Non-Human Audio designs Kimchi around adjustable transistor biasing

June 1, 2024 · 2 sources

Non-Human Audio has described the idea behind its Kimchi pedal, a textural fuzz drive, as one it had in mid 2024. The maker says it designed the pedal around making transistor biasing, and with it the potential fuzz level, adjustable¹.

The maker writes that across the schematics it has looked at and the ways it has seen distortion created in circuits, there was a method of transistor biasing it had never seen made adjustable. It says the approach worked and sounded "pretty unique," ranging from overdrive to compressed fuzz¹.

The maker describes the range as going from "clangy and bitey overdrive all the way to an zippery and compressed fuzz, while maintaining a surprising amount of clarity along the way." It says some settings will feel "natural and chewy," some "beefy with aggressive high end," and some "squishier with single notes but more open with chords"¹.

The Kimchi is listed at $175.00¹. A separate Kimchi: Blue variant, limited to 20 units and also listed at $175.00, uses new-old-stock BC549 transistors that the maker says give it lower gain and a smoother response. The maker says that version lives more in the overdrive world but can still fuzz out some riffs. That page lists the variant as sold out². A manual is offered as a PDF download¹.