NPD! FuzzHugger(fx) AB-Synth

Just received FuzzHugger(fx) AB-Synth #22 in a deluxe enclosure with a custom fennel/anise graphic.

Coincidentally, my brother in law brought back a couple of bottles of absinthe from Prague, but that is another story for another day... Let's just say that playing with the AB-Synth is a far less dangerous affair than dancing with the Green Fairy, namely in regards to legal fees and property damage, and leave it at that.

This version has a bass mod, but I didn't ask Tom at Fuzzhugger to specify. He probably just swapped a cap, but I can inquire if anyone is interested.

The controls are:

Toggle - oscillation mode

from left to right
Level- master volume

Texture - controls the fuzz texture from sizzling on the left, to splattery on the right

Gain - aside from input gain, this controls the harmonic content of the fuzz

Trip - controls oscillation when the toggle is up.

Gain, trip, and texture are all reactive when in oscillation mode.








Only had a moment to fiddle with this and I monitored on cans, so I'll need to run it through my amp before I can comment on the sound. What I can say is that is does take a bit of fiddling to get the pedal to oscillate. It required me rolling back the volume on my bass (which I've never done before); but when I did, the pedal came to life. The straight fuzz mode is akin to the Messdrive, in that it's synthy and spluttery, minus the gating. Again, I'll need to open this up through my rig to get a better idea of the sound.

I did get to run the AB-Synth into my Deluxe Electric Mistress and the flange effect animated the AB-Synth very nicely.

Sound clips to follow on Saturday.

The double stomp would have been much more practical...

Just so you know, I could not get the pedal to oscillate while my bass was active. This mode only seems to work with passive basses, and only when the volume was rolled back. The fuzz mode was fine, however, in both active and passive.

Once I got the hang of it, I figured out how to change the pitch of the oscillation with the volume knob on my bass. There were a huge range of sounds to be found that way. Think of your volume knob as another interactive oscillation control.

I did get some RF interference as well when I hooked up my BMS to the AB-Synth. Things got pretty bizarre and at one point I must have channeled Ruiner Severhead. I picked up a religious radio station and the preacher was saying something about the size of the universe...

Just as I thought, the bass mod is a swapped capacitor, which is a simple and effective. IIRC, Tom at Fuzzhugger didn't upcharge for this mod, which is very cool for we bassists!

Just so you know, he did confirm that the AB-Synth is designed to work with passive pickups by drastically altering their impedance. My main gigging bass is a passive jazz, and my studio basses have a passive option, so this isn't an issue with me.

There are some great semi-tones to be found by sweeping the volume pot which leads me to believe this pedal would be useful for microtonal ambient/glitch type stuff. Tons of tweakable options here.

I FAILED to post clips this weekend...my daughter and 8 pets put the kabosh on that. Will get to it this evening

Animals are my wife's crack addiction. We have 4 cats and 4 dogs...

I threatened to buy a new bass for every animal she brings into the house, but I haven't followed through.

Here is 3 minutes of wankery. Passive P/J bass > AB-Synth >
Tube Pre > sound card

No other effects are used. The first 20 seconds is the fuzz mode with the texture hard right. Afterwards, the texture is rolled fully CCW, for a more synthy, spluttery sound. The oscillation mode follows for the duration. I manipulate the Texture and Trip knobs, along with the volume knob on the bass. This thing is BRUTAL! And it may bump the Messdrive from my board.

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=7574084

Let me know if the link doesn't work and I'll fix it.

Whatever happened at 1:15 sounds like a trumpet!

Jazz Ad said:

Trippy noisebox indeed. I can't think of a single musical use for this though.
You're going to need imagination.

Click to expand...

I've got that covered. You should hear this thing with a flanger and delay afterwards. Amazing!

gnasher1993 said:

Do you reckon you could post a clip of that combination? It sounds intense.

Click to expand...

Will do. Might take a few days, though.