The Matthews Effects Keychain Fuzz is a fuzz circuit built into a keychain, made by Matthews Effects for guitar or bass. The maker describes it as a way to "breath fiery fuzz anywhere, anytime", and it is a novelty in format but a real fuzz circuit in function: the maker says it is inspired by the classic Fuzz Face circuit, with tweaks that give "a more gated and aggressive sound"1. For players curious about the wider family of circuits it belongs to, the Fuzz Pedals page covers the type as a whole.
What it does
The Keychain Fuzz is a single-control fuzz. Its one knob, labeled Output, "lets you adjust the overall volume of the keychain fuzz", so there is no gain, tone or bias control: the character of the fuzz is fixed, and the player sets only how loud it comes out1. That is a simpler arrangement than a full-size fuzz pedal, where gain and tone shaping are usually on the face of the pedal.
The circuit follows the Fuzz Face design, the two-transistor layout behind many classic fuzz sounds, but Matthews Effects says the circuit is tweaked "to give you a more gated and aggressive sound"1. A gated fuzz stops the signal sharply rather than decaying smoothly, which suits short, percussive playing and splitty, saturated tones.
"This keychain enables you to breath fiery fuzz anywhere, anytime!"
Format and availability
The pedal-sized relatives in Matthews Effects' fuzz line, such as The Whaler v2 and The Thief, are built as standard stompboxes; the Keychain Fuzz is not. It is a keychain, meant to be carried and used anywhere rather than mounted on a pedalboard1.
The maker's product page listed the Keychain Fuzz as sold out as of 26 October 20261.
The maker's page listed a sale price of £23.00 GBP, given here in the currency as stated1.
Videos
Matt Foy
Sources (1)
- Keychain Fuzz, Matthews Effects
