The Stomping Stones Virus Fuzz is a fuzz pedal meant to get fully saturated and pull some wild tones because of it. It is built around two voicings selected by a toggle switch and a second footswitch that starves the fuzz circuit on the fly, which puts it in a different corner of the fuzz pedal world from a single-voiced, one-knob design. Delicious Audio's Paolo De Gregorio described it as coming "from a smaller builder who is making really amazing fuzzes but kinda flying under the radar"1.
Controls and voicings
The pedal has four simple controls: Volume, Gain, Type, and Bias. Volume and Gain work as you would expect, Type is the toggle switch, and Bias is a second footswitch1.
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Volume | Output level1 |
| Gain | Amount of fuzz drive1 |
| Type (switch up, Type 1) | Lower gain fuzz that can go all the way down to more of an overdrive tone1 |
| Type (switch down, Type 2) | Wild, saturated mode that becomes a weird octave fuzz around 2 o'clock on the gain control and gets harsher with gain1 |
| Bias (footswitch) | Starves the fuzz for the classic spitty/velcro fuzz and adds extra harmonic content1 |
Type 1, with the switch up, is the tamer side: a lower gain fuzz that reaches down toward overdrive territory when the gain is backed off. Type 2, with the switch down, is where the pedal gets its name's worth of character, a saturated mode that turns into a weird octave fuzz as the gain knob passes about 2 o'clock1.
The Bias footswitch
The Bias footswitch is what separates the Virus from a straightforward two-mode fuzz. When you press it, it starves the fuzz to get that classic spitty/velcro fuzz, and it adds extra harmonic content while engaged1. Because it is a footswitch rather than a knob, you can bring that starved, dying-battery character in and out mid-performance without bending down to the board.
The envelope fuzz combination
The deepest sound on the pedal comes from stacking its features. De Gregorio noted1:
"And if you combine this with Type 2 with the gain up, you'll get the most bizarre envelope controlled fuzz."
In that combination, Bias plus Type 2 with the gain up, the pedal responds to your playing dynamics, producing an envelope-controlled fuzz rather than a static saturated tone1. Players chasing that kind of reactive, touch-sensitive fuzz usually have to look at dedicated filter or synth effects; here it is a hidden mode of the standard fuzz circuit.
Videos
Stomping Stones - Audio Devices
Stomping Stones - Audio Devices
collector//emitter
Questions
What does the Type switch do on the Stomping Stones Virus Fuzz?
Type is a toggle switch with two positions. In the up position, Type 1, you get a lower gain fuzz that can go all the way down to more of an overdrive tone. Moving the switch down to Type 2 gets you into a wild, saturated mode that becomes a weird octave fuzz around 2 o'clock on the gain control and gets harsher as gain rises.
What does the Bias footswitch do on the Virus Fuzz?
Bias is the pedal's second footswitch. When you press it, it starves the fuzz circuit to get that classic spitty, velcro fuzz sound, and it adds extra harmonic content on top of the base fuzz tone.
Can the Virus Fuzz sound like an overdrive?
Yes, in Type 1, the switch-up voicing. Delicious Audio describes it as a lower gain fuzz that can go all the way down to more of an overdrive tone, so with the gain backed off it sits closer to what you would find among overdrive pedals than a fully saturated fuzz.
What is the envelope fuzz sound on the Virus Fuzz?
It comes from combining the Bias footswitch with Type 2 and the gain turned up. Delicious Audio's Paolo De Gregorio called it the most bizarre envelope controlled fuzz, a sound where the pedal's character shifts with the dynamics of your playing rather than sitting as a static fuzz tone.
Sources (1)
- Stomping Stones Virus Fuzz, Delicious Audio, 2019-04-15
