Pedal Reviews: Rainger FX Dr. Freakenstein Fuzz

There sure are some pretty wild boutique stompbox manufacturers out there. That being said, I can pretty easily say that the Rainger FX Dr. Freakenstein Fuzz (DrFF-3) is the weirdest pedal I have ever come across.

This pedal sounds like it’s straight out of a monster movie, with “frighteningly loud” fuzz capability, controlled by the single volume knob on the left, and a built in mod switch that triggers high resonance phasing, adjustable only in rate by the knob near the bottom. In an expert step of foresight, Rainger FX included a noise gate that keeps the pedal completely silent in between notes, even when you’re using the Drff-3 to scream as loudly as it possibly can.

The coolest feature this pedal has to offer though is the detachable “Igor” pressure pad. By attaching the postage stamp sized appendage to the back of the pedal via mini-jack, you can either affect the oscillation controlled by the knob on the right of the pedal or adjust the bias of the modulation range; all of which is managed by how much physical pressure is put on it.

The DrFF-3 goes above and beyond with its loyalty to the Frankenstein theme by incorporating an actual knife switch that turns the pedal on and activates two orange LEDs that mark the positions of the volume and oscillator knobs. At the bottom of the housing, there’s even an LED illuminated input meter that wavers in time with the speed of the modulation (rate knob).

My only issue with this thing is that all of its effects have every parameter controlled by single knobs; you’re going to be playing within a very specific range of tone with each feature. The tones available are so unique though that the DrFF-3 makes up for its subpar versatility with extremely fun playability. This is the weirdest pedal that I have ever come across, but that just makes it all the more exciting to figure out what makes it tick.

Demo below courtesy of PrymaxeVintage.