Dwarfcraft Devices Necromancer Fuzz

Dwarfcraft Devices Necromancer Fuzz

Is this super-sounding fuzz scary and hairy enough to raise the dead?

by Phil O'Keefe

Necromancer

nec·ro·man·cer

ˈnekrəˌmansər/

noun

noun: necromancer; plural noun: necromancers

    1    a person who practices necromancy; a wizard or magician.

    2    sorcerer, sorceress, (black) magician, wizard, warlock, witch, enchantress, occultist, diviner

Source

Magic. Socerey. Communicating with, and even raising the dead. So what exactly are the folks in Eau Claire, Wisconsin at Dwarfcraft Devices digging up with this pedal? I'm sure if you want to search around in the usual places you'll hear haunting echoes of epic dramas that played out long ago (at least in internet time), and I'll let all of that rest in peace; it's only a theory. But I think what they were getting at with the name is that this circuit has the magic that warrants it being summoned back and brought forth in such frighteningly fun form. Let's see if they're right.  

What You Need To Know

• Based on the Super Fuzz-inspired side of the Dwarfcraft Silver Rose Mk 2, the Necromancer leaves off the EC Fuzz side and clean blend knob of that dual fuzz pedal while making some changes to the Super Fuzz side, such as giving it a bit of extra kick and gain and an even more powerful EQ section.

   

• The silkscreened neon green and black artwork clashes wonderfully with the purple-pink of the pedal. This unique pedal has to be seen in person to be appreciated. As detailed and visually busy as the graphics are, it's still dead-easy to see how you have everything set. The artwork is courtesy of Metalocalypse veteran and long time Dwarfcraft collaborator SMO.

   

• The Necromancer measures 4.67" L x 3.68" W x 1.18" H, giving it plenty of space for a lot of knobs. Let's take a look at what each one does.

   

• The Necromancer fuzz has two rows of knobs, but the layout is very user friendly. You'll find Volume, Bias and Gain in the upper row. The volume knob controls the overall output level and the gain controls the fuzz and grit - and there's a lot of it available with this pedal.

• The Bias knob lets you get wide-open, sustaining notes and chords that scream out like drawn-out banshee wails, or more sputtery, choked and strangled tones depending on how you have it set.

   

• A small toggle switch labeled Mids gives the option of going all-out, or scooping the mids a bit for an alternate tone.

   

• The second (lower) row of knobs is the very powerful EQ - from left to right there's Treble, Mids and Bass. As they say on their website, Dwarfcraft are "proud to provide 'too much' bass and treble," so be careful you don't blow a speaker! The Mids control is centered at the same basic frequency (which sounds like about 1 kHz) as the Mids toggle switch, which provides much greater control over that crucial region than the switch by itself. A second toggle switch can take the EQ out of the circuit entirely.  

   

• The input and output jacks mount on the sides of the pedal.

• Switching is true bypass, and a green LED illuminates whenever the Necromancer is doing its magic.

   

• An industry-standard 2.1mm center-negative jack mounts at the top of the pedal for connecting your favorite 9VDC power supply. Exceeding the recommended voltage or feeding it AC will fry your Necromancer like Old Sparky and leave it dead and lifeless - so don't do it.

   

• Looking inside the Necromancer to see how it casts its spells is easy enough: just pop off the back by removing the four screws. However, there aren't any hidden secrets or surprises, like user-adjustable switches or trimpots.

   

• The construction is mainly surface mount and cleanly done. Also note there's no battery clip inside - the folks at Dwarfcraft Devices think that having the corpses of a bunch of dead batteries piling up in landfills from people using their pedals is bad for the environment, so they omit the battery clip.

• Although designed with guitar in mind, it also sounds great on bass too and it can be used to crunch and fuzz up pretty much whatever suits you. Keyboards anyone?

• Dwarfcraft offers a limited lifetime warranty on their Devices. See their website for the details.    

Limitations

• I was very disappointed that the green colored paint doesn't glow in the dark. It would be incredibly cool and totally appropriate for this pedal if it did.

   

• A little noise? Yeah, it makes a little noise when you turn it loose… but you'd kind of expect that from a fuzz pedal that's designed to raise the dead, wouldn't you?

Conclusions

What makes a fuzz super? Your mileage may vary but for me, when I plug into it, play with it for a while, and am rewarded with cool sound after cool sound to the point where it puts a huge grin on my face - that's a pretty super fuzz. This pedal puts that grin on your face from the moment you take it out of the box - it looks as incredible as it sounds. Too bad the green graphics don't glow in the dark; seriously, that would be wicked-cool.

It's hard to describe the sound of this fuzz because it's so versatile. Sure it can do a lot of the classic 70s era Super Fuzz tones, but if heavier 90s garage grunge is your thing, this will dead-on slay you with its silvery sound. It goes beyond super with the powerful three-band EQ, which really allows you to sculpt the sound considerably. Mad props to Dwarfcraft for putting the Mids control at the same basic frequency as the Mids toggle. It does get a little noisy with some settings but true fuzz lovers know that a little noise never hurt anyone, especially when it comes paired with tone to die for.

I'd definitely recommend giving the Dwarfcraft Devices Necromancer fuzz a try if fate affords you the opportunity. But beware - once you've heard and played one for yourself, the memory of this cool pedal may haunt you until you go dig one up for yourself. -HC-

If you'd like to discuss this review, or have any questions, please feel free to check out this thread.

Resources

Dwarfcraft Devices Necromancer Fuzz ($175.00 MSRP)

Dwarfcraft's product web page     

You can purchase the Dwarfcraft Devices Necromancer from

Amazon

Reverb

Ebay

Dwarfcraft Devices Demo Videos:

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Phil O'Keefe is a multi-instrumentalist, recording engineer / producer and the Senior Editor of Harmony Central. He has engineered, produced and performed on countless recording sessions in a diverse range of styles, with artists such as Alien Ant Farm, Jules Day, Voodoo Glow Skulls, John McGill, Michael Knott and Alexa's Wish. He is a former featured monthly columnist for EQ magazine, and his articles and product reviews have also appeared in Keyboard, Electronic Musician and Guitar Player magazines.