Blender Custom Reissue | musicradar.com

Fender Blender Custom Reissue £179

The MusicRadar Team, Tue 23 Oct, 12:10 pm BST

The key to Billy Corgan's Siamese Dream-era solo sound

Throw your signal into a blender and behold the resulting concoction.

Originally manufactured between 1968 and 1977, the Fender Blender is revered amongst fuzzbox fanatics for its distinctive sound, while the likes of Billy Corgan and Kevin Shields have used original units to create vivid fuzz soundscapes.

This new reissued unit preserves the solid-state radio aesthetic, and adds useful updates such as true bypass switching, a nine-volt adaptor socket and improved battery access.

In the light of this, it seems a shame that Fender didn’t opt for another update in the form of LEDs to denote when the effect and tone boost switches are engaged, but then there’s really no mistaking this pedal when it’s switched on.

In use

Like another vintage-FX holy grail that was recently reissued, the Ampeg Scrambler, the Fender Blender is essentially a raucous fuzz pedal with an additional upper octave.

The octave note is most apparent when playing single notes in higher registers, while the pedal’s primitive tracking adds to its identity and gives chords a sizzling, squelchy texture that recalls the Rhubarb And Custard theme; younger readers should think the intro to Mudhoney’s Touch Me I’m Sick and that’s pretty close to what the Blender sounds like.

It’s certainly an acquired taste but used sparingly it can have a dramatic impact on your sound and enliven an otherwise bland mix.

Verdict

We’re not talking about tonal purity here but raucous noise, so if that’s your bag, give the Blender a spin.

MusicRadar rating:

3.5 of 5 stars

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User comments (1)

Average user rating 4 of 5

Elvis2

24 weeks ago.

User rating 4 of 5

I used to own the original Fender Blender (not the reissue) but i got offered an insane amount of money for it so i sold it, two years later the reissue was released and i bought one, what is the difference?
Well, my old one buzzed and hissed but otherwise sounded exactly the same, the reissue does everything the old one did but is a little bit cleaner sonically.
I dont use this device very often but when i need something to sound like its out of order this is the first device i think of to accomplish that sound, it will make guitars shriek and keyboards sound like they are in a lot of pain, this device is capable of doing more polite things, its a distortion box and can do the Black Sabbath kind of fuzz at lower settings but the octave / ring modulated boost is where the fun is at and for that you want everything on 10, this is a truly nasty device, use at your own risk.

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Verdict

MusicRadar rating: 3.5 of 5

User rating: 4 of 5

Pros

The ultimate in opinion-polarising sonic nastiness… in a good way!

Cons

Seems a tad expensive, no LEDs

The bottom line

We’re not talking about tonal purity here but raucous noise, so if that’s your bag, give the Blender a spin.

Review Policy

All MusicRadar’s reviews are by independent product specialists, who are not aligned to any gear manufacturer or retailer. Our experts also write for renowned magazines such as Guitarist, Total Guitar, Computer Music, Future Music and Rhythm. All are part of Future PLC, the biggest publisher of music making magazines in the world.