Dunlop Authentic Hendrix '68 Shrine Series Fuzz Face

The Dunlop Authentic Hendrix '68 Shrine Series Fuzz Face Distortion is a fuzz pedal from Dunlop that packs two different flavors of Jimi Hendrix fuzz tones into a single MXR mini housing: the aggressive silicon-based crunch he used in the latter part of his career, and the warm, smooth saturation of the germanium-based fuzz he used in the early years¹. A switch selects between the two, so one small box covers both eras of his fuzz sound.

It is also a special edition. The custom finish features John Van Hamersveld's 1968 Shrine Auditorium Jimi Hendrix concert poster art, remixed by Simon Berndt of One Horse Town Illustration¹. Dunlop now lists it as a legacy product that is no longer in production¹.

Silicon and germanium fuzz in a mini housing

The core idea of the pedal is simple: instead of choosing between a silicon Fuzz Face and a germanium one, you get both. Dunlop describes the silicon mode as the aggressive silicon-based crunch of Hendrix's later career, and the germanium mode as the warm, smooth saturation of his early years¹.

The format matters as much as the circuit. The original Fuzz Face was a large, round, top-powered stompbox; the Shrine Series version fits the same two-tone concept into an MXR mini housing, which is what Dunlop means by capturing the tones "in a single mini housing"¹. Guitar World reported the pedal as offering knobs for Volume and Fuzz, keeping the control set to the two knobs the classic circuit is known for².

The Shrine Series versions

Alongside the Shrine Series Fuzz Face, the line included the Authentic Hendrix '68 Shrine Series Uni-Vibe Chorus/Vibrato packed into an MXR mini housing, the Band of Gypsys fuzz, and the Shrine Series Octavio, which crams the MXR Octavio, with its Output and Fuzz knobs, into a smaller housing².

The series also included an Octavio fuzz, which Guitar World described as cramming the MXR Octavio, with its Output and Fuzz knobs, into a smaller housing², and a Band of Gypsys fuzz. Dunlop says the Band of Gypsys version is based on a mysterious Fuzz Face Distortion that Jimi Hendrix used at several iconic shows between 1969 and 1970, most notably the Band of Gypsys performance, and that it has no mode-selecting switches, just parameters for Tone, Output and Fuzz²³. That makes the Fuzz Face version the switch-heavy one of the family: it is the only Shrine Series fuzz with both a transistor-flavor switch and a buffer switch.

The Fuzz Face circuit and Hendrix tones

The pedal is a special edition of the Fuzz Face Distortion, Dunlop's miniaturized take on the circuit Hendrix made famous¹. The two modes map onto the two transistor types that define the Fuzz Face's history: germanium in the early years, silicon later. Dunlop's framing is that the switch lets you move between those eras rather than committing to one¹.

The same two-tone concept appeared earlier in Dunlop's Hendrix line. The Authentic Hendrix '69 Psych Series Fuzz Face Distortion (JHW1) likewise combines the two different flavors of Fuzz Face Distortion tones used by Jimi Hendrix, aggressive silicon-based crunch and smooth germanium saturation⁴.

Bypass and wah use

Bypass is where this pedal differs from a standard mini Fuzz Face. Dunlop says the pedal features buffered bypass switching for a greater range of tones and full cooperation with wah pedals such as the Jimi Hendrix Cry Baby Wah, and that a Buffer switch allows for true bypass switching¹. In practice that means you can leave the buffer engaged when running the pedal into a wah, where the classic fuzz-and-wah interaction benefits from it, and switch to true bypass when you want the pedal fully out of the path.

Guitar.com's review of the related '69 Psych Series Fuzz Face Mini noted the same switchable true or buffered bypass arrangement on that pedal⁵, so the feature runs through Dunlop's Hendrix mini fuzz line rather than being unique to the Shrine Series.

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