Electro-Harmonix Lizard King

The Electro-Harmonix Lizard King is an analog bass octave and fuzz pedal, released in 2024 as the bass-focused successor to the Lizard Queen, the 2023 EHX x JHS collaboration¹. It takes the octave fuzz circuit of the original and reworks it for low-end specialists, adding the feature bass players most often ask for on a fuzz: a clean blend, so the attack and low end of your dry signal survive underneath the fuzz¹².

Electro-Harmonix describes it as a fixed-gain fuzz that is dynamically responsive: turn your instrument's volume down and it produces a clear, fuzzy overdrive; turn it up and the gain goes over the top¹. Guitar World's Chris Gill heard it as "beefy, organic-sounding octave fuzz effects that are like a modernized Maestro Bass Brassmaster with a technicolor/surround-sound upgrade"³.

What it does to your sound

The Lizard King layers an octave-up fuzz over your dry bass signal. The fuzz side is gated and splattery, with a touch-sensitive octave-up effect that Guitar World's Paul Riario found produces "everything from vintage garage-rock grit to wild, glitchy textures that respond dynamically to your playing"⁵. Because the gain is fixed, your volume knob does the cleanup work: back it off for overdrive, push it for full fuzz¹.

The clean blend is the pedal's defining addition over the Lizard Queen. Fully counterclockwise you hear only your clean signal with no fuzz; fully clockwise you hear only the octave fuzz effect; in between, the two mix¹. Gearnews summed up the point of it: the blend "helps keep the bass punching through"².

The controls and the Sun/Shadow switch

The control set is small: three knobs (octave, blend, and tone), one mode switch (sun/shadow), and a footswitch that engages or bypasses the effect⁶¹.

The SUN/SHADOW switch is where the two personalities live. In SUN mode the octave fuzz is boosted with a more driving midrange, and the clean side of the blend gets extra treble and bass¹⁸. In SHADOW mode the clean tone is left unchanged and the fuzz tone is tighter, with flat bass and treble response¹⁸. Premier Guitar's reviewer put it this way: "Sun mode features a mid-boosted fuzz bookended by enhanced treble and bass in the clean side of the blend," while shadow mode runs a much tighter fuzz⁶. Each mode can then be reshaped by the octave, blend, and tone controls⁶.

Power

The Lizard King runs on a 9V battery, one of which is included in the box, or on an optional 9VDC center-negative power supply¹. Current draw is 8mA, low enough that it shares easily with other pedals on a powered board¹. One caution from the maker: do not exceed 12VDC at the power jack¹.

From the Lizard Queen to the Lizard King

The Lizard King is directly inspired by the Lizard Queen, the octave fuzz Electro-Harmonix released in 2023 in collaboration with Josh Scott of JHS Pedals¹⁹. The Queen's tone drew on EHX's fuzz pedigree with a unique analog octave-up circuit¹⁰¹¹, and Guitar World's review of it called it "a fine example of octave fuzz, with the adjustable octave giving you a real flexibility in dialling in your chosen sound"¹¹.

As the Lizard Queen caught on with adventurous bass players, EHX decided to build a version for them³. Guitar World reported that the King was inspired by YouTube bass titan Nate Navarro, whose demo of the original Lizard Queen showed the circuit's potential for low-end fans⁸. Premier Guitar described the result as EHX's expanded bass version of the Lizard Queen⁴, and Guitar World's Chris Gill framed the relationship precisely: "Although the Lizard King shares a few features with the Lizard Queen, it's more of a reboot than a sequel," with an updated circuit optimized for bass guitar and a wider selection of controls³.

The pedal was announced as available in July 2024 at a US street price of $129.00⁴.

What reviewers said

Published reviewers found a lot to like, with some caveats about the wilder settings⁶.

• Guitar World (Chris Gill): "The affordably priced EHX Lizard King pedal is a highly welcome creative tool for bass players, but its mammoth frequency range and tones with the warmth of a blazing inferno make it a worthy option for guitarists as well"³.
• Premier Guitar: the pedal "largely trades in Godzilla-huge, cityscape-leveling sounds that lift bassists above Bonham-aping drummers and desert-rock guitar players"⁶. The reviewer also found subtler uses: "using subtler, hazier, and more modest octave fuzz textures can provide hip juxtaposition to mellower sounds from acoustic guitar to electric piano and synth string ensembles"⁶.
• Gearnews: the clean blend makes it "much more versatile and perfect for bass, down-tuned guitars, and standard electric"².

Premier Guitar's review also flagged where the pedal gets rough. At aggressive blend, tone, and octave settings, tones "can sound tattered and chaotic, especially low on the neck," and tighten up in higher positions⁶. On the other hand, the most cohesive settings "can sound devastating while doubling, say, an SG and a Big Muff"⁶.

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