The Orange Fur Coat is an octave fuzz pedal: a vintage-style fuzz with an upper-octave voice that can be switched in and blended against the fuzz. Pedal of the Day describes it as "a vintage fuzz loosely based on the Foxx Tone Machine, with an added octave option"1. Orange describes the left footswitch as engaging the Octave mode, which "mixes directly in with your fuzz," and notes that the Fur Coat is "the only True Bypass pedal in Orange's lineup"1.
What it does
The Fur Coat takes a classic octave fuzz layout and gives the octave its own blend control. The left footswitch activates Octave mode, which mixes directly in with the fuzz, and the octave blend knob sets how much of that added high octave comes through1. On his demo of the pedal, Pete Thorn noted, "there's actually an octave control which is really cool"2.
Orange positions the pedal as responsive rather than flat and static: "the Fur Coat doesn't mask your playing, but enhances it, responding to your guitar's dynamics for expressive control"3. Gearnews, covering the announcement, offered a plain warning about the style: "This style of fuzz is not subtle and you will either love it or hate it"4.
Controls
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Volume | Sets the overall output signal strength1 |
| Fuzz | Fuzz amount5 |
| EQ | Active tone control for boosted mids, scooped fuzz or classic woolly saturation3 |
| Octave blend | Blends the added high octave into the signal to taste5 |
| Left footswitch | Engages Octave mode, mixed directly with the fuzz1 |
| Right footswitch | Bypass5 |
The EQ is a wide-ranging control. MusicRadar's reviewer Trevor Curwen found that "the EQ knob covers a massive range in a similar style to a Big Muff, so can take that fuzz from woolly to razor-sharp"6.
Design and build
The Fur Coat sits in Orange's standard pedal enclosure, with "the usual bar across the centre to prevent your spangled platform boots from the accidentally knocking" the controls, as Guitar.com's Richard Purvis put it5. Premier Guitar's reviewer measured it against the common compact format: "Fur Coat's sturdy enclosure is the width of a conventional BB-sized stompbox, but about half-an-inch taller"7.
Pedal of the Day notes the Fur Coat is "the only True Bypass pedal in Orange's lineup," which sets it apart from the rest of the company's stompboxes1.
What reviewers said
Pedal of the Day came away impressed across the board: "we couldn't really find a bad sound coming out of this guy, the lows stay present, the octave isn't overbearing"1. Guitar.com reviewed it in 2017 as one of the two latest additions to Orange's stompbox line, pairing it with the Getaway Driver1.
Pete Thorn's 2018 demo walks through the controls and the octave circuit on video2:
For where the Fur Coat sits among fuzz designs, see the site's guide to Fuzz Pedals, and for the octave side of the circuit, Octave & Pitch Pedals.
Videos
ProGuitarShopDemos
Premier Guitar
Sources (7)
- Orange Amps Fur Coat Octave Fuzz Pedal, Pedal of the Day, 2018-01-09
- ORANGE FUR COAT FUZZ Demo by Pete Thorn, YouTube (Pete Thorn channel), 2018-03-14
- Fur Coat Vintage Fuzz Pedal, Orange Music Electronic Co Ltd
- Orange launch Getaway Driver and Fur Coat Fuzz pedals, gearnews.com, 2017-08-25
- Orange Getaway Driver & Fur Coat Review, Guitar.com, 2017-11-27
- Orange Fur Coat review, MusicRadar, 2018-03-02
- Orange Fur Coat Review, Premier Guitar, 2018-02-13
