The Paradox Effects Defibrillator Reanimating Shock Fuzz is a fuzz pedal with a twist: alongside the usual footswitch there is a second one, called Shock, that pushes the fuzz even further into chaos territory. It was featured on Pedal of the Day on Thursday, May 21, 2015, and reviewed there on June 2 of that year.12
What the Shock footswitch does
The second footswitch is the pedal's defining feature. Pedal of the Day's reviewer, Mike B, wrote that "This switch, when engaged, boosts the Defibrillator's already potent signal UP even further in volume, as well as adding" more color and chaos.1 In other words, the base fuzz is already loud and aggressive, and Shock piles a volume boost and extra disorder on top of it.
With the toggle engaged, the reviewer found the character changes completely: "the fuzz has completely been transformed into an uncontrollable wall of buzzsaws, glitches, blips, squeaks and snorts."1 His overall verdict: "it is one of the hardest, loudest, most potent and funnest fuzzes I've had the pleasure to play."1
The controls
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Volume | Controls the pedal's overall output1 |
| Tone | Uses an "anti-resonant" filter to remove certain bandwidths, creating scooped sounds with radical changes; the reviewer found it very interactive, moving through a huge range of sounds across its travel1 |
| Sensitivity | Like a Gain of sorts, designed to lessen the harshness of instruments using active pickups1 |
| Middle toggle | When flicked downward, turns the sound coming out into a synth-type noise with octave overtones1 |
The Sensitivity control is worth noting for players with active pickups: rather than a straight gain stage, it exists specifically to tame harshness from hotter onboard electronics.1
Where it sits
As a fuzz, the Defibrillator belongs to the fuzz family rather than overdrive or distortion, and its synth-type toggle setting points toward sounds more often associated with synth and octave & pitch pedals. Paradox Effects also made the Fuzz-E-Cat, another fuzz in the maker's range.12
Videos
Paradox Effects
Pedal of the Day
Victor Hugo Targino
Questions
How many footswitches does the Paradox Defibrillator have?
It has two. The main footswitch engages the fuzz, and a second footswitch called Shock sits beside it. When Shock is engaged it boosts the Defibrillator's already potent signal up even further in volume while adding more color and chaos to the sound, according to Pedal of the Day's review.
What does the Shock footswitch do on the Defibrillator?
The Shock footswitch is a momentary-style boost of the pedal's fuzz output. Pedal of the Day's reviewer described it as boosting the Defibrillator's already potent signal up even further in volume, as well as adding more color and chaos on top of the base fuzz sound.
What does the middle toggle switch do on the Paradox Defibrillator?
The toggle switch in the middle of the pedal changes the character of the fuzz when flicked downward. Pedal of the Day's reviewer wrote that it turns the sound coming out into a synth-type noise with octave overtones, transforming the fuzz into what he described as an uncontrollable wall of buzzsaws, glitches, blips, squeaks and snorts.
Can the Paradox Defibrillator be used with active pickups?
Yes. The Sensitivity knob was designed with active pickups in mind. Pedal of the Day's reviewer described it as being like a Gain of sorts, but designed to lessen the harshness of instruments using active pickups, so players with hotter onboard electronics can tame the pedal's response.
Sources (2)
- Paradox Effects Defibrillator Reanimating Shock Fuzz, Pedal of the Day, 2015-06-02
- Paradox Effects Defibrillator Reanimating Shock Fuzz, Pedal of the Day, 2015-05-21
