Martian Tarantula
Well-behaved Tonebender Mk1 fuzz
Angry sounding fuzz, nice authoritative voice.
Based on the earliest fuzz pedal design (the TBMk1), that is hard to find, expensive, and typically all sound different from one another; they have an interestingly bright sustaining sound on the high strings, and surprisingly good chord articulation for something so grindy and fuzzy.
First generation vintage fuzz tones
I designed this using silicon transistors for temperature sensitivity and consistency from unit to unit. Oh also they're cheaper and easier to source. But anyway, I did tune this thing to sound like the old ones that use very old-school germanium transistors. I got it to stay nicely biased and polite, but then I backed up that process ever so slightly so that it is capable of sounding just a little bit broken--makes it much more interesting and fun!
The original circuit's "Attack" (also called "Filter" in the Marshall Supa Fuzz) was a dumb bias control that didn't actually lower the gain but made the signal cut out when turned down low. I changed it completely, made it useful (but still not a gain control), and renamed it "OVERLOAD" instead.
Interesting blend of grunge and clarity
The OVERLOAD knob takes the sound into 3 variations of voicing...
- At full up, it is extra fat and woofy, slightly saggy.
- In the middle, it is balanced and fairly tight.
- All the way down it is extra dry and gated, slightly cold-biased.
Decent amount of guitar volume cleanup; gets more polite and defined, at least
Excellent midrange cut
Reviews
Dave
Marc,
I am so very pleased with this soundscape beyond words.....
It's taken me a while to dial it in with my stuff but I am beyond thrilled with where it's going.
I just spent very loud hours with the Martian and it is terrifyingly excellent thru a few different scenarios.
I don't usually write thank you letters but your finely tuned sense of frequency offering warrants one.
Thank you again,
Dave
Sound Clips
Dave
So I recorded this straight into a an Iphone 8
I used an ESP Phoenix II with both humbuckers ( '59 neck & JB bridge) into the Tarantula (overload around 11 o'clock) feeding both a Marshall JCM800 and a Tech 21 TM60 ( clean channel ) each driving their own Marshall 1936 2x12 cab with stock Celestion G12-T75's
For the chord voicings and riffs I tend to use, this pedal is monstrous in it's treatment of all of the edges of the notes, Ie, crispy, full and articulate.
I love how it sags but doesn't phart out while giving sizzle right in that low midrange where it really shines. The high end doesn't get fizzy either.
Horrible, nasty clip I recorded
Using Ibanez SZ with PAF style humbuckers
Not demonstrated: any guitar-volume clean-up, which eliminates the glitchiness and sag completely
(video) Skreddy Martian Tarantula with humbuckers
