El Rey Effects Fuzz de la Muerte Test Review
The Last (Standard) Fuzz You´ll Ever Need.
Preface:
Good
day to all of you Fuzz lovers out there. Over the course of the last 3
years I had the pleasure to operate A LOT of drive pedals. This blog is
supposed to help you find not only your sound, but also a device that is
well built, nice looking and - ideally - affordable.
Doesn't this piece of hardware look neat? The white metal housing with the cool and imaginative artwork on top of it hits it right home for me. Sex sells they say and I understand that this pedals visual message is a little bit chauvinistic, but I am a man. What can I do?
The knobs on the other hand are not so much to my liking. For a $200+ (this pedal was mainly sold on the US market) they feel a bit rough around the edges and they look sort of cheap as well. What they can do however is make you visually and haptically feel what setting they're at, I'll give 'em this much.
Both switches (the small hand operated and the big one) have a nice and clicky feel to it. The on/off-switch needs no labelling in my opinion but a bit more than "Color" for the other one would have been nice. More to that later, though!
El Rey Effects is a family business - rather small and unfortunately almost unbeknownst to us Europeans. I guess that the following gutshot won't suprise you because of that:
Wow, hand-wiring this time - neat! I fully know that audio-wise it doesn't have this much of an impact. I just like to think that someone sat in front of the pedal and spent time with it, maybe even play-tested it. Someone with a bit of knowlege on how to build these things and a tad passion as well.
To make it short - this pedal is built like a tank. But I am still looking for one that isn't (please let's take these hideous Behringer ones out of the equation). It looks nice and it feels premium. So far, so good!
The key to unlocking all of these variants is the Color-switch on the upper right hand side of the pedal, right below Tone and Volume. Let me enlighten you:
a) Position 1 (switch up): The Fuzz de la Muerte produces a rather smooth distortion that turns into a well balanced fuzz at about 1 o'clock on the Fuzz knob. Sound-wise it is pretty malleable by using the Tone-poti, but the general voicing reminds me of the Hoof fuzz by Earthquaker Devices.
b) Position 2 (switch centered): This is pure, bass-starved dirt. The mids are raised slightly and this means that this Color (voicing) is ideal for your velcro sound. Feel free to experiment with the Gate knob at your pleasure!
c) Position 3 (switch down): When putting the toggle switch to this latch while still have a signal going through the pedal, you notice a significant low-end crackling that seemingly doesn't go away. This is your bass section that is now boosted to Big Muff levels of awesome. This Color in general reminds me of the old Russian EHX/Sovtek pedals. It sounds fat, snarly, nasty, has lots of sustain added to it and the attack is smoothed out. It's my personal favourite!
So what did we learn? The Fuzz de la Muerte is crazy versatile. All the knobs interact with each other and when putting the Tone poti to 12 o'clock, the low, mid and high frequencies are mostly flat, depending on the exakt Color setting you chose. This means, that you can use this pedal with the guitar and bass of your liking. It also takes drop down tunings really well!
Let me try to explain the exact functionality of each knob as good as I can (some of them are hardly self-explanatory).
I) Level In: This is sort of a pre-gain through which you can attune the fuzz pedal to your guitar and pickup selection (lower it for hot humbuckers, center it for unity gain or up it if you have low-output single coils). The Level In also helps if you want to dial in a smooth (lower it) or sharp (raise it) attack.
II) Gate: This one seems to be clear but there is more behind it. First, if you want to disable the noise-gate entirely, turn the poti fully "up" (to the right). Lowering it engages the effect and cranks it up. Let me take a wild guess guess here and tell you that the Gate is also bound to a Volt or Starve funtion as well. Tonally it really reminds me of my EHX Germanium 4 Big Muff.
III) Fuzz: This determines the amount of drive in your sound. Since the fuzz of this pedal is rather fix and constant, this knob acts more like a blend adjustor on other pedals. Pro tip: turn this poti fully down for a really nice clean sound with just a bit of crackling around the edges. Pure boutique bliss!
IV) Tone: Rather classy. Lower it for bassy sounds, center it for leaving the frequencies of your signal almost unchanged (see Color-switch above), raise it for nice upper mids and lots of sparkly, distorted trebles. Attune it to your liking - it works really intuitively and nice.
V) Volume: Your standard master-out. Nothing fancy here.
I can wholeheartedly recommend turning the Gate knob left (up). This dials in a cranky and spluttery upper octave as well as a nice synth sound on the higher settings. Pre-boost the pedal while having the Gate on (poti to the left) for some really rough, scratchy tones.
At the end of this paragraph I decided to include a "What doesn't this pedal do?"-section. Off we go: the Fuzz de la Muerte can't really produce a defined overdrive sound and I would not recommend it to anyone looking for a compressed, gated Djent-machine. The aforementioned distortion is not Marshall-like and always bound to fuzzy undertones. Please also accept that big fuzz headroom always comes with big ambient background noises. The pedals holds back with the sizzling up until you raise the Fuzz-knob above 3 o'clock. After that, please engage the integrated noise-gate or live with it.
Bonus point: signed back plate!
REALLY RAPID RESÚMÉ: Find 100 bucks somewhere and buy it used, if you can find it.
PROs:
- Desert Rock, Stoner, Doom, Retro, Lo-Fi and Psychedelic capable
- Cranking up the Fuzz knob dials in nice "kaputt" undertones
- Versatile and mostly easy to use
- Level In knob for adjusting it to your instrument more precisely
- Nice big but not gigantic form factor (about 1,5 regular pedals in width)
- Well built and handwired by the man himself - El Rey
- Rare but still obtainable and affordable at about 100-120 bucks
- Product of the USA
CONs:
- Some knobs and the Color switch aren't really self-explanatory
- The blue LED is visible from some lower orbit satellites
- Noticable sizzling when cranking the Fuzz, the Level In or the Tone up high
- The battery sits a little too loose inside the all-metal housing
VERDICT: 4,7 out of 5 stars - absolutely and definitely positive!
1.) Optics and General Built Quality
Doesn't this piece of hardware look neat? The white metal housing with the cool and imaginative artwork on top of it hits it right home for me. Sex sells they say and I understand that this pedals visual message is a little bit chauvinistic, but I am a man. What can I do?
The knobs on the other hand are not so much to my liking. For a $200+ (this pedal was mainly sold on the US market) they feel a bit rough around the edges and they look sort of cheap as well. What they can do however is make you visually and haptically feel what setting they're at, I'll give 'em this much.
Both switches (the small hand operated and the big one) have a nice and clicky feel to it. The on/off-switch needs no labelling in my opinion but a bit more than "Color" for the other one would have been nice. More to that later, though!
El Rey Effects is a family business - rather small and unfortunately almost unbeknownst to us Europeans. I guess that the following gutshot won't suprise you because of that:
Wow, hand-wiring this time - neat! I fully know that audio-wise it doesn't have this much of an impact. I just like to think that someone sat in front of the pedal and spent time with it, maybe even play-tested it. Someone with a bit of knowlege on how to build these things and a tad passion as well.
To make it short - this pedal is built like a tank. But I am still looking for one that isn't (please let's take these hideous Behringer ones out of the equation). It looks nice and it feels premium. So far, so good!
2.) Sounds and Tonal Options
Sweet Lord Dear Baby Jesus, where do we start? This piece of equipment has a ton of sound options right at your hands. You can pull Muff style fuzz, gated velcro fuzz and even some weird, bass starved distortion out of it. It compresses, thickens and sustains the signal if you want to, but synthie-like tones with a mild upper octave added on top are also possible.The key to unlocking all of these variants is the Color-switch on the upper right hand side of the pedal, right below Tone and Volume. Let me enlighten you:
a) Position 1 (switch up): The Fuzz de la Muerte produces a rather smooth distortion that turns into a well balanced fuzz at about 1 o'clock on the Fuzz knob. Sound-wise it is pretty malleable by using the Tone-poti, but the general voicing reminds me of the Hoof fuzz by Earthquaker Devices.
b) Position 2 (switch centered): This is pure, bass-starved dirt. The mids are raised slightly and this means that this Color (voicing) is ideal for your velcro sound. Feel free to experiment with the Gate knob at your pleasure!
c) Position 3 (switch down): When putting the toggle switch to this latch while still have a signal going through the pedal, you notice a significant low-end crackling that seemingly doesn't go away. This is your bass section that is now boosted to Big Muff levels of awesome. This Color in general reminds me of the old Russian EHX/Sovtek pedals. It sounds fat, snarly, nasty, has lots of sustain added to it and the attack is smoothed out. It's my personal favourite!
So what did we learn? The Fuzz de la Muerte is crazy versatile. All the knobs interact with each other and when putting the Tone poti to 12 o'clock, the low, mid and high frequencies are mostly flat, depending on the exakt Color setting you chose. This means, that you can use this pedal with the guitar and bass of your liking. It also takes drop down tunings really well!
Let me try to explain the exact functionality of each knob as good as I can (some of them are hardly self-explanatory).
I) Level In: This is sort of a pre-gain through which you can attune the fuzz pedal to your guitar and pickup selection (lower it for hot humbuckers, center it for unity gain or up it if you have low-output single coils). The Level In also helps if you want to dial in a smooth (lower it) or sharp (raise it) attack.
II) Gate: This one seems to be clear but there is more behind it. First, if you want to disable the noise-gate entirely, turn the poti fully "up" (to the right). Lowering it engages the effect and cranks it up. Let me take a wild guess guess here and tell you that the Gate is also bound to a Volt or Starve funtion as well. Tonally it really reminds me of my EHX Germanium 4 Big Muff.
III) Fuzz: This determines the amount of drive in your sound. Since the fuzz of this pedal is rather fix and constant, this knob acts more like a blend adjustor on other pedals. Pro tip: turn this poti fully down for a really nice clean sound with just a bit of crackling around the edges. Pure boutique bliss!
IV) Tone: Rather classy. Lower it for bassy sounds, center it for leaving the frequencies of your signal almost unchanged (see Color-switch above), raise it for nice upper mids and lots of sparkly, distorted trebles. Attune it to your liking - it works really intuitively and nice.
V) Volume: Your standard master-out. Nothing fancy here.
I can wholeheartedly recommend turning the Gate knob left (up). This dials in a cranky and spluttery upper octave as well as a nice synth sound on the higher settings. Pre-boost the pedal while having the Gate on (poti to the left) for some really rough, scratchy tones.
At the end of this paragraph I decided to include a "What doesn't this pedal do?"-section. Off we go: the Fuzz de la Muerte can't really produce a defined overdrive sound and I would not recommend it to anyone looking for a compressed, gated Djent-machine. The aforementioned distortion is not Marshall-like and always bound to fuzzy undertones. Please also accept that big fuzz headroom always comes with big ambient background noises. The pedals holds back with the sizzling up until you raise the Fuzz-knob above 3 o'clock. After that, please engage the integrated noise-gate or live with it.
3.) Conclusion and Tips
Bottom line - wow, wow and wow. I have rarely heard such a nice, flexible and well balanced fuzz pedal in action and I bow to El Rey for creating this monster. Not only does it look awesome as all hell, but he also cramped an overcharged Rat and a Sovtek Big Muff style fuzz in there.Bonus point: signed back plate!
REALLY RAPID RESÚMÉ: Find 100 bucks somewhere and buy it used, if you can find it.
PROs:
- Desert Rock, Stoner, Doom, Retro, Lo-Fi and Psychedelic capable
- Cranking up the Fuzz knob dials in nice "kaputt" undertones
- Versatile and mostly easy to use
- Level In knob for adjusting it to your instrument more precisely
- Nice big but not gigantic form factor (about 1,5 regular pedals in width)
- Well built and handwired by the man himself - El Rey
- Rare but still obtainable and affordable at about 100-120 bucks
- Product of the USA
CONs:
- Some knobs and the Color switch aren't really self-explanatory
- The blue LED is visible from some lower orbit satellites
- Noticable sizzling when cranking the Fuzz, the Level In or the Tone up high
- The battery sits a little too loose inside the all-metal housing
VERDICT: 4,7 out of 5 stars - absolutely and definitely positive!
That is it for today. Feel free to leave me a comment or a recommendation for future reviews. There are many more to come!
Much obliged,
Your Fuzz Buster
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