MWFX 8 Bit: Pride

The MWFX 8 Bit, Pride is a fuzz-style guitar pedal that takes an unusual route to its sound: instead of clipping your guitar signal the way a conventional fuzz pedal does, it converts the signal to a square wave using an analog, transistor based circuit¹. The result, as MWFX describes it, is an effect that "responds to guitar in a similar way to a standard fuzz effect, but with a synthesised tone that falls in pitch as the signal trails out"¹. In other words, you play it like a fuzz, but what comes out is a synth-like tone whose pitch drops as your note decays.

The Pride is one of a series of re-releases of the original 8 Bit, an MWFX pedal from 2007/8. Each of the re-releases is individually handpainted and finished in oak wood¹, which is what gives this version its name and its place in the numbered series. MWFX lists the pedal at £175.00².

What it does

The core of the pedal is the square wave conversion. Where a typical fuzz or distortion pedal pushes your signal into clipping and keeps a distorted version of your original guitar tone, the 8 Bit replaces the waveform itself with a square wave generated by an analog, transistor based circuit¹. That is why MWFX positions it as fuzz-like rather than a pure fuzz: the playing feel is familiar, but the output is a synthesized tone rather than a saturated copy of your pickup sound.

The most distinctive part of the sound is what happens as a note dies away. The synthesized tone falls in pitch as the signal trails out¹, so sustained notes bend downward on their own rather than simply fading. That behavior is tied to how the circuit reads your playing: the 8 Bit was primarily designed to react to the velocity, pitch and length of your picking³. Pick harder, pick softer, or let a note ring longer, and the pedal responds differently, which makes it more of a playing-responsive instrument than a set-and-forget gain stage.

In MWFX's own words:

Inside, the wiring reflects the maker's approach to build quality. The pedal is off board wired with mPPE wire, kept separated to minimize noise and crosstalk from clocks and switching¹. For a player, that simply means the internal layout is chosen to keep the circuit quiet.

Where it came from

How it compares

Against a standard fuzz, the difference is fundamental: a fuzz distorts your signal, while the 8 Bit synthesizes a new one. MWFX's own framing is that it responds to guitar in a similar way to a standard fuzz effect, but with a synthesized tone¹, so players coming from fuzz will find the touch response familiar even though the timbre is not. The falling pitch on decaying notes is not something a conventional fuzz, overdrive or octave and pitch pedal does in the same way, since those effects track and process your original note rather than replacing its waveform.

Within MWFX's own range, the Pride sits alongside the other numbered 8 Bit re-releases, which share the same square wave circuit and the same handpainted oak finish¹⁶. The practical difference between them is the individual paintwork and the number, not the electronics.

Questions