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  • Earthquaker Devices Spires Fuzz Effect Pedal

    By Chris Loeffler |

    Earthquake Devices Spires Fuzz Effect Pedal

    Pre-Vintage Fuzz Love Affair

     

    by Chris Loeffler

     

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    In a world filled with fuzzes that are clones of clones of clones (hey, these are simple circuits!), Earthquaker Devices must have heard something special in the Rosac Nu Fuzz to consider it as part of their 16th current production fuzz pedal. Designed by Ed Sanner in the mid-sixties, the Mosrite FuzzRite took off when it was prominently featured on Iron Butterfly’s In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida and the first fuzz tone to go Platinum. Sanner took his FuzzRite circuit with him when he moved to Rosac in the late 60’s, dropped it in a Rosac Nu Fuzz enclosure, and swapped the Depth (fuzz) control for a Tone control to give players access to a larger palette of fuzz colors. Sadly, the Nu Fuzz faded long before “Nu” became a bad word in the world of rock and, without readily available schematics, fanatics of the Nu Fuzz sound have had to risk bringing their precious vintage units on the road. The need to preserve his original Rosac Nu Fuzz led Jaime at Earthquaker Devices to reverse engineer it and make a sonic copy of it. Not content to leave it there, the Dream Crusher has been resurrected (replacing Germanium transistors with Silicon for stability) and shares an enclosure with Earthquaker’s take on the Nu Fuzz to form Earthquaker Devices Spires Fuzz.

     

    The Spires Fuzz features a true-bypass on/off foot-switch as well as a Channel footswitch that selects between the two circuits. The channels are labeled Green and Red, with the Dream Crusher in the Red Channel and the Nu Fuzz in the Green. The Red Channel features Volume and Fuzz controls, while the Green Channel offers Volume and Tone controls. The Spires Fuzz can be powered by a single 9v battery, or a standard 9v DC power supply with negative center 2.1mm barrel.

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    The Red Channel of the Spires Fuzz is a take on a Dallas-Arbiter Fuzzface with silicon transistors, and is appropriately distorted and cutting while displaying impressive touch sensitivity. Light gain is crunchy (especially with lower output pickups) with an aggressive bite to the treble, and higher gain settings get grinding with top end sizzle and focused tone. Like the best Fuzzface pedals, the volume knob of your guitar is the key to dialing in the perfect setting, with Class A-type crunch available when just breaking up.

     

    The Green Channel, by contrast, sounds like a lo-fi, late-night smoke session of a filtered fuzz, with Velcro-like ripping, sputtering chords, and hazy, rolled-off highs channeled through a pronounced midrange. Depending on the pickup and guitar volume, the fuzz can go anywhere from dying-battery splatters to synth-like tones. The Green Channel is the sound of garage-rock fuzz, and the gain is almost hypnotic in character. 

     

    Limitations

     

    This probably isn’t a limitation as it would have such limited use, but I’d be curious to hear the two circuits run in serial and parallel.

     

    Conclusions

     

    The Earthquaker Spires Fuzz isn’t the “violin-tone” fuzz (although it can), it isn’t the liquid-compressed lead tone (unless you’re running it light to hit a big amp)…it’s a textured vintage fuzz love affair for those who scoff at “high fidelity” studio tones. It’s a controlled monster of  primitive, pre-vintage tones that instantly evokes tones one would expect from The Black Keys or The White Stripes while having its own, unique vibe.   -HC-

     

    Resources

     

    Earthquaker Devices Spires Fuzz Product Page

     

    Buy Earthquaker Devices Spires Fuzz ($195.00 Street) at Sweetwater , Guitar Center , Amazon

     

     

     

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    Chris Loeffler is a multi-instrumentalist and the Content Strategist of Harmony Central. In addition to his ten years experience as an online guitar merchandiser, marketing strategist, and community director he has worked as an international exporter, website consultant and brand manager. When he’s not working he can be found playing music, geeking out on guitar pedals and amps, and brewing tasty beer. 

     

     




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