Spaceman Titan II: Fuzz Machine

The Spaceman Titan II is a fuzz pedal from Spaceman Effects, a builder based in Portland, Oregon. It is a discrete circuit built with silicon transistors, and Spaceman describes it as covering a wide spread of gain: at full bore it produces what the maker calls "splatty, nasty fuzz tones," while the low end of its Gain range crosses into overdrive territory, with fuzz-tinged distortion tones in between¹.

Spaceman positions the Titan II as a pedal that works beyond the standard electric guitar. The maker says it "sounds awesome with standard, bass and baritone guitars, as well as most things you plug into it"², which puts it in reach of bass players as well as guitarists.

The controls: Gain and Tone

The Titan II keeps its panel simple. Spaceman says that despite having only three control parameters, the pedal packs a wide array of distinct tones into its cast aluminum enclosure². Two of those controls do the tonal work:

The third parameter is the footswitch itself, which engages and bypasses the effect²¹.

There is a fourth dimension of control that does not sit on the pedal. Spaceman says the Titan II "cleans up nicely with the volume on your instrument, adding additional levels of fuzz textures and expression"¹. Rolling back the guitar's volume knob therefore works as an extra gain control, a behavior fuzz players often look for in a discrete circuit.

Circuit and build

Spaceman describes the Titan II as "a unique discrete circuit using silicon transistors"², a description also carried by Delicious Audio's coverage of the pedal³. Silicon transistors are the more temperature-stable of the two classic fuzz transistor types, and they distinguish the Titan II from the germanium-based fuzzes elsewhere in Spaceman's range, such as the Spaceman Sputnik line.

The build is where much of the pedal's identity lies. Spaceman states that the Titan II is "completely hand-soldered and handmade in Portland Oregon to the highest degree of quality possible"¹, with an immaculate hand-soldered PCB and detailed wiring inside the enclosure². Signal connections run through open-frame Switchcraft jacks, and the pedal uses true-bypass switching via what the maker calls the heaviest duty mechanical footswitch available¹.

The one-of-a-kind Blue Starlight unit

Alongside the standard finishes, Spaceman offered a single unique example. This one-of-a-kind Titan II features a Blue Starlight sparkle blue powder-coated enclosure, a vintage Soviet-era bakelite indicator with a blue lens, and vintage ALCO deluxe aluminum control knobs. It is signed and numbered on the inside, and a hand-hammered number tag on the enclosure states it is a 1-of-1 piece².

Where it sits in Spaceman's range

The Titan II is one of a family of hand-made fuzzes from the Portland builder. Players comparing silicon Spaceman fuzzes can also look at the Spaceman Sputnik I: Silicon Fuzz and the octave-fuzz Spaceman Spacerocket II, while the germanium side of the range includes the Spaceman Sputnik III and the Spaceman Gemini III. The hybrid Spaceman Charon Ge/Si Hybrid Fuzz blends both transistor types²¹.

Videos

Click to load

Click to load

Click to load

Questions