Joe and Dom over at Celestial Effects are some of the biggest supporters of Pedal of the Day, and they’re also making some pretty incredible pedals as well. Today’s moose of a beast is actually a FOUR-In-1 pedal, trying to outwit the usual 3-In-1 lackeys (just kidding, you guys all rock, too). The Cancer Wah The Fuzz? features Fixed Wah, Octave Fuzz, Muscle Fuzz and Tube Overdrive, all in one relatively-space-saving pedal that has a ton of options, making it a giant mixing pot for the experimenter in us all.
The Fixed Wah portion of the Cancer is first in the signal chain, and works like a wah that you keep on all the time. While you can control the Tone of the wah from the top of the pedal, the real treasure here lies underneath (or internally, if you prefer). There are internal trim pot adjustments for “Q”, Gain, Input Impedance and Mids Cut. Plus, there’s also a jumper block selection available to select one of four center frequencies for the Wah Tone control. Up next is the Octave Fuzz, another simple but powerful sonic tool, based on the vintage Octavia design. Here, the controls are Volume and Fuzz, plus a toggle switch you can use to turn the octave effect on or off, for maximum versatility.
Muscle Fuzz is third in the signal chain, which is a revamped Ram’s Head design, with a clean stage added after the tone section to make up for the volume loss that occurs, for less muffled sound overall. Fuzz, Volume and Tone are the controls here, with a toggle switch as well to vary the Tone circuit. Finally, Real Tube Overdrive is last in the chain, and features an ACTUAL TUBE inside! The Cancer Wah The Fuzz? ships with a JJ Tesla 12AX7, but the guys at Celestial Effects encourage experimentation with New and NOS tubes, using 12AU7 and 12AT7 model tubes as well. Using a stripped-down version of their Taurus Blues Overdrive circuit, this mode features Gain, Volume and Edge controls, and runs at 9VDC, which will preserve both your tone and your tubes for years to come.
The combinations available with this pedal are seemingly endless, and mixing it up and playing with the different controls for each portion of the pedal is an absolute blast. The demo video below will give you some semblance of what the Cancer Wah The Fuzz? is capable if, but like a lot of the pedals we review, the beauty is in the ear of the beholder (and eye, too, we guess). Thanks as always to Joe and Dom from Celestial Effects for letting us play around with this unique and tone-filled monster – please head over to their website to see all the pedals they’ve got in their lineup, and stay tuned to Pedal of the Day for more great reviews of their gear in the upcoming months. Cheers!
*FYI: Celestial Effects is having a 25% OFF sale the entire month of October with coupon code STOMPTOBERFEST – CLICK HERE to pick up some great gear at an excellent price!*
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