Lucifer Rising
Posted: Wed May 15, 2013 9:41 pm
Part III. As with the indulgence of the blackest acid this manifestation isn't by any means a radical one. The clue is pretty much all in the name. Clean and simply this idea was born purely to make a cost effective D*A*M Fuzz Sound whilst maintaining the over-blown and over-sized 1970's construction approach. Micro pedals, I think not. I wanted the stay in the EFE character, so to speak, so there is a twist in the sonic tail so this creation isn't just the same shit, but cheaper. So anyone get the clue? The Darlington pair fuelled fuzz box, gotta love it right? Needless to say we do (Tone Bender MKIII/MKIV, BBA Fuzzaround, Elka Dizzytone etc) It comes in many shapes and sizes and in many textures of fuzz. It's a pretty easy sonic tool to re-bias making it a circuit type capable of total horror or complete sonic bliss, I guess there is some interplay there if your horror is actually bliss and visa versa. So Lucifer Rising, anyone?
Lucifer Rising. A 1972 film by Kenneth Anger features a soundtrack composed and recorded by Bobby Beausoleil. Prior to Beausoleil recording the soundtrack for the film, from his prison cell, it was originally composed by fellow by the name of James Patrick Page. 3 years earlier James played a show with his band at the Olympia theatre in Paris. James known for his raucous but skilful guitar playing often used a distortion device known as a 'fuzz box' On that particular day he used sound modification device that was manufactured by a London company called Sola Sound and was sold to the public as the Rotosound 'fuzz' or 'fuzz box'
The Lucifer Rising is based upon my old Rotosound Fuzz. It is not a direct sonic clone but I did use the my bias notes as the building block for these pedals. It's different to the Fuzz Sound, but the same. It's close enough for the thrifty but far enough away so it's interesting. Not as heavy in the lows as the Fuzz Sound and not as sticky as the old Rotosound is. It compresses a little more when the fuzz is wide open, like the Rotosound does, but cleans up to something usable giving you the familiar honky but plenty thick overdrive style fuzz tones. The tone control, labelled 'treble' here, works in reverse to that of the Fuzz Sound. The tone sweep feels a little more rustic to that of the Fuzz Sound, as in it's not as ballsy or too heavily fixed on the mids. The tuning is extended from that of the stock Rotosound type so the highs won't peel your skin off and will still deliver something that I'd consider musical even at its most extreme. Simply, it's tighter and more together than the Rotosound but choppier and faster than the Fuzz Sound. Old school tones in modern day attire. As with anything musical it is subtle and subjective, but I'm sure you wouldn't be even reading this if such things did not interest you.
Fixed style. This type of construction approach is really were I wanted to get the EFE boxes. That Colorsound/Top Gear/Bell Electrolabs vibe with the pots mounted through the board gives a crude kind of module design that always screamed 1970's to me. Big boxes big board and it's tough too boot. It makes construction clean & simple and really gives the whole pedal a rugged feel. Quality but cost effective. Cheaper caps but higher quality jacks and pots. The money is spent where it matters. Same too with the transistors. Aiming to stick with UK made parts such as Mullard and NKT but getting the ball rolling with a STC and Mullard combo. 2 x STC TK22C for QI & 2 and a Mullard OC82DM for the Q3.
Miss Haynes is the current Satanic witch of EFE manifestation. We had 100 pieces each of the new EFE boards made up, both expertly designed by Mr. Castledine I might add. We'll slowly work through em and see how things roll. I'm still producing the Fuzz Sound myself so this isn't forced replacement or anything like that. It's good design, a flexible pedal and hopefully a means to get desirable vintage flavours into your arsenal at price that means you don't have to eat Ramen noodles all month.
They'll not exactly but flying out the door but it should be steady enough. Like with all D*A*M/EFE boxes all transistor testing and selection is done by me which always takes time even with other factors being simplified. If you're interested contact any of the folk listed on the D*A*M website.
pr0nz
looks amazing!
