thanks for the reviews guys--fortunately--i arrived home in time to get to the post office to pick mine up.
i have #10 (OC71 7of7).
my initial impressions--it fucking PWNS. period. i am not kidding when i say this might be my be-all-end-all fuzz.
while i wipe off the jizz--take a moment to read my review, because i've got a slightly different take. let me be clear, i think David and Donovan did an amazing job on this pedal. But to be completely honest, i think the marketing/mythologizing really did not represent this pedal very well...but don't misunderstand me--i couldn't be happier about that. but the myth of the pedal was that it was this satanic malevolent WMD that would be most suitable with drop-tuned, doomy shit. i was anticipating something more extreme sounding, more of a one-trick pony, albeit a great one--but i actually found this to be one of the most versatile, well rounded fuzz's i've ever played.
for reference, i played it through a Hiwatt DR504 w 2x12 (reeve's VP's) and through my silverface deluxe reverb. i obviously like just about everything better through a hiwatt--but again, i think the marketing of this pedal really sold it short. it fucking pwns through my deluxe reverb 1x12. still need to try it with my clark lil bit LTD (tweed deluxe w/ single 6v6)--but with the deluxe reverb, i think this pedal actually showed-up ALL of my other fuzzes i a/b'd it against: nkt275 FF, hudson stroll on oc75 mkii, hudson mr.soul oc75/76 mk i.5, and a standard meathead. it outperformed imho, because it maintained a rich buzzy mid & top end but also had a huge bottom--that didn't fart out. basically, it stayed HUGE sounding, but still kept most of it's clarity. with my other fuzzes (through the deluxe reverb), usually something will get sacrificed (low-end or clarity). again, i think the marketing REALLY sold this pedal short in this regard.
Guitar-wise, I tried these: ’68 SG special (p90), ’65 jazzmaster, ’62 RI jazzmaster (MIA), ’73 les paul deluxe (mini HB’s), ‘60’s RI MIJ strat. It sounded excellent through all of them. It sounded the best through the SG p90’s—but that guitar pwns with pretty much any fuzz—and with my vintage jazzmaster. Generally speaking, like David said, it seems to do better with lower output pickups. As you can tell, my guitar collection lacks in HB guitars—so I really can’t comment much on SC vs HB, although it did sound excellent through the LP deluxe mini HB’s.
ok--toanz: imho, the fleshhead takes everything that's good about an NKT275 fuzz face and a MKII tonebender and combines them. It’s got all the big low-end and top-end sweetness of a germ fuzz face and marries it with the beefier, buzzy midrange of a tonebender. I still need to jam with it, but I can tell already that it seems like a pedal that would cut through the mix without sacrificing any low end juicyness. Overall, I would describe it as a ‘warm’ sounding fuzz, whereas the standard meathead I would classify as a more aggressive, harder character.
The part that gave me the biggest (and most unexpected) boner was how it cleans up when you roll off the guit vol. [aside: Part of why I love my fuzz face so much is that it cleans up but doesn’t lose any of it’s low-end, it’s retains a pretty full EQ spectrum. I love the sound of tonebenders, but they all seem to thin out a bit when you clean up. The mk1.5 seems to be best of the tonebender versions I’ve played in this regard (1966, mkii, mk1.5)—but it still gets a little more brittle sounding than my fuzz face.] the Fleshhead cleans up just as well as my fuzz face—so this is what totally put a smile on my face. The mild, overdrive sounds gotten here were phenomenal—I think I actually like it better than my fuzz face (something I NEVER thought I’d say).
I need to explore the “viscus”/tone knob a little more. My initial impressions were that I liked it dimed—just because that had the biggest low end, and I love me some low-end. But there does seem to be some interesting toanz in there (basically between 12:00—dimed). I don’t think I’ll ever be running it less than 12:00, fuzz takes on a different character, but is far too thin/trebly for my taste.
Standard meathead comparison: just from all the mythologizing, I was kind of expecting the fleshhead to be higher gain/more aggressive for some reason—but re-reading the stuff Dave/Donovan have posted about the origins of the meathead, I realize I was mistaken. Anyhow—the standard meathead is higher gain and seems to have a bit more output than the fleshhead (although both have a TON of output, boost—more than most fuzzes). Toanz-wise, I love the fatness of the fleshhead—the meathead is more mid-focused. I’d also be very interested to hear if anyone has a/b’d a fleshie with a meathead dark. Anyhow—I’m going to hang onto my meathead for now, because it can do some higher gain stuff that the fleshie just doesn’t quite reach.
Sorry to be SO verbose—but I am that stoked about this pedal. My buyer’s remorse has completely evaporated. Was it worth the $$? I don’t know—if this ends up being my mainstay be-all-end-all fuzz the way it looks like…I can’t really put a price on that. I mean, I bought my Dunlop fuzz face (mod’d with good nkt275’s) for like $100—but I don’t think I’d sell that pedal even for $500. so I guess the “worth” part of it is pretty subjective. I can guarantee you this—I’m NOT just raving about this pedal because I spent a ton of money on it. If I didn’t like it or was disappointed—I would’ve quietly posted this for sale. This will not be happening, she’s one of those pedals you know immediately is a keeper.
Talk is cheap, I know—I promise to post some clips soon. In addition to doing a demo of the fleshie, I’m thinking of A/B’ing it against some other fuzzes—like the fuzz face, mkii, mk1.5, standard meathead—just to show the differences. I’ll maybe do a separate demo through my deluxe reverb—just to show that it actually can pwn shit through a smaller combo.
PS—I actually do think the fleshie can do teh bloooze. Srsly.
PPS--thanks to DAM for this most amazing of pedulz.