Center Street Electronics Rasputin Fuzz

There’s an age-old debate about Silicon versus Germanium transistors in fuzz pedals: which sounds better, which produces a truer fuzz sound, and which is an overall higher quality and better product. The fine folks at Center Street Electronics may have finally put an end to the debate, and just made an awesome fuzz pedal with BOTH transistors inside – the Rasputin Fuzz.

The setup for the Rasputin is fairly simple: a Fuzz control, a Volume control, and two transistor toggle switches. The Volume has a good amount of output, making sure everyone in the audience will be able to marvel over the fuzzy gooeyness you’re spurting from the stage. The Fuzz knob works a bit differently than a lot of fuzz controls, though, but in a good way. When you roll back this knob, the fuzz goes into super-breakup, glitchy, sonic blips and beeps territory, for a sound that is only really evident when you play a note or strum a chord. Otherwise, the effect is basically off, making for some fun stop/start guitar play and humor thrown into your set of tunes. If you prefer a fat, warm, awesome, straightforward fuzz sound, crank it up past about noon or 1:00, and this creamy, inviting, warm and fuzzy tone is produced, making the Rasputin a truly customizable pedal.

Add to that range of tones the 2 toggle switches, and you’ve got yourself a party. These toggle switch two internal transistors back and forth between Silicon and Germanium, so you can sit down and play around with numerous configurations to find exactly the tone you’re searching for. Mixing and matching these toggles in conjunction with the Fuzz and Volume controls results in a really broad and expansive sonic palette for you to paint with, making it a tonal monster to throw into your pedalboard arsenal.

The gang at Center Street Electronics does fuzz REALLY well, and the Rasputin Fuzz is no different than the rest. Daisy chainable, true bypass and made in the USA, what more do you want from a pedal? Not much, but you still get it with the Rasputin, and a bit more. For more info on C.S.E. and their lineup of pedals, be sure to pop over to their website and see what they’ve got for you!