Devi Ever Soda Meiser Muffy Fuzz

I don't like my fuzz boxes to get anywhere near overdrive. I want my fuzz's to be beyond that even on the lowest settings. But I still want it to be musical... I fell in love with the fuzz like tone on "American Woman"(actually that's a double amp set up, but you know what I mean). This is like a a Univox Superfuzz with a bit more growl like a Big Muff Pi on max. Unlike a Big Muff Pi, it gets smoothly awesome. Check out Gearmanndude's review on youtube. These now come with some sort of "chaos" switch, if you like the chaotic, unsmooth and unmusical sound. The switch on my never gets touched unless I want to show someone the kind of fuzz tones I hate...OH! And no battery compartment. This will catch an unaware buyer. You have to power this using some sort of power system(I use a Voodoo Pedal Power 2)

Really, more like a 4.5. Great contemporary fuzz that can definitely be considered a modern classic at this point. A lot of artists names have been attached to this fuzz, most of which I have been unable to verify. For sure, Nels Cline loves this pedal. And the guy from 30 Seconds to Mars, which doesn't mean a whole lot to me, but it may to you. Other names thrown around are Kevin Shields (in the Shoegazer twofer pedal form), Nine Inch Nails, and Tame Impala. Cant verify those, but those names have been thrown around.It is a great pedal, despite who may or may not use it. It is sometimes advertised as a "muffy" fuzz, and it does get a pretty nice muffy tone at low "zazz" settings. However, I wouldn't buy this as a muff alternative - as while it does get some nice sustain, it doesn't really reach muff-on-full-sustain levels of sustain. I have other pedals that dial in a similar muffy tone but a bit better, to my ears. Some have alternately praised or criticized the Soda Meiser as being a "synthy" and unnatural take on the muff. And while I definitely like that, I find my Fuzzhugger Sonic Shroom/AB-Synth makes a much better synthy, super saturated and unnatural muff-esque tone at certain settings, which I find far more preferable to the Soda Meiser's muff settings.The Meiser gets a lot more interesting when you dial up the zazz. While marketed as a "muffy" fuzz, the Soda Meiser is apparently the Devi circuit that most resembles the Ampeg Scrambler - which is an awesomely nasty vintage fuzz in the same league as the Superfuzz and Fender Blender. While I don't have an original Scrambler to compare it to, "scrambled" would definitely be a good description. It retains a base sort of muffy creaminess, but as you add more gain with the "zazz" knob, more and more "upper octave artifacts" (to quote Aen from Dwarfcraft) are added into the mix, and really scrambles the tone in a manner that is hideously gorgeous. With the zazz knob on full blast, the pedal couldn't resemble a muff any less. Like the Scrambler and Fender Blender, you get some upper-octave and ring-mod undertones that make this a very tonally interesting fuzz pedal. "Scrambled" and "blendered" are good descriptors, but I find the name Soda Meiser very apt. Not simply because of the pun, but the upper octave elements definitely add a certain "carbonated" sounding quality to the overall tone.And then we have the chaos switch, which basically turns this into another pedal entirely. If I am not mistaken, the Soda Meiser's "chaos mode" is basically half of another Devi pedal known as the "Noise Floor." From what I understand, what the chaos switch does is cuts out all of the bass and overamplifies your guitar's natural hum and background noise.Yeah, the description of what it does makes it sound pretty awful and useless - and on a lot of settings, it is. However, there is actually a pretty good range of usable, but totally damaged sounding, fuzz tones with the chaos switch activated and the zazz knob set anywhere between 9 - 12 o clock. Basically, at the lowest zazz setting you start off a little bit beyond what the pedal sounds like at full zazz when the chaos switch is off, and simply gets more and more damaged. Going back to the "soda" descriptor, the chaos switch oftentimes causes an effect that sounds alot like when I used to have a Sodastream. Basically, the sound of a jet of carbonation being blasted into water.I found that a good use for the chaos switch is to experiment with running other pedals into it. I have been able to get some really cool tones out of running other fuzz pedals into the Meiser with the chaos switch activated - and a couple of them have become some of my all time favorite fuzztones.While not my all time favorite fuzz pedal, it still is one of my favorites, and if I had to recommend one Devi Ever pedal, it would probably be this one. The current version is also the best. With a fire truck red enclosure and silkscreened graphics, it is by far the best looking version of all the Soda Meisers (with the exception of the limited run Super Soda Meisers with graphics by different guest artists). The current maker of DE pedals, Dwarfcraft, are good peeps with good build quality, and the fact that the chaos knob is now standard definitely makes the current version THE version to get.And lastly, this pedal has, hands down, the best gating of any fuzz pedal I have ever used - bar none. And gated fuzz is kind of my "thing." The gate on this pedal is flawless. Quiet as a mouse until the zazz is aalll the way up or if the chaos switch is engaged.One disclaimer: while I talk about "upper octave elements" and "ring mod undertones," I must be clear that this is neither an upper octave fuzz nor a ring modulator. Rather, it is simply a very tonally interesting crazyfuzz.So to summarize -Cons: ultimately, I'm not really impressed by it's "muffy" settings. That's about the only con I can think of, and that con is really subjective from one player to the next.Pros: Gets very tonally interesting when you add more gain with the "zazz" knob. Upper octave and subtle ring mod undertones make for a cool modern take on an Ampeg Scrambler/Fender Blender-esque fuzz. Chaos knob may seem useless and annoying at first, but can make for a good amount of experimentation when you add some other pedals to the mix. And finally - an incredible noise gate that virtually cancels out all noise between notes.And all of this for a very reasonable price. Cool handmade "boutique" pedals don't usually go for this cheap. Great bang for your buck.

This is now made by dwarf craft devices so it is a little different from the picture. The AC jack is now top mounted (way better) and the "chaos switch" is a standard feature. Both of these are good improvements on a rad design. At low "zazz" settings this is fun with bass and at higher zazz or with the chaos switch engaged this can get pretty mental

This box is full of nasty fuzzy fun for a hundred bucks! It's legal and you can play with it whenever your feelin' naughty !

This pedal is so nasty, in the best way. Mine came with the "Chaos Switch" you can see on some models when searching Google.

My favorite fuzz. Simple, versatile, musical at pretty much every setting, and inexpensive. There is no reason at all not to pick one up.