Let’s get one thing straight right now. You’re looking at a box that crams two completely separate fuzz circuits into one enclosure and sells the whole mess for less than what the Heliotropic alone used to cost. One-forty-five for the Grey Stache, two-ten for the Helio. Now you get both for a hundred eighty-nine bucks. In this economy? That’s not a deal. That’s an aberration. That’s some kind of beautiful capitalist glitch in the matrix.
The Grey Stache is your mids-forward bastard. It’s built to cut through a band mix like a switchblade through bologna. Goes from light crumbly breakup—the kind of sound that makes you think your amp is dying in a nice way—all the way to heavy, aggressive fuzz that’ll peel paint . Then you hit that left footswitch and the Heliotropic kicks in. That’s the “Failure” circuit. You know the one. Heliotropic. That tone. Crushing, thick, capable of trebly grind on one end and deep, doomy rumble on the other .
Here’s the layout. Three footswitches because apparently the people at Fuzzrocious looked at a standard pedal and said “not enough ways to destroy sound.” Right switch turns the whole thing on and off. Left switch brings in the Helio. Top switch – get this – is raised up above the pots so you can find it blind. Momentary feedback and oscillation. You stomp that thing and the pedal starts screaming at you. On purpose .
Diode toggle gives you 1n914, none, or LED clipping. The pre-release batch got germanium instead, softer and smoother, but you gotta push the volume to get the feedback to wake up . Top-mounted jacks. Nine volts. Center negative. The usual.
You want the secret? Keep the Grey Stache volume at or above unity. Bump the Helio volume to taste. That’s it. That’s the whole trick .
This isn’t for people who want polite. This is for the ones who understand that fuzz shouldn’t just sit there. It should move. Breathe. Try to bite your hand off. The Grey Stache/Heliotropic gives you two completely different kinds of chaos in one box for less money than one of them cost five years ago. That’s not a pedal. That’s a public service.
