Foolproof, player-friendly fuzz tones that won't get lost in the mix

ABOUT

If you’ve ever wanted to fall in love with fuzz but find this type of pedal hard to use in practice, then the Focus Fuzz Silicon is for you!

Extremely player-friendly and easy to dial in, the Focus Fuzz Silicon won’t leave you struggling to find a sound you’re happy with.

This original circuit design, built around specially selected low-gain silicon transistors, serves up a slew of inspiring and exhilarating tones, effortlessly covering everything from crunchy drive to full-on fuzz.

MORE DETAIL

The original, limited-edition Focus Fuzz was a hybrid design, using two metal-can silicon transistors and one NOS germanium transistor. 

The Focus Fuzz Silicon replaces this germanium transistor with a specially selected low-gain silicon transistor. This, coupled with various other tweaks to the circuit, has allowed it to stay remarkably close to the sought-after sound of the original.

A touch darker and grittier in tone, with a slightly wider range of gain, the Focus Fuzz Silicon retains all the facets that made its predecessor so desirable. 

Where many fuzz pedals really only sound good with the gain maxed out, or demand you set your amp just so, the Focus Fuzz Silicon is different. This is a fuzz that will sound great at a range of different gain settings, through clean and dirty amps, with single-coils or humbuckers.

The pedal’s real secret weapon is the FOCUS knob, which progressively adds more gain, bite and aggression to push the guitar firmly to the front of the mix. This intuitive control lets you quickly find your ideal tone, whether that’s smooth sustain or face-melting fuzz. 

CONTROLS

The Focus Fuzz Silicon is very forgiving to dial in. Instead of searching for an elusive ‘sweet spot’, the intuitive controls let you explore a range of different gain and saturation settings. 

FOCUS: Turn clockwise to increase bite, aggression and harmonics. The FOCUS knob progressively increases gain while rolling off low end. This allows you to access fatter, fuller fuzz tones at minimum and searing, incisive tones at maximum, via all points in between.

FUZZ: Turn clockwise to increase saturation and sustain. By simultaneously varying both gain and bias voltage, the FUZZ control is able to offer desirable sounds at all settings, not just maximum. 

Please note: some audible noise when adjusting FUZZ and FOCUS is normal, due to their direct effect on transistor bias.

LEVEL: Sets overall output level. Though the pedal sounds great into a clean amp, there's plenty of level on tap to push the amp into overdrive. Adjust the relative FUZZ, FOCUS and LEVEL settings to achieve the desired balance of pedal and amp distortion.

Tech specs

Dimensions: 125 x 66 x 55 mm (4.9 x 2.6 x 2.2 inches)

Weight: 320g (0.7lb)

Current draw: ~10mA

Power requirements: 9V DC mains adaptor only (not included)