
Well the day has come, well kinda. Long story short. Back in the day, around 2005, we used to sell our stuff to Scott at Axe…andyoushallreceive. We talked about doing a Shatterbox replica as an exclusive dealio for Axe. Thing is I didn’t own one at the time and hadn’t even seen one in the flesh. Word on the street was that the Shatterbox was the Zonk Machine circuit with a JHS Treble Booster added for extra face melting abilities. I had a Zonk Machine at the time but wasn’t keen on doing the do’s until I’d actually seen a Shatterbox in the flesh. The project was shelved, time moved on.
Fast forward to December 2007. That day came. I acquired a really fine example of the Shatterbox along with the wife, my Vox MKII, in trade for my Sola Sounds MKI. Oh yes, I did. The Vox MKII looked like a dog chew but sounded and still does sound like heaven. Bestest fuzz box evar. The Shatterbox looked as cool as fuck. I still think it’s an awesome looking device. The sounds on the other hand were not so cool. Lifeless fuzz tones, ear bleeding treble boost, fuck all volume boost, no true bypass, pointless controls, and so on. Having the Vox MKII as a trade companion didn’t help. That sounded so good it just made the Shittybox sound even worse.
The Shatterbox uses the Zonk Machine II circuit, it’s a two tranny silicon get up, nothing to do with the original Zonk. As is, it’s really dull and oscillates like a crazy when you get close to a fuzz tone you’d want to hear. Fun for an over dubs where you want your guitar to sound broken. Pointless for anything else.
Any ways, the point being. I sacked the ‘replica’ idea altogether once I heard one. I’ve heard others since. They too sound like broken glass clattering around in jar full of syrup. In other words, I don’t care for the Shatterbox in its original form.
Not to be beaten by a design from Satan own anus I studied the thing any huw. The biasing is crooked to the max. Makes no sense to me at all. In fact, not much makes sense in the mind of the Shatterbox.
Its now 2010 and I have a vent for my tweaked Shatterbox idea. Enter Rogue Sound, and Hatchet Harry and Blind Mary.
