FEA Photon Fuzz II

[yaksonator]

I just got mine today. I have to say that it FAR exceeded my expectation. Amazing fuzz! Nice thick drive and very controllable. I dont have any favorite presets, they all sound really good. I like that the Mix knob can boost your clean signal. I'm still messing with it. I'll report back with more updates.

 

[azwhofan]

Mine got mailed today. It's a crazy week for me and I won't have time to mess with it until the weekend. Looking forward to your observations.
sub'd.

 

[vincent69]

Still waiting for an email from FEA Labs regarding mine. Must somewhere down in the waiting list...

I'll report later too !

 

[boomertech]

Still waiting for an email from FEA Labs regarding mine. Must somewhere down in the waiting list...

I'll report later too !

Thanks for your patience... everyone on the list will have a chance to order one.

Thanx!
-Frank

 

[nshuman]

Love mine. It's a great Fuzz pedal. The Octave is really cool.

 

[GuzBaas]

Oh oh oh!

Got mine today, at first I had the impression that maybe I was expecting to much from the pedal but then I started tweaking the bite control and the ACNR and I realized all the posibilities.

So I stated by putting the EQ at 12 and the mix at 12, just using the drive, bite and ACNR controls, they felt very interactive, only with those 3 controls I felt I could do whatever I wanted....

Then I realized that I could EQ the fuzz and bite and then let the ACNR do its thing... And then I started lowering the mix and boosting the fuzz... And i was like drooldrooldrooldrooldrooldrool

And suddenly I remembered the octave thingy and I went

And the I started messing with the switches inside....

Definetly fuzz tweakers nirvana.

The design of the fuzz is elegant, well thought...
The pedal is solid, feels very well made, perfectly made.
The tone is very unique, still I felt I could go from muffish to wolly mammoth going through bassmasterish.... Everything without loosing its uniqueness.
The pedal is super quiet.

The versatility is comparable to the DAM Ezekiel, but years ahead in terms of control and finesse... I said years? Centuries I meant... This pedal is miles ahead in tweakability in every aspect.

I have owned a couple of the very best OD and fuzzes that money can buy, but with this particular pedal I felt for the first time that we have really stepped into 2016. This is how 2016 feels like.

The only "negative" aspect I could think about is the faullt of the very nature of the fuzz circuit. It does not sound/feel like a germanium or sillicon fuzz in the vintage-y sense, but again don't we have like 100000 of those? And again, I still dont master the pedal... So maybe I'm ahead of myself with this last comment.

 

[Dark Barn]

Mine should be in today! It was an automatic buy when I got the purchase link.

 

[boomertech]

Oh oh oh!

Got mine today, at first I had the impression that maybe I was expecting to much from the pedal but then I started tweaking the bite control and the ACNR and I realized all the posibilities.

So I stated by putting the EQ at 12 and the mix at 12, just using the drive, bite and ACNR controls, they felt very interactive, only with those 3 controls I felt I could do whatever I wanted....

Then I realized that I could EQ the fuzz and bite and then let the ACNR do its thing... And then I started lowering the mix and boosting the fuzz... And i was like drooldrooldrooldrooldrooldrool

And suddenly I remembered the octave thingy and I went

And the I started messing with the switches inside....

Definetly fuzz tweakers nirvana.

The design of the fuzz is elegant, well thought...
The pedal is solid, feels very well made, perfectly made.
The tone is very unique, still I felt I could go from muffish to wolly mammoth going through bassmasterish.... Everything without loosing its uniqueness.
The pedal is super quiet.

The versatility is comparable to the DAM Ezekiel, but years ahead in terms of control and finesse... I said years? Centuries I meant... This pedal is miles ahead in tweakability in every aspect.

I have owned a couple of the very best OD and fuzzes that money can buy, but with this particular pedal I felt for the first time that we have really stepped into 2016. This is how 2016 feels like.

The only "negative" aspect I could think about is the faullt of the very nature of the fuzz circuit. It does not sound/feel like a germanium or sillicon fuzz in the vintage-y sense, but again don't we have like 100000 of those? And again, I still dont master the pedal... So maybe I'm ahead of myself with this last comment.

Thanks for that great feedback!!!

There are two stages of silicon and LED diode clipping in the circuit, but the final clipping circuit is a photo FET clipper design (where the Photon name comes from). The BITE control adjusts the conduction voltage point of the signal where the photo FET clips... you can think of the variable BITE control as being a little similar to those fuzz and dirt boxes that have switches for different clipping diode types. The last stage of FET clipping may make this fuzz sound different than the silicon and germ fuzz tones that you are used to if the BITE control is turned up. If you keep the BITE control at minimum, then a lot of the fuzz tone comes more from the silicon clipping diodes in the circuit before the photo FET. But even with the BITE control at minimum, it still may not sound like the silicon fuzzes of yesteryear.

I am not a fuzz or dirt aficionado, so I rely on those of you who are to describe what the pedal can do and sounds like.

Your 2016 comment is great and nails what I was after! Thank you!

-Frank

 

[Deadsound]

I use a v1 photon as an always on preamp set just on the edge of breakup, and it is fantastic in this role, very reminiscent of the Frank/John k transboost. So don't be afraid of cleaning it up some

 

[yaksonator]

I always crank everything up as soon as I get a fuzz. Most are meh, this one has an insane amount of level... dangerous to be exact! I still can't get a favorite sound, they all sound amazing. I'll second the lower gain settings being used as a "dirty" preamp. You see fuzz pedals that are ridiculously expensive and do very little. This one is expensive but does alot. I mean alot alot, from doom to tight and punchy. Best purchase for me this year. If I have to sell this for any reason I'll be pretty upset...

 

[GuzBaas]

When the drive and the octave are dimed this pedal becomes dangerous

 

[GuzBaas]

Thanks for that great feedback!!!

But even with the BITE control at minimum, it still may not sound like the silicon fuzzes of yesteryear.

-Frank

That's exacly what I meant. I have a nice couple of vintage fuzz, the Photon Fuzz complements their tone.

BTW I have to tell you that the ACNR is awesome, I would not change that control for a Mid EQ, at least that's me..

 

[boomertech]

That's exacly what I meant. I have a nice couple of vintage fuzz, the Photon Fuzz complements their tone.

BTW I have to tell you that the ACNR is awesome, I would not change that control for a Mid EQ, at least that's me..

Thanks, I was hoping that the feedback on the ACNR would be positive. I like the ACNR, but I didn't know how well others would like it.

-Frank

 

[dannybuoy]

I've been on the list since forever on this pedal but thought I'd sit this one out when they finally became available...

But then I went and ordered it yesterday!

 

[DirtyDuke]

Thanks, I was hoping that the feedback on the ACNR would be positive. I like the ACNR, but I didn't know how well others would like it.

-Frank

As someone who had the original and th new one, both are great and have their merits. But I freakin LOVE the ACNR.

When I first got the new one, I threw it on my board for a gig without even testing it.

Needless to say it worked great. I thought at first, great Fuzz. The I dialed the ACNR and WOW it came to life!!!!

 

[boomertech]

As someone who had the original and th new one, both are great and have their merits. But I freakin LOVE the ACNR.

When I first got the new one, I threw it on my board for a gig without even testing it.

Needless to say it worked great. I thought at first, great Fuzz. The I dialed the ACNR and WOW it came to life!!!!

Thanks for the feedback!

-Frank

 

[Dark Barn]

@Matt Dean and the rest of you galoots. I told you I'd ping you when I had the chance to play mine, I figured I'd post here because the thread is more relevant than the coming and going thread. I only spent an hour or so with mine today and it's really pretty cool, it has a lot of controls (obviously) and their interactions have a learning curve, which I'm at the start of.

But a few observations; the EQ is cool, I like the bass at noon and the treble to taste. The Drive control has a great range from just a touch to doomy. The Bite control seems to affect the apparent EQ curve and overall tone, I'd like to hear more about exactly what it's doing. I really like the varying character it imparts.

The level controls have a degree of independence, probably are just independent in fact. So you have Level for fuzz, Dry for dry, and Octave for octave. Three independent volume controls.

I did not take the time to see if, and to what degree, the various tone controls affect the Octave voice. I have a suspicion that they don't. I could be wrong there!

And finally Mr. Dean, the ACNR knob! It is a very nice gate control that helps clean up the slop when you have the fuzz raging. However it won't get you into that choppy truncated attack/decay zone of something along the lines of a Woolly Mammoth or whatever. It is a more natural sounding gate than what you'd expect from a gated fuzz.

 

[boomertech]

The Bite control seems to affect the apparent EQ curve and overall tone, I'd like to hear more about exactly what it's doing. I really like the varying character it imparts.

The BITE control adjusts the clipping threshold voltage for the photo FET. The photo FET is the last stage of clipping after two diode clipping stages (LED and silicon). The photo FET is part of an active hard clipping circuit that becomes a dominate part of the tone when turned up. With the BITE set to minimum, the silicon diode clippers play a larger part of the tone. I said above that the BITE control can be seen as being similar to those dirt boxes with diode selection switches. But another way to describe the BITE control, is a control that transitions from mostly silicon diode clipping (minimum setting) to FET transistor clipping (maximum setting).

I hope that makes sense!

The level controls have a degree of independence, probably are just independent in fact. So you have Level for fuzz, Dry for dry, and Octave for octave. Three independent volume controls.

Exactly, three independent level controls!

I did not take the time to see if, and to what degree, the various tone controls affect the Octave voice. I have a suspicion that they don't. I could be wrong there!

The octave circuit is post fuzz EQ, so any changes to the fuzz EQ will have an affect on the pre-octave signal. The EQ has no affect on the DRY signal.

And finally Mr. Dean, the ACNR knob! It is a very nice gate control that helps clean up the slop when you have the fuzz raging. However it won't get you into that choppy truncated attack/decay zone of something along the lines of a Woolly Mammoth or whatever. It is a more natural sounding gate than what you'd expect from a gated fuzz.

The ACNR only affects the fuzz and octave, so if you want a more gated sound you will need to turn the DRY level down or off. I set it up this way so that you can transition from a fuzz to a clean note trail-off (with DRY level up).

Thank you so much for the feedback!

-Frank

 

[Dark Barn]

The ACNR only affects the fuzz and octave, so if you want a more gated sound you will need to turn the DRY level down or off. I set it up this way so that you can transition from a fuzz to a clean note trail-off (with DRY level up).

Thank you so much for the feedback!

-Frank

Point taken!

 

[Matt Dean]

@Dark Barn and @boomertech-thank you.

I'm on the list...