Old Blood Noise Endeavors Revamps the Alpha Haunt

January 29, 2021 · 7 sources

Old Blood Noise Endeavors announced a revamped version of its Alpha Haunt fuzz pedal, updating and streamlining the pedal for 2021 with a more compact enclosure, new artwork from Daniel Danger, and a slightly reorganized layout¹². The Oklahoma maker kept the circuit itself untouched: the new version features the same internals as the original¹.

The Alpha Haunt was introduced back in 2018 as an expanded version of Old Blood's popular Haunt fuzz pedal¹. Old Blood describes it as a silicon high gain gated fuzz, and says the expanded format allows "both softer and gnarlier sounds than the original, from smooth overdrive to crumbling fuzz"³. The pedal is built on two circuits, a fuzz one and an "enhance" circuit, running in parallel with independent volume controls, and the fuzz circuit offers a pair of ranges to pick from⁴.

The 2021 version sports a reorganized layout with plastic caps for its EQ sliders¹. The control set, as the maker lists it:

• Fuzz sets the gain of the fuzz
• Distortion toggle sets the Fuzz range
• Gate sets the compression of the fuzz, also increasing the amount of fuzz as it's turned up
• Bias toggle further controls the fuzz's gating character
• Tone sets the main voice of the fuzz
• LPF toggle sets the range of Tone
• A blendable Enhance section and three-band EQ³

The pedal uses a soft-touch bypass footswitch for true bypass and minimal switch noise, and requires a 9V DC center negative 2.1mm jack power supply capable of 40mA, which is not included, so there is no battery option³.

The updated Alpha Haunt was available for $229 exclusively through the Old Blood Noise Endeavors Reverb store⁵. Guitar.com's reviewer Richard Purvis, reviewing the original in 2018, found that "The fuzz is exactly how it should be: full and smooth, and running all the way from a gentle 'furring up' effect to a totally immersive cloud of rich, honeyish noise"⁶.

The original Alpha Haunt launched as a limited run, with a first batch of 175 gold-colored pedals sold exclusively through the maker's Reverb page⁷. The 2021 revamp follows the same direct-to-Reverb sales channel for the new, smaller form factor⁵.