Mogwai’s Stuart Braithwaite bags a signature Plasmatron fuzz monster
Mogwai's Stuart Braithwaite gets signature Reuss Effects Plasmatron · Source: Reuss Effects
A new pedal combines Stuart Braithwaite’s favourite Fab Tone distortion circuit with a Muff-style fuzz. Enter the Plasmatron! The new pedal by Reuss Effects should get you close to Mogwai’s famed guitar sound.
Reuss Effects Plasmatron
Guitarist and vocalist for Scottish guitar band Mogwai, Stuart Braithwaite is known for his love of op-amp-based Big Muff-fuzzes, and the somewhat obscure 1990s Danelectro Fab Tone distortion pedal. Reuss Effects’ new Plasmatron melds these two tones into one signature effect, making Mr Braithwaite’s tone available to anyone who doesn’t have time to hunt down the individual pedals he normally uses.
The pedal is made in Copenhagen, Denmark, and bears a minimal graphic design by Aidan Moffat of fellow Glaswegian band Arab Strap.
Reuss Plasmatron Stuart Braithwaite signature pedal · Source: Reuss
Parallel Dirt Tones
With controls for Level, Mix, Bass, Fuzz-Tone, Treble, Fuzz Intensity, and Distortion, this pedal has everything you need for walls of dirt. It uses one shared footswitch for both circuits, and the two sounds are in parallel rather than in series. The Mix control blends between the two halves of dirt to achieve your desired tone. If you set the Mix control hard left or right, you’ll hear one side of the circuit.
Tonal Tweaks
As you might expect, the electronics have been customized somewhat, rather than just reproducing the Fab Tone and Big Muff circuits respectively.
The Fab Tone side has been tweaked to offer a wider range of gain. There’s also an internal switch that reduces the level of the input signal. When this internal switch is engaged, the Distortion knob has a much wider sweep.
On the other half, the op-amp circuit has had an internal Tight switch added inside, to help keep the low end tight and avoid the flabbiness you can sometimes get from a ‘Muff at band level volumes. For more dynamic range, the Plasmatron (which gets its name from Stuart Braithwaite’s Twitter handle) can also run at 18V from a standard power supply.
Pre-Order
Demand will likely be high. Reuss has already stated that only 100 enclosures are going to be made, so a second batch could push orders into 2022. Currently, no audio demos are available, but I can’t see that stopping Mogwai fans from pre-ordering one.
RRP – Pre-Order GBP 199.99
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More Plasmatron Information
- Pre-Order Page
- Reuss Effects on Instagram
- Mogwai on Twitter and Instagram
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