Musikmesse 2017: Friedman Motor City Drive & Fuzz Fiend 12AX7 based pedals
Looks like they are nearly ready to start shipping!
Friedman Motor City Drive & Fuzz Fiend 12AX7 valve based effetcs pedals · Source: Friedman
Friedman announced these two new 12AX7 valve based pedals earlier this year at the NAMM Show and it would appear they are actually about to get an actual release date at last.
12AX7
Both the Motor City Drive and the Fuzz Fiend pedal are based around a 12AX7 preamp valve and run internally at 220 Volts. Dave Friedman was showing them off back at the NAMM Show and it would seem that with Musikmesse now upon us, he is about to actually release them both to the market. Finally.
They both are listed on the Friedman site at $299 each, so we aren’t yet sure how this will translate into European prices. We will be keeping a watchful eye over the coming weeks at UK dealer prices on these pedals.
Feature-wise they both have some unique circuit design aspects and as we all know Dave can make a pretty mean amp, this should hopefully translate into two great-sounding pedals.
Motor City Drive
This box is a true-bypass valve-based overdrive pedal with a pretty wide-range gain knob that lets you dial in the right amount of saturation for your taste. It features Bass, Midrange and Treble controls in a valve preamp-style tone stack. This is pretty much how it is described on the company website and I have high hopes for this drive pedal. Potentially, it could give us a lot of great tones in a compact(ish) pedal, so definitely one to be checking out when they finally start appearing in stores.
Motor City Drive page
Fuzz Fiend
Hands up, I’m a fuzz addict. I have a problem, yes, I love the fuzz. I’m biased here, as I love valves and I love fuzz, so I reckon I’ll probably love this one. Dave has added his own unique ‘Rage’ switch which allegedly will make this thing pretty gnarly. In the marketing material, Friedman say it can do a mild drive all the way through to thick sustaining fuzziness.
This could be a really sweet pedal, if the price is right here in Europe.
Fuzz Fiend page
Onwards & Upwards!
I would suggest you read my article from earlier this year, as it also covers the new combo versions of the Dirty Shirley and Pink Taco amps, plus Dave’s new range of pedalboards and power supplies.
Friedman Amplification can do no wrong, it would seem, and I am really looking forward to checking out the new stuff he has in store for us all in 2017!
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