack around some interesting, wacky, spaceship, laser guns type of sounds.

How does it works? the frequency of the note at the input will move back and forth the center/reference point of the VCO, the result is mixed together so both frequencies (signal and VCO) will interact and will force the output of the incoming frequency to vary it’s frequency (the total amount of of modulation will be the difference of both signals). Orbit is only powered via a 9v DC adapter (center negative as most pedals – boss, digitech, etc) there are no options for battery usage.

Features.

• Dimensions 4 5/8″ x 2 1/2″ x 1 1/2″.
• Volume, Freq, Mix, Exp and Int controls.
• Expression Pedal Jack to control Frequency.
• Powered only by DC 9v power Jack (center negative).
• Jacks on top to save pedalboard space
• TrueBypass Switching and Led Indicator.
• Lifetime warranty

Manufacturer: Wounded Paw Effects
Model: Battering Ram
MSRP/Paid: $175/$100
New/Used/Loan: New
Battery: Yes
Power Supply: Yes
Size: 5” Wide, 3 5/8” Tall, 2” deep(Aprox including Jacks and knobs)
Available from:Direct

From the maker:

Battering Ram Overdrive+Fuzz for Guitar and Bass
Stomp on the OVERDRIVE switch and you turn the pedal on and activate the overdrive section. It’s a smooth overdrive which can go from completely clean to growling distortion.
The LO switch adds in the lower frequencies to make it full-range for bass as well as guitar.
The HI knob lets you either boost or cut the highs to dial in the tone you want.

Stomp on the FUZZ switch and the fuzz section gets added on top of the overdrive sound. This is a parallel processed pedal which means the fuzz section works from the clean guitar signal and gets mixed with the overdrive instead of one section following the other like in most 2 stage pedals.
The fuzz is a snarling, raspy beast which can get right out of control if you crank up the SUSTAIN. The deep lows are filtered out to keep it tight and bright. The TONE control goes from high-end cut to flat to a mid-cut, high end boost. And for another set of sounds there is the OCT switch to change the fuzz section into an octave up fuzz. Crazy.

This pedal can be used in a number of ways. Have the overdrive on all the time for your basic tone and stomp on the fuzz for that important bridge, chorus or solo. Or use both sections to shape your distortion sound. Use the overdrive for the lower frequencies to keep the growl without getting muddy and use the fuzz for the searing top end. Or keep the overdrive section tame and use the fuzz section with the octave switch on to add that one bit of octave up. True Bypass