Torino Audio is a new pedal builder based in Italy that’s getting a fair amount of attention from pedal YouTubers.
The company’s debut line of pedals is described as “Organic” because they have no integrated circuits, no buffers nor digital processing. The Crumble is presented as a pedal that stands out from the fuzz crowd because of its flexibility, due to the ability to balance Fuzz and distortion via a 3-position switch:
The Crumble gets its clipping and harmonics generation from the combination of Mosfet overdrive and Germanium diode clipping.
You control the symmetry of the distorted waveform through the 3 way switch. You can go from Little Wing to Satisfaction, down to crushing Doom mayhem.
It also features a 20db boost to push your amp into overdrive.
We wanted to do something different.
That’s particularly hard with a Fuzz, since it’s always the preferred territory for crazy circuit designs. The results are often in the “love it or hate it” category. And the original tone of the instrument is very often lost.
So, we decided to start from zero: What makes a guitar sound “fuzzy”? How could we get this fuzziness in a controlled way, and still let the tone and touch of the player get through?
We studied the clipping pattern, transient response, harmonic spectrum of many classic pedals, and we ended up with a design which works differently. Yep, again.The Crumble gets its clipping and harmonics generation from the combination of Mosfet overdrive and Germanium diode clipping.
You control the symmetry of the distorted waveform through the 3 way switch. You can go from Little Wing to Satisfaction, down to crushing Doom mayhem. No other Fuzz does that.As most fuzz effects, it gives its best if directly connected to the instrument. Still, it’s far less sensitive to cable length and pickup’s impedance than vintage fuzz designs.
CRUMBLE Bullet Points
- No Buffers, only 3 active elements on the signal path
- The balance between Fuzz and distortion is adjustable with the 3-position switch.
- Very wide tone control range to span from QOTSA to “Satisfaction”
- Germanium rectifier
- Over 20 dB of boost available: Can push any amp into overdrive
- Try it with the switch at the center, Low gain, Volume over 12 o’clock, into a mildly cranked Mesa: perfect for Doom. Or: Switch at Max fuzz, tone at 9, gain at 12, for some Stoner.
- In general, it does very well with downtuned guitars.
