EarthQuaker Devices Hoof V2

The EarthQuaker Devices Hoof is a germanium/silicon hybrid fuzz built around the old green Russian Big Muff circuit, and it holds a special place in the company's history: it was founder Jamie Stillman's first pedal, one of EQD's earliest production pedals, assembled in a basement in Akron, Ohio¹². EarthQuaker calls it their flagship fuzz, found on thousands of pedalboards around the world, and Premier Guitar describes it as among the company's most enduring and successful products³⁴.

The maker describes the Hoof as a no-fuss, easy-to-use device capable of sounds from warm, gritty overdrive to a huge, sustaining fuzz⁵. What sets it apart from a stock Big Muff is a hybrid design: hand-matched NOS germanium transistors paired with silicon for temperature stability, plus LED clipping diodes where most Muff-style pedals use silicon diodes such as the 1N4148³⁶. The circuit analysis site Guitar FX Layouts characterizes it as an interesting take on the Muff, with LEDs replacing the usual silicon diodes and germanium transistors in the Q2 and Q3 positions⁷.

Where the circuit came from

The Hoof traces back to a specific pedal. In a Premier Guitar builder profile, Stillman explains that the Hoof is based on the green Russian Big Muff belonging to his friend Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys⁹. Stillman himself puts it more precisely in the Stompbox Book interview:

Coda Effects' technical analysis frames the Hoof as a Big Muff variant with some interesting modifications, including a mid control and germanium clipping transistors¹¹. MusicRadar's 2015 review called it a boutique take on the classic green Russian Muff from Akron, Ohio, offering "one of the finest fuzz tones known to man or beast"¹².

Controls and what they do

The Hoof has four knobs. The Shift control is the one that separates it from a standard Muff, and EarthQuaker calls it the key to the Hoof's character: it alters the frequency response of the tone control, mainly on the treble side while taking out mud on the bass side⁵.

Guitar FX Layouts describes the Shift knob's two extremes as classic scooped mids clockwise and the more modern cutting mids counterclockwise, and says the pedal is capable of everything from dirty and organic overdrive to monstrous fuzz madness⁷. MusicRadar's reviewer found the Shift control incredibly useful for boosting or scooping mid frequencies for maximum impact, and noted that a common complaint with Big Muff-style fuzz in a live band context, disappearing in the mix, did not apply here¹².

Power and connections

The Hoof takes a standard 9V DC power supply with a 2.1mm negative center barrel and draws 15 mA³. There is an important caveat for pedalboard planning:

EarthQuaker's own tech-talk buying guide notes that they typically reach for a Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 Plus to feed their pedals¹³. The pedal carries a limited lifetime warranty: if it breaks, EarthQuaker will fix it³.

The 20th Anniversary Edition

EarthQuaker Devices marked the occasion with a deluxe reissue of the pedal that started it all, the Hoof Fuzz 20th Anniversary Edition, a "hyper-limited edition" priced at $229¹⁴. MusicRadar reported the details:

• 400 units, sold exclusively via Reverb, priced at $229¹⁴
• The original three-knob circuit, without the Tilt dial of later revisions: one volume knob, one fuzz knob, one tone control¹⁴
• The same "super rare military spec germanium transistors" used in the first generation¹⁴
• True bypass with a Soft Relay Switch, top-mounted jacks, and a platinum vein enclosure¹⁴
• Arrives in a custom wooden box, in a gold satin bag, with a metallic sticker, enamel pin, and woven patch inside¹⁴

Guitar Pedal X noted at the time that shipping appeared limited to the USA, with no UK or European listing found¹⁵.

The Hoof next to its relatives

The Hoof family includes several related pedals. The Hoof Reaper puts the Hoof fuzz together with the Tone Reaper fuzz and a Tentacle octave-up effect in one enclosure, with three footswitches and seven combinations of the three sections; EarthQuaker lists it as no longer in production⁵. In Bass Gear Magazine's review, Jacob Schmidt compared the two fuzz voices: the Hoof as a bear growl, a tad lower and more muffled, and the Reaper as a wolf growl, lower spectrum but with a higher bite¹⁶.

The Cloven Hoof is an extension of the Hoof, redesigned around the Hoof circuit with silicon transistors replacing the germanium, which EarthQuaker describes as tighter and clearer with over 4x the gain of the original Hoof; it is also no longer in production¹⁷¹⁸. Guitar.com's Big Muff buying guide groups the Hoof among Muff-style pedals with LED clipping diodes rather than the standard 1N4148s, and the site's Chelsea review calls the Hoof V2 ($179) a cool variant with a lot of grit and bass⁶¹⁹.

Among fuzz pedals generally, Premier Guitar's roundup of modern fuzz pedals sums up the Hoof's reputation: "Built tough, the Hoof is extremely easy to use to get killer vintage fuzz tones and will take a beating on the road"⁴.

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