A Fuzz War-inspired pedal that adds versatility and lots of volume to any pedalboard it touches.
It’s not everyday that I find pedals that are too loud. So when Phil from Cat Box Customs hit me up saying, be careful with this thing I kind of laughed and moved on with my day. But he was not kidding or over exaggerating one bit. The Fuzz Club is capable of getting loud and it is a lot of fun. The Fuzz Club is a fuzz pedal inspired by the 7 transistor Death By Audio Fuzz War circuit, though Cat Box Customs added a ton of volume and a diode selector switch. This gives you silicon and germanium clipping options to choose between.
The silicon mode is a bit raspier, noisier, and to me it has much more of a gated, garage rock feel. I mean that all in a good way as you get a very uncompressed, raw fuzz feel that sounds like it could go off the rails at any moment. Perfect for noisey punk rock, a tension filled solo, or show stealing moment. The germanium side is a bit more compressed, more well rounded, and feels like it has a touch more sustain. Both are wonderful, and can be very useful for a wide variety of applications.
To me, the germanium side of the Fuzz Club is probably my always on fuzz tone, while I flip to the silicon to just go nuts on a guitar solo.
The rest of the controls are pretty standard, volume-gain-tone. So there’s nothing that’s really going to be too difficult to limit you from dialing in great sounds. Cat Box Customs Fuzz Club is a lot like the Rare Buzz Fuzz Bob-Omb I previously reviewed. Not in terms of schematic or sonic fingerprint, but in the sense that both just absolutely rip up your signal and make it into something gnarly. It’s not going to be a “pretty” fuzz, like the Coffee Shop Pedals Affogato was. What the Fuzz Club is though is a lot of fun, and a nice alternative to a pricier Fuzz War pedal.
I think if that sort of mangled, manic fuzz is what you wish, you’re probably not gonna find a better deal than the Fuzz Club for $110. That makes it one of the cheapest priced “boutique” pedals on the market. There’s a lot of care and attention put into this by Phil from Cat Box Customs, and he seems to really want to cultivate a group of like minded fuzz enthusiasts. The Fuzz Club may not be revolutionary in any ways, but it is fun, affordable, and versatile. That gives it the stamp of approval from me, and should give you plenty of reason to check it out!
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