Night of the Living Fuzz

Spencer Amps
Distortion Processors/Modifications

That's right kids, we've got another extra special treat for you from the awesome mind of Bill Spencer. Earlier this year when I discovered Spencer Amps I had no idea what I would be in for. In this life of a tone conscience/tone hunting fool - I come across and am introduced to lots of different gear. Some of the time the finds are real gems, and other times it is just more of the same. With Bill's gear it was a refreshing combination of familiar and wild'n'crazy tones. For those of you didn't catch our Spencer Amps feature on the Mystique Overdrive click here and come back to us once you've finished. You'll be glad you did. So what is it that makes these pedals a force of their own? Well, it appears Bill has a knack for uniting distortion tones with killer sounding fuzz. This is a talent that has led Bill to modify and design some real champion stompboxes. Below Bill has taken what in my opinion is not all that great of a pedal, and converted it into a spectacular one. You players that dig swimming within the distortion and fuzz box realm will ab-so-lut-ely dig this one. 

Supra Zombie Distortion

Mixfuzz (Total Conversion Mod)

Controls:

• Level: Controls overall output, with enough on tap to send your amp into a fierce overdrive
• Tone: Shapes your overdrive's tonal character - From smooth to sting
• Gain: Dials in grit amount and overall aggression
• Mix (Zombie): Works to blend in a second distortion circuit for a world of dirty tones

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This is one pedal I have been very very excited to share with you. I have always thought DOD pedals could be easily improved on and always wondered why more builder hadn't done so. Bill Spencer's "Zombie" modification of the DOD Supra Distortion is one that not only converts this pedal into a higher quality stompbox, it also provides it with the ability to deliver tons more tonal possibilities. What was once a normal run of the mill dirt pedal, is now a beast of many many faces. The Supra Zombie is capable of hitting you with everything from gritty boosts and overdrives, to distortions of all types and fuzz's of all colors. But dirty signals isn't all this pedal can do, no sir. In the right settings this pedal is also capable of synth-like tones, gated overdrives, and even controllable noise and feedback sound effects. Exactly how this pedal does this I won't get into. If you'd really like to read up on the specs and techs of the Supra Zombie you can click here. Instead I will share with you my experience with this saucy demon.

One of my favorite amp's to push with the Supra Zombie was a mighty fine ol' 22 watt Fender Deluxe. This amp's ability to go into naturally smooth and silky overdrives, makes for a great painting canvas. The Deluxe is an amp that on it's own is capable of great clean, semi-clean, gritty, and all-out distorted tones. By playing the Supra Zombie through this amp I was able to add to and accent everything the amp created. Guitars of all sorts were also something this pedal worked with magnificently. Through the Deluxe amp P90's and Strat pickups were my favorite. With the Strat I was able to get awesome Texas blues tones, super sustain soaked lead tones, and Hendrix-like fuzz tones. With the P90's I was able to some of the most aggressive and brutal dirt tones ever! And getting all of these tones was a cinch too, all thanks to the Zombie knob. Some dirt pedals you will wit with for hours trying to find and dial in sweet spots. Many dirt pedal you will plug into and just end up with the same old thing. With this baby that ain't so. In one direction the Zombie control will act much like an overdriven tube amp, giving you plenty of dynamics and letting you control the character of the crunch with your pick attack. At the opposite end the Zombie knob will take you into non-traditional dirt tones. I began by experimenting with the pedal without it's Zombie circuit blended into the signal. I Set the pedal's level and tone at noon, and the gain at 9'o'clock. Here the pedal pushed out a spot-on Pete Townshend rhythm tone that sounded amazing through all types of chord work. No matter how strong or soft I pushed the strings, the signal would dish out balanced and defined notes. It was something quite special actually, and it really took me my surprise. Strumming lightly the Supra Zombie kicked out perfectly clean notes that had plenty of sparkle and chime. Whenever I wanted more from the pedal I had to do was dig into the strings and I was home-free. With every bit of gain that I added to the signal I would get more crunch and more attitude. Once I got to about noon on the gain knob, the pedal began producing these harmonically rich super charged under/overtones that sang and howled with every little touch. This was really noticeable when chugging down on the strings, playing up on the higher frets, playing harmonics, and bending and playing double-stops. Here I was able to dial in a killer sounding David Gilmour lead tones. Then by adding in a hint of analog delay only made it that much better. Last before getting into the Zombie knob I went ahead and cranked the gain to full blast. Just like I expected the pedal's grit stayed intact with killer note articulation and smooth sweet compression. But even with the gain at full blast the pedal wasn't done doing it's magic. By rolling off on the tone knob I was able to get even more tonal characteristics and colors.And then, it was time to mix in the Zombie control.I started slowly, rolling it up while playing a chord. At low levels the Zombie control created these light synth-like tones that only got in the way enough to give the tone some extra sizzle. I began crunching down on a bunch of complex huge chords, and just like magic the pedal was able to hold it's own. Everything from riffing to bending sounded spectacular! Then I rolled the Zombie up a little more and the pedal began creating these killer sounding gated overdrive/distortion tones. But unlike sticking a normal gate pedal into your signal, this baby made things much more user friendly. The Zombie control was able to maintain and tighten the guitar's overall signal, yet produced a smooth enough roll-off that things didn't sound too choppy or robotic. Then I set the Zombie control at noon and things really started getting interesting. Here is where the signal turned into something other than just an overdrive or distortion tone. It was synth city all the way.And once this started the possibilities were endless. I was able to shape and mold the tone with my guitar's volume and tone, with my picking, and with my feedback. It was lovely! A little trick I found to be quite fun was playing way close to the bridge, with the volume rolled back half way, and the tone at full blast. Talk about a stinging hot signal. Passed noon the Zombie control began to blend a perfect balance of the first distortion stage into the second one. I got plenty of sizzle and zap, lots of smooth overdrive, and a hell of a lot of weird overtones. The type of pickups I played with the Zombie circuit engaged also made a huge difference on it's outcome. High watt amps, overdriven signals, through clean boosters, wah pedals, dirt boxes, etc... all sounded rock and roll. What was really cool though was how the pedal's dirt signal would stay defined and balanced no matter how much gain or Zombie I introduced into it. For anyone on the hunt for something a little bit different, a little bit strange, yet capable of getting back to the traditional - this pedal is it. If any of you out there have a stock DOD© Supra Distortion laying around the house collecting dust - Do yourself a favor and contact Bill Spencer for a proper mod. You'll be stoked you did!

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For more info on Spencer Amps go to www.spenceramps.com or click one of the Spencer Amps links. Make sure to check out our other Spencer Amps reviews and look out for more from this company in the near future. 

Guitar's Best Friend

Spencer Amps

That's right kids... I've hunted down another kickass effects pedal company. And his little outfit has really caught me by surprise. Spencer Amps is the brain child of one Bill Spencer, a passionate and experienced brother on a mission to build some of the best sounding and performing musical gadgets. Bill's outlook on the pedal game is aimed in one direction and one direction only...... to bring us tone hungry players as many original and interesting designs as possible. We're talking a cat that built his first fuzz box back in 76', a cat with numerous pedal and vacuum tube circuits under his belt, and a cat with 28 years experience in electronics, digital hardware design, patents, and repair. Throw in a musicians passion for tone and there you have it, Spencer Amps.

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Mystique

Overdrive w/Fuzz

• X-Mode Switch: Provides Xaggerated, Fuzz, and Normal
• Volume: Dishes out loads of output
• Tone: Enhances bass,treb, and mid frequencies
• Gain: Adds various types of characteristics to tone

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For me it was most definitely the X-Mode Switch that reeled me in and had me hooked. In the Normal mode alone I was pretty satisfied, but things just got even better when I tapped into both the Fuzz and Xaggerated modes. Another thing I dug about this pedal was that Bill was able to deliver an extremely versatile dirt box, while able to keep things familiar, and without going overboard on the controls. Many dirt pedals with the same types of capabilities will end up having twice as many controls, on twice the size enclosure. I was able to find usable tones in all modes, found it worked great through clean tones (huge plus!) as well as dirty ones, and the Mystique also played well with others. The simple handcrafted design of this pedal really comes though and it reminds you that there are still a few die hard boutique operations out there.

I don't even know where to begin, this pedal hit me with way more than I was ready for. I guess I'll start with my 4x10 Deville and 60's Strat build. Like many of you I'm sure know by now, I rarely push my Deville to overdriven levels. This means I must either A: have a pedal/pedals that will maintain my root tone, or B: a pedal/pedals that will enhance my root tone. The Mystique went way beyond any of these expectations. I first set the pedal to it's N setting (Normal). I matched the volume output to the amp's, rolled back on the lows just a tad to accent the amp's round sound, and started with the gain at around 15%. What I got was this; The Strat's booomy/spanking tone, amp's tight'n'warm sound, and Mystique's defined and rich vibe.... all in one sound! As I kept cranking the gain level up higher I noticed that the clarity and definition of my tone stayed intact, as if it were pushing out a hint of my clean signal along with the dirt. This my friends was be-a-u-ti-ful. I sometimes mix in a dirty signal through a parallel effects looper to achieve this same feel. It provides an enormous sounding tone that cannot be rivaled. Like playing through two amps. This was the type of sound the Mystique's N setting did for me. This effect would become more intense, and my overdrive would become more gritty when played through humbuckers. The break-up in my notes came and crumbled away with ease, never being too harsh and always working with my hands and fingers. Next I switched into the F mode (Fuzz). Something that really caught me off guard in this setting was the intensity and usable nature of the sound. The sound was howling mad at times, producing these huge throaty fuzz tones. But just like a well put together engine and exhaust of a killer muscle car it was tolerable and killer sounding. It also sounded great and adapted beautifully to my clean tone, and even better than that was this sound through a dirty tone. With the gain control set light while in the F I was able to produce these cool 50/50 distortion/fuzz tones. My favorite was definitely P90's, a slightly gritty amp tone, and a light pedal fuzz tone. Think of Tom Petty's Mary Jane guitar tone and you got the tone I'm talking about. It broke up beautifully, had plenty of splat, and lots clarity. To get a lead tone out of this tone all I did was push it with a clean booster or overdriver. Some pedals do not play nice with others.... this pedal does. In medium fuzz settings the pedal created fat'n'smooth fuzz tones that worked for both rhythm playing or lead lick work. Next it was time to switch amps, I wanted to see if this pedal worked good in small gig settings, studio levels, and bedroom levels. Cause as we all know, there are lots of pedals that can do either a solid quiet or loud tone, but rarely both. If there's one thing I hate it's not being able to reproduce my stage tones into the studio, or late at night when I'm writing and rocking out. For finding pedals that sound and work great with small amps are always a secret weapon and a gold find. The recruit for experimenting with some low level tones was a 15/7 watt head set to 7 watts, a 1x12 cab, and a Tele with a bucker in the neck. In light to medium fuzz settings the pedal and amp created these tight'n'focused fuzz/distortion tones that worked great for rhythm playing. Big, chunky, and full of body. Rolling off the guitar knob about half way brought about some tasty semi-clean tones, and once again pushing this tone with a booster provided me with some lead tones. I was stoked at how many sounds I was able to get from this one setting. At full blast the F setting did things that just plain scared me. The sound was somewhere between a super smooth distortion pedal and screaming vintage style fuzz box. Last was the X setting, where things got even wilder and cooler. This setting was kind of a mix of the other two. I was able to get some over the top overdrive/distortion tones, while able to also get lots of clarity, punch, and sparkle. In this setting the lows became much fuzzier, highs became more intense, and mids more pronounced. This setting sounded especially good when cranked up real loud. It pushed out this big meaty tone that ate up everything in it's way. A great setting for cutting through any mix. I also found the X setting sounded nice when stacked up with another dirty guitar, and when playing up in the higher frets of my guitar. Playing blues guitar with the tone at around 9'o'clock, gain at noon, and volume slightly pushing the tubes, created a tone to die for! It was tuff to pin-point whether I was hearing a modern or vintage tone through the X mode. It had the same characteristics of an brutal modern distortion tone, but also the forgiving nature of a vintage overdrive sound. The more I cranked the gain knob or used the volume to push the amp, the more the grit reacted like a vacuum tube. This meant it responded well to the guitar's volume, and was also a great candidate for clean boosters and other drive pedals. By the time I was done playing with this pedal I was dizzy with excitement, like being tone buzzed... if there is a such thing. Bill Spencer's mission to deliver a unique and usable dirt box is totally captured in the Mystique. At times I felt like I was playing some priceless 60's fuzz box. While other times I felt like I was tapping into something completely new. This is the magic behind Spencer Amp's pedals, the experience that Bill owns, and the visions he is skillfully able to bring to light. Get some!

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Make sure and check out the new Spencer Amps website at www.spenceramps.com Analog War Cry will be looking into more of these super cool pedals and sharing with ya'll our insight and feelings behind them. Stay tuned for more from Spencer Amps!