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Roger Mayer Classic-X Fuzz Pedal

(Also see Roger Mayer Rocket Classic Fuzz below.)

Roger Mayer Classic-X Fuzz

The Roger Mayer Rocket Classic Fuzz has been updated with additional features into Roger Mayer's standard enclosure. This brings this popular design into a modern player and pedal board friendly package.

ADDITIONAL FEATURES

FRONT END BUFFERING:

This buffer allows the fuzz circuitry to interface better with standard wah pedals and the high input impedance allows the full tone capabilities of the pickups to be heard without the loss of detail produced by a low impedance input. The buffer can be activated on or off by moving two jumpers on the pc card so you can hear the difference easily.

FATNESS CONTROL:

Allows tweaking without destroying units overall tone character.

HARD WIRE (TRUE BYPASS) OR TWO BUFFERED OUTPUTS:

Essential for trouble free interfacing for all situations.

EASY BATTERY ACCESS:

Just slide the cover back to reveal the battery. Could not be faster.

STANDARD DC POWERING JACK:

Allows the use of commercial powering units. Extra internal filtering ensures low noise performance and the standard polarity convention is also maintained.

* * * * *

Classic-X Design Features:

The Classic-X Fuzz is a modern evolution from the commercial germanium transistor fuzz pedals Roger Mayer modified for Jimi Hendrix. The Classic-X maintains the guitar's original tone characteristics with the open sound and sonic heritage that is the trademark of Jimi's recordings. The new feature and advantages of the front-end buffer will appeal to those players who strive for a modern sound with strong roots in the past. The use of front end buffering was pioneered by Jimi and used in his recordings. You can select this feature by moving the jumpers on the pc card.

Make no mistake this is not a clone of an old design that duplicates the original faults and shortcomings. Roger Mayer has used the same basic transistor configuration but with several new innovations applied to the very basic circuit that was used then. Roger Mayer employs a careful selection procedure for the two PNP germanium transistors and the pc card also has a pre-set to optimize the circuit for varying operational temperatures. The new Classic-X is a very Low Noise high gain design, stable, free from radio and other electronic interference that cause so much trouble.

It has a greatly increased output level that enables it to overdrive the front end of any amp as hard as you want with the Drive set to minimum distortion in volume boosting mode. Turn up the Gain or Drive control and produce some of the deepest and tight low-end fuzz you have ever heard with the top end staying sweet encouraging soaring string bends and wild solos. The Fatness Control has been carefully developed to produce a wide range of well-rounded musical tone colors.

The unit really comes into it's own during live performance situations as it cleans up superbly well using the guitar volume control and maintains the guitars original tone as the signal decays from wild distortion to original guitar tone. This unit can be effectively controlled from the guitar making life a great deal easier for the player who likes to change tone effortlessly.

Because the circuit senses and uses electronic information directly from the guitar's pickups to control its own operational parameters it is recommended to use the Classic-X first in the signal processing chain to take full advantage of this internal feed forward feature. It is this particular feature of the Classic-X that helps to make it quite different from early fuzz pedals and makes the unit respond very well to each individual players touch, style and playing technique.

Five minutes playing with the Classic-X Fuzz will convince anyone this is not just a re-hashed design but genuinely innovative with some new tone colors. Also when using the buffered outputs you have a package that interfaces perfectly in modern digital recording situations.

FEATURES:

MULTI-MODE OUTPUTS / HARD WIRE BYPASS/ TWO BUFFERED OUTPUTS:

The Classic - X has a hard wire output (true bypass) plus two buffered outputs that can drive long cable lengths with no high frequency loss. These buffered outputs are disconnected when the hard wire output is being used. This means that all performance situations are catered for whether you want a true hard wire output or your situation calls for the advantages of buffered outputs.

RAPID BATTERY CHANGE:

No more screws to loose!. Slide the front panel back and there is the battery. It could not be simpler or faster.

BATTERY LIFE:

50Hrs or more using a premium grade alkaline 9 Volt type.

EXTERNAL POWER ADAPTER / SUPPLY:

An external AC adapter (not supplied) can be used and access is through a standard DC power jack situated next to the jack sockets. It uses the standard negative centre pin connection protocol used by many leading manufacturers. Internal onboard filtering ensures that optimum low noise performance is maintained and diode protection provides peace of mind in case or polarity setting mistakes.

ERGONOMIC DESIGN:

The position of the jack sockets and DC power jack are all on the same side of the enclosure and face away from you thus enabling the effect to be optimally positioned in pedal board set-ups.

Size: Width 170 x Depth 112 x Height 57mm. Weight: 640g with battery.

$289.95 Classic-X
Includes UPS Ground Shipping
in Continental U.S.

Buy Now


Roger Mayer Classic Fuzz Pedal

Roger Mayer Classic Fuzz

FEATURES AND BENEFITS:

  • Fully optimized circuit design based on the original Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face™ solves the following original Fuzz Face™ problems:

    - Large variations of quality & consistency (often 20:1 reject ratio!)
    - Radio frequency interference
    - H.F. Oscillation (instability)
    - Transistor temperature sensitivity

  • Uses authentic PNP type germanium transistors carefully matched for gain and stability
  • Internal trim potentiometer permits factory circuit optimization
  • Employs all the improvements and modifications Roger Mayer made for Jimi Hendrix

The Classic Fuzz incorporates the same modifications that Roger Mayer personally developed for Jimi Hendrix and can be heard on his early recordings.

Electronically this effect uses the Fuzz Face configuration of the classic two transistor amplifier but the low parts count and simplicity of this configuration produced many problems in the first mass produced versions. The large variations in tone quality from unit to unit, radio pickup and high frequency oscillations, temperature causing tone quality to change all made life very difficult and it was not unusual to have to select from up to 20 units to find a really good one. No two units were the same!

Today's version has eliminated all of these problems and is representative of the best units that Jimi used. PNP Germanium transistors of the exact same type that were used in the early versions are very carefully selected for gain and stability to produce the rich smooth rounded tones that the later version NPN silicon transistors failed to emulate. These are still used by many modern manufacturers in so called vintage Fuzz Face versions. Germanium transistors do not pickup radio or oscillate and a pre-set has been added on the PC card to enable the unit to be optimized at varying temperatures. It is unquestionably the most accurate "Vintage fuzz effect" manufactured today that replicates the sound of the early Hendrix tracks. The Roger Mayer Classic Fuzz has the genuine pedigree and heritage and you can rest assured of having a device designed and built by the man who was there.

$289.95 Classic
Includes UPS Ground Shipping
in Continental U.S.

Buy Now

e-mail Steve

Questions? Call or e-mail steve@stevesmusiccenter.com. Prices quoted are subject to change. Quantities may be limited. If you plan to order more than one of this item, please contact us before ordering to verify availability. Click HERE for Return Policy.

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