In tandem with their new Uni-Vibe release, Norway’s Fjord Fuzz has put out the new FREIA Fuzz. Created by simply tuning a resistor in the FREI Uni-Vibe, the FREIA can go from clean warm preamp tones to fully blown out fuzz. The controls are bias, volume, and gain. It is a vintage style fuzz, meaning that for best results it should go first in your chain.
Builder’s notes:
FREIA was the twin sister of FREI.
She was the Goddess of Love and Fertility.
While I was working away on the FREI Vibe, I discovered something very exciting:It only takes a single resistance adjustment to turn the Uni-Vibe preamp into an absolutely glorious fuzz pedal. For your convenience, I turned the resistance in question into a variable control. This functions a bit like a bias control, so it will make scratchy sounds as you turn it. This is normal. Within this control is a whole world of beautiful drive and fuzz textures. From fully clean, real preamp tones at one end, to an overblown, slightly gated fuzz at the other and everything in between, all useful, all very loud. I gave you volume and gain controls too, so nothing will come between you and the perfect gain sound.
It does however not like being slammed by a wah pedal, so treat it like you would treat your Fuzz Face. Stick it first in line and accept the laws of physics.
Useful specs:
Power with 9VDC, centre tip negative. Same as Boss Pedals. Easy.
Current draw is quite high as I’m using logic based relay switching.
Idle: ~10mA
Engaged: ~70mA
