CATALINBREAD / STARCRASH 70

The legendary Fuzz Face effect debuted in 1966 with germanium transistors and by the 70s had been replaced by silicon transistors to stabilise the circuitry. Even with silicon transistors, the power supply circuitry was hardly adapted to the 'new' semiconductors of the time, and the STARCRASH 70 was created in search of the '70s fuzz face that "I wanted from the start".

First, we took away that Fuzz knob. The Fuzz face is now a useless feature, as 95% of all players use the Fuzz knob fully up, while the remaining 5% use their guitar's Volume knob to reduce the gain, leaving it at full up. Next, we added a useful bias control, also known as a 'battery simulator'. The low-cut knob cuts the low frequencies between 40Hz and 500Hz when the knob is turned, and the high-cut knob cuts the low frequencies between 40Hz and 500Hz when the knob is turned.

■ Controls
volume: adjusts the volume.

low-cut: adjusts the filter for low cut at -30Hz (min) to 500Hz (max). The filter cuts at -3dB/oct, so when set to maximum, -3dB at 250Hz and -6dB at 125Hz. At minimum it cuts -3dB at 15Hz, but is not audible to the human ear at 30Hz, so it is not filtered in the audible range, most noticeable after 12 o'clock.

BIAS: Adjusts the character of the fuzz from distortion-like to velcro fuzz. When set to minimum, the sound is rich and resonant, with the bias point of the original fuzz face around 12 o'clock, and when turned up it approaches a velcro fuzz with a jittery, gated feel.

■ Power supply.
The STARCRASH 70 is powered by a standard centre-minus DC 9V adapter. Batteries are not available.