Goodbye, Great Wall. (+ 6 final special custom GWs!)
Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2011 9:25 pm
Hi everyone! 
Welcome to the goodbye thread for the Great Wall.
Gather 'round and raise your candles!
The Great Wall followed the Algal Bloom and AB-Synth as one of the earliest FuzzHugger pedals. And it became the most ever-changing FuzzHugger pedal ever. I tried lots of different versions and lots of graphics, never quite settling on one. Also, it was the first FuzzHugger pedal (to my knowledge) that ended up in famous hands (Nels Cline from Wilco, and Henry Kaiser).
Despite that, it never became the hit that Algal Bloom and AB-Synth did. But it's not sales numbers, or any financial strain that's ending the Great Wall. Just the general feeling that it has completed its run. I did everything imaginable with it, from stripped down, to feature-packed, to insane custom oscillating versions! I know there are people out there who love their Great Wall, and I hope they continue to. I'm proud of the pedal. It ran well.
To give it a proper sendoff, I've compiled a pictorial history of the Great Wall!
ALSO, available now are 6 special Custom Great Walls! Anyone who buys one of the 6 receives 15% off their next direct-ordered FuzzHugger Effects pedal. As always, thank you so much for your support.
The first Great Wall prototype! Only one, has now been lost due to dismantling as I scavenged parts for other protos.
The first custom Great Wall.
The first popular run of the Great Wall featured four knobs and a bypassable Tone circuit.
Also around that time, the Great Wall Dlx! Based on the early 5-knob design.
Then came the most popular Great Wall graphic! Even got a couple complaints about it being in poor taste.
Then came a small number of 3-knob Great Walls. (Ben Nerison did some art for these.)
In Dec 09 / Jan 10 came two new Great Wall designs (along with some minor circuit tweaking). These were short-lived...I liked the graphics, but HT said he thought I was smoking too much weed.
The Greatest Wall (oscillating Great Wall Dlx.) came in around this time as a special-order only design.
And I did some crazy customs in 09/10. (The lower one, I think is/was in the Art of the Stompbox exhibit in CA.)
There were a few other painted ones along the way...as well as just one of these "storm" graphic Great Walls in Japan (angry clouds forming a sort of flying horsehead, which has also been called the flying vagina Great Wall).
Finally! The longest-running Great Wall. Originally the Dlx, these became the standard Great Wall. The longest the Great Wall graphic & feature-set stayed the same.
Nels Cline and Henry Kaiser with the Great Wall! As I understand, Nels was quite taken with the pedal, so Henry gave it to him after this jam session. (On DVD as the Art of the Stompbox, available here.)
Here are the last Great Walls. A limited run of SIX special, custom Great Walls. Individually numbered inside, 1-6. Five are at Prymaxe (there are two red ones, one of which is headed to Belgium). Anyone who buys one of the 6 receives 15% off their next direct-ordered FuzzHugger Effects pedal.
Welcome to the goodbye thread for the Great Wall.Gather 'round and raise your candles!
The Great Wall followed the Algal Bloom and AB-Synth as one of the earliest FuzzHugger pedals. And it became the most ever-changing FuzzHugger pedal ever. I tried lots of different versions and lots of graphics, never quite settling on one. Also, it was the first FuzzHugger pedal (to my knowledge) that ended up in famous hands (Nels Cline from Wilco, and Henry Kaiser).
Despite that, it never became the hit that Algal Bloom and AB-Synth did. But it's not sales numbers, or any financial strain that's ending the Great Wall. Just the general feeling that it has completed its run. I did everything imaginable with it, from stripped down, to feature-packed, to insane custom oscillating versions! I know there are people out there who love their Great Wall, and I hope they continue to. I'm proud of the pedal. It ran well.
To give it a proper sendoff, I've compiled a pictorial history of the Great Wall!
ALSO, available now are 6 special Custom Great Walls! Anyone who buys one of the 6 receives 15% off their next direct-ordered FuzzHugger Effects pedal. As always, thank you so much for your support.
The first Great Wall prototype! Only one, has now been lost due to dismantling as I scavenged parts for other protos.
The first custom Great Wall.
The first popular run of the Great Wall featured four knobs and a bypassable Tone circuit.
Also around that time, the Great Wall Dlx! Based on the early 5-knob design.
Then came the most popular Great Wall graphic! Even got a couple complaints about it being in poor taste.
Then came a small number of 3-knob Great Walls. (Ben Nerison did some art for these.)
In Dec 09 / Jan 10 came two new Great Wall designs (along with some minor circuit tweaking). These were short-lived...I liked the graphics, but HT said he thought I was smoking too much weed.
The Greatest Wall (oscillating Great Wall Dlx.) came in around this time as a special-order only design.
And I did some crazy customs in 09/10. (The lower one, I think is/was in the Art of the Stompbox exhibit in CA.)
There were a few other painted ones along the way...as well as just one of these "storm" graphic Great Walls in Japan (angry clouds forming a sort of flying horsehead, which has also been called the flying vagina Great Wall).
Finally! The longest-running Great Wall. Originally the Dlx, these became the standard Great Wall. The longest the Great Wall graphic & feature-set stayed the same.
Nels Cline and Henry Kaiser with the Great Wall! As I understand, Nels was quite taken with the pedal, so Henry gave it to him after this jam session. (On DVD as the Art of the Stompbox, available here.)
Here are the last Great Walls. A limited run of SIX special, custom Great Walls. Individually numbered inside, 1-6. Five are at Prymaxe (there are two red ones, one of which is headed to Belgium). Anyone who buys one of the 6 receives 15% off their next direct-ordered FuzzHugger Effects pedal.
Lovely pedal, I hope whoever's got it now is enjoying the hell out of it.