vocal qualities and attitude of each
model, my favorite being the red Fasel
Jen. The Jen Jumbo Fuzz is also a
favorite of mine. It’s an Italian-made fuzz
from the ‘70s that features a Big Muffstyle circuit with a mild gate in a huge
enclosure with 3 sliders—great sounding
pedal. Other favorites include the Royal
TF-1, Roland AP-7 Jet Phase and the
mighty grey DOD 250.
TRW: Let’s talk tech. What are some of
your favorite components to use?
GD: I love JFETs. The majority of our
pedals have a FET buffer or preamp and
I love the way they sound and react.
They contribute a great deal to the
playing experience. We also use the
BC183 transistor quite a bit as well—
namely in our Imperial and If 6 Was 9. It
has great gain characteristics with a mild
low-mid emphasis that works really well
with our fuzz circuits. In addition to the
BC183 transistor, I also like utilizing
select NOS germanium transistors from
time to time. I would have to say one of
my favorites of that variety is the
CV7003. I have a stash from 1968 and
find they have a warm, yet musically
focused character—perfectly suited for
use in fuzz and/or OD circuits.
TRW: Tell us about the Custom Shop.
GD: The Custom Shop is a way for us to
go back to our roots, focusing on small
batch builds that feature custom colors,
special tunings and sometimes both. It
keeps things “boutique” and provides
us with an additional creative outlet.
TRW: You’ve got some sweet custom
Gravity picks available on your site. Is
there a collaboration story there?
GD: Alex is a fan of Gravity picks and
turned me on to them, so we ended up
ordering a few with our logo engraved
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