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 Bronx Cheer

dynamic fuzz

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I must say it has been an honor to have come across such a cool and creative stompbox company. Each and every Tonebutcher pedal that I have had the chance to try has been nothing short of amazing! In each one of these boxes I have found the ultimate in excitement and madness. Besides the crazy cool sounds that this particular Tonebutcher pedal is capable of it also sports the super hip signature Tonebutcher look - A look which by the way reminds me of a tail light on an old Volvo that I once drove. The Bronx Cheer is certainly a dynamic fuzz to say the least, and an effect that will inspire and pull from you tons of wild child riffs. Plugging into this bad boy I found myself drenched in a world of super thick and syrupy fuzz tones. And probably the most impressive thing about the Bronx Cheer is it does what it does with only a couple of controls. On it's face there are only two controls - one controlling the pedal's effect output, and a switch that flips between wild and wilder fuzz sounds. For those of you synth-fuzz loving, extreme rock tone addicts, this pedal will be a dream. A big part of wha this pedal dishes out has to do with what pickups you play it with and how you pluck and pick your guitar's strings.


At first go I thought to myself "How, when, and where will I use this pedal?" The fuzz tones  that were blaring from my amp had me overwhelmed and ready for new heights. I'll say this much, If you stompboxes adventures have only led you to the average everyday ol' fuzz box, you're in for quite a treat. Getting hooked on this pedal is as easy as plugging into a 100 watt monster and strumming away - something that will have you stuck for hours and hours. After cranking both the pedal and the amp I wanted to see what kind of range the Bronx Cheer had - so next came taming this beast. I began by setting the Super Lead clean and serene, and setting the pedal at it's mellowest level. This got me a tight and super focused fuzz tone that rumbled and filled the room with magic. My amp bled out a rhythm tone alien to anything I'd ever heard before. It was still chill enough to sit beautifully in a mix, yet aggressive enough to let cut through beautifully. The Les Paul's smooth sounding humbuckers ended up being a perfect candidate for the Bronx Cheer. Everything from fierce blues tones to slamming alt-rock guitar tones were ripe for the picking. Slowing I began rolling up the pedal's level while still in the mellower toggle switch setting. At mid levels the Bronx Cheer was entire different beast. Here it began dishing out subtle hints of frizzed out/synth-like undertones. The super thick'n'creamy fuzz tone was still there 100%, only now it was chased by a completely new animal. These tones were still very usable for blues licks and rock n'roll of all types. It especially sounded killer being played to dirtier rock flavors, such as garage, punk, and hard rock. Adding in some analog delay or reverb and I had a massive lead tone. Way up on the guitar's neck the pedal's tone stung with chilling wide open harmonics. Last, before going to the pedal heavier toggle switch setting I went ahead and blasted the level knob. Here the Super Lead sang and growled like a mythological ancient Greek beast. The only limits of what could be done were my imagination. Once I got an idea of the first setting's range, I flipped on over to the Bronx Cheer's wild side. I also swapped out the Les Paul for something with single coils - first P90's then a Strat with a set of spectacular handwound 60's spec pickups. My first impression was vintage Japanese fuzz meets classic Arbiter + robotic synth sputter. I don't know about you but I do love me a fuzz box that converts single note hits into huge sounding chords. Playing even the most elementary of single note guitar runs sounded like World War III. I could strike a single note and listen as it warped and transformed into a being of it's own. And still as wild and freaked out sounding as this setting was, it still had the original smooth and articulate fuzz sound that it had at low levels. Like the humbuckers the P90's created a sound all their own, being very punchy and in your face. This sound also ended up working quite nicely through low and med watt amps, and single speaker cabs. Containing and pushing the pedal's sound out through a smaller package seemed to bring out even more oddball harmonics and undertones. Again cranking the pedal and playing way up on the neck made for some interesting effects, and even cooler was dialing in some gritty amp tones then playing the Bronx Cheer through it. My chords all sounded twice as insane and exaggerated, lines and riffs became much more complex, and the simplest of licks sounded enormous. And as I began to delve deeper into the Bronx Cheer's mean side through different amp and guitars, I began to hear possibilities for other instruments, such as bass and keys, and even vocals. On hand I had myself an old Dano bass, a Rhodes keyboard, and a very hip electric mandolin. Each of these gadgets did something different when played through the Bronx Cheer, and all of them being down right awesome. This is something not possible with all fuzz pedal, especially with fuzz pedals that are a bit on the wilder side. Yes it's fine and dandy to own a crazy wild noise machine for experimentation and trickery. But this is only true if you can actually use those sounds. Many of the freakout fuzz machines that exist out there today are only that - noise machines. You get those pedals home and realize they can't be used for anything other than noise. The Tonebutcher Bronx Cheer is the alternative to many of these pedals. Once getting a hold of what this pedal is capable of it makes it almost impossible to walk away from, and mainly because of how usable it actually really is. I found dialing in the sounds I wanted was a cinch, getting completely original fuzz sounds was cake, and getting this pedal to go bananas was a walk in the park. I can only imagine what other strange and beautiful creation Tonebutcher has in store me next.

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You know where to go for more info on Tonebutcher.... but in case you don't the website is www.tonebutcher.com or click the direct link. You can also check out some video demos on our Youtube Search Engine at the bottom of our site, just type in Tonebutcher and the pedal you're seeking info on. We do have more to come very very soon so please hang tight you stompbox freaks.

Proceed with Caution

Every time I think I've seen it all come across a company like this, and absolutely blows my mind. As more and more time goes by and effects become a much more common and popular source of inspiration. We begin to find new ways to be heard. But coming up with those new ideas is only the beginning of it all. We still need the tools to get the job done. This is exactly the mission behind Tonebutcher's creative designs. Anyone who's been playing around with effects pedals long enough knows that creating some strange and beautiful sound, tone, or effect usually comes from some happy accident. Now we have a handful of pedals to help us along on this journey. Pedals to give us the spark needed to tap into our wild child. Tonebutcher baby.

Blood Brother

envelope filter

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Just look at this thing! Everything about this pedal screams coolness, madness, and 100% pedal addict. There are times when the looks of a pedal really don't do it justice, when it's just hype and god knows what else. This is not one of those pedals. Other than the footswitch you will not find one thing on this pedal that it has in common with other effects. The knobs, LED, battery compartments, enclosure, and most important it's sound, are all it's own. Believe you me, I have played and reviewed some pretty interesting envelope filters in my day, but this thing stands alone. The Blood Brother sports a toggle switch that flips from an auto wah setting to a strange arpeggiator effect. The left knob controls the auto wah setting, and is used for the effect's amount/attack. The right knob controls the arpeggiator setting and is used to dial in the speed that it travels in. Two 9V batteries power this sucker up and get it flying into outer space. Other than that you just plug in and go.

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:::Round 1:::

The Blood Brother from the second I plugged it in had me sold. I dug that it reacted to each kind of pickup in it's own special way, I dug how pronounced each effect was, and I really dug that it's actually two effects in one! I began with the pedal's control rolled off all the way and slowly worked my way up, first trough a clean tone. With the knob at low settings the envelope filter take a much harder punch to get it to open. This is nice for high output instruments or heavy handed cats. For guitar I found the BB started working it's magic right at around 15% wet. The sound was still not easily manipulated but did just enough to give you a huge yowling sound. I worked the knob up a little higher and began getting this thick, syrupy, envelope filter tone that seemed to seep out of my speakers. The sound didn't loose it's muster through reverb or delay pedals either. The first guitar I tried it through was my single P90 equipped Junior copy. Just like you'd expect from a nice sounding P90 the bite and aggression came through in the Blood Brother's sound. It was weird. The pedal's effect was really present, rich, and strong. Yet it didn't completely take over everything you blended it with. How Tonebutcher achieved this with a envelope filter is beyond me. At around 50% the auto wah effect really began to sing. This was an ideal setting for a universal envelope filter sound. I could easily control the effect with this setting and it sounded great with all types of styles. The key is to work your pick attack behind an effect like this. If you give too much you get too much. But if you give just enough you get just the right amount of mojo to create some cool sounds. I dig using envelope filter with a kickass fat sounding fuzz pedal. I like t run these style effect before my dirt pedals, but a cool trick for getting a mellow auto wah sound is to reverse the order. It makes your fuzz work through the effect giving you some interesting choices to play with. The Blood Brother definitely worked nicely in both applications. To a more intense effect from the pedal I took it from 75% and up. Here the pedal went way beyond the normal envelope filter, creating some wacky and out of this world effects that really sparked my imagination. Yet even in it's wilder settings I was quite surprised at how nice this pedal sounded, and it did this with very few controls. Many envelope filters give you sensitivity, decay, attack, and intensity controls. This can be helpful, but at times it can also be your downfall, at least it's been mine in the past. Once I start thinking too much about how to set up an effect it's all over. Then having tons of controls, buttons, and switches never helps the situation. This pedal with it's one control per channel does what it does and it does it beautifully. Even with the envelope filter opened full blast I was able to get sounds I could play with. I found higher settings worked best with neck pickups and bass guitars. Also playing the Blood Brother in it's auto wah mode, cranked all the way through a lap steel and delay sounded pretty damn cool. I think this is exactly the idea behind these peals, to hit with the traditional effects if needed, and be able to take you way past them for experimentation and freaking out. I dig it.

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:::Round 2:::

This was a setting that completely through me of guard. When I got the Blood Brother I wasn't even aware that it was capable of creating such sounds. Arpeggiators are something that I have been on the hunt for for quite some time. This is definitely a smart move on Tonebutcher's part. This is an effect that many cats are always on the move for, and Lord knows getting a decent sounding one is either not easy, expensive, or impossible. If only you knew the things I have had to do to get this type of effect. Let me share with you; First I take a phaser set at a medium speed and set very wet, next a square wave tremolo at the desired rate, and last a wah pedal to shift up and down on the frequency. Lots of work! This pedal makes all of that a cinch, and it gives you another entirely differently effect to play with too. What the Blood Brother does exactly in this setting is create a sequence of bleeps, bloops, and morphs, that fly out of the pedal in a smooth and creamy flavor. The right control sets the speed of the effect while your guitar triggers it. Oh, and guitar isn't the only instrument this effect works great with either, no no. Guitar is only the beginning. I found the Blood Brother's arpeggiator mode worked nicely through both clean and dirty amp tones, and it did it's thing a bit differently with different style pickups. I always dig a pedal that adapts to all pickups, this is why I always mention this. Some pedals you play them and they sound the same no matter what you play them through. Not cool. Through a nice and clean blackface type tone effect rolled out clearly, bubbly, and bouncy. Every little ooop, weeep, and ahhhp could be heard perfectly. Through overdriven tones the effects the effect pretty much came off the same way only it blended with the dirt to create a much more aggressive version of itself. This was how easy it was to get some use out of this pedal. I was able to get a sound I used in my band the day I got the pedal. I had been dreaming up this certain sound for months, trying different ways to get it (like I mentioned above it wasn't easy). One flick of the strings with the knob up at noon and I was home free! A slow/medium tempoed bouncing effect that jumped in and out with different flavors came speaking from the pedal. I had taken the pedal to band practice, and the second I struck the strings everyone looked at each other. I know that may sound cheesy but that's the way it went down my brothers and sisters. After that the experimenting just went wild and I was able to find endless ways to use the pedal. With delay I was able to create these skipping arpeggiated echoes that faded away like some fantasy sound. With fuzz the effect took on an entirely different vibe, sounding more like a robot coming to destroy the earth than a pedal. Throwing some reverb on this piece made things all spooky and gave me a haunting breathy sound that I'd never heard before. Then there was combining it with other envelope filter type pedals, tremolos, and phasers, to get some of theee most random special effects ever. Bass guitar is a beast with both of this pedal's settings, but in this setting I found it to be even more insane. Rhodes keyboards creating some magic with, lap steels, and even harp's. But the absolute best way to use this pedal was as a soundscape device. To add layers, accents, and highlights to my music. Hitting the strings only once every couple bars creating a trippy, psychedelic sound that grooved super duper hard. There really isn't all that much difficult about the effect it creates in this setting, it's actually quite the opposite. The mojo lies behind the tone and feel of the effect. Tonebutcher is on to a good thing with it's styled out, freakazoid stompboxes. I mean just imagine; extreme effects that you can actually use. Very cool if you ask me. These are pedals that are handmade here in good ol Cali, in Costa Mesa if I'm correct. And if you look on the Tonebutcher website you'll see a bunch more cool pedals just like the Blood Brother. This tells me these cats are imaginative, innovative, and insane!

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For more info on Tonebutcher go to www.tonebutcher.com or click the direct link on our sidebar. Make sure and mention Analog War Cry with any Tonebutcher order and they will wave shipping fees and provide you with a kickass Tonebutcher t-shirt. Look out for more info on both Tonebutcher and our Analog War Cry special.