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Rainger FX Chop Fuzz Q&A

Rainger FX Chop Fuzz Q&A

 

This year, FX Pedal Planet Online Store became official UK dealers of the impressive Rainger FX. As the founder of FX Pedal Planet Online Store, I've been a longtime admirer of Rainger FX because David Rainger appears to disregard boundaries when it comes to sonic innovation. David boldly breaks conventions and establishes his own standards.

This sentiment is exemplified in his most recent creation, the Chop Fuzzz. We conducted an interview with David to gain insight into this innovative new product.

Hi David

Thank you so much for partnering with FX Pedal Planet Online Store and allowing us to become official UK dealers.

What inspired you to create the Chop Fuzzz, and how does it fit into the overall progression of the Dr Freakenstein series? 

I loved the original Dr Freakenstein Fuzz distortion circuit, and all the developments from then on to control the sound in different ways. However we had to stop making it because we couldn't get the knife switch any more!

So we worked hard at creating a pedal where that wouldn't be an issue, where no one would miss it, and I thought the best way would be to add more controls. So this one has the slow/fast LFO facility, CV control, and we're making more of the meter eye.

The Chop Fuzzz is packed with various features, from the massive distortion fuzz to the pressure operated expression pedal. Can you explain how you decided to bring these elements together into a single pedal?

The distortion sound has this great 'Overtone' knob; an incredibly strong control which I thought would be fun to be able to adjust in real time. That was how the Igor pressure pad came about; a simple, light way of having some real time expression without having a huge - and expensive - traditional expression pedal.

The 'Overtone' control offers a unique blend of wah like effects and extreme phaser tones. Can you share how you came up with this concept and what kind of creative possibilities it opens up for musicians?

The 'Overtone' control was there from the very beginning. The Dr Freakenstein circuit is a unique fuzz - working quite differently to all other kinds of fuzz. I love it set fully CCW, and playing guitar on the neck pickup gives a massively powerful low synthy sound. Conversely at much higher settings the sounds really cut through a mix in an exciting way.

Tell us more about the 'LFO' section and its triangular waveshape modulation. How does this contribute to the sound of the Chop Fuzzz, and what kind of experimentation can users expect with the speed and pitch controls?

The LFO was originally - in effect - to move the 'Overtone' knob backwards and forwards automatically. However with the Chop Fuzzz we discovered a new way to change the tone, and while it's similar to 'Overtone' it has a far more '3D' sound to it. So, the LFO works that way, with the 'Overtone' like an overall tone knob.

A slow phaser like setting is great, plus also a faster Leslie style speed, but a real breakthrough came when the LFO speed was increased drastically - up to speeds where a new note was actually generated; tune this new note to the key of the riff you're playing, and the power of the sound is boosted even more - with all kinds of ring modulator like 'beats' effects with other notes.

The icing on the cake is to be able to toggle between slow and fast speeds by footswitch!

The inclusion of a hard square wave tremolo in the 'CHOP' feature sounds intriguing. How can musicians use this in combination with the 'LFO' section to create unique sounds? 

Set 'Chop' to quite fast, and LFO to a fast Leslie sort of speed, and you get a synthy bubbling sound - with all sorts of tonal patterns emerging. At fast 'Chop' settings it's more of a textural sound, which of course can be flashed in and out with the Igor.

The 'Hi/Lo' intensity switch and compatibility with 5v CV suggest versatility beyond traditional guitar use. What other instruments or setups do you see musicians incorporating the Chop Fuzzz into? 

Modular synth users are always up for experimentation - and I know they'll have a ton of fun with the Chop Fuzzz! However my current favourite is putting a drum machine through it - like the Snare Trap... It starts to convert the beat into a note in really exciting way!

The 'eye meter' is a fascinating addition, offering visual feedback on input signal level, LFO, and 'Chop' operation. How did the idea for the 'eye meter' come about, and how does it enhance the user experience?

The very first Dr Freakenstein had a regular meter, which was great. But I realised that the 'meter' backing panel could be removed, and replaced with..... I had no idea what! But our graphics guy Rich DiMaio suggested an eye. 

I said 'whatever', but was in no way prepared for the resulting image! A psychically disturbing blinking eye, portraying the soul of the pedal.... It was amazing! 

This time around there's a new - female - eye, lit up in new ways. It's hypnotic!

Both the enclosure and knobs feature custom Rainger FX designs. Can you explain the design philosophy behind the visual aspects of the Chop Fuzzz and how they complement the pedal's sonic capabilities? 

I think it's really important that the whole pedal is in harmony with itself - every aspect of it. The Dr Freakenstein sound is very heavy, and quite dark, so the flared, symmetrical desk style black enclosure really seemed to fit.

With every Dr Freakenstein pedal we've done we've tried to make it a smaller footprint, and the Chop Fuzzz is no exception. However to get this much sonic flexibility into a smaller enclosure, with the knobs we wanted to keep a similarity to previous versions (eg the 'skirt') while having them be quite small. We quickly realised we needed to design some from scratch.

What we've ended up with is a surprisingly small pedal - but is the most feature-packed version we've ever done.

Thank you to David Rainger for his invaluable support to the industry and FX Pedal Planet Online Store.  For more information on the Rainger FX Chop Fuzzz, please click, CHOP.

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