Everman Custom Audio Effects Fuzz Drive Generation 2

4 knobs plus 2 adjustable pots inside. It takes a little time to get used to. Manual helps, there isn't a "bad" sound, just takes time to come up quicly with the sound that you're after. Never touched the inner pots.

Well, it sure is one of the best fuzzes (well yes, it's not the typical fuzz). I don't have to modify my amp's eq for this pedal. It just blends perfectly in. And it's really quiet, very low noise for a fuzz! When I can't crank up my Fender Deluxe Reverb, I mix it with overdrive pedals. Just love the sound. It can take you from almost clean to heavy fuzz. And it reacts well with guitar's volume pot, effect cleans up on 8 or sth.
Tried it with Tweed and Plexi style amps, works perfectly with everything. Fattens my vintage setup Tele nicely, Strat too. Also works very well with by Bacchus '58 Flying V. Pedal has Bias knob for adjusting the sound for humbucker or single coil (plus one inner Bias pot).

Have been giggin with it for about half year, never had a problem. Don't believe I ever will.

Justin Everman is very friendly fellow, always answers the e-mails quickly.

I've been playing for about 10 years. I play different kinds of music, from 60's to todays rock, pop. I was looking for a more distorted sound to use in modern music, but that didn't sound like hard rock or sth. And I think I found it. Btw, I'm a huge Hendrix, blues, Doyle Bramhall II fan. Sure there are many more.

I've tried other fuzzes like Roger Mayer and some Fuzz Face clones which were not bad at all. RM is really good. But I don't want to have a separate EQ for different pedals. You fuzz up, get high volume, but still you hardly hear yourself through the band mix. But Everman's Fuzz Drive doesn't have such a problem. Maybe sometimes I wish it had tone pot, but it's really not a problem.

I bought the older Fuzz Drive from eBay too and use them both. Older version is more noisy, but still very usable. I have 2 fuzzes on my pedalboard, both J. Everman! I mix Monte Allums modded pedals, like BD-2 and SD-1, with Fuzz Drive. Fuzz Drive sounds like a part of the pedal and amp. Thanks to Fuzz Drive my pedalboard is a lot simpler and it cleared up some room, even though they are bigger in size.

If you're looking for fuzz then you have to check out the J. Everman Fuzz Drive G2.

First, WHAT A GREAT PEDAL!- ok, pretty easy I guess and on overall-ease-of-use and how the manual explains everything prety well, I'll give it an 8-
It did take me a little tweaking to get it where I wanted it but considering that you have some nice options with the trim-pots, that's expected in order to really customize your sound- other than that, there's four knobs being bias, fuzz, drive and gain that'll get you what you want-

WOW- I have been searching and searching for what this pedal does- I didn't get it to sound like anyone but to try and get the sound in my head- I wanted a fuzz that would work while running into a high-gain amp (Laney GH100L) with high output humbuckers-

Before it, I tried a muff, london fuzz, huckleberry and a couple more- all of them, great fuzzes but they didn't do what I wanted them to do or they fell into what happens when you put a fuzz in front of high-gain/high-output...either muddy up the signal or take over the amp- FINALLY found the FDG2 and it is everything I wanted, perfectly-

What is awesome about it is that it is really transparent, it acts like an extension of your amp- it doesn't change or color your amp with it's own voice (like other pedals)- it just gives you a very nice "extension" of fuzz to your amp's tone- the only other pedal I could compare it to with this "transparent" characteristic is the Xotic RC Booster-

I found that I can get sounds similar to the two top fuzz camps, muff and fuzz face from it...awesome- sound quality is just awesome, EXACTLY what I've been looking for- I've heard it works great with any overdrive pedals before it but I dig my amp's gain so I've just used it with that- no noisy at all-

my main chain is hot-rodded Epi LP- Crybaby Wah- Everman FDG2- RC Booster- EH Nano Small Stone- Line 6 Verbzilla- Laney GH100L (Line 6 Echo Park in the loop)

nice, tough black box- quality switch and fancy looking as well- looking inside, I have to say I think it's the cleanest-built pedal I've ever seen- awesome-

well, since it has the two trim-pots inside to customize your sound even more, I wanted more info on them and how they behaved- my emails were responded to quickly and with all the info I needed- great customer service-

I play heavy, stoner rock but touch on everything else when the mood hits- been playing for awhile and have more recently been into the subtlety of tone, so I been experimenting with lots of stuff to get the sound I really want- again, this pedal is everything I wanted...just perfect-

I would definitely replace it if it were stolen or lost...it will be on my board forever- It would be nice if an LED was standard (it's an add-on feature) because you can set the pedal to be very subtle and through a high-gain amp, it can be difficult to know if it's on or off...of course, an LED would fix that-

other than that, it is perfect for me- Thanks J.Everman for such a great pedal!

While the controls might at first not be as intuitive as a tubescreamer, with use it's very easy to consistently get a great sound out of this pedal.

The beauty of the Fuzz Drive is when used in conjunction with other pedals, especially overdrives. I like using it near first in line, then engage the footswitch for leads. It adds a warm creamy fuzzy texture to my overdrive sound. It works its magic with numerous overdrives I've tried. Then for even more over-the-top sounds, I step on the Lo-Fi Filter, which I have first inline after my strat and wah. Like all the J.Everman effects pedals I've tried, this one exhibits a super quality sound, with minimum noise.

The thing is BUILT. All the components are top notch--no crap.

I purchased my Lo-Fi Filter directly from J.Everman, and he answered all my emails promptly. I also had some questions regarding this Fuzz Drive, and he was very helpful in answering my questions. He truly seems passionate about his product, which reflects in their build quality.

I'd highly recommend this pedal for anyone looking to fine tune their sound. Take some time, get to know what the Fuzz Drive can do, experiment with pedal placement, and your tone will be richly rewarded.

ya know, i always see these getting passed around on the seller's forum, and i gotta tell ya, yer all IDIOTZ fer gettin' rid of 'em! this pedal is bloody AMAZING!!! it's a wonderful low gain drive, for one, the kind you'd be tempet (yes, the shakespeare play minus an S... :rolleyes: ), i mean TEMPTED to set very drive-light & leave on all the time. but the real talent of this pedal reveals itself as a gooster for other drives! it's such a transparent fuzz/drive that it rarely contributes shite that cancels out whatever you're trying to goose. i guess i shouldn't be surprised, as justin's work NEVER disappoints. and yeah, it also does a top notch, early-jimi fuzz face if you turn the internal bias trimmer towards the ccw end!

Serialnumber 549, so 49th G2 version, added LED by Justin. I am the first owner and bought it at 5-22-2003 after Sash recommended it to me.

With four knobs and two internal pots not the easiest pedal, but it has class.. it's a pedal you have to learn to use, although it wouldn't take that much time!

It is not really a dirty fuzz. Think more like Overdrive (can be towards clean too) meets fuzz.

I have two Keeley Fuzz heads, a Java boost, Toadworks Death rattle, an old Schaller fuzz. A Keeley modified BD-2 and an old Ibanez Overdrive II.
As good as they are, this is the only pedal I always keep very close to me. It's so damn versatile and sounds so good on any Fender tube amp!

You might want to look into the Keeley BD-2 modification too, these two pedals work pretty nice with each other.

Not really much that can break down, besides the switch and potmeters.

Justin is a class A guy. He should add LED's standard though and not as a custom option.

Fender strat, Fuzz drive G2, fresh strings and a '81 Deluxe reverb. Happy for the rest of the evening!

Thank you Justin!

I followed the setting advice, based upon my rig, kindly supplied by J. Everman, and I couldn't improve on it. Manual is straightforward and understandable. 4 Knobs - bias, fuzz, gain, drive + two internal adjustable trim-pots offers a wide range of tone shaping possibilities.

My set-up: various fuzz(s) > Carl Martin Parametric EQ > SweetSound UltraVibe > Ibanez AD99 analog delay > Ibanez PQL Parametric EQ > Digitech DigiVerb > Keeley Modded Boss TR2 Trem. > custom built FET preamp > Kendrick 35 Watt Tweed Tube 4x10. Axe(s) will go unamed for purposes of anonymity. I own three fuzz pedals ( counting the J. Everman ) a Cat's Eye's Mista Fuzz, for vintage primitive germanium mania, a ( please excuse me for owning it ) Zoom Ultra Fuzz UF-01 for noisy, RAW, barely controlled sonic mayhem variation, and the Everman G2 for the most musical -part-of-the-tube-amp-circutry tone enhancement you've ever heard. The thing just sings AND is the quietest fuzz i've run into as far as introducing noise into the line. It's got plenty muscle if you want or can be a subtle silent-partner enhancer of single notes and chords. No mosquito in a jar, no shredded tin-foil - instead I get harmonically complex, euphonius FUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ. I don't look to get the sound of favorite artists, as I do not wish to live my creative life as a tribute. In that same vein the Everman G2 is an original, it doesn't sound like other fuzzes - thank g-d. The G2 is an invaluable and unique tone hue on my fuzz palette. It's on my board to stay.

The thing is a minimalist work of art - inside and out. Production checklist that came with it listing the inspections it went through before leaving the shop tells me Everman is a fanatic when it comes to quality. Aesthetically and functionally immaculate. I would gig without a backup.

Everman patiently ( point by point ) answered all of my pesty emails BEFORE I even bought his fuuzz box. And responded to more thereafter. Does he sleep? I get the feeling there is a gentleman genius on the other end.

Read all of my prior rave input. A 10 at least.

Hi, I left the previous review (3/25/2004) on the G2 Fuzz Drive and would like to correct one thing I said. I emailed Justin to ask him what would have to be compromised in order to get the G2-FD quieter and he told me that nobody ever complained about that before and gave me a couple of suggestions to try that might help me. Well that got me thinking that maybe I'm doing something differnt from everyone else. So I tried using AC adapters I have from different manufacturers and found one that is almost totally quiet with the G2. It says it puts out 9V 300mA like all my others but I think it's actually less because when used with a Boss pedal, the LED is very dim. It didn't effect the LED on the G2, it only made it so that I can totally use the pedal in any way I want now. The pedal is now whisper quiet and there is no doubt that it's a keeper. So much so that I also bought his Octave-X Octavia pedal - another keeper. If your interested, I left a review on that pedal too. There definately is some luck involved when trying out equipment because if I hadn't had the one out of 7 AC adapters that made all the difference for me now having a whisper quiet set-up, I, and others who read these reviews, would think that J. Everman's G2-FD pedal is not capable of being a quiet one. But it is. I can only wonder how many of the pedals that I've sold might also have been keepers if only I had tried a different AC adapter. Because that adapter not only made the G2 quiet but it also effected other pedals that I have in different ways from each other. One pedal got brighter; one dropped the spike in the mids to a more tollerable level as well as smooth the distortion out; one didn't like it at all; and another had only the slightest of difference. Well, I'm probably the last one in the world to figure this all out, but in case I'm not, experiment a little, it will definately be worth it.

The G2 is very easy to use. Four knobs: Bias - adds thickness by introducing low end; Fuzz - adds fuzz; Drive - adds overdrive; Gain - final output. It has 2 tweekable dials inside: one for the Bias and one for the Drive.

I like the sound of the G2 because it's not thin and it's not bright. I use a PRS with custom P90s made by Peter Biltoft(pure magic, they have the balls of a humbucker with the claity of single coils)through a Bogner 101B and 4x12 cab w/ Greenbacks. As of this week in the chain (still searching for the perfect combination of pedals, but getting close!), I have: gtr-wah-BossOD2-EvermanG2-BossOD2-BossOD1-VoodooSparkleDriveKeeleyMod-TS9DXAnalogManMod-amp. The G2 sounds very good through the clean and plexi modes of my amp for transparent rhythm and lead work. The G2 could be too much of a good thing when used with a heavily distorted channel or pedal, and with my amp's high-gain distorted channel, or with the high gain of the Boss OD-1, there was too much hum. I'd say the G2 is meant to be used in front of a clean channel or, better yet, in front of one with a plexi-type sound, where the amp starts to break up. The G2 sounds even bigger and better with either or both the TS and SpklDr, some midrange color is now introduced. It also sounds just as good with either or both BossOD2 pedals (EQ'd differently), now with more mid coloration. I don't use any pedal anywhere near full saturation, in fact, the G2 doesn't need much to help it come alive, whether it be from the amp or another pedal. In almost every combination I can use, the G2 is big, singing, and articulate. It does slightly hum (similar to a Boss DS-1 AnalogMan Mod I have) but it's not bad. The G2 is very smooth and sustains nicely. It sounds almost like my amps distortion but with the character of fuzz introduced. It's very appealing. There isn't an obnoxious sound available.

It seems to be very well built with very clean soldering. The casing is metal and rugged. Nothing cheap about this pedal. In fact, it looks like it would be right at home sitting on top of a nice solid, dark wood desk.

The few times I emailed J.Everman he was always prompt to reply and helpful.

I play in a blues-based rock trio and I've got to have a big articulate sound or it sounds foolish. I am glad I bought the G2 because it ADDS to my sound and is very useful and compatable with differnt combinations of pedals and amp channels. As you know, there are so many variations in getting a good sound, that a little bit of luck has to be involved. Possibly, if I liked EV speakers, the G2 might have sounded totaly different to me and then maybe I'd be writing a different review... and just the opposite for someone else's ears and taste and equipment. All I can say is that the pedal has great and excellent potential and that for me it fits like an expensive leather glove.

Read the manual first, plug in, use your ears and adjust the pots. Should take you about 5 minutes to get the sound you want.

Les Paul Custom, Boss TU-2 Tuner, G2, Boss DD-5, Sunn Model T, Matamp 4x12 Cab fitted with Fane AX12's.
This pedal is very transparent, very quiet, versatile and with my set up it sounds like a hundred thor's hammers. I like to drive my amp so I keep the fuzz nob down and and dial in the drive. killer.

Hand built with high quality components. Back up? Who am I, Slash?

J. Everman is very helpful, friendly and will answer any questions promptly. He obviously takes pride in what he does and cares about his customers.

I play very heavy, low-end (drop to B flat!) rock. This pedal suits me fine.
The other guy in the band uses some MXR overdrive thing which sounds like an annoying swarm of mosquitos next to this. I've searched far and wide for the right overdrive pedal and I've been very content with this so far.

This is an addition to my previous review. I would like to note that I've become an EVERMANIAC! This thing is the finest silicon-fuzz box known to man! After a comparison with a fulltone '69, prescription experience, boss hyperfuzz, big muff, there is no doubt. This pedal eats all the aformented pedals for breakfast...at once!

4 knobs and 2 internal trimpots. The knobs are labelled Bias, Fuzz, Drive, Gain respectively. To me bias appears to accentuate the bass frequencies, fuzz the characteristics of the fuzz, drive the amount of overdrive and high end and gain the overall volume of the pedal.

It takes a moment of time to set it up just right because of the plethora of options you have with this peace o' kit. It's because of the trimpots that it takes longer than 5 minutes to get the optimum sound from the pedal. And since it is a germanium-fuzz type pedal you'll have to learn HOW to use such an effect 'cause it ain't an ordinary "plug'n'play" type o' box!

I use a Fender Strat with an assortment of different pickups (with more output, and more bass generally speaking) into the CLEAN channel of a Soldano SP-77 pre-amp into an 6550 equipped CWL poweramp which feeds an 2x12 Celestion V30's (which basically turn it into a giant Hiwatt/Fender hybrid) My pedalboard usually houses a Menatone Chawbox, J. Everman Fuzz Drive G2, modded Dunlop Crybaby, Menatone Red Snapper and an EHX USA Small Stone (the one with true bypass)

A few months ago I obtained an insatiable case of GAS (Gear Aquisition Syndrome) after a long talk with buddy Mike Donkers (www.nubluz.com) and being fed up with not obtaining the sound I wanted to hear blasting thru my speakers! He showed me the way to the better sounding boutique pedals and showed me some pedals including the Evermans. A few months earlier I bought myself one of those FuzzFace reissues from Arbiter which gave some idea of what fuzz could do, but it was far too muddy and undefined and crapped out on me after just three months! But nonetheless did it interest me in fuzzpedals. After hearing the J. Everman Fuzz Pedals there was no turning back!

The quality of the effect is absolutely mind-blowing. It truly is a TONE-pedal! It gives that boomy fuzz sound when you've got your guitar's volume knob wide open, but the magic happens when you turn it down. It just cleans up beautifully! It passes thru almost every shade of crunch you can think of and it ends in a nice boosted CLEAN singnal. Believe me it all sounds good. Then there's the low-end of the pedal! Because of this pedal my bassplayer needs an BIGGER amp and my second guitarist playing a les-paul/ marshall combo is complaining of lack of ass-end, AIN'T LIFE GRAND :-)

This thing gives me what I want; MAXIMUM BASS!!! MWUHAHAHAAA!!!!

It is built with the finest components placed in an solid aluminum box (hammond), so i'm not expecting any troubles for the next 50 years or so. It's built like Keith Richards.

They mailed me the pedal in such a way so that I would't have to pay extra import taxes. How groovy is that? :-)

My GOD!! This is the ultimate pedal any 70's, southern-rock, bluesrock based player can have! It practicaly eliminates the need of multichannel amps. Thats why I dont even bring a footswitch to switch ampchannels anymore.
I play 70's rock/ texas-blues, think ZZ-Top, Black Crowes, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Led Zep, Doyle Bramhall II (check our site www.f-b-i.nl) and go for the same approach in tone and playing style.

A few things of notice; Fuzz is an effect that's not for the meek and lazy guitarplayer, you'll have to PLAY YOUR ASS OF to get it to work. Next thing; FuzzFace type pedals (like this one) have the knack to sound extremly ugly in conjunction with bad guitars and amps nor will it give that magic fuzzsound thru transistor amps, tube-amps are a requirment for these pedals.

Oh yeah, and Justin Everman Pedals RAWK!

it take a little bit of time 2 know how the G2 works,there are also internal pots you can set.so u can get the sound your looking for.
but overall its easy to work with the G2,and the sound good god : )

I use an AV 52 telecaster,Strat,and some couple of Epiphone guitars,a junior ,les paul and sheraton.my amp is a Fender Tweed Blues Deluxe.
i play alot of Rolling Stones,Black Crowes ,and Faces stuff and this pedal does it !!!

you really can depend on it the case is strong enough,and i would use it on a gig without a backup anytime

Mr Everman is a realy nice guy,even the silliest questions i asked him he replied them all.and always in a day he is very quick

as i said before ,i play lot of stones ,crowes and faces and this pedal nails them all u can also get a great hendrix kind sound out of it its realy multifunctional.i've been playing about 10 years now and since i started playing in a band i got more and more into pedals.a friend of mine said try the G2 and i was SOLD !!!i just love it.i also ordered the Octave X and i cant wait till it arrives
thanks Mister Everman for making these beautiful sounding pedals

It's take a bit of time to get to know the the controls of this pedal, but when you think logically it can't be more simpel ;) There are 4 knobs on the outside: Bias, Fuzz, Drive and Gain.
The gain is the outputvolume.
The drive controls the amount of drive in the fuzz
The fuzz knob is for the amount of fuzz you want the drive. That's pretty cool because you can get a spectacular fuzzy sound with the slightest amount of drive, but also huge amounts of drive with no recognizable fuzzy signals.
The Bias control really works together with your guitar pickups. In this way you are able to get a really tight bass, without any unwelcome sounds.

The pedal is extremely versatile with all these controls and the internal trimpots make it even better. I admit that it's a lot of work to take off the bottomplate everytime you want to finetune something, but hey... everything for the best tone!

I didn't get a manual with it because I bought it secondhanded on Ebay (first G2 built, nr. 500!), but the manual is downloadable from Justin's website, so that wasn't a problem.

I'm using the unit with a Fender Strat with Fralin Steelpoled 42 pickups and a Fender Pro Reverb.

In this combination almost every setting on the pedal sounds AWESOME!

In my pedal chain are also a: Teese RMC3 wah, Menatone Red Snapper, Dunlop Univibe and very soon also an Everman Octave X (check it out on his website!). In combination with all these pedals (even with the Red Snapper) the pedal works great. I can get huge haunting, fuzzy blues sounds with it, but also the most crazy sixties Jimi sounds.

Well the unit seems sturdy enough to be kicked on and off a lot of times. It's bit expensive for me to afford a backup.

Justin is an awesome guy! He'll answer any question you'll send him. I am very sure that he will help you out when a unit fails.

I've been playing guitar for about 3 years now and from the beginning i've been playing nothing but oldskool texas blues and psychedelic rock (doyle II, Jimi). It's a great fit with my playing style and my other gear.
I really love the pedal because it's so versatile. Defenitely the best fuzz I ever tested and had! This one's a keeper!

There is a useful manual. Work with this box and be rewarded

I've had the J Everman Fuzz Drive G2 for two days now and though I said I would give it time before I posted a review, too bad.

Just a couple thoughts on the FDG2.

Incredible versatility of tones. It is the Fuzz Drive and there are variations of both here, in abundance:) The reviews are correct; the FDG2 takes what you give it and gives you more of it back with gusto. It can be a cleanish boost or it can be a fuzzblast and either tone is a completely useable/desirable tone.

Let me illustrate the OD properties; Can you imagine ultra responsive clarity combined with the sweetest breakup you might have ever heard that sounds as if it were born inside amp, not the pedal,but integral to the amp?The FDG2 connects with your instruments and emphasizes the goodness(or badness, considering your amp and playing;) )

The fuzz is also wonderful with similar qualities. You basically dial in how much you want from either or both,(Fuzz or OD, that is)
ahhh, choices:)

When I got the FDG2 hame and played for a while the box didn't divulge all her secrets so quickly, I had to work her a little to coax the magic out. 30 minutes later I was marveling at how this pedal just oozes sonic pleasure. The key is to get the internal trimmers in the right spot for your setup. J Everman supplies some settings to try and I tried and immediately found one I loved. Although experimenting is fun and I will get to that a little later. Once again, you gotta do a little sweet talking and knob twisting to figure out the interaction between the trimmers, external controls and your rig. If you have experience with fuzz and OD than this will be a snap(and a lovely journey!). Turn your amp up to the just-breaking-up-point and begin.

Nothing less than tonal alchemy is the outcome.

Seems very durable. Great hardware.

So far so good. Justin is kind and helpful and builds world class FX.

Best OD I have played.