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Cauldron Fuzz

 

One of a Kind Cauldron High-Gain Fuzz 

Cauldron Fuzz

Weak tea for a fool

or a banquet for the brave

the Cauldron simmers

I’ve been experimenting with Darlington Transistors over the past few months in an attempt to create a higher-gain version of the Black Spiral Fuzz.  Quite a 

few guitarists who use single-coils, gold-foils, or lower output pickups have been asking me to explore this path so they can get a little more oomph than the Black Spiral Fuzz has stock.  After much experimentation I present to you the one-of-a-kind Cauldron High-Gain Fuzz.  The Cauldron utilizes two Darlington Transistors in Q1 and Q2, as well as a multitude of part changes to accommodate and control the gain.  I’ve also modified the Detail control to allow it to get darker and thicker than the Black.  Gain is  funny thing, even though the Cauldron measures WAY higher gain than the Black Spiral, sonically it isn't crazy fuzzy.  It is still very much the Black Spiral's sibling, just more.  

These changes will most likely make it into a future production fuzz. Until then, the Cauldron is a one-off boiling hot custom fuzz from our Incubator, joining it’s fuzzy brothers the Artefact and Blush.

I used some vintage Marantz Hi-Fi Receiver knobs on the Cauldron that I’ve had in my personal stash since 1983!  While they may show a little wear, they have lot of vibe.  I’ve also been experimenting with some interesting solid colors, and the copper color reminded me of a copper cauldron pot.  And since the Darlington transistor circuit is higher-gain, and hotter, the name Cauldron fit both the look and the sound.

For the Texture Toggle I chose N2 and Germanium, the Ge selection is my favorite with this fuzz, very wild and almost out of control.  For this selection I chose some NOS Russian diodes from my personal stash.  They have a pretty dramatic volume drop - However once you compensate for the drop by turning up the output, you are rewarded with an interesting low-end grind and spitty top.  The weird thing about all of this, is that with these changes, the Cauldron now sounds closer to an FZ1-S than the Black Spiral.  It all spirals around...

NOTE:  After I shot the demo video I noticed that the Cauldron had a TON of bass, sometimes too much.  So at the last minute I added a low-cut switch.  It isn't shown in the pics or the demo, but I promise it is cool.  You can get the sounds you hear in the demo video, but now also more controllable bass at the flick of a switch.

The Cauldron will be for sale Saturday, April 13, 2019 at 9:00 AM MST for $399 USD.

  • Darlington high-gain transistors in Q1 and Q2
  • Bias tuned to narrower, sweeter range
  • Detail tuned to go darker, to tame the gain
  • Very aggressive “hot” sounding fuzz
  • Circuit Based on ’70’s era Maestro Fuzz
  • Nanolog N2 Molecular Junction
  • Russian NOS Ge diodes

Three-Way toggle Voicing:

  1. N2
  2. No Diodes
  3. Germanium
  • True Bypass
  • 100% Analog
  • Copper Cauldron top
  • Laser-Etched Graphics
  • Wenge Hardwood Box
  • High-Quality Parts Throughout
  • Mix of classic and high-tech in both aesthetics and sonics