KHDK

Scuzz Box £169

ORIGIN: USA TYPE: Fuzz pedal FEATURES: True bypass CONTROLS: Fuzz, Volume, Deep, Tone, Scuzz/Fuzz switch, buffer switch, bypass footswitch CONNECTIONS: Standard input, standard output POWER: 9V battery or 9V DC adaptor (not supplied) DIMENSIONS: 65 (w) x 120 (d) x 40mm (h)

A germanium fuzz pedal with perfectly appropriate purple chickenhead knobs, the Scuzz Box has a toggle-switched buffer designed to increase placement options in your effects chain and combat tone-sucking from long cable runs – something we take advantage of, finding it adds clarity and reduces top-end loss.

At lower Fuzz knob levels, there are some cool overdrive sounds with a fuzzy edge, but higher up this is proper gooey vintage fuzziness with great playability, responding well to dynamics, cleaning up nicely with guitar volume, and retaining a useful mush-free articulation when playing chords. There’s plenty of variation available from the Deep knob, adjusting low-end before the gain stage from lean to fat, and the Tone knob, which sets the top-end. Scuzz mode offers that sputtering gated fuzz, which can be cool, as long as you adjust your playing to avoid false triggering. [TC]