The Hive Fuzz is a fuzz pedal from American Wizard Toneworks. When Pedal of the Day covered it in July 2015, the review introduced the maker and the Hive Fuzz together, and described the pedal's two sides: the Vintage side is a little warmer, has a bit more low-end and gives off a bit more of the sludge/doom sound1.
What it does
The Hive Fuzz keeps its controls to a minimum: one knob, called the solo control, which does two jobs at once. Pedal of the Day's reviewer, Mike B, described it as acting "as a volume and gain control, so it's a 2-in-1 kind of knob"1. Turning it shapes both how loud the pedal is and how much fuzz it produces, so the whole character of the effect sits under one hand.
That single-knob layout is the point of the pedal as the reviewer saw it. In his words1:
"each little increment of turning can result in a new universe of sonic exploration, and that's exactly what happens here"
The pedal also has a Vintage mode. According to the same review, "The Vintage side is a little warmer, has a bit more low-end and gives off a bit more of the sludge/doom sound"1. For a player, that means the pedal can be dialed from lighter fuzz textures toward the thick, saturated tones used in sludge and doom styles without a separate tone or bias control.
Where it sits among related fuzzes
American Wizard Toneworks has made other fuzzes, including the Blk Fuzz Plus and the Hera Fuzz, which players may want to compare against the Hive Fuzz's simpler one-knob approach.
A separate pedal with a similar name exists: the Function f(x) Hive Mind, which its maker describes as "a modified version of the storied vintage Burns Buzzaround fuzz pedal"2. The two are different products from different makers, and the Hive Fuzz's own circuit origins are not something the published review identifies.
Videos
Pedal of the Day
Sources (2)
- American Wizard Toneworks Hive Fuzz, Pedal of the Day, 2015-07-13
- Hive Mind, Function f(x), 2026-07-31
