Malaise Forever releases Iron Fistula JFET Preamp Drive

August 22, 2022 · 2 sources

Malaise Forever released the Iron Fistula JFET Preamp Drive, the builder's third pedal, on August 22, 2022¹². Pedal of the Day said it was helping with the release and described the pedal as "a flexible JFET transistor-based overdrive/preamp pedal"¹. Delicious Audio called it a Plexi-style overdrive that uses JFET transistors to emulate tube amp saturation².

The circuit has four controls¹²:

The Body control sits just before the Gain control in the circuit, so the two interact: low end increases as gain increases, and the Body setting affects how hard the circuit clips¹². Pedal of the Day said this can push the circuit into "a much fuzzier territory than JFET overdrives typically reside when both controls are maxed"¹. The two outlets describe the Peak control differently. Pedal of the Day called it a passive variable frequency filter that sets the peak of the treble frequencies, placed just before a JFET buffer that minimizes output impedance¹. Delicious Audio described it as a low-pass filter between the two gain stages, neutral when maxed and cutting high and high-mid frequencies as it is turned counterclockwise².

Pedal of the Day reported that the pedal has enough volume for use as a full-frequency clean or dirty boost into a tube amp, and that it works as a bass overdrive and preamp¹. The maker's notes, published by Delicious Audio, describe the Body control as calibrated to boost low end without muddying the sound by filtering out high end².

Pedal of the Day said it plugged the pedal in and called it "a special pedal"¹. Neither outlet gave a price; Pedal of the Day directed readers to Malaise Forever's website for more information and ordering¹. The Iron Fistula follows the Clubber Lang Harmonic Percolator Fuzz and the Rage Monster Germanium Gain Stage¹. It is a preamp pedal¹².