Lerxst Snow Dog

The Lerxst Snow Dog is a limited-edition dual octave fuzz pedal designed with Alex Lifeson of Rush, the second pedal from Lerxst, a collaborative endeavor between Lifeson and Mojotone¹. It takes a thick wall of fuzz and puts an octave effect on top of it in classic style, and Lifeson describes it in direct terms:

The circuit builds on a beloved silicon octave fuzz from the early 1970s, updated for the modern player, and the whole design is all-analog¹². Guitar.com's reviewer connected it to a specific record: the sound of Rush's classic 1974 debut album, and specifically the tones of Working Man². Only 500 units were made, sold exclusively through Reverb at $295, and the pedal is now hard to find¹².

The circuit and what it does

The Snow Dog is built around a 1970s-style silicon fuzz with a wide sweep of gain, paired with an octave section that combines multiple semitones simultaneously to create its upper-octave sheen¹⁴. The fuzz side has a wide gain range that can be dialed all the way up for scorching output, with thick sustain that runs from pleasantly muffled to screaming leads via the tone knob⁴³.

The two halves work independently. With the fuzz disengaged, the octave circuit on its own can give quasi-synth tones¹. Run together, the pedal covers the classic octave-fuzz territory its 1970s ancestor is known for.

Controls and footswitches

The Snow Dog shares the two-footswitch configuration of its sibling the By-Tor: one switch for the fuzz side and one for the octave side, so each effect can be engaged independently¹². Reviewers described the control set as follows, with the two press outlets naming the fuzz knobs differently:

The order toggle is the pedal's most distinctive control. It lets you choose whether the fuzz or the octave comes first in the chain, and Pedal of the Day found the two orders result in two distinctly different octave fuzz sounds²⁴.

The Alex Lifeson signature and the By-Tor pairing

Lerxst is a collaborative endeavor between Lifeson and Mojotone, and the Snow Dog is the Rush man's signature pedal, the second stomper the brand put out¹². Lifeson says the pedal was inspired by his young search for tones in the style of Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix and Erik Brann¹.

The pedal's name and its companion come from the same Rush song. The By-Tor, Lerxst's boost/drive pedal that preceded it, is named after the track By-Tor and the Snow Dog from the 1975 album Fly By Night, and the Snow Dog is its Fly By Night themed sibling². Guitar.com notes the two pedals combine to create the tones of that 1975 track².

The two pedals have had very different runs. The By-Tor was initially limited to 500 units at its December 2023 launch, but demand led to a full production run⁵⁶. The Snow Dog stayed limited: 500 units, each including a tour pass signed by Lifeson, sold through the Lerxst Reverb store¹³.

Availability and what reviewers said

The Snow Dog launched on April 4, 2024 at $295, available exclusively via Reverb while stocks lasted¹. By the time Guitar.com reviewed it in August 2024, it was hard to find and, unlike the By-Tor, not available on the Lerxst website².

Guitar.com's review was positive on tone, listing "Fantastic thick tones" among its verdict points². Pedal of the Day's review focused on the pedal's lineage and range, covering the early 1970s silicon octave fuzz circuit it builds from and the two distinctly different sounds available from the order toggle⁴.

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