Fuzzrocious Grey Stache/Heliotropic

The Fuzzrocious Gray Stache/Heliotropic is a double fuzz pedal that puts two of the maker's fuzz designs in one enclosure, with top-mounted jacks for its inputs¹. It belongs to a family of Gray Stache variants that includes the Gray Stache Civil War Era Muff, the Gray Stache with Clean Blend Mod and the Gray Stache with Octave Jawn Mod, alongside the standalone Heliotropic.

What it does to your sound

The two halves behave differently. Delicious Audio's Brent P. Gladless described the split this way: "The Grey Stache is your mids-forward bastard. It's built to cut through a band mix like a switchblade through bologna." The Gray Stache side goes from light crumbly breakup to heavy, aggressive fuzz¹.

The Gray Stache circuit itself is based on the GGG-tuned and Civil War versions of a muff fuzz, and RockBoard's PedalPedia describes the result as "creating one versatile guitar AND bass-friendly monster!" The maker also notes that it is more than just a fuzz: dialing back the sustain achieves more of an overdrive sound². MusicRadar's reviewer Alex Lynham likewise noted it has "been modelled on both the so-called Civil War-era Big Muff" and is intended for use on both bass and guitar³.

The pre-release batch of the double pedal used germanium clipping instead of the standard diode options. Gladless described it as "softer and smoother, but you gotta push the volume to get the feedback to wake up"¹.

The controls: three footswitches and a diode toggle

The double pedal's layout is built around three footswitches and a clipping toggle¹:

• Right footswitch: turns the whole pedal on and off¹
• Left footswitch: brings in the Helio circuit¹
• Top footswitch: raised up above the pots so you can find it blind; momentary feedback and oscillation when stomped¹
• Diode toggle: gives 1n914, none, or LED clipping¹

For stacking the two circuits, Delicious Audio offered a usage tip: "Keep the Grey Stache volume at or above unity. Bump the Helio volume to taste."¹

The standalone Gray Stache used a similar diode toggle. Pedal of the Day's Mike B, reviewing a 2014 demo version, described "a three-way toggle switch" giving "3 distinct clipping options to choose from: Silicon, No Diodes and LED," alongside four knobs up top, a mod side toggle, an on/off switch and an oscillation switch on that version⁴³.

Power and connections

The Gray Stache/Heliotropic runs on 9 volts DC with a center negative plug, the common standard for pedalboard supplies¹. The standalone Gray Stache's PedalPedia entry lists the same 9V DC center negative requirement². The jacks are top-mounted, which keeps patch cables tidy on a crowded board¹.

History and versions: the Heliotropic and the Gray Stache

Both circuits existed as standalone pedals before Fuzzrocious combined them. The Gray Stache is a fuzz based on the GGG-tuned and Civil War versions of a muff fuzz, which RockBoard's PedalPedia describes as "creating one versatile guitar AND bass-friendly monster!"². The maker also notes it is more than a fuzz: dialing back the sustain gets you more of an overdrive sound². The Heliotropic later joined the lineup as its own pedal, and the two now share a housing in the Gray Stache/Heliotropic¹.

What reviewers said

Reactions to the Gray Stache circuit have been strong on tone and mixed on price. Pedal of the Day's Mike B wrote: "This pedal is nothing shy of a Tyrannosaurus Rex trapped in an overdrive: beefy, chunky, fuzz, driving, meaty, rocking and rad." On the controls, he found "they are all useful, and the more knobs you have, the more detailed you can get with your tone," concluding that if you cannot find a sound you like, you are doing it wrong⁴.

MusicRadar's Alex Lynham had one reservation about the standalone Gray Stache: "Pricey."³

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