Everman Custom Audio Effects Ring Modulated Fuzz

I'd like to submit some addional info to the review I've already given. I'm now in regular and constant contact with Justin. I also submitted soundfiles for Justin to put up on his website. Feel free to check them out: www.jeverman.com/aboutsoundfiles.html.

Justin keeps me up to date on new inventions he comes up with, such as the Charge Pump Converter. This is a voltage selector device specifically designed for the Ring Modulated Fuzz which allows you to step the voltage all the way up to 18 volts while still using a 9v wall wart! Justin sold me the prototype. The tiny little box contains one of Justin's famous trimpots. The trimpot controls the amount of volts you want to run your RMF on. I use it in front of my RMF and have it set full blast. Feeding the RMF the full 18 v makes it the fattest and darkest octavia by far!

Justin no longer makes the RMF as such but will come out with a new octave pedal with a new name instead. This pedal will basically have the same circuit as the RMF but will also have the Charge Pump Converter built into it. Since I already know what that sounds like I guarantee you this is a surefire winner! Absolutely the deepest-sounding, most tweakable, and powerful octave-up pedal around and will beat those made by Roger Mayer and Mike Fuller anytime!

Of all the products Justin Everman makes this must be the easiest one to tweak. Only three external knobs (bias, fuzz, and gain) and one internal trimpot. The bias knob controls both the amount of low end in the signal as well as the amount of ring modulation. The fuzz knob - you guessed it! - controls the amount of grit you want to add to the signal and the gain - right again! - is the volume control.

Easy enough and very versatile. Like Justin's fuzz drive pedals you can make the RMF sound good through any decent tube amp using these external controls. The internal trimpot is for attenuating the high frequences. The manual helps you dial in your basic sounds. Although you may arrive at settings completely different from the ones in the manual the suggested settings in the manual do give you a very good idea of what this baby can do and the extremes it can go to. I prefer to rely on my ears more than anything else, though. Everman's pedals are designed to encourage you to dial in your own sounds, which is why I like them so much.

First of all, let me say something about ring modulation. I owned a Roger Mayer Octavia before buying this pedal and loved the sound but felt it was a bit too shrill and lacking in the bass department. I bought the Ring Modulated Fuzz because I wanted an octave-up pedal that would give me a similar sound which would retain the bass as well. I don't particularly care for ring modulation per se and I am glad to announce there is actually very little of that in the pedal. Whatever ring modulation the pedal produces works really well with the octave. I just hope Justin's term Ring Modulated Fuzz doesn't put octave lovers off because IMO this is an octave-up pedal first and foremost. And the best one I have ever heard, I might add.

Justin is right when he mentions in the manual that it sounds better at 12v than 9v. You get a much fatter tone that way, so I'll put up with the nuisance of having to use a wall wart. Everything for a great tone! Speaking of which, boy does this unit have TONE! WOW! Justin didn't lie either when he mentions in his manual that he put the soul back into the octave: the RMF sounds way more organic than the RM Octavia with lots of bottom end.

At first I tried it at 9v with the trimpot untouched. I thought it sounded great but a tad too thin. The first thing I did next was use a 12v adapter, which significantly beefed up the tone. Then I started noodling with the trimpot. I now have it set all the way to the left. It's funny because you never lose the bass no matter which way you turn it. I think I maxed out the high frequencies. Whatever I did, the result is the fattest Octavia I've ever heard!

As for my personal settings, I have two favorites:

- 'clean' octave-up: bias 0%; fuzz 75%; gain: 100%
- 'boosted' octave-up: bias 50%; fuzz: 75%; gain: 100%

As you can see, the only thing I change is the bias. What I mean by 'clean' and 'boosted' is with no bias you get the most ring modulation so the octave-up signal is strongest, and with the bias up 50% you add more low end which fattens up the octave signal.

It's possible to add more bias without muddying up the sound. I can see why the manual suggests 90% bias for solos, but that's if you're using the RMF without the aid of an additional fuzz or OD. Me, I'd rather kick in my Fuzz Drive Deluxe or Red Snapper for that (see my reviews of both pedals on Harmony Central). Adding more bias also takes away from the ring mod. Turning up the fuzz beyond 75% makes the ring mod less pronounced and generally adds too much grit. I find maxing out the volume control gives me the most powerful overall sound. In fact, I wish the pedal had a similar amount of headroom as my Fuzz Drive Deluxe.

The RMF is very quiet and transparent. You can actually switch to a different pick-up and hear it thru the pedal! Although the octave-up sound is by definition a very compressed sound, the RMF has just enough compression to keep the octave sounding clear and deep across every position on the neck of your guitar. The signal also cleans up very nicely when you roll back your guitar volume.

Forget the name, folks, this is the best OCTAVE-UP pedal around!

It's the usual Hammond-style box and these are always tough. I haven't had the pedal for long but I'm sure it won't break for a long time to come. Besides, I don't go around jumping around on stage and putting my full weight on my pedals anyway!

When I wrote my review for the Fuzz Drive Deluxe I hadn't dealt with Justin Everman personally yet. For the production of my RMF unit I've had very extensive contact with him, though, and I can honestly say that he's an all-around good guy who communicates fast and well. He even asked me if I had any suggestions for improvements on his pedals! I still keep in regular contact with him. Thanks, Justin!

If you're a blues player influenced by Texas-style players such as the Vaughan brothers, Ronnie Earl and the like you must be into TONE big time. You're likely to play a Strat with big strings and high action and one or more Fender amps. I started out like that, intially with just a guitar, a chord, and an amp. I learned to use every aspect of my guitar and amp(s). I still think that's the way to go.

Over the years (I've been playing for 17 years now) I've been pushing the boundaries of Texas blues, to the point where I felt the need to incorporate more different sounds and influences from other styles of music. That's when the pedals came in. Since I grew up in the 70's my main influences besides blues are (southern) rock and funk, preferably with a psychedelic edge. Thus the choice for fuzzboxes, univibes and octavias was obvious.

I've been submitting reviews on Harmony Central ever since I got my first boutique pedal (a Fulltone '69). Once I discovered what an improvement boutique pedals are over regular mass-produced ones I developed an insatiable attack of G.A.S. (Gear Acquisition Syndrome). However, I don't keep what I can't use. I've been buying and selling stuff to arrive at the ultimate fuzz, univibe or octavia.

I now own two of Justin Everman's pedals: a Fuzz Drive Deluxe and a Ring Modulated Fuzz. These are definite keepers! I don't like pedals that are exact replicas of original designs, because with that come the original limitations of those pedals as well. Like my take on blues, I like pedals that were made out of respect for the tradition but try to take it a bit further as well. Justin Everman does just that and he deserves to be as succesful as Mike Fuller.

My favorite features of both the FDD and RMF: plenty of low end, transparent, warm and deep tone, cleans up nicely, not too compressed, versatile, works with the amp and not against it. What more could you ask for? I can't wait to see what Justin will come out with next!

This can be a plug and play pedal, but if you're unfamiliar with the Bias adjustment, you should take care to notice the interaction of the controls and the guitar, and where in your effects chain you place the RMF and how you set the gain on your amp and for that matter, what kind of amp you use.
There is an adjustment pot inside the box to adjust the high freq. roll-off, but it's a little inconvenient to open the box to adjust.
The external controls are Bias, Fuzz and Gain. They are all very interactive so you need to noodle around with these. You can take your signal from mild to aggressive as a Fuzz effect, or you can adjust the bias to make this pedal almost purely a Fuzz, or as a mild Fuzz with Ring Modulation/Octave type effect. This sounds very cool when used with the right amp settings and in conjunction with other effects. I have gotten four of five very usable, very different effects out of this one box by not only adjusting the RMF, but by adujusting the gain on the amp, the location in the chain and the type of pick-ups in the guitar.

I run a '95 Fender Strat Deluxe w/Gold Lace Sensors, a Gibson The Paul with DiMarzio Dual Sound (1980) in the neck and a Seymour Duncan JB in the bridge, both with coil splitting switches and a new Epi Dot with standard electronics. My effects chain is from guitar into a Fulltone modified CryBaby, Deja'Vibe, stock TS-9 (1995), Jekyll & Hyde, FullDrive 2 w/ Flat Mids switch, The Ring Modulated Fuzz, Boss CS-3 Compression/Sustainer, Boss CH-1 Super Chorus (Replacing a Fulltone Choralflange) and finally a Boss RV-3 into a Marshall DSL-50 (GREAT AMP) into a Marshall 1960TV (GREAT CAB.) into my ears or a SM-57.
For a device that is both Fuzz and Ring Modulator, it is quite Quiet. I have not hesitated to use it while recording. The effect sounds very good by itself but it starts to sound like more familiar Octaves and like effects when used in conjunction with, for instance, the TS-9 or the Visual Sound Jekyll & Hyde, or the FD-2. The chorus doesn't help it and the wah is not very effective with it either. You can get some pretty wild stuff happening when you get the TS-9, RMF, Deja'Vibe and the delay happening together, Yeow!!!!
I usually run into the Classic Gain channel of the Marshall (as you may have gathered judging by the quality of distortion/overdrive pedals in my set-up) but this pedal is also very complimentary with the Ultra Gain channel.
I like this pedal best when used in conjunction with either amp distortion or other distortion pedals.

This piece is as well made as any pedal I have ever seen. Heavy duty Hammond box and nice feeling (if a little loose, in turn feel) pots with big knowbs. The box looks very classy and thankfully its black and there are no weird things painted on it. Very pro! I've only had it for a month or so, so time will tell if it deserves a rating upgrade.

I have contacted and received e-mail from Mr. Everman and he has been extremely helpful. I really appreciate good customer service and it doesn't get any better than Justin Everman.

I was looking more for a different sound than something I've heard before and this box can do both. I play some classic rock, but primarily original techno-rock in the style of Jeff Beck's last two albums. I've been playing for about 25 yrs and I have extensive synth and bass rigs as well as drum machines and a hardware sequencer in a MC-303.
This box is extremely versatile and it sounds very good. If I were making a custom version, I'd have the H.F. adjustment pot on the outside. I may also mention that I run all of my pedals with power from a Voodoo Lab Pedal Power. You can run this pedal with a 9 volt battery or run it with a 9 Volt or 12.5 volt power supply. I use the 12.V tap on the Pedal Power for this pedal.
The Bias adjustment on this unit gives it a level of variation uncommon to any floor pedal. I am often stimulated to do new things when a piece of equipment gives me something unexpected and inspiring to work with and the RMF is responsible for a couple of new riffs in my repertoire. If you're looking for an Octave/Ring Modulator Fuzz effect that will give you more, try this out. I like it.

if you use it with a guitar it sounds good no matter what. you can get all sorts of good sounds out of it. it s made for guitar. just, i don t always use it with guitar, being a synthhead, so with synth sounds it doesn t always work. but when it does... oh my... even when it 'doesn t work', it does, just..not like it does with the guitar. i guess you have to hear it to understand. like putting a somewhat already ringmodulated synth tone through it doesn t really work out too well

the unit has 3 knobs: bias, fuzz, and gain. bias has to do with it sounding more ringmodulated, or more fuzzy, but it s not really like that. the manual says the bias causes the unit to react differently to the level of your pickups. fuzz goes all the way to infinity (which makes me want just the 'plain' fuzz). fuzz is always on. gain is gain.
there s also an internal trim pot for the cutoff of a lowpass filter. the unit generates alot of potentially undesireable high frequencies. i ve yet to adjust it, and you have to open it up to get at it
now, the knobs themselves are very easy to turn. at first i thought this was the only minus of this unit, as the slightest touch turns them, but it also makes it VERY easy to REALLY tweak the thing out.

k, as i said above i use this with a guitar (epiphone les paul) and synths and other stuff. right now i m running vocals through it. i use it for recording, and i don t really play guitar, so no amp is involved (yet)
i guess if you cranked the fuzz up you could call that noisy...
the ringmodulation on the thing - especially when used with a guitar - is VERY nice. organic, not 'mechanical' sounding. i love it.
i don t think noise has to do with 'sound quality', so i haven t even bothered listening for it. i haven t noticed anything anyways...
you have to hear it to believe it. as stated on the web site: "You dont know how sterile your octave pedal really was till you try the RMF"

it would appear that it s built to very high standards. switchcraft jacks, beautiful soldering, high standard components. it s a work of art.

justin is a champ! i talked with him quite a bit via email when making the purchase.

i use alot of gear to various styles of electronic music, everything from beatless noise to drum and bass to silly. it definatly does not work with any and everything as far as synths are concerned, but if you do want a very unique, great sounding, original effect, this is it. it s hard to describe what it sounds like, and there s no examples online right now because it can produce such a wide range of sounds - especally when you plug something other than guitar sounds into it. check the j. everman web site for more info.
i can t really think of anything i d wish it had right now. an LED to let you know it s on would be nice... but justin can add that if you like
i can t really think of any other words to describe it... it sounds incredible, it s built very well, and it sounds incredible! i will keep mine forever and ever