Sometimes, a package arrived at the shop and when you open it up, you’re both excited and completely baffled. Such was the case with today’s featured pedal, the Nitro Fuzz from Elta Electrolaboratory. These cats are based straight out of Moscow, Russia, and the graphics and text on the Nitro convey that clearly, as I could not read a word, and could only figure out a couple of the controls by eyeing it. Luckily, I got some help from my man Arseny who built it, and he clued me in on what the controls actually were (whew).
The thing you notice first on the Nitro Fuzz is a giant knob right in the middle – this is the Voltage control. With a wide sweep and many settings to choose from and experiment with, this knob is pretty much the heart and soul of the pedal. A Volume knob comes next, and there’s plenty in the well to dip into here, no worries about that aspect! An overall Fuzz control comes next, allowing for adjustment of how much buzzsaw you want to integrate with your dry signal, and lastly there’s a Noise knob to add another element of surprise and excitement to the pedal’s output signal. Finally, there’s a lone toggle switch labeled B4/H4, which switches between Normal/Treble mode and Bass Boost mode, adding some deep low end into the mix, to help tame some of the squelches and squeals this baby blue beauty produces.
The Nitro Fuzz is really all about experimentation. Sure, you can get some normal fuzz sounds with the settings on all the controls dialed back, but the true tone of this pedal comes out when you start twisting and turning knobs, discovering new and innovative sounds and pushing your creativity to the edge. Another pedal that must be played to be truly understood, for a glimpse into the noisy awesomeness that this pedal makes, check out the video below, and then start to form visions of the sounds you can make in your head. Producing ragged and gated fuzz, frequency filtered fuzz, high-gain fuzz, oscillatory fuzz and tons of other tones, the Nitro Fuzz will push the sonic envelope more than most in its class would dare attempt.
Featuring active bypass and active electronics, this is a great first pedal for your signal chain. Along with this Nitro Fuzz, the guys at Elta Electrolaboratory have a couple other models of pedals that look incredibly interesting, and if I knew how to read Russian, I might be able to tell you what they are or what they do. Hopefully, we’ll get to review some more of their gear in the near future, but for now, check out their Facebook page to see what they’re up to, and to find out how you can get your hands on these sweet looking and sounding pedals. Special thanks to Arseny from Elta for his great communication and generosity in sending this pedal across the way for us to review, we’re looking forward to see what comes next – Nostrovia!
Submitted by Mike B, Website
Demo Rock pedalboard by West Coast Pedalboard
