Don’t Believe The Hype

I got a new pedal a while back. It’s a Swarm from Beetronics, an octave fuzz with a weird pitch / hamonizer thing that’s pretty cool. I mainly got it because I heard it on Sicko by Whores on their War album.

 

The knobs are not labeled like a conventional pedal, but with bee-themed names like “Drone” and “Flight”.

I just played and turned knobs without having any idea what I was doing, but I made very cool sounds and really had fun.

To be clear: I’m NOT saying the Beetronics pedal is the hype or has any hype.

I AM saying that there are a ton of pedals that have some preconceptions about them and some pedals that people buy for the having and NOT the playing.

We all know those names and brands, and I’m not going to call anyone out.

But it’s not just the brands and the hype- it’s the perceived “correct” way to use pedals.

Fuzzlord makes a pedal called an FU2 that’s based on the Bozz FZ2 Hyper Fuzz “Fuzz 2” mode- a scooped, bass heavy SuperFuzz tone designed for downtuned doom metal.

It does this sound exceptionally well, but turn down the gain and bass and it also works great as a treble boost into a dirty amp.

Speaking of the Boss Hyper Fuzz- I had one of these for years and never even used it as a fuzz. I only used the third mode, which is a boost. This made my JCM800 sound AMAZING.

These are just my Tuesday night thoughts. I guess what I’m saying is let your ears be your guide.