AC Noises Esplora Fuzz Effects Pedal

Our first foray into the world of AC Noises effects came about a couple weeks ago, when we had the opportunity to check out their Vola Preamp/Overdrive. Well, we’re back at it today, bringing you a review and demo for the next pedal in their lineup, the Esplora Fuzz. Meaning “explore,” this baby blue beauty is a timeless fuzz effect, offering a ton of tonal variety within a complex yet easy-to-use control section, and the best internal electronics around.

Level starts out the initial controls, with plenty of fuzz output to be tapped into. The Tone knob acts as an excellent frequency adjuster, getting beefy lower-end when dialed down and cutting, crystal clear highs when dimed. The Fuzz knob features a great range of sounds as well, creating classic and modern fuzz tones. Mixing the Tone and Fuzz knob configurations around and playing with their interaction will yield a bunch of differing results, perfect for any genre of music you might be playing.

The toggle switches are where the Esplora really opens up and gets funky. When the Left switch is in the Up position, the Tone control is bypassed, giving you a full sound created using all the frequencies available. In the Down position, the Tone control comes back into play, giving two extremely different feels for your fuzz tone. The Right switch acts as Bright Boost of sorts, upping the gain and treble a bit, for a tighter, more aggressive and modern sound.

Having these toggle switches really makes the Esplora a versatile powerhouse, one that can absolutely go toe-to-toe with your favorite overdrive pedal, and maybe just give it a run for its money. Hand-built and designed in Italy, it also features top-mounted jacks for easy pedalboard addition, and the true bypass switching ensures your original tone will stay in tact when the pedal is not in use. Thanks to Andrea and Claudia for another excellent pedal to check out – we’ll have the third of their three pedals reviewed and demoed in a couple weeks, so be sure to check back for that, and head over to the AC Noises website to pick up your very own Esplora right now…