Red Witch says it has just released “the most dial-able fuzz on the planet“
The Fuzz God IV is a tweaker's delight, with internal 8 way DIP switch making for 264 different tone and gain combinations
Red Witch Pedals has unveiled the Fuzz God IV, a fuzz pedal for the inveterate tone seekers out there who like options, and lots of them.
The Fuzz God IV is the latest in a storied lineage of Red Witch Fuzz pedals. What began with the Fuzz God I's germanium fuzz, soon evolved through its silicon successor, then into a compact little fuzz with an internal six-way dip switch to affect its controls' response.
Now we are number four, where a Dual NOS Silicon BC109 transistor fuzz partners the "crazed switchable oscillation" of the Fuzz God II's "Wrath" mode and the germanium diode Octavia.
Design-wise, Fuzz God IV looks similar to Fuzz God II, but under the hood you've got an eight-way dip switch to change the menu. This lets you choose from six different tone settings and three different gains, and up to 264 different tone/gain combos in total.
That's a lot to be getting on with but when you see all this laid out on the enclosure, the Fuzz God IV doesn't look too arcane. There are three tiered footswitches. One to engage the fuzz, one for the Octavia effect, one for the Wrath oscillation.
Two toggle switches override the internal dip switches to set the gain and tone at their maximum settings, while there are controls for Volume, Fuzz, Wrath and Sputter. Volume is the pedal's output, Fuzz is fuzz, Wrath is the Wrath oscillation, while the Sputter lets you dial in open, smooth fuzz all the way through to choked, gated nastiness.
A tri-colour LED lights up red when the fuzz is engaged, blue in the Octavia mode, green in Wrath mode, violet when you pair the fuzz with Octavia, cyan when its fuzz plus Wrath, and white? Well, that's when everything is run together, fuzz with the Octavia and the Wrath.
Get the MusicRadar Newsletter
Want all the hottest music and gear news, reviews, deals, features and more, direct to your inbox? Sign up here.
As you can imagine, that's a lot of options, and that's before you open the chassis up to start reconfiguring the tone and gain via the dip switch. The unit takes 9V DC power and draws 42mA of current.
Fuzz God IV is available to pre-order until 3rd October, with these presale units limited to 150 units hand-built, numbered and hand-signed by Ben Fulton.
Jonathan Horsley has been writing about guitars and guitar culture since 2005, playing them since 1990, and regularly contributes to MusicRadar, Total Guitar and Guitar World. He uses Jazz III nylon picks, 10s during the week, 9s at the weekend, and shamefully still struggles with rhythm figure one of Van Halen’s Panama.
“Meticulously crafted analogue and digital circuits all curated from the ground up for bass-centric tonal expansion”: Fender unveils the Bassman effects line – 5 pedalboard essentials for bassists
“Imagine standing in front of a wall loaded with tube amp heads and 4x12 speaker cabinets, grabbing your guitar and hitting a chord”: Crazy Tube Circuit’s Heatseeker is an amp-in-box to help you nail Angus Young’s high-voltage AC/DC tones