Spruce Effects

[MrNovember]

Anyone hear of these guys?
http://www.spruceeffects.com/effects/
I'm a hipster so I like their aesthetic and the Lichen Fuzz sounds awesome

Just found them through a Reverb article: https://reverb.com/news/the-fuzz-that-b ... _source=FB

[echorec]

They've not been around long. I saw them late summer/early fall on Instagram, then at Coast Sonic.

I liked this graphic for the phaser a lot. I think the current designs are about the third wave. (white, olive, now white & grey)



Here are some different looks side-by-side.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BHtUWCXAA46/

[jrfox92]

I remember being followed on IG by the person that did the first graphics for them.
They seem alright, but probably as derivative as everything else is.
I'm guessing the Old Growth is a Fuzz Face, Saltwater's a Tonebender, Rainier's a Big Muff.

[MrNovember]

I remember being followed on IG by the person that did the first graphics for them.
They seem alright, but probably as derivative as everything else is.
I'm guessing the Old Growth is a Fuzz Face, Saltwater's a Tonebender, Rainier's a Big Muff.

Pretty sure they actually say as much in their product descriptions.

[popvulture]

Those phaser graphics look super dope. I like that style better than the current look of the lineup (also pretty cool).

[jrfox92]

Pretty sure they actually say as much in their product descriptions.

Yeah, I know (I'm not really sure what the Lichen is though), I'm not saying they're hiding anything.
It's just, I dunno, feels like another SSDD type deal.
Nice graphics, generic fuzz pedals. Even though that's where most pedal companies start, I think I'll wait until they start to branch out into more original designs to get excited about anything.

[odontophobia]

Pretty sure they actually say as much in their product descriptions.

Yeah, I know (I'm not really sure what the Lichen is though), I'm not saying they're hiding anything.
It's just, I dunno, feels like another SSDD type deal.
Nice graphics, generic fuzz pedals. Even though that's where most pedal companies start, I think I'll wait until they start to branch out into more original designs to get excited about anything.

always referred to it as SOSDD but yeah, same old shit different day.

[Chankgeez]

always referred to it as SOSDD but yeah, same old shit different day.

I think that's an anagram for D.o.S.d.S. (D.o.S.'s da Shit)

[D.o.S.]

[Chankgeez]

In which case, said pedal should sound amazing.

[jrfox92]

In which case, said pedal should sound amazing.

I expect the D.o.S.d.S. to be a ring mod in a purple, dildo shaped enclosure with a graphic of Michael Cera saying "fuck you, D.o.S."

[Chankgeez]

A far cry from the aesthetic of the real Spruce Effects. There's always hope.

[D.o.S.]

In which case, said pedal should sound amazing.

I expect the D.o.S.d.S. to be a ring mod in a purple, dildo shaped enclosure with a graphic of Michael Cera saying "fuck you, D.o.S."

The outside is right, but the inside would have to be an infinite plate verb with a 40db boost at 40-80hz.

[Chankgeez]

Ya hear that, Spruce Effects?

Make it happen!

[spruceeffects]

Hey everyone!

I was talking with my good friend John over at Electronic Audio Experiments about forums and ilovefuzz came up. I'd poked around a bit, but figured I'd indulge myself and see if Spruce Effects was ever mentioned. To my surprise, this thread came up! We had to make an account and come say hi!

First of all, thanks for spending the time to talk about our stuff. It means a lot to us whenever we see or hear about people taking notice, even if it's to say we are doing the SOSDD! We do use a lot of classic circuits, but instead of branding with Mojo parts and battery magic, all of our stuff is super-stable, runs off of your shitty daisy-chained one spot PS, and doesn't use batteries. So think, "modern where it makes it more convenient, and mojo where it might count more (NOS Germanium)". We also design everything in house. All of the graphics, drilling, PCB's, swag...everything. Well, except for the old graphics and the Treemolo Fuzz.

To clarify some of the questions and comments on the thread:

The old graphics are not better.
Old Growth Fuzz is not a Fuzz Face.
Rainier is not a Big Muff.

Okay, well, those statements aren't entirely true:

Lichen Fuzz Overgrowth:
Boost side is a classic Rangemaster circuit utilizing a popular input cap blend potentiometer. DAM has a pedal like this, and it's been a popular mod/trick on the DIY forums since before that. The Fuzz side is a Fuzz Face with some component value tweaks. The transistors are: Q1-1T308B (most of the time) with gain of about 80 and leakage 0uA. Q2-Either an MP20a or an AC125/128 or an ASX12D (all with very little leakage, mostly 0). Bias is generally 4.5v on Q2 collector, but we generally tune by ear. SSODD might apply here, but there are plenty of folks out there, both builders and electronics-ignorant players that will swear by certain device types. Out of all of the parts I demo'd that we could buy in quantity, I liked these combinations the best. If you want to spend $400 for a real NKT275, go for it. The coolest part about this pedal is when you run both sides together. When we first did that and heard the toanz, that motivated us to even entertain doing something so SSODD-ish. Oh, another thing to mention is we realized after developing this product, the Analog Man Sun Lion employs a very similar concept, though we were not aware of it when we finalized our design.

Old Growth Fuzz:
This is a Big Muff. It's got some Ram's Head parts values and some version's part values, but I'd really have to go look at the schematic to say for sure. It uses regular-ass 2n5088 transistors. We keep gain between 4 and 600, though it probably doesn't matter. We think this is a really good sounding muff. A lot of people make a lot of muffs, and a lot of people make pedals that a lot of people don't know are muffs that are actually muffs. A lot of people also make pedals that are kind of like muffs, that most people don't know are actually really just kind of like a muff. The clip switch toggles between 1n4148 (or maybe 1n914s) diodes in the first clipping stage and 5mm red LED's. The "cut" switch changes a cap and resistor value in the tone circuit to remove the mid scoop so the EQ is mostly flat. We recently added a bass-voiced option for this pedal. The main difference is the first clipping stage is removed, sort of like a Supa Tonebender. This allows for better bass response, overall.

Salt Water Fuzz:
This is a essentially a Tonebender Mk3 with some tonestack changes, though it doesn't exactly replicate the mk3 sound, which is fine by us.. Q1 and Q2 are generally 1T308B or MP16B (Russian 2N404). Gain from 40-70, 0uA of leakage. Q3 is sometimes an MP20A, but mostly AC125. Gain is between 90 and 120, leakage is usually at least 100uA, but up to 200uA. People seem to like this one.

Rainier Fuzz:
This is a Jen Jumbo Fuzz, which is an Italian Big Muff ripoff from the 70s (we think). Jen added a stupid gate function in the original, probably because they did a shitty job making them and Muffs can be pretty noisy. We added a gate switch which toggles the germanium gate shit in and out. This essentially transforms it into a Big Muff, though there are a lot of component values you won't find in a lot of Big Muff version. The tone control is also different than a classic Big Muff tone control. When the gate circuit is in circuit, the gate knob allows you to dial in the intensity of the "gating". The diodes in the gate circuit are 1n270. The Germanium transistor is a GT404 type device. Gain is between 70 and 100. Leakage is generally around 350uA. Each one is slightly different because these transistors are not cooperative. This pedal also uses the same clip switch as the Old Growth.

Okay, if you've made it this far, here's where things get good and I'm going to plug some shit. Someone in this thread said they weren't interested in our stuff until we branched off and did something different. So now that you know the secret ins and outs of what's going on in our pedals, you can decide if you want to check them out, or write them off as SSODD. We are coming out with a new pedal called the Giganteum Drive in a couple of weeks that is mostly, if not entirely, new in concept (as far as we know). It's a dual channel boost/drive with a massive amount of tonal variety, in a small package. We utilized some cool buzzwords like "discrete gain stages" and "low mid content" in the marketing materials. Check out some teasers on our IG or sign up for our newsletter. You can also win an Old Growth Fuzz from the Sound Parcel if you sign up on their page by tomorrow, which will automatically get you on our newsletter for when we send out the presale stuff and details for the Giganteum Drive.

Ya hear that, Spruce Effects?

Make it happen!

I'll start work on the DOSDS shortly. I'm going to have probably switch enclosure suppliers, but I'm sure someone in Asia will make me a dildo shaped enclosure. Also, since there was some disagreement on the circuit, It will be a 2 in 1 with the Ring Mod on one side and reverb on the other. I'm also going to try to get a voice recording of Michael Cera saying "Fuck you DOS" that you can switch into your audio path. If you dial in the infinite plate verb just right, and kick the Cera switch at the perfect time, it will sound like a prepubescent God is insulting you to your core (if your name is DOS).

If you want to know more about where we buy our parts, or the pot values in our pedals, shoot me an email through our site. Thanks for the support!!