SolidGoldFX Lysis

The SolidGoldFX Lysis is a polyphonic octave fuzz modulator: a fuzz pedal that layers pitch shifting, resonant synth-style filters and moving LFO sweeps on top of an analog square-wave fuzz. SolidGoldFX describes the Lysis MKII as applying "thick, resonant filters, multiple polyphonic voicings and sweeping LFO's, all drenched in an analog square-wave fuzz"¹. Where a classic octave fuzz like the SolidGoldFX 76 Octave Fuzz adds an octave-up harmonic to a fuzz circuit, the Lysis goes the other direction, dropping your pitch and then treating the result like a synthesizer voice.

The original Lysis was unveiled at the Delicious Audio Stompbox Booth at NAMM 2019, first as a prototype², and Delicious Audio called it "a wild trip into synthesis," combining octave down, fuzz, synth and filter sweeping³. In August 2021 SolidGoldFX replaced it with the Lysis MKII, which keeps the concept and expands it with more voicings, tap tempo and a redesigned control set²¹.

How it works

The Lysis MKII is a hybrid pedal. At its core, a discrete JFET preamp and high-gain fuzz circuit feed into SolidGoldFX's digital polyphonic voice and filter generator, and the result then passes back into a discrete transistor output stage¹. In practice that means the fuzz grit is analog, while the pitch shifting and filter generation are digital, which is what allows the pedal to track chords and shape its filters with the precision of a synth rather than a simple wah-style sweep.

The filter can work as a high- or low-pass filter with adjustable resonance⁶, which is the same basic building block as a studio synth filter. Swept by the internal LFO, it produces the moving, vocal quality that separates the Lysis from an ordinary fuzz.

The controls

The MKII front panel carries five knobs and a set of toggles. Gearnews lists controls for Speed, Ramp, Blend, Fuzz and Level, along with Wave, Res, Voice and High Pass/Low Pass Filter toggles, an 11-position Mode knob, and a tap tempo switch⁵. Guitar.com describes the same knobs in functional terms: LFO speed, ramp speed, fuzz/filter blend, fuzz gain and output level⁶.

The original Lysis organized things differently, with five knobs and five switches that adjusted everything from the depth of the filter sweeps to the smoothness of the fuzz³. Its Freq knob controlled the rate of the effect in modulation mode, and a two-position Warp switch worked with its footswitch to either max or kill the Mod knob depending on position³.

Voices, waveforms and the 33 modulation presets

The MKII's Voice selector has been expanded over the original. It keeps the previous octave-down setting and adds a new octave down/octave up voicing plus a Super Power Chord mode featuring octave down and fifth pitch shifting¹. Guitar.com summarizes the three octaver modes as octave down, octave up and down, and octave down with a fifth⁶. Because the pitch shifting is polyphonic, these voicings work on chords, not just single notes¹.

The LFO side offers triangle, square and sine wave modes¹, plus a fixed frequency mode⁶. Each waveform mode holds 11 presets, totalling 33 different modulation presets¹. MusicRadar describes the pedal as "loaded with 33 different triangle, sine and square waveshapes"⁴, and Guitar World notes the Wave switch's three modes, paired with the tap tempo LFO, offer up to 33 individual settings⁷.

Footswitches, tap tempo and expression

The MKII uses two footswitches: a soft touch true bypass engage switch with a tap tempo switch sitting adjacent to it⁷. The two footswitches allow for tap tempo, ramping when held, and an LFO braking effect⁶. Delicious Audio credits the new footswitch configuration with allowing for tap tempo².

The MKII also has a fully assignable expression input¹. On the original Lysis, the expression pedal jack gave hands-free control of the Freq knob in manual mode, for a filter-wah effect³, so a player could sweep the filter like a wah with their foot while playing.

Original Lysis versus MKII

The original Lysis could just deliver octave-down², where the MKII adds the octave-up voicing and the fifth-based Super Power Chord mode¹. The MKII also moves to a white patterned enclosure, replacing the original black chassis⁷. Gearnews' reviewer preferred the change:

Gearnews, on the MKII's white finish⁵

The same reviewer flagged the one notable limitation: the pedal is mono only, which they called a shame, since stereo would have made it "a really crazy effect to have around"⁵.

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