The NRG Effects Mauler is a high-end, vintage-voiced fuzz built by one-man pedal builder Neil R. Grimes from England’s East Sussex, a man of many hats (live and studio musician, songwriter, trained luthier and musical instrument technician).
The Mauler takes the classic, aggressive but somewhat thin tone of the vintage fuzzes of the ’60s (think Tone Bender and Fuzz Face) and gives it a more modern and full sonic flavor, by slightly emphasizing the mid and low frequencies, and also by providing a series of useful controls that expand its palette of possibilities.
Speaking of controls Mr. Grimes had fun with the naming process, let’s go through them all:
Loud = Output
Jaws = Controls the Bias of the transistor, producing gated fuzz at low levels, compressed/saturdated fuzz at medium ones, and open and more dynamic and open fuzz at higher settings.
Maul = Controls an input filter and also the gain of the pedal. It softens the response at lower levels and brightens it at higher ones, delivering also more attack. The top 10% of the knob’s action triggers a pre-fuzz low-pass filter useful to tame the high-end at high gain settings.
Meat switch = Offers three bass EQ options, flat, boosted or tamed for more focused tones.
Furr switch = Offers three treble EQ options, delivering different textures and tonal character on the high-end.
The Mauler is also very interactive with what it’s fed, so keep in mind that your guitar volume is also an important control, allowing the circuit to deliver, when the volume is low, softer tones bordering on overdrive.
There’s also a Feed footswitch that triggers feedback.
The NRG Effects Mauler sounds great in the demos below, check them out!
NRG Effects Mauler, Builder’s Notes
