The many punk-leaning guitarists among our readers might have found a stompbox that suits their nihilistic tendencies. Enter the Tone For Punk (name of the company) Trebled Youth (name of the pedal), a tweakable dirt box that can deliver anything from mildly dirty tones to the uncompromising fuzz that’s at the heart of punk-rock.
Y’all be happy to hear that there’s a knob named Slash, which gives your tone a classic Treblebooster quality when turn it clockwise, while behaves like a full spectrum boost when turned anticlockwise.
Next to it, the Push knobs controls how much of the first gain stage gets fed to the rest of the circuit, delivering clean and dynamic to distorted and compressed tones. It can also alter the texture of the distortion between Riff and Raff, the next controls we are tackling, delivering distorted tones when fully CCW and fuzzy ones in the full on CW position.
Riff sets the gain of the first gain stage, so it works interactively with Push: Riff sets the amount of gain, Push sets how much of it to send out to the second gain stage, controlled by the Raff knob. The latter can deliver a lot of distortion by itself, but can accept additional textures from Riff and Push to create pure sonic gnarl at extreme settings, or a variety of fuzz and distortion tones when used more subtly.
There’s also a Clip switch which offers two clipping modes: Down is asymmetrical germanium for a more classic-sounding round distortion, while Up is symmetrical silicon for a crisper, sharper and louder tone.
Check out what this interesting take on fuzztortion can do in the videos below.
Tone For Punk Trebled Youth, Builder’s Notes
Trebled Youth mashes up a treble boost circuit with a stripped down distortion to bring you a tweakable dirt box that can handle everything from mild clean boost to barely-gritty treble boost, to biting distortion, to compressed, chewy fuzz.
The controls are interactive and allow for subtle flavor variations, and an ability to compound gain stages to give extra sizzle and texture. This includes the volume knob on your guitar.
SLASH
Pre-gain bass/treble blend that can preserve or cut out the low end. Full clockwise is a classic treble boost voicing. As you turn counterclockwise, you blend in more of that full spectrum boost.VOLUME
Works just like a volume knob. Because the Trebled Youth has such a wide range of gain, the volume knob is useful for balancing out the quieter and louder settings.PUSH
Determines how much of the first gain stage you want to feed to the rest of the circuit. Counterclockwise is the way to go for mellower and “cleaner.” Clockwise fires up some dirt and compression. Push can also alter the texture of the distortion between Riff and Raff. With Riff & Raff maxxed, Push will give you distortion at full CCW and add fuzz as you dial up to full CW. It gets gory. Even with Riff and Raff at minimum, Push can provide a great distorted sound on its own.RIFF
Gain control for the first gain stage. Has a more mellow range (compared to Raff), which can help dial in grittier treble boost tones without getting you into full-on distortion. This grit can of course be sent through the rest of the circuit, creating gnarlier textures as it compounds with the rest of the gain you have dialed in. This comes in handy when you want to push into wild fuzz.RAFF
Gain control on the second gain stage. Distorts generously when used on its own. Can accept additional textures from Riff and Push to create raunchy fuzz.CLIP (switch)
Down is asymmetrical germanium for that classic, warm, round distortion. Up is symmetrical silicon. Crispier, sharper, louder.Some suggested settings…
Classic Treble Boost
Slash at full CW (full CCW is full boost of course)
Raff at min
Push – just a touch
Riff 1:00-ish
Volume to tasteFast and Light Distortion
Riff & Raff around noonish
Push around noon-ish or just below
Slash between 10:00 and 1:00
Volume to tasteBlown-out, compressed, scraping fuzz
Riff, Raff, and Push all at max
Volume to taste
Slash at full CCW for beefy, doomy fuzz. Full CW for cutting fuzz.
*At this setting, your guitar’s volume can be rolled back very low, which will give you a mellow gritty boost. Roll up gradually and check out all the layers of grit that you can hit without even needing to touch the pedal.
