Funny Little Boxes Caught By The Fuzz review – a two-knob dirt machine that goes beyond its Britpop brief
£99, funnylittleboxes.co.uk
Britpop was a moment in cultural history. Which is another way of saying that it all felt like great fun at the time but, let’s be frank, much of the music it produced has aged like raw meat in an unplugged freezer.
READ MORE: Earthquaker Devices Fuzz Master General review – “the full gamut of vintage-adjacent fuzz tones”
People seem to have fond memories of Supergrass, though – and the Oxford trio have now provided the inspiration for an effects pedal: the Funny Little Boxes Caught By The Fuzz.
Image: Press
Funny Little Boxes Caught By The Fuzz – what is it?
It’s Britpop in a box! Released in 1994, Caught By The Fuzz was the debut single that made Supergrass famous. It’s fast and catchy… and best of all, it’s got the word ‘fuzz’ in the title. To be honest, the one thing it doesn’t have is a particularly memorable guitar sound, but maybe that doesn’t matter – we’re talking about capturing the spirit of an era here, not copying an EQ curve.
FLB’s previous pedals have all been focused on American grunge tones, and this one brings a simplification as well as a change of accent: fuzz and volume are the only controls. That suggests a classic noise box in the style of the early Fuzz Faces and Tone Benders, which is certainly a promising starting point.
It’s built in the otherwise tranquil English city of Norwich, and there is one extra feature worth mentioning: instead of a simple status LED, it has a pair of blue ones that flash in sequence like the lights on a police car. Escaped convicts might find this a tad unsettling; for everyone else, it’s a welcome bit of fun.
Image: Press
Funny Little Boxes Caught By The Fuzz – what does it sound like?
It turns out this pedal has more in common with the fine upstanding officers in the front of that police car than with the stoned teenager in the back – because it’s an eminently sensible and disciplined fuzz.
With both knobs pointing northwards, the first thing to report is a tidy bass/treble balance that will let you quickly forget the absence of a tone control. The mids are even-handed too – neither raspy nor scooped – and the fuzz itself is tight but thick-grained, with a nice Marshall-esque edge to hard-punched chords. It doesn’t exactly clean up when you pull back on the guitar’s volume, but it does soften down very sweetly.
There are no surprises when the gain is cranked: it’s more of the same, keeping things clear and balanced as the distortion thickens. It won’t go anywhere near Big Muff territory in terms of sheer fuzziness, though – if you need something that can also cover the sludgy grunge side of the 90s, this probably isn’t it.
Turn the fuzz down to around 9 or 10 o’clock, on the other hand, and suddenly it’s more like a low-gain overdrive: the punky element is gone, replaced by something tonally transparent but with an injection of extra body and sustain that gives real authority to single-note melodies. This low-gain sound can get rough and scuzzy with sustained chords, but it’s an extra dimension that adds genuine value to the pedal.
Image: Press
Funny Little Boxes Caught By The Fuzz – should I buy it?
Does it sound like the Supergrass song? Well, yes, it can in the right setup – so if you’re planning to be Gaz Coombes in a tribute band, this pedal might be as essential as a good pair of sideburns. But, defying the apparent limitations of the two-knob format, it also has plenty to offer for anyone else who’s in the market for a really nice general-purpose fuzz.
Funny Little Boxes Caught By The Fuzz alternatives
There aren’t as many pure two-knob fuzzes around as you might think. The Jam Pedals Fuzz Phrase Si (€229/£219) is one, although it cheats slightly by having an internal trimpot for bias, and the Pedal Pawn Fuzz (£197) is another. Want something even simpler? The Beetronics Tuna Fuzz ($99/£99) only has one knob.
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
