Dwarfcraft SheFuzz

The Dwarfcraft Devices SheFuzz is a fuzz pedal built for players who want noise and texture rather than polite overdrive. Premier Guitar described it as a "grinding fuzz with short to medium decay," aimed at anyone looking for "a rough and tumble new sound or some intense, noisy exploration"¹. What sets it apart from a standard fuzz box is its power starve circuit, which lets you drop the pedal's operating voltage on demand and push it into glitch-like fuzz tones and oscillation, a behavior Gearnews compared to a ZVex Fuzz Factory².

Earlier iterations of the pedal were also known as the Shiva, and the SheFuzz carried that lineage forward¹. Dwarfcraft Devices reintroduced the SheFuzz in a smaller enclosure, with more control and the original voicing, with shipping starting in November 2016¹. A reissue followed in 2019, going on sale July 23, 2019 at dwarfcraft.com and select retailers³⁴.

What the SheFuzz does to your sound

At its core the SheFuzz is a grinding fuzz with a short to medium decay, a character Premier Guitar used almost word for word in both its 2016 and 2019 coverage¹⁴. On top of that base tone sit two tricks that define the pedal.

The first is an octave up mode. Vintage-tinged octave up sounds are activated by the Stab toggle, which stacks a higher octave on top of the fuzz for a sharper, more aggressive texture¹. Gearnews called these octave up sounds "rather tasty" but noted the pedal as a whole is not a subtle one².

The second is power starve, which Dwarfcraft calls "Spells." Starving the circuit of power produces glitch-like fuzz tones, and in starved settings the pedal will oscillate, with the pitch of that oscillation under your control¹². Gearnews found this behavior reminiscent of the ZVex Fuzz Factory, a fair reference point for players who know that pedal's voltage-starve chaos².

The controls: Stab, Hex, Magic, Smash and Shape

The SheFuzz's control set mixes conventional knobs with toggles and a momentary footswitch, and several controls change behavior depending on whether the circuit is starved. Here is what each one does, based on Dwarfcraft's own descriptions via Premier Guitar¹:

The pairing of Hex and Magic is the interesting part for a player. Hex latches the power starve on so you can live in glitch territory, while Magic gives you the same effect only while your foot is on the switch, letting you punch in a burst of starved, oscillating fuzz over a normal fuzz tone and release back instantly¹. The 2019 reissue kept this arrangement, with power starve activated by a toggle switch or the momentary footswitch³.

Premier Guitar's 2019 coverage also lists a Gate control that varies decay time in all settings and changes oscillation pitch in starved settings, the same function attributed to Shape in the 2016 announcement¹⁴.

Power, bypass and enclosure

The SheFuzz runs on the industry standard 9V DC power supply, and the 2019 reissue also runs from a 9 volt battery³⁴. Both the 2016 version and the 2019 reissue are true bypass, so the pedal leaves your clean signal alone when disengaged¹³. The 2019 reissue sits in a 125B size enclosure⁴.

The SheFuzz reissue and earlier versions

The SheFuzz's family tree runs through the Shiva. Gearnews reported that the SheFuzz is based on Dwarfcraft's Shiva fuzz pedal, and Premier Guitar noted that previous iterations of the SheFuzz were also known as Shiva, so the names overlap across the pedal's history¹².

The timeline of the pedal's releases:

1. Shiva era: Previous iterations of the SheFuzz were also known as the Shiva¹.
2. November 2016: Dwarfcraft reintroduced the SheFuzz in a smaller enclosure, with more control and the original voicing, with shipping starting November 2016¹.
3. July 2019: A reissue went on sale July 23, 2019 at dwarfcraft.com and select retailers, at a list price of $179, with 10% of proceeds donated to various US-based funds supporting abortion rights³⁴.

The 2019 reissue came with companion projects: a SheFuzz zine and mixtape, with 10 percent of proceeds from all SheFuzz projects donated to various US-based funds supporting abortion rights³⁴. Gearnews characterized the reissue as "more of a raucous 'take no prisoners' fuzz pedal"³.

How it compares with other Dwarfcraft fuzzes

Dwarfcraft Devices built its reputation on unconventional fuzzes, and the SheFuzz sat alongside several siblings in the lineup. The Dwarfcraft Baby Thunder was reintroduced at the same time in November 2016, shipping alongside the SheFuzz¹. Later limited runs like the Dwarfcraft Gold Standard Eau Claire Thunder followed a similar pattern of small hand-finished runs, though the Eau Claire Thunder line is a different circuit from the Shiva-based SheFuzz²¹. For players shopping the broader category, the SheFuzz's octave up mode also relates to octave and pitch pedals, but here the octave is baked into the fuzz voice rather than a standalone effect.

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