Old Blood Noise Endeavours Alpha Haunt

The Old Blood Noise Endeavours Alpha Haunt is a fuzz pedal that the maker describes as "the expanded version of our Haunt silicon high gain gated fuzz," built with a blendable Enhance section and a three-band EQ¹. Where the original Haunt keeps things simple, the Alpha Haunt spreads the same gated silicon fuzz character across 12 controls, letting a player shape gain, compression, gating, tone and a parallel clean blend in one box².

The pedal was introduced in 2018 as an expanded version of Old Blood's Haunt fuzz², originally as a limited run²³. A 2021 revision kept the circuit but moved it into a smaller, more pedalboard-friendly enclosure, and that version lists at $229².

What it is and what it does

The Alpha Haunt takes the Haunt's silicon high-gain gated fuzz and adds a preamp section and a three-band slider EQ, as JHS Pedals' history of Old Blood Noise pedals puts it: the company "upgraded the Haunt circuit with a three-band slider EQ and a preamp section"⁹. The gate is part of the core character: the fuzz can cut off when the signal drops below a threshold, which tightens the sound and tames noise.

The maker says the range runs wide: "allowing both softer and gnarlier sounds than the original, from smooth overdrive to crumbling fuzz"¹. Guitar.com's coverage of the 2021 version found it "to produce a full and smooth fuzz that runs 'all the way from a gentle 'furring up' effect to a totally immersive cloud of rich honey-ish noise'"².

The Enhance section is the other half of the design. Enhance sets the volume of an additional boost circuit that blends full-frequency un-fuzzed sound in alongside the fuzz¹. Guitar World describes it as "an Enhance control that acts as a clean boost while retaining string clarity and low-end response"¹⁰, and GuitarPlayer notes it "delivers greater string-clarity and deep low-end tones"⁵. For a player whose fuzz eats their low end, that parallel blend is the fix.

The controls: six knobs, three toggles and three EQ sliders

The 2021 layout carries 12 controls in total: six knobs, three toggle switches and three EQ sliders⁵. The maker's product page breaks them down as follows¹:

The three-band EQ is active, with slide controls for Low, Mid and High frequencies⁶. In Guitar.com's review of the original, Richard Purvis found "the EQ sliders allow precise tailoring of treble and bass content, while the mids can be scooped right out or pushed into" cutting honkiness¹¹.

One change in the 2021 revision: the bias control of the original version was condensed into a simpler toggle switch³, and the layout was reorganized, with plastic caps added to the EQ sliders².

Power and bypass

The Alpha Haunt runs on a 9V DC center negative power supply through a 2.1mm jack, drawing 40mA, and the supply is not included¹. There is no battery option¹.

Bypass is true bypass, using a soft-touch footswitch the maker says keeps switch noise minimal¹. Gearnews describes the 2021 version's switching as soft-touch relay bypass³.

History and versions

The Alpha Haunt was announced on June 12, 2018 as a new limited-run fuzz pedal from Old Blood Noise Endeavours⁴, an expanded take on the company's Haunt². Guitar.com covered it as a new release that June¹².

Two years later came the 2021 revision. It features the same internals as the original² and retains the original's tone circuit³, but the enclosure was scaled down to a smaller footprint with new artwork from Daniel Danger². MusicRadar called it "a more pedalboard-friendly compact form with updated circuitry and new artwork"¹³. The 2021 version began shipping on February 4, 2021²³, listed at $229²¹⁰, and was initially available exclusively through the Old Blood Noise Endeavours Reverb store⁶. In the UK, MusicRadar reported it would be available mid March 2021 for £215¹³.

The maker's product page also lists a Halloween colorway offered alongside the Standard finish¹.

What reviewers said

Reception of both versions was positive. Gearnews called the original a "widely respected" fuzz³, and of the 2021 layout its reviewer wrote, "I like the new streamlined layout a lot," adding that it makes a lot more sense as a layout³.

Guitar.com's Daniel Seah found the 2021 version produces "a full and smooth fuzz" running from a gentle furring-up effect to a totally immersive cloud of rich honey-ish noise². MusicRadar's Rob Laing pointed to the switching options: "The Switchable fuzz range, bias and tone control voices here will widen your horizons further"¹³. Delicious Audio's 2022 fuzz buying guide grouped the Alpha Haunt V2 among its picks, noting its "3-band EQ and controls for fuzz, compression, gating, parallel clean blend, and 3 voicing switches"⁸.

On the 2021 revision, GuitarPlayer reported the maker's own description of the update: the same 12-control fuzz with all the same sounds, just in a smaller case that fits in a few more places than it used to⁵.

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