You won't find trendy, gimmicky "name" components here; every component is chosen for just two reasons; performance and a sensible price. Jacks are from Cliff and Neutrik, enclosures by Hammond and Eddystone. Blue "New Sensor" footswitches. And good, old-fashioned steady-pawed monkey soldering.
To order any pedal, please click here to contact MonkeyFX
The MonkeyFuzzle3 is a Monkey-Monarch amongst fuzzes. The MonkeyFuzzle3 delivers incredible note separation, lovely tonal transparency and the ever-present opportunity for absolute unmitigated filth with the knobs whacked right up. At lower settings you get lovely smooth sustain. And, of course, that warm fuzzy feeling that only monkeys can give you.
The MF3 is entirely handbuilt, with NOS (New Old Stock) transistors that are hand-matched to ensure world-class tone - and then we take it a step further and hand-match resistors to squeeze every last drop of sound out. This makes the MonkeyFuzzle3 a superbly versatile pedal. Owners have said:
"Altogether I would describe it as more refined than a Big Muff, less "original guitar sound mangling" than a Big Cheese and more cutting than a Ge Fuzz Face."
"Sound quality of this unit is exceptional. It is ... a usefully more modern take on the FuzzFace sound."
"This has made it up there with the Vintage Rat and 1977 Big Muff that I use most of the time ... I cannot recommend this fuzzbox enough."
In the beautilitarian enclosure pictured these are sure to become a future collectable classic, a neo-modernist-short-term-retro marketing spiel zeitgeist paradigm wunderkind. Or something. Powered by Fernmeister Effects, and a snip at £95 shipped in the UK.
Click here to see a large picture of the MonkeyFuzzle3.
Here are some quick clips of the MonkeyFuzzle3 in action - all clips recorded with an Ibanez Talman (lipstick pickups) into a Roland VG-88. The VG-88 is providing a Clean Twin simulation and a touch of reverb, but no EQ, compression, overdrive or anything else - essentially it's just pretending to be a clean power amp. First off we have the MF3 with both dials at about 12 o'clock. You can hear the note separation and general tonal clarity.
mf3-12and12-128.mp3 [235KB]
Next up is a more full-on sound, volume still at 12 but fuzz up to 4 o'clock. Some serious dirt, but individual notes still come through pretty well.
mf3-full-128.mp3 [376KB]
Finally, the same settings but with the guitar volume rolled back a little for a touch of smoothness, and you can hear the lovely natural fade out of the fuzz.
mf3-rolledback-128.mp3 [130KB]
The CheekyMonkey is a new kind of boost pedal. No more hi-fi, clean, natural or "audiophile" marketing hype. The CheekyMonkey is filth personified; at low levels it gives a smooth(ish) boost. Kick it up and it sounds like an over-excited monkey throwing a metal dustbin full of broken glass down a flight of stairs. At a cat. A surprised and very, very miffed cat. £95 delivered in the UK.
Put simply, the CheekyMonkey is a big, gritty boost that's ideal for kicking the front end of a tube amp. It'll even drive a speaker cab on its own. Seriously. In the words of CheekyMonkey users:
"(The CheekyMonkey) really excels in the wall of sound overdrive chords thing. A very big sound that cuts through the mix wonderfully"
"You sound exactly like Jimi Hendrix's stack tone. The notes really explode from your strings, quite dark but definitely cutting through and very fat without sounding too insanely distorted."
"It also works great as an extra addition to fatten up your "too clean" amp."
"This makes me feel like I'm eighteen and still have hair!"
Click here to see a large picture of the CheekyMonkey.
The samples of the CheekyMonkey have been removed; it sounds different with every amp.
The VelvetVervet is a magnificent octave-fuzz. It's a greatly improved Foxx Tone Machine clone, with NOS transistors and diodes for that classic sound, but super-modern components elsewhere for optimum performance. The VelvetVervet pictured is the prototype - final ones will be brightly coloured and in a flatter, longer enclosure. The left hand footswitch is for the bypass (true bypass, of course) and the right hand one turns the octave effect on and off - much more useful than the original's toggle switch. The knobs control dirt, tone and output volume. The VelvetVervet is fully capable of stripping paint off the walls - it has a hefty output, and the tone control and octave switch means your lead lines will cut through the very thickest mix with the greatest of ease.
The VelvetVervet is available direct only - not through the stockists - and each is built to order. Please email if you'd like one - £140 including UK shipping.
Click here to see a large picture of the VelvetVervet.
Have a listen to a few cheeky clips - all were recorded guitar -> VV -> amp (a Cornell Romany Custom). Apologies for the large file sizes, but we really wanted to show this one off!
First off, some simple chords with the octave off:
vv-n-chord.mp3 [138 KB]
Next a simple single-note line, with the octave off and then on:
vv-n-o.mp3 [434 KB]
Assorted noodling with the octave on:
vv-o-assort.mp3 [299 KB]
And finally some serious dissonance - "nasty" intervals with the octave on:
vv-o-diss.mp3 [324 KB]
The ChubbyChimp is essentially a "clean" version of the CheekyMonkey. It is available in the normal enclosure pictured, or as the Mini ChubbyChimp, the answer to that perennial problem; your pedalboard is packed solid, but you need just one more boost. At a mere 9cm x 4cm it's actually rather a slender pedal, but don't let the size fool you - it has 26dB of clean, neutral boost. 9v DC supply only - batteries are just too big for this kind of work. True bypass, ultra-bright white LED and now in sparkly metallic paint. The ChubbyChimp is £70 shipped in the UK and the Mini ChubbyChimp is £75 because it's quite a lot more work to pack everything into the smaller enclosure.
Click here to see a large picture of the ChubbyChimp.
The SuperMonkey is here by request; a customer didn't want to choose between the MonkeyFuzzle3 and the ChubbyChimp, so we built both into one enclosure. Each has its own footswitch, and a toggle lets you decide what order to run them - so you can either have the classic MonkeyFuzzle3 sound, but with an enormous boosted output, or you can slam the front of the fuzz with a huge signal for those nasty, spluttery overloaded effects. The SuperMonkey is £120 shipped in the UK.
Click here to see a large picture of the SuperMonkey.