Gone Fishing Effects Grim

The Gone Fishing Effects Grim is a one-of-a-kind germanium fuzz pedal from British boutique maker Gone Fishing Effects, announced in late April 2022. It was never sold in a shop: only one exists anywhere in the world, and the only way to get it was to win a prize draw on the company's Crowdfunder page, with all proceeds going toward funding the short film Grim, which aims to raise awareness about suicide¹².

The pedal came out of an earlier build. When founder Richard Pratt was building the company's Rage of the Tsar pedals in 2021, he set aside a pair of germanium transistors deemed too high-gain for that circuit. Those two transistors became the heart of the Grim².

What it is and what it does

MusicRadar described the Grim as a high-gain germanium fuzz, "a total one-off" that is hand-wired by Churd on an old-school turret board, with what the builder called "big meaty components"¹. Guitar World called it a germanium fuzz box that boosts your signal at the same time as it crushes your guitar's wave, and quoted the maker's own description of the result².

Guitar.com's Rachel Roberts similarly reported that the pedal delivers sounds that are scorchingly dirty and aggressive, achieving this by boosting the player's signal at the same time as it crushes the guitar's wave³.

The enclosure is distinctive: a boxy octagonal box, finished in black with a striking white crow design on its front face¹³.

Where the transistors came from

The Grim's origin story is tied directly to the Rage of the Tsar. Guitar World reported that the pedal is equipped with a pair of germanium transistors deemed too high-gain and put aside when founder Richard Pratt was building the Rage of the Tsar pedals the previous year². MusicRadar noted the same: two particularly meaty ingredients were a pair of transistors leftover from that build, too hot for the Tsar¹. Guitar.com added that Pratt found two vintage germanium transistors that stood out as having a higher gain than the other transistors³.

For context on the component itself: germanium is a chemical element with symbol Ge and atomic number 32, used as a semiconductor in transistors and diodes⁴. Germanium transistors were used extensively in the 1950s and '60s before being replaced by components considered better, and they retain a distinctive sound that some players describe as smoother or "spongier"⁵.

How it was given away

The Grim was raffled off in a prize draw rather than sold. The details as reported in April 2022¹³²:

• Entry was by donating to the Gone Fishing Effects Crowdfunder page²³
• Raffle tickets were priced at £5¹
• All proceeds went toward funding the short film Grim¹³
• The film aims to raise awareness about suicide²

Guitar World quoted the maker's stated purpose directly:

Who designed it

The Grim comes in a boxy octagonal enclosure, a black octagon with a white crow design on its front face²³⁴. Gone Fishing Effects describes it as a "square wave doom machine"², and the pedal was made to support the creation of the short film Grim, which aims to raise awareness about suicide³.

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