Fuzzrocious LunaReclipse

The Fuzzrocious LunaReclipse is an analog drive pedal built around one idea: instead of a fixed clipping arrangement, it gives you a 12-position rotary selector that swaps between 12 different diode configurations, changing how the signal clips and therefore how the drive feels and sounds. Delicious Audio's Paolo De Gregorio called it "a unique stompbox that select between 12 (yes, 12!) different diode configurations to let you clip your signal in the" different ways, and noted that "Needless to say, this all happens in the analog realm."¹ MusicRadar categorized it as a drive pedal whose rotary dial lets players choose between 12 different ways to overdrive or distort the guitar, promising "everything from vintage grit to modern high-gain distortion, via combinations of germanium diodes and" LED clipping.²

The controls and the clipping selector

The controls are simple. As Delicious Audio put it, "The controls are simple, just an output volume and the 12 position rotary selector for the clipping."¹ One knob sets the output level; the other picks which diode configuration does the clipping. The 12:00 position of the rotary is a clean boost mode, so the pedal can also be used to push an amp or another pedal with no clipping of its own.²

The published write-ups from Performer Mag's Chris Devine and MusicRadar list the clipping arrangement at several rotary positions, which shows how the selector mixes diode types and arrangements³²:

The diode types themselves are the familiar palette of drive pedal design: 1N914 silicon diodes, 1N4001 diodes, germanium diodes and LEDs, used singly, in pairs and in mixed combinations across the 12 positions.¹ Moving the rotary changes which of them clip the signal, which is what takes the pedal from lower-gain overdrive voicings toward higher-gain distortion settings.²

Price and availability

Fuzzrocious gave the lunaReclipse an introductory price of USD $139.99, which gearnews.com's Jef noted at launch.⁴ By November 2, 2017, MusicRadar reported the pedal as available now, listing a price of £199/£155.² Performer Mag's review, dated November 15, 2017, gave the price as $155.³

What reviewers said

Delicious Audio's verdict on where the pedal works best:

In other words, the reviewer's view is that the lunaReclipse works hardest as a pusher: stacked into an amp that is already on the edge of breaking up, or driving other pedals in a chain, its 12 clipping voicings give a player a wide range of textures to choose from. The same review notes that on its own it can sound a little thin, but that with so many options something is guaranteed to work with any setup.¹

Where it sits in Fuzzrocious' range

The lunaReclipse is one of several drive pedals from Fuzzrocious. The maker's earlier K-A-E-D-E-N Drive was a three-stage drive pedal with a choice of tone stacks, and the Dark Driving V3 is the current version of the maker's early one-knob overdrive. For a larger take on the multi-voicing idea, the Big Fella combines overdrive, distortion and fuzz voicings in one enclosure. For more on the category, see Overdrive Pedals and Distortion Pedals.

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