Fender Hammertone Octave-Up Fuzz Test / Review

Preface:

Good day to all of you fuzz lovers out there. Over the course of the last 5+ years, I had the pleasure to test out 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.

And if you are not interested in owning the pedal, the post hopefully makes for a good read on bathroom break!

1. Optics and General Built Quality

As usual, starting with the most subjective of all aspects, I have to admit that I am on the fence when it comes to the Hammertone Fuzz. I dig weird and odd enclosures, however, the slightly rounded-down and chubby nature of the casing is not really to my personal liking and even though I wholeheartedly adore the purple witch hat knobs that they used, the color and font of the lettering on the bare-metal enclosure makes the pedal seem cheaper than it is. Don't get me wrong, it clocks in at a mere 65 Euros here in Central Europe new, thas has to be kept in mind. Oddly enough, some of the other Hammertone models, like the green-colored digital reverb, speak a lot more to me, optically.

Here is a view of the pedal front coming right up:

It has to be stated that there was a lot of thought going into the housing. When looking at the gut shot of the pedal, you can see that it has this cool TC-style one-screw opening mechanism and, on the inside, reinforcing metal ridges surround the intelligently laid-out parts of PCB which are, probably, the way they are in order to accomodate as many a Hammertone-series circuit as possible without changing the PCB or even drilling layout. I think its kinda cool, have a look: 

Finishing this chapter, the Hammertone Fuzz is rather cheap, but doesn't feel like it. It has a plumpish looking, however sturdy metal enclusure, an easy to access door to the inside, can be powered for a very long time, due to its minimal current draw, with a battery, and comes with nice and large rubber feet that even some boutique manufacturers cheap out on. So far so good!

2. Sounds and Tonal Options

I really like that Fender advertises this pedal not as a clone of an existing circuit, but as a discrete, new, self-developed fuzz. I have, both due to a lack of deeper understanding of electronic devices as well as the PCB facing away from the enquiring eye, no chance of ever confirming or denying these claims, but, to my ear, I can't find a single vintage fuzz device that is acquainted with the specific sounds the Hammertone Fuzz is trying to achieve. The only hint that I was able to find is that some promotional materials claims that the fuzz in questions is a silicon-based two-transistor fuzz with a Ringer-style octave-up circuit, switchable via the Octave-switch on the Hammertone.

What I can make out and what I really like is the raunchy neo-vintage vibe that the pedal radiates. With everything at noon, it starts both barely above unity gain as well as with a light and fuzzy touch complimenting the signal. The clean signal still somewhat shines through the layer of fuzz covering it. It sounds a bit twodimensional, however, it certainly has its charm. What holds the pedal back is the really aggressive treble cut that the Tone knob imposes. I personally like cutting through a mix and opening the pot up lets the manifold treble frequencies shine like crazy. Even though the Octave-switch is in the downwards facing position right now, there is still SOME dirty octave stuff going on and the manifold harmonics that the pedal produces are not always perfectly aligned with the base notes played.

These overtones that can be both heard with a high degree of fuzz as well as the volume pot on your guitar turned down are, and, again, this only based on my personal experiences and not true facts, somewhat similar to the sounds a Tone Bender Mk. 1.5 circuit can produce. Whether there is any relation to this ancient circuit, I, unfortunately, don't know. Anyway, what I find lacking when it comes to the Hammertone Fuzz is the amount of simple volume on tap. You can not effectively use the pedal with a low setting on the Fuzz knob or, similarly, with a really dark Tone setting. Don't get me wrong, the pedal yields some great tones and is, with ample amounts of fuzz in the signal, more than loud enough, but, still, it reminds me of old school Fuzz Face pedals which also suffer from this bug / feature.

Let's focus on what happens when you use the pedal as intended! First of all, it works really well with both humbuckers and single coils. And it even takes active pickups even though they somewhat bring the pedal to its knees in the low end sound spectrum. You can, however, cut out these low frequencies and the accompanying rumble with a turn of the very effective Tone pot. And don't worry, the pedal has lots of attack and punch to carry the signal through the most cluttered of mixes if you can live with the fairly harsh high end it brings with it. This all changes with a simple flick of the Octave switch to its upwards position...

...unleashing sheer mayhem upon your guitar signal! Not only does it get a significant amount of volume boost, the monophonic Ringer-style octave effect also adds a ring modulator style sound to every strum that goes beyond a simple power chord. As we fuzz players know, this has its own magic and is definitely not comparable to the clean and polyphonic octaving that is being used for more ethereal or ambient song parts these days. In an ideal world, the small Octave switch should have been either way bigger or its own foot switch. And while the amount of fuzz does not taper down in a linear fashion with each twist on the volume pot of your guitar, rather going from full on fuzz to very much clear at a certain point, the added octave effect adds even more flavor to some light notes. Lastly, as with every mention of the Green Ringer circuit, never forget that it sounds best with a rolled down tone pot on the guitar and the signal coming from the bridge pickup.

3. Unique Features and Special Use Cases

Naturally, the pedal, with its highly interactive Tone and Fuzz knobs as well as the cool Octave switch has its own allure. As was mentioned before, it works with all pickup types, even though the outcome is always different. When playing with humbuckers, the fuzz effect is very compressed and has a lot of low end that is retained even with the octave on, making it ideal for evil single note lines. Single coils, on the other side, produce a leaner, more focused tone that cuts through the mix. Be aware of the noticeable noise the pedal produces by itself, disregard of single coil buzzing, when the Fuzz pot is turned up high! 

In case you haven't heard of it, the pedal has a secret, just look: 

What you see might look similar to mini bias knobs on other fuzz pedals. In this case, however, the screwdriver-operated pot on the inside serves as a second, way more powerful low pass / high cut filter. It is mainly there because of the aforementioned positive effect a turned down Tone knob has on the octave-infused signal. Since it always affects your signal, making the Hammertone sound extremely muffled, I tend to deactivate the feature by turning the pot fully up. What has worked for me, however, is running a bass into the darkened Hammertone Fuzz with the Octave switch on, making for a cool compressed, synth-like sound. It is a very distinguished and cutting effect, however, and the pedal does not work that well with bass otherwise, due to its gnarly, bass-cutting nature.

4. Conclusion Time

This is neither a Foxx Tone Machine, as the functional layout might suggest, nor a Tone Bender clone. It is sold as being its own thing and I really dig it because it perfumes some cool neo-vintage vibes. The Fender Hammertone Fuzz is ideal for both cutting single note lines as well as crushing riffs due to its powerful attack, at least when being played with guitars close to E-standard tuning. It has to be noted, however, that the Hammertone Fuzz is not an alrounder. It likes to be turned up and to be heard. Low gain fuzz or subtlety are not really within its range.