If obscure noisy pedals are your kinda thing, look no further than the Stomping Stones Virus Fuzz: we could find exactly ZERO information about this device online or the company that manufactures it, but somehow this video by Collector Emitter popped up to showcase its monstrous fuzziness!
Here’s the videographer’s comment about the pedal posted on Reddit:
Just put up a demo of the Virus fuzz from Stomping Stones. This is from a smaller builder who is making really amazing fuzzes but kinda flying under the radar (so check out his other stuff!). The Virus is a fuzz that is meant to get fully saturated and get some wild tones because of it.
It has 4 simple controls – Volume, Gain, Type, and Bias. Volume and Gain are obvious, but I’ll explain the others. Type is the toggle switch. In the up position (Type 1) you get a lower gain fuzz that can go all the way down to more of an overdrive tone, but get a really solid fuzz tone with the gain above noon. This is for everyone who wants a more normal/predictable fuzz. Move the switch down (Type 2) to get into the wild, saturated mode. This is kinda harsh, and as you raise the gain you push it to get into bizarre territory. It will start to become a weird octave fuzz around 2 o’clock and only get harsher from there. I actually really love this with the gain maxed, it’s like a dying fuzz tone.
Bias is the second footswitch. When to press it, it starves the fuzz to get that classic spitty/velcro fuzz. This will add some extra harmonic content too, so you could kinda use it like a weird treble boost. And if you combine this with Type 2 with the gain up, you’ll get the most bizarre envelope controlled fuzz. You just have to experience that for yourself!
So what do you think? Are you more of a Type 1, tame and classic fuzz, or a Type 2, weird and wonderful, kinda person?
