The newly release Spruce Effects Volcanoes is the Californian company’s 2nd pedal in the Americana Series, a collection of new, premium pedals dedicated to the US National Parks and that share specific technical details:
vintage inspired pedals that utilize turret-pcb hybrid construction, the finest NOS and modern parts, and premium packaging and swag.
The Volcanoes is a fuzz that can deliver a wide range of tones through five knobs. Besides your regular Volume and Gain knobs (placed in the top row), this fuzz offers the following controls in the second row:
- Depth controls the frequency being fed into the first gain-stage. CW is beefy, CCW is thin and treble-y
- Scoop controls the mids character of the fuzz. CCW is scooped and CW is bright and present
- Fuzz does controls the character of the fuzz
By working interactively with each other, these controls can produce fuzz tones from synthy to almost overdrive-like.
As the western-most National Park in the United States, Volcanoes is the second pedal in The Americana Series. This fuzz is a departure from the smooth and subtle Eastern cousin, Acadia. Although Volcanoes is nasty at heart, the Germanium input gain stage allows for a huge range of cleanup and dynamic low-gain tones.
- Switchcraft and Lumberg Jacks
- Demont soft-touch mechanical switch
- Proprietary turret+PCB design
- NOS Germanium transistor
- NOS Silicon Fairchild Globe transistors
- NOS Ero, Vishay, Philips, CDE, Sprague, Dearborn and other premium quality audio-grade capacitors
- Dale Military spec metal film resistors
- Silver-coated solid core teflon wire
- Hand-wired and assembled in California
- Custom tin ‘lunch box’ carrying case
- Hand silk-screened customized ID tag
- Custom maple and steel etched bartender’s bottle opener
- Custom art print and instruction card
Controls
First row of knobs (Northwestern most): Volume and Gain
- Volume controls the master volume of the entire circuit. It gets very loud.
- Gain controls the gain level of the first gain-stage in the circuit. You can slam the rest of it or choke it to rely on the controls at the end of the circuit
Second row of knobs: Depth, Bias, Fuzz
- Depth controls the frequency being fed into the first gain-stage. CW is beefy, CCW is thin and treble-y
- Scoop controls the mids character of the fuzz. CCW is scooped and CW is bright and present
- Fuzz does not control the amount of fuzz, but rather the character of the fuzz
All controls are incredibly interactive. Great tones are available at any setting, but after spending some time with it, you’ll really get things dialed in and find fun extremes and middle ground that work for your tastes and rig!
