MONOLITH FUZZ

Music:

Member Since: 20/03/2008
Band Members: Contact Information: For information about these boxes or if you're interested in taking one home, drop me an email at [email protected] and we can talk shop. Monolith Fuzz Boxes arehandmade in small batches right smack dab in the middle of Washington State. They say there's something funny in the water here... Things ain't quite right....
Influences: All things hairy, squelchy, chaotic and gritty.
Sounds Like: The sound samples listed here were thrown together really quickly to give friends an idea of the tone of Monolith Fuzzes. Mics were a Karma K35 and a Shure SM57 into a relatively cheap-o ART Gold MPA mic pre straight into my computer. No eq was used. The amp used was a bare-bones Fender Tweed Champ clone which uses an EL34 output tube in true Class A into a Weber Signature Alnico 10 inch speaker. Sound samples are intended to portray the sound of the pedal itself, and not to showcase other gear : )The Spectre is a 3 transistor fuzz intended to capture a very specific fuzz tone which I have never been able to find in any box I have owned. I have always had a tone in my head for a creepy, gritty, raspy fuzz tone which could be used to produce tones in the vein of old 1960s Surf, Spy Themes,or Psychedelia. Most fuzzes I have tried are either too bass-heavy or had too much "saturation" to let the grit and grind of the fuzz blend with the natural tone of the amp. So I set out to make my own box to cover this territory. Via a 2-way toggle switch, the voice of the Spectre can be adjusted to produce a very bright, cutting tone with almost no bass content or a more balanced, "vocal" tone with a strong midrange presence.The Oracle is a two transistor fuzz, but actually has far more total gain available than the Spectre. The Oracle is intended to produce a bold, thick, "dense" fuzz for playing heavier music. By adjusting the Density knob, however, subtler shades of fuzzy overdrive can be acheived without losing dynamics. In fact, the really "thick" fuzz which the Oracle can produce does not come in until about 3:00 on the rotation of the Density knob. The circuit which forms the basis for the Oracle is derived from the early 2 transistor Tonebender circuit, but has been tweaked and super-charged to produce more gain and a thicker low-midrange frequency response. The Oracle also sports a Color knob, unlike its early British cousins, which allows the user to dial in the desired amount of high end coloration.All sound samples begin with the fuzz effect turned off. Specifics for the settings used during recording of the Sound Samples are as follows:Spectre Don't Surf: '52 Telecaster Reissue, Fralin Blues Special Neck Pickup used, Voice Switch on the Spectre was set to bright (Banshee)Spectre Creepy Blues:'52 Telecaster Reissue, Fralin Blues Special Neck Pickup used, Voice Switch on the Spectre was set to normal (Wraith)Oracle Grunt: '52 Telecaster Reissue, Fralin Steel Pole 42 bridge pickup used, Density knob on the Oracle was at about 3:00Oracle Hefty : '52 Telecaster Reissue, Fralin Steel Pole 42 bridge pickup used, Density knob on the Oracle was set to about 4:00 (there's a bit more saturation available past that point....)
Record Label: Unsigned