Wednesday, July 16, 2008

First post (Pep Rush fuzz)

So - this blog is intended to be a view into the den, at my guitars and home-made fuzz boxes etc, with photos, probably sound and possibly video. I'll write a bit about each thing, why I like it or why I built it etc.

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This is a fuzz I made in June - a copy of one produced in London in 1965 by a London sound engineer called Pepe Rush.
He is still around, and for the record, he is of Russian extraction, not Italian as I originally said. The pedal is as obscure as they come, it's not even clear what the original was called, but like Gary Hurst's orginal Tone Bender, it was based on the Maestro Fuzztone, although it's a different circuit to the one Rush licensed to WEM a little later.
I like old, primitive sounds and equipment, and this one fits that category well. It works on 3 volts - 2 AA batteries - and 3 old stock Germanium transistors. The schematic came to light this year after a series of interior photos appeared on the DAM forum. It amuses me to make my pedals look like faces. [edited 2011]

5 comments:

Max Airborne said...

That's one sexy fuzz box, lady.

Love, Max

Simon Murphy said...

thanks - first of many I hope

Pepbox said...

Hello Simon, I was absolutely thrilled to see you are so interested in my fuzz box from the 60s and had built a copy of it, it was great to see that people were still interested in the old technology from that era. I am working on an original version and a more updated version, still using transistors and not operational amplifiers. I am thinking of a valve/tube version and am also working on some valve/tube instrument amplifiers, if you are interested I will send you some details when any of the units are ready and working. Best regards Pepe Rush

Pepbox said...

Ps I am not Italian! Pepe

Simon Murphy said...

Hi Pepe! great to hear from you!There's a LOT of interest in the first generation of Brit fuzzes at the moment, and many people are building and talking about these circuits again. I'd be delighted to see any future plans you have - just don't update your ideas too much! You can email me direct at thesimonmurphy@yahoo.com - maybe you could answer a few questions too...? Thanks for getting on touch.

Simon

PS - I think I got the "Italian" part from an old interview with Pete Townshend, or maybe from the David Toop article on the WEM version of the Rush Pep.