Fredric Effects Verzerrer
Distortion from behind the iron curtain revisited in contemporary style
Fredric Effects is based in North London but has a strong German connection, and the pedals it’s launched this year are based on Eastern German designs. One of them, the Regent 150 Preamp (£120), is a recreation of the preamp and EQ circuit from the Vermona Regent 150K, a solid-state amplifier common across the Eastern Bloc in the 70s. The pedal uses NOS 40-year-old East German transistors and offers Bass, Treble and Volume knobs, and functions as a boost pedal or an always-on tone conditioner.
Our focus, though, is this ultra-cool looking wedge-shaped Verzerrer, which recreates the circuitry of the Bohm Trickverzerrer (said to be East Germany’s only distortion effect), but puts it into a more functional setting by providing standard jack inputs and solid metal construction (the original was plastic with DIN sockets). It also transforms what were internal trimmers into surface-mounted Intensity and Bias knobs, and adds an input gain control to optimise the pedal – dial it back a touch for hot pickups. A set of internal DIP switches also offer options for noise reduction and volume boost.
It’s the juxtaposition of those two smaller knobs that dials in the character of the effect, with the Intensity knob governing gain while the Bias knob sets transistor bias. With the Bias control set midway, the Verzerrer is at its most conventionalsounding: with minimum intensity, you get abrasive medium-gain fuzzy distortion with a pronounced note attack from the off. Turning up the intensity rewards you with an increase in both saturation and sustain, and its edgy stridency is enhanced even more by turning up the Tone knob for increased treble.
While by no means a polite-sounding pedal with the Bias set to normal, things get much more outrageous when messing with this control, where you’ll be entering the world of staccato gated fuzz, electric sitar tonalities and dying battery splattiness.
VERDICT
A fuzz/distortion pedal with its own unique flavour. It won’t be everyone’s cup of Jägermeister, but if you can use something that veers towards the raucous, harsh and abrasive in your palette of sounds, you’ll be glad the Berlin wall came down.