The music of Dinosaur Jr is known throughout the world, and for guitar fanboys, so is lead singer and guitarist J Mascis. With one of the most recognizable fuzz tones in the business, he has become synonymous with the Big Muff family of pedals, both as a player and as a collector. Today’s pedal, the Garbage Face Fuzz Boost, is a collaboration between J and Matt from Wren and Cuff, featuring a uniquely Muff-inspired fuzz side, a germanium boost and a whole lotta attitude.
The Fuzz side of the Garbage Face is a part-by-part of J’s favorite Big Muff, an early 70’s version that has been his Number One since 1987. This Ram’s Head Muff’s internal components have changed and morphed over the last almost 50 years, so the recreation process was a painstaking, tedious and arduous task, one which took almost TWO YEARS to come to fruition. Since many of these internal components has drifted from their original values (more than 40% difference in some cases), critical listening and modifications were the name of the game to get everything sounding just right. Well, it worked, and this pedal is absolutely incredible.
You can see the Volume, Tone and Gain controls on the Fuzz side, but then…wait, a SECOND Volume knob? The beauty of the Garbage Face lies in its middle footswitch, which lets you toggle back and forth between the settings for the Volume and Volume 2 knobs. This way, you can have differing values to use a differing times, without having to bend down a fiddle in the dark on stage. The sustain is long, the tones are creamy and the fuzz is, well, unmistakable.
On the far right is the Boost circuit, based off an out-of-production Germania Treble Booster from Home Brew Electronics. Hitting the front end of the fuzz, this boost not only increases the highs, but adds a wonderful mid-range bump as well, another signature sound of Mr. Mascis’. Built with a carefully selected and meticulously tested vintage germanium transistor, it pushes the entire pedal into new sonic territory. There’s also a toggle switch here, letting you select from a stock Rangemaster tone, or a wider range boost option, for more tonal flexibility.
If you like Dinosaur Jr and J Masics, this pedal is for you. If you haven’t heard of Dinosaur Jr and J Mascis, you need a musical history lesson…and then this pedal will also be for you. We can’t quite get over how great this thing sounds, and haven’t been able to since we first plugged it in. The perfect mix of grit, turmoil and glory, it brings up actual feelings of nostalgia every time we crank it up (guess it’s those old Dinosaur Jr cassettes from our youth). We are pretty floored by what Matt & Wren and Cuff were able to create here (with J’s assistance, of course), and you will be, too. Check out our loud and long demo below to hear what this beast can do – and for fuck’s sake, go listen to some Dinosaur Jr today!
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