NAMM 2018: Way Huge Pork and Pickle

Way Huge have unveiled the Pork and Pickle Bass Overdrive and Fuzz. For those that aren't a follower of Mr. Tripps, this looks like a combination of the Pork Loin overdrive and the Swollen Pickle fuzz. Bass player rejoice. Although maybe bass players already use Way Huge pedals in their sound, This pedal is designed with them in mind. The two blend knobs give the low-end thumpers the control over just how dirty they want to get. This pedal looks pretty spectacular.

The Details:

-Combines two great bass-friendly effects in a single housing
-The Pork Loin OD circuit provides warm, soft-clipping overdrive
-Russian-Pickle Fuzz provides thick, fatty fuzz
-Blend a sauced up clean signal with either circuit
-Control interface offers a wide range of tweakable tones

The Way Huge® Pork & Pickle™ Bass Overdrive & Fuzz™ serves up a perfectly balanced diet of gnarly tones for bass players who like to get down and dirty. The first ever bass pedal from Way Huge, this delectable dish combines the warm, soft-clipping tones of the Pork Loin Overdrive and the rich, fatty tones of the Russian Pickle Fuzz in a single package. To toggle between the two, just flip the OD/Fuzz switch.

The Volume, Tone, and Drive controls perform their standard functions, applying to whichever dirt circuit is selected. This pedal has the Pork Loin Overdrive’s distinct sauced up clean channel from the Pork Loin Overdrive—a modified classic British style preamp—but it can be used with either mode. That means that, for the first time, you can run the Russian-Pickle Fuzz signal alongside that super sweet sounding clean channel. Stir in as much of the clean signal as you need with the Clean Blend control, and then use the Clean Tone control to season it to taste. If you’re the adventurous type, internal controls allow you to concoct more complex tonal recipes.

The Pork Loin and Russian-Pickle circuits each have a level control so you can set how much overdrive or fuzz is unleashed by external Volume control. Curve and Presence controls let you further refine the tone of the Pork Loin signal.

Ugly Guitar Truth: TC Electron Honey Pot Fuzz

In the ever-expanding line of TC Electronics value based effect, the Honey Pot Fuzz is just one of the latest offerings. Currently available for pre-order from most major online retailers, not much is known about the fuzz. Most of the information currently know is based upon the demo TC posted directly after the announcement of their release. So what do we know about this pedal, and should we be looking forward to its release?

Don't We Already Have One Of These

Yes. The Initial release of these pedal included the Rusty Fuzz. However this was a silicon fuzz based on the Fuzz Face. For those unfamiliar with fuzzes, there are just as many fuzzes to have as there are overdrives. Does that mean that they are all different? I'll answer that question with another question. Are all overdrives different? Let's just think about how many "different" Tube Screamers there are. Sure, there may be some slight differences for one manufacturer from another, but for the most part a Tube Screamer is a Tube Screamer. But a Tube Screamer isn't a Blues Driver. 

Ruby Fuzz is to Fuzz Face as Honey Pot Fuzz is to...

Big Muff. Yes, the Honey Pot seems to be a clone of the EHX Big Muff Pi. It's also been suggested that even the name may be a reference to same anatomical location as the Muff. The largest hint as to what the circuit is based upon are the label given to the knobs. Volume and Tone are pretty basic stuff, but Sustain on a fuzz usually point in one direction, Big Muff.

Which Muff Is This Muff?

This is where it get a little trickier. The Big Muff Pi has several versions to choose from when cloning. From the Triangle to the modern USA version, there are at least a handful of circuits and sounds that we could expect from this pedal. If I had to take a guess, I'd say that we might be getting a Russian variant of the pedal. This may be wishful thinking on my part, or it may be due to the fact that another pedal announced along side this one is call the Iron Curtain (far better name if this is a Russian version). The main reason I think this is that it sounds rather tame. The Russian Big Muff is one of the lower gain version of the pedal. In any case, we probably aren't looking at a clone of the modern Big Muff Pi.

Conclusion

Yes, these pedals are bulky little tanks, but given their relationship with Behringer I'd rather have these than those. Personally, I have never been a huge fan of TC's dirt pedals. The Mojo and Dark Matter were both rather underwhelming But with the new line of "inspired" pedals, TC might just have my attention. A $50 Muff clone has my attention. But if this really is a Russian Big Muff, then it could possibly take the wind of the resent EHX Green Russian release. But for the love of Pete, they should have name this one the Iron Curtain... Such a better name!