Fuzzrocious Cat Tail

One very cool service that Fuzzrocious offer is the option to spec your pedal with various mods, and ours came with the hugely entertaining momentary feedback mod.

PROS:

Tweakable take on an all-time classic

Available with a host of optional mods

Looks great!

CONS:

Feedback mod is not for the faint of heart!

Guitar Interactive star rating: 4 stars

MSRP £TBC (UK)  $160 (US)

Fuzzrocious Cat Tail

Based on a well-loved, classic distortion pedal that makes a clean amp dirty and a dirty amp disgusting. Nick Jennison plugs into The Fuzzrocious Cat Tail distortion/overdrive.

Fuzzrocious is the very definition of a “Mom-and-Pop” company. A husband and wife duo based from New Jersey, Ryan designs and builds the pedals while Shannon (and occasionally the kids) paints the enclosures. Their pedals are clearly made with love and care, and it shows. The whole range is full of charm and individuality, from the custom options to the names to the paint jobs.

The Cat Tail (formerly the Rat Tail) is a quirky take on a classic “distortion” circuit that’s actually more of a fuzz than a typical overdrive. In addition to the classic “volume” “filter” and “distortion” controls, the Cat Tail sports two pots for fine tuning the clipping, along with a three-way toggle to select (or disable) the clipping diodes, with the option of silicon diodes, LEDs or no diodes at all. The differences between these three settings are subtle but noticeable enough under the fingers to make this a welcome inclusion.

Starting with the gain set moderately low and both clipping pots at zero, the sound is gently textured and full-bodied with forward mids - perfect for juicing up a broken-up amp, but with a voice that’s quite unlike the typical TS or clean boost pedals usually used for this application. Wind things up and you’ve got a beefy, throaty drive that behaves more like a good fuzz. Single notes take on an almost synth-like quality with squared off waves and crunchy, zippy modulations as the notes decay, while double stop riffs are fat and in-your-face. The two clipping pots really start to have a drastic effect on the tone and response at these higher gain settings, offering an extra level of tweaking to suit your guitar and playing style.

One very cool service that Fuzzrocious offer is the option to spec your pedal with various mods, and ours came with the hugely entertaining momentary feedback mod. Activated by a non-latching footswitch, this mod essentially causes the pedal to go into wild self-oscillation, with a knob to control how subtle or violent things get. Kick it on mid-riff for bursts of glorious sonic mayhem ranging from screaming whistles to speaker-destroying subs. It’s not for the faint of heart, but if you’re the adventurous anti-establishment type then you’re set for a world of fun and hilarity.

The Fuzzrocious Cat Tail is a versatile take on a classic pedal, capable of great subtlety and absolute mayhem. It’s immensely tweakable to fit your needs, and the feedback mod is outrageous fun.

SPECS

Controls: Volume -Tone Filter - Distortion

Analogue

Requires 9V Power

For more information, please visit:

fuzzrociouspedals.com