The Electric Beard Fuzz is a fuzz pedal from Radio Mule, the maker's second effect, following the Red Petal Fuzz reviewed earlier the same month1. Pedal of the Day reviewed it on 31 December 2020 and described it as "one tough customer, but a fairly easy one to figure out and dial in"1.
What it does
The pedal starts with a high-impedance MOSFET input, and the Sustain knob controls how much signal hits the parallel clipping circuits. Pedal of the Day notes that this produces "a range from mild overdrive to full on raging fuzz"1, which places the pedal's reach well beyond straight fuzz and into overdrive and distortion territory at the low end of the knob.
The two clipping paths draw on two classic circuits. Pedal of the Day describes the range as running "from a warm, wooly fuzz based on a black Russian Big Muff to an octave fuzz, inspired by the old Super Fuzz pedals"1, so the Sustain control blends those characters rather than switching between them.
The output stage is tuned to be exceptionally loud. The reviewer explains that this gives "plenty of volume to experiment with blended, low-gain fuzz sounds and boost the front end of an amplifier"1, which also lets the pedal work as a clean-volume boost into an amp.
On sound, the reviewer's summary was: "Low, doom-y grumble, fat walls of distortion and all the output level you could want: the Electric Beard covers all your"1.
What reviewers said
Pedal of the Day came back to Radio Mule the following year and judged the maker's output favorably: "We're loving the effects coming out of the Radio Mule camp, and so far, they're 3-for-3, resoundingly"2.
Videos
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Questions
What circuits is the Electric Beard Fuzz based on?
Pedal of the Day describes the pedal as covering a range from a warm, wooly fuzz based on a black Russian Big Muff to an octave fuzz inspired by the old Super Fuzz pedals. Rather than switching between the two, the pedal runs parallel clipping circuits, and the Sustain knob controls how much signal reaches them, so the two characters blend into one another.
How does the Sustain control work?
The Sustain knob controls how much signal hits the parallel clipping circuits. Pedal of the Day notes that this produces a range from mild overdrive to full on raging fuzz, so it acts as the pedal's main gain control rather than a simple sustain trim.
Sources (2)
- Radio Mule Electric Beard Fuzz, Pedal of the Day, 2020-12-31
- Radio Mule HIGH Overdrive Preamp, Pedal of the Day, 2021-11-06
