Fredric Effects

The company's approach is visible across its catalog: take a vintage circuit, keep its character, and fix the practical problems that come with 1960s and 1970s hardware. Its Harmonic Percolator Interfax Spec, for example, puts the 1970s Interfax circuit "in a modern pedal-board friendly package, with DC power, LED indicator and normal rotary pots instead of sliders"².

The story: a North London fuzz builder

Fredric Effects is a North London effects builder. The company describes its pedals as handmade boutique pedals, all made in North London, and positions them as an affordable alternative to higher-priced boutique fuzzes³. Its product announcements have come directly from the builder, issued from North London, UK⁴.

The company's announcements include its own versions of classic circuits. In September 2014, Fredric Effects announced the Utility Perkolator, describing it as its latest version of the fabled Interfax Harmonic Percolator⁵. Further announcements have followed from its North London base, including one in March 2019⁵.

Key dates from the maker's announcements in the press:

Known for the Demon Fuzz and Unpleasant Companions

The Demon Fuzz is a fuzz pedal built on the basic IC Muff Fuzz circuit, which Fredric Effects describes as "a new take on a classic circuit"⁷. The Unpleasant Companion family is larger and longer-running, all of it rooted in the Shin-Ei FY-2 Companion Fuzz:

• Unpleasant Companion MKII: what the maker calls "a harsh transistor fuzz unlike any other!"⁸
• Deeply Unpleasant Companion: the MkI added a clean blend for bass guitar, plus a volume boost circuit to counter the volume drop of vintage FY-2 pedals⁹. The MkII is an evolution of that variant, keeping the boost circuit¹⁰
• Super Unpleasant Companion: announced in 2012¹¹; RockBoard's PedalPedia lists related Fredric Effects pedals including the Demon Fuzz V1, West Germany Vintage Tremolo, Deeply Unpleasant Companion Mk1 and Bugcrusher¹²
• Nouveau Super Unpleasant Companion: discontinued¹³
• Petite Super Unpleasant Companion: the current version, combining the Shin-Ei FY-2 Companion Fuzz and FY-6 Superfuzz in one pedal, superseding the Nouveau, which the builder made for almost a decade¹⁴
• Unpleasant Companion Mufftone Special: a "waspy velcro-ripping fuzz with lots of control", made in multiple small runs over the years with tweaks to each version¹⁵

Beyond fuzz: the wider range

Fredric Effects also builds pedals outside fuzz. The Harmonic Percolator Interfax Spec is a part-for-part clone of the 1970s Interfax Harmonic Percolator, an oddball overdrive/distortion pedal, modernised for pedalboards², and a Silicon Harmonic Percolator variant also exists¹⁶. The Dresden Synth Fuzz is described by the maker as "a quite unique pedal"¹⁷. The West Germany Vintage Tremolo reworks the classic West German pedal¹⁸, and the KC Buffer carries the buffer stage from a famous boutique overdrive pedal¹⁹. The King of Klone is hand-wired, with twin PCBs of the builder's own design²⁰.

Custom batches for bands, labels and shops

Custom work is a stated part of what Fredric Effects does. The builder says it enjoys working directly with bands, labels and shops to create custom batches of effects pedals, which have been sold as band merchandise and via crowdfunding campaigns¹. This is a different kind of custom work from the fully bespoke Custom Shops run by some larger makers: Fredric's model is built around small production runs for a specific customer rather than one-off designs.

Where the pedals are sold

Fredric Effects pedals are available direct from the builder and from selected shops and online retailers²¹. Pricing the builder has given includes the Verzerrer at £140⁶, and an octave/ring mod pedal listed at $130 USD²².

The range (33)

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