Product: IndyGuitarist Sputter Fuzz
Price Paid: USD 104
Submitted
08/14/2006
at
11:05am
by
wren
Email: pounceingcats<at>juno dot com
Ease of Use
:
10
First off, it should be said that what I am reviewing is a customized Sputter Fuzz. The normal Sputter Fuzz just has a volume knob and a tone knob. I had Brian (Indyguitarist) add a gain knob/circuit, as well as a little extra gain. So, my customized pedal has a volume knob, a gain knob, and a tone knob.
When I first plugged the pedal in, it took me all of 15 seconds (literally) to get close to the perfect sound ("perfect sound" in this case means "the sound I mainly bought it for", which we'll get into more a little later) out of it. It's extremely easy and intuitive; usually when I get a new gain pedal, I play around on it for a few days before I figure it out entirely, and the Sputter Fuzz (as I said) took literally 15 seconds. The controls are very, very intuitive; if you've had any experience with gain pedals, this one is easier to use.
Reliability
:
10
The proverbial brick shithouse. The switch feels much sturdier than that of any other pedal I've owned (period), and the case is possibly the sturdiest I've felt too. The LED is a pale (-ish) blue and VERY BRIGHT! It's perfect when it's on the pedalboard, but when I was running samples and drum machines through it, it was at about chest height, and the LED hurt my eyes; I had to cover the pedal with one hand and operate everything else with the other.
No concerns here. None at all. I've been gigging without a backup for awhile, and I'll continue to do so for awhile longer, I'm sure.
Customer Support
:
10
Ten plus plus plus. Brian is awsome, very easy to work with, replies promptly, etc. etc. I basically shot a big long email at him explaining why I wanted the Sputter Fuzz but also what/why I wanted to change it, and he pulled my rambling request together and we had a finished product within three weeks. Plus, he only charged me an extra $25 for the customization. Nothing but good to say here.
Overall Rating
:
10
To summarize (kind of): it's extremely close to perfect in terms of what I was looking for, and it can do quite a bit above and beyond what I'd planned on doing with it. Definitely a winner in every category. I've been playing for a little less than ten years (the exact number escapes me) and I've been looking for the above effect for at least four of those years. If it were stolen, I'd buy another in a second.
A picture's worth a thousand words; for a couple soundclips, go here:
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=572330
Sorry they're a little long; I got a bit carried away. (And if you're not a soundclick member, don't hesitate to sign up; I've been signed up as a listener for three years and I haven't gotten a piece of spam yet.) Also, that's only the guitar end of it; I also have a few soundclips of samples and such, but they aren't posted for copyright reasons. If you want to hear 'em, shoot me an email and we can figure something out.
My experience with Brian was awsome, and the resulting pedal was awsome. Hopefully I'll be dealing with Brian again soon.
