VINTAGE STYLE
The Fuzz Academy is a limited-edition recreation of everyone's favourite, circular-shaped fuzz pedal - with a couple modern appointments. At the heart of the Fuzz Academy sits a pair of hand-selected AC125 germanium transistors - the very transistors that Mark used for his Master's research. They deliver that fuzz sound that we all know and covet - smooth, fat, and dynamic.
Vintage-meets-modern with the addition of a bias control and bias indicator LED, an updated fuzz control ("Input"), and an internal voltage inverter with battery simulation - alleviating the need for batteries or special cables.
MODERN FUNCTION
Carbon comp resistors, axial caps from Illinois Capacitor and Vishay, Switchcraft jacks, premium aluminum knobs, and a high-quality footswitch make the Fuzz Academy the complete package - an uncompromising, true-to-vintage fuzz, without any of the hassle of 60 year-old circuitry.
VIDEO DEMO'S
Overview
The Fuzz Academy does what every good vintage fuzz does - it lives in your guitar's controls. Rolling back your guitar's volume unlocks infinite shades of fuzz, overdrive, and sparkly cleans. For it to work best, the Fuzz Academy should be placed first in your signal chain, with no buffers between it and your guitar's output jack.
The "input" control takes the place of the more traditional fuzz control found on vintage fuzzes of this style - which everyone set to maximum anyways. Setting the input to maximum gives you the most unadulterated, full-on fuzz sound, but knocking it back will soften the input, giving you shades of distortion and overdrive. Rolling back the input also helps to balance out a guitar with hot pickups.
The "bias" control + indicator LED allow you to set your Fuzz Academy to optimal bias settings, no matter the temperature. The bias LED will turn on when the Fuzz Academy is set to it's "normal" bias setting - between 4-5V. rolling back the bias from there gives a gated, spitty sound with more distortion, rolling up the bias will give a more open, less fuzzy tone. Do experiment! We recommend making small, incremental adjustments to ensure proper function of the bias LED.
The "output" control simply sets the overall output volume of the effect. Tune it to taste! Unlike many vintage fuzz pedals, the Fuzz Academy has plenty of output volume, allowing you to slam the front end of a tube amp or an overdrive pedal.
The Fuzz Academy should be powered ONLY by a 9 volt DC, centre-negative supply. An internal voltage inverter and battery simulator circuit insure that the Fuzz Academy always has the right power, without the need for special cables or batteries!
External Controls
Controls [Left to Right, top to bottom]:
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Output
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Bias Indicator LED
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Input
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Bias
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Indicator LED
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Bypass footswitch
Technical Specifications
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Power Requirements: 9 volts DC center-negative ONLY, with at least 50mA of current output. There is no 9V battery clip inside
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Switchcraft audio jacks
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Mechanical true bypass switching
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High quality components, 100% hand-wired in St. John's, Newfoundland & Labrador
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Physical dimensions: 121 x 66 x 45 mm (4.7" x 2.6" x 1.75")
