This pedal is an incarnation with modification of the Rainger FX Dr Freakenstein dynasty.
The Chop Fuzzz is an uncompromising all-analogue, full-on gated fuzz pedal – with a whole bunch of interesting ways of manipulating the signal.
As well as fuzz, the pedal has two types of modulation, a pressure-operated expression pedal (to do wah wah-like effects), a tunable drone facility that is capable of creating ring modulator tones – basically it’s a Multi-FX pedal.
Key Features
- Built-In Noise Gate – It’s weirdly quiet when you’re not playing.
- Built-In Squarewave Tremolo – When locked-on, in combination with the ‘LFO’ section it can create all kinds of slowly sweeping helicopter effects, or fast, bubbling synthy-sounds.
- Control with a Synth – It can be controlled using 5v CV by sequencer or modular synth.
- A Pedal Which Keeps An Eye on You – There’s a spooky ‘eye meter’, showing the input signal level, but also – using backlight illumination – the LFO and ‘Chop’ operation and Hi/Lo setting.
The fuzz circuit is the same massive distortion one used in the original Dr Freakenstein Fuzz (plus the three versions that followed, and the first Dr Freakenstein Chop Fuzz, and the six minipedal versions). It’s incredibly loud, with a ton of low-end, and searing highs available.
Overtone
This is like a wah wah with the tone of an extreme phaser. Set it using the knob, manipulate it in real time by foot with our Igor pressure pad controller (supplied), or with the CV input.
LFO
This modulates the signal in a slightly more ‘3D’ way than the ‘overtone’ sound. Moving in a triangle waveshape, the speed can be set using two knobs. ‘Slow’ has a low-speed range – for long, slowly-twisting cycles right up to fast wobbles, while the second one – ‘fast’ – is in the audio range; tune it in to a specific pitch (across several octaves) underneath the notes or chords that you’re playing.
