Basic Audio Gnarly Fuzz

The Basic Audio Gnarly Fuzz is a fuzz pedal from builder John Lyons, described by Delicious Audio's Griffin Jennings as "John Lyons' versatile take on the FZ-1 circuit". Where the original Maestro FZ-1 used germanium transistors, the Gnarly uses silicon instead, which Jennings notes gives it more stability. It listed for $220 USD as of May 2023¹.

What it does

The Gnarly's distinguishing control is its texture blend knob. As Jennings describes it, this knob "dials between the first and second transistor stages, allowing the user to achieve snarling octave-up tones"¹. In practice, that means the player can set the balance between the two gain stages of the fuzz circuit, shaping the voice from the character of the first stage toward that of the second, with the octave-up textures the design is named for at one end of the sweep.

How it differs from the FZ-1

The Gnarly is built on the FZ-1 circuit, the design behind the original Maestro Fuzz-Tone, but with two changes that set it apart: silicon transistors in place of germanium for more stability, and the added texture blend knob, which has no counterpart on the original circuit¹. Jennings characterizes the pedal as a versatile take on that design¹.

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