"Hybrid Fuzz Tones" What the hell does that mean? The Drag'n'Fly is a hybrid fuzz box as in it uses both a germanium and a silicon transistor within its circuit design. The advantage of this being you have the rich low frequency textures of the germanium transistor and the tight focused high end bite of the silicon. Its also helps to stabilise any temperature fluctuation problems you'd find with an all out germanium fuzz box and gives the overall tone more means to cut through whilst retaining a warm and full bodied flavour. The Flys circuit design at heart is essentially a derivative of the Arbiter Fuzz Face with certain combined elements of the Vox Tone Bender. In a nutshell, its my favourite elements of '68 silicon Fuzz Face and a '66 germanium Vox Tone Bender slightly tweaked for more gain, greater headroom, more tonal scope all rolled up in a compact user and wah-wah friendly package. For a "Yaff" it is a pretty unique sounding fuzz box that has some very interesting sonic capabilities. As we all know the Fuzz Face and the Vox Tone Bender can sound amazing but both units are not without there drawbacks in one way or another. Firstly, they both sound pretty damn terrible when used with stock "Vox" or "Crybaby" style Wah pedals, when the Wah is placed before the fuzz the impedances don't match so the Wah either does not function correctly or will produce a strange howling sound. The transistors in these vintage units can be mismatched or not biased correctly so the fuzz produced can sound constricted, overly gated and lack overall output volume. Also as both units are now very sort after by collectors it's not uncommon to pay upwards of £500-£600+ for an original Arbiter Fuzz Face so good examples are a little out of reach for most budding musician's. Well you've guessed it here comes the "Drag'n'fly" and its numerous advantages. 1. Passive "Filter" control. The Fly can cut through the mix even when running at full bore, it does not suffer from the dullness or any overly woolly tones that a stock Fuzz Face can. It also means it is well suited to either single coil or humbucking pick-ups types of varying output and gain levels. 2. Internal input impedance correction, so that the input gain is perfectly set up so it works with all Wah pedal types. 3. Negative grounding unlike the originals so it can be used with a standard multi plug power supply. 4. Adjustable biasing so that the high quality gain selected transistors are correctly set up and produce a bold, clear dynamic tone with a large amount of sustain. 5. Low noise circuitry using high grade metallised polyester film capacitors, BC components Electrolytic capacitors, 1% tolerance metal film resistors, audio grade Alpha potentiometers, Eagle plastics control knobs, Switchcraft jack sockets and a military grade germanium transistor. 6. A heavy duty UK made cast aluminium enclosure finished in a highly durable stove enamelled hammer tone paint job. The Controls "Level" sets the overall output volume. "Filter" passive tone control for either treble or bass tones. "Attack" controls the amount of fuzz and sustain available.

The Word... Rather than me rattling on and on about this fuzz box of ours how about something written by the good folk who use them. This gives you fuzz lusting guys n gals out there a broader description of each pedal and not just a basic run down of the functions and controls from ourselves. "Well when I first plugged it in, I thought something was amiss. I had to nearly crank up the output level and the gain to reach unity. Plus I was in bedroom wanker mode, at home, not much volume happening at the amp. The drive tone was UNGODLY, but what about the overall volume? An email to David Main (and a swift kick in the pants) and I was thankfully corrected. Rather than paraphrase, here's a quote from an email sent by Lord Main: Yeah the Fly has that old school vibe so unity at full bore is the norm. It's the same deal with the old Vox and Arbiter fuzz boxes though the Fly does have a touch more output than both of those. It's not as full on say as a Fulltone unit or anything else with a more modern flavour. I really had to tweak hard to keep that vintage character in the Fly and pushing the output up added to much bass which in turn adds that awful mushy bass sag that some fuzz face variants have. It also gives it a little more flexibility with a booster and use with a fully overloaded tube amp. Any how, it's a workin' just fine : ) good rule of thumb with any true fuzz face variant is to start at full volume and then back if off if you need. Way cool! Fuzz Face for Dummies! So onto rehearsal with some good volume happening (tho' not overbearing). Rig: Drag'n'Fly at the front, going thru my pedalboard of various effects, some buffered, some true-bypass. Into my Vox AC15 loaded w/one Celestion Blue. Oh lord, this thing is just unbelievable! The crunch is hands down just the fattest, sweetest, richest thing I've ever heard out of a Fuzzface type of circuit. The pedal is so typically big-bottomed and corpulent like you'd expect out of a FF type, but the top-end is so clear and sweet, not like any FF circuit I've heard to date. Probably a built-in result of the hybrid Ge/Si circuit. The Drag'n'Fly mixed in with all my overdrive pedals too (TBIAC and a Dual Drive) w/o missing a beat. None of that "man, this fuzz is cool but it doesn't blend so well" thing happenin'. It was also real stable and thus, not too fussy over the 8 or 9 effects that followed it in my chain.... NICE! What adds to the appeal and compatibility of the Drag'n'Fly is that it has this wonderfully voiced 'Filter' knob, which is a passive low-end rolloff (or high-pass filter) that lets you dial out the bass as you turn it clockwise, tuning it perfectly to your amp/gtr/rig. Like if you're using a 4x12 cab, you're gonna be able to reproduce more of that deep bass and having the 'Filter' fully counter-clockwise you get all the ped's got to give. But in my case, playing a 1x12 combo, many FF circuits I've since parted with couldn't be effective with my amp since they were just too dark and muddy for my rig. Not so with the Drag'n'Fly! Also, having more volume at the amp, I realized that the pedal has a lot more range to the 'Attack' (drive) knob then I had previously thought. So it will work as an chunky 'woman-tone' type of overdrive too if you have the Attack backed down, and then there's still ample (tho' not tons -- as discussed earlier) volume to support the range. Then there's the clean-up factor. Very very cool, w/lots of shimmer coming back at you if you roll down the gtr. volume (like any GOOD FF should do). Also as per the "good FF," there are many shades available in the gtr's. volume travel. And while it doesn't get the "piezo-pickup" type of crystilline shimmer that I've gotten with a Ge-only FF, it does get very clean (like down to a spot-on rhythm tone or even a "direct" sound). But roll that gtr. volume back up and it's just huge again. Like you stepped on a pedal or switched amps, just so powerful. Oh, and it's super dynamic to the touch, at any level of gain. Hit it, "WHOMP," lay back, "brrrrring." Even writing about it I'm getting the giggles!" Paul DiBenedetto The Sounds Oh so tasty Drag'n'fly tones by ~ Tommy "Tasty Riffs" Foytek - So Cal Pro session player