Cats-Eye ESP Mutha Fuzz

No-brainer. Input. Output. Volume. Effect. If you get lost here, get yourself checked out by a professional pronto. I will say however that there is quite a bit of tone shaping capability despite the simplicity. You???ll likely spend a great deal of time exploring the nuances - that is, after you get over the initial ???oh, my God??????

Real quick, my gear and a short note about where I???m coming from musically:

???68 Metropoulos Plexi
Late eighties THD Plexi
Fender Blues Deluxe

Marshall 4x12 (Greenbacks)
Marshall 2x12 (1 Vintage 30 and 1 Heritage)
THD 2x12 (60 watt Longhorns)

???78 Les Paul Standard
???77 Les Paul Custom
Fender American Strat
Fender American Tele
???89 Charvel 750XL and ???91 650XL (hey???so I like Dokken - I grew up in the eighties???gimme a me break, will ya)

THD Hotplate

Budda Wah
Xotic BB
Xotic RC
Keeley-modified Boss DS-1
Goodrich Volume
MXR 10-band EQ
Lexicon Reverb (MPX-1)

(And yes, I???ve ran the pedal extensively both all by its lonesome - i.e. guitar, cord, MF, cord, amp, speaker - as well as in combination with all the above effects and gadgets.)

I???m into a little of everything but have my roots firmly planted in classic rock ala Zeppelin, Humble Pie, Cream-era Clapton, Free, AC/DC, Bad Company, ZZ, Deep Purple, The Black Crowes, Van Halen, etc. Throw in some eighties flash (minus the make-up and spandex of course) with Whitesnake, GnR, Ozzy, Dokken and Lynch Mob, etc. and you pretty much know what you could expect to hear coming from any stereo of mine. In fact the only thing I refuse to listen to is rap and death metal. Bluegrass? Hey, shut up, I like bluegrass.

Oh goody this is my favorite part ??? I get to make myself look like an idiot with all those stupid words we guitar hacks use to describe tone. (Hey, hey???don???t even act like you don???t like it. We all do. It???s a sickness, really.)

As others have said, technically the MF isn???t a fuzz but it does give some of the characteristics of a fuzz without being harsh, raspy, or ice-picky. There???s no fingernails-on-a-chalkboard here. However, it is kind of ragged, unrefined, and searing yet paradoxically still manages to stay smooth, warm, and wooly (???yes, I know ??? I???m tellin??? ya, it???s a sickness???and I should win a prize for correctly using the word ???paradoxically???). It has a very satisfying grind to it and notes will sustain for as long as you feel like holding the guitar. And last ??? and best ??? are the feedback blooms. They swell perfectly, right at the end of that big bend and verbose vibrato. If you???ve never experienced musical feedback before, have a cigarette and a clean pair of boxers handy and enjoy ??? just remember, it isn???t a race ??? pace yourself ;-)

In fact, the MF has so much sustain and available feedback you have to work to keep it under control. When using the MF for leads, you better bring your A-game or it won???t be pretty. This isn???t a ???nice??? pedal ??? it???s a flame-thrower with a touchy trigger. In comparison to say, the Xotic BB or Keeley DS-1, which both have a completely different but fantastic ???Marshall on steroids??? tighter and more controllable crunch, the MF wants to get away from you; it wants to grind, swell, bloom, and scream (in a good way).

Noise typically isn???t an issue, although at extreme settings there might be a problem, but as others have said it kind of comes with territory where fuzz effects are concerned.

Basically the MF has everything good about a Fuzz without being harsh (think wooliness with clarity, not an ice-pick through the ear).

Don???t know, at least long-term, but the thing is built like a Sherman. I know absolutely nothing about electronics, but when I opened it to remove the packing I thought, "My goodness, that's beautiful." It's obvious the craftsmanship is top shelf. Hell no I wouldn't gig without a backup - that's a good reason to buy two!

I???ll put it this way: If you have a problem with Dean, the problem isn???t with Dean. He provides customer service as good as ANY I???ve ever experienced. I feel good about my purchase and confident that if anything does go wrong, I???ll get any help I need.

And by the by, Dean obviously cares about the almost forgotten concept of "Made in USA", as do I. I don???t want to get political here but that's actually really important to me and should be to everybody. Dean is an American making American products (and damn good ones). Without people like Dean America doesn???t exist. So, f%#$ China and buy a Cat???s-Eye!!!

I???ve played for about sixteen years and worked in and around music my whole life. I keep up with things and know what???s out there and every once in a while something will come down the pike that really is ???all that??? and this is one of ???em. Are there other great fuzzes out there? Sure. But this one is undoubtedly one of the very best.

I bought the MF based on Dean???s suggestion, which he made after I told him that I was looking for ???a fuzz to push an old Marshall into liquid lead territory???. The MF suits me perfectly because it???s got more than plenty of gain to use as a stand alone distortion (it kills through my Deluxe ??? hello, ZZ) but also works like a charm to take lead lines to a whole other dimension. I can???t recommend the MF enough. Buy one. You won???t regret it.

This pedal is great. Sounds good as soon as you turn it on, but if your not used to fuzz pedals it can be a little difficult to get used to, but thats not the pedals fault. it's only got two knobs.

I'm a 80's glam kind of guy, My set up is a Les paul or Flying V through a JCM 800. When the amp is cranked up into an overdrive, pop this little sucker on and feel the bone crunching begin. It's the best distortion I've heard in all my 12 years of playing. With the gain and volume up it's pretty noisey when you're not playing but thats expected from a fuzz. No noise when off, It's true bypass. Whats good also is that when you roll the volume back on the guitar, you can nearly get a clean tone, the tone is passable in a rock situation. This distortion is the S#?*.

It's built like a tank. You could drive over this thing I reckon with nothing but a scratch out of line. I wouldn't need a back up, but I'm the kind of guy who would buy one anyway.

Dean is the greatest and nicest guy alive. If you've dealt with other boutique pedal guys, you won't find one as nice as this dude. Any fan of Fulltone can go to hell.

Nothing compares to this pedal. Buy one.

Like all current Cats-Eye pedals, this has two knobs - Volume and Effect. The 'effect' knob seems to control the gain, harmonics and tone. For example, with the 'effect' rolled down you get a fat, wooly tone. Roll it past noon and you get a lot of bite (treble), a crunchier tone with heaps of upper harmonics. Roll it all the way and it's ice-picky white noise a-plenty :D. So, even minus a 'tone' knob there's still some scope to control tonal characteristics of the pedal.

Also has an LED.

I play a Godin Solidac with HBs into a Fender Blues Jr 1X12. No oppurtunity to test it with other amps unfortunately.

The pedal itself is pretty noisy when engaged, growing more noisy as you turn up your guitar volume. So long as you turn it off between songs it adds no noise whatsoever - it's true bypass. The downside of this is that the switch pops when you engage it. So what? Just make sure you hit a note when you engage and you won't hear it.

Sound wise I think its fantastic. The more I play it (i've had it a few months now) the more I appreciate how good this sounds. I bought this on a recommendation that it had great gain control, excellent touch sensitivity and a non-generic tone and it's really excelled in these areas.

Gain control is all in your guitar volume pot. It can go from a hairy overdrive to heavy distorted lead without any need to fiddle with the pedal knobs. Check.

Although technically a distortion, the tone is fuzz like at extremes - probably because its got germanium diodes in it (like an MXR D+ or Ross Dist on which the Muth is based). It's a raspy, slightly spluttery sort of tone. Cats-eye have a clip on their website that captures the tone really well. What it doesn't demonstrate as well is this pedal's ability to handle open chords with amazing clarity. I'm sure its got a heavy 70's vibe (that's how its marketed) but it doesn't sound 'dated' to me. I just wanted to get as far away from a modern, generic, bass-heavy type sound as I could and strike off in my own direction. I think it works great as my major distortion source. Check.

The pedal responds well to your playing style also. Dig in a little harder and you'll get more gain. Play lighter and it'll clear up. Check.

The housing of this thing is FAT. Much much heavier than a Boss pedal. It'd qualify as a weapon. Everything seems sturdy. Dropped it - still works. The circuit board is very neat and professional looking.

Dean is great. Responded to all my emails and was very informative. Pedal is shipped really well too. You get polystyrene beans and everything. If anything were to go wrong i'm sure he'd look after you well.

Overall, i'm still marvelling at the character in this little red box, even months after purchase. I bought this on a whim after considering a few more hyped/popular distortion pedals, mainly because I didn't know anyone else who had one and thought it was a bit of an underdog. Never regretted it, It does everything i wanted a dirt box to do plus I love this sound. Actually I might even go so far as to say it inspires me to play more. Would definately replace it if it were lost or stolen. And for the price it was a fricken steal (it cost me about the same as the RRP of a Boss DS-1 in Oz). Great pedal.