NPD: Shin-Ei Companion Fuzz Wah: Demo

Ben79 · Post by **Ben79** » Wed Aug 01, 2012 4:33 pm

Holy shit. Never heard an original before - this thing sounds fucking amazing. It's the 8Tr circuit which I believe makes it a superfuzz with wah?

The Wah circuit is always on?! This is definitely a keeper so I don't mind modding it, might fit a bypass switch for the wah circuit. Anyone know about doing this?

► Show Spoiler

Fran · Post by **Fran** » Wed Aug 01, 2012 4:43 pm

Always wanted to try one of those thanks to William Reid JAMC.
Any chance of a demo.. plzzzz!

timhulio · Post by **timhulio** » Wed Aug 01, 2012 4:45 pm

Ooh nice. I like these ones. I borrowed a trio of these from Tim Bricheno of All About Eve and Sisters of Mercy a while back. They needed minor stuff doing like pots cleaning, a switch replacement etc. Anyway, there should be two footswitches - one for fuzz and one for the wah. Have you got a shot of your pedal from the opposite angle?

taylornutt · Post by **taylornutt** » Wed Aug 01, 2012 5:39 pm

Doesn't the guitarist from the Black Keys use one of those?

Edit: Actually he uses a Shin-Ei Nu Wah Fuzz.

Ben79 · Post by **Ben79** » Wed Aug 01, 2012 9:27 pm

Oh yeah, there's another footswitch under the treadle - thanks Tim, might have been years before I found that.

I think Dan Auerbach uses a Companion Fuzz, which is the same - definitely a good fuzz if you want to play generic pentatonic rock to girls that think you might be a bit wild and dangerous. And who doesn't?

EDIT: no, I'm talking shit, the Companion is an FY2.

It's all working fine except the switch to change tones is a bit flaky. I like the way you can engage the wah to get a bit more high end without losing or adding any volume. I can see why the clones of these are highly rated, the one I built isn't far off, but the original has a bit more grit in it and even though there's huge amounts of fuzz on tap, for some reason it doesn't fatigue the ear as much. The wah is quite subtle and interacts musically with the fuzz, giving it a nice woody honk, definitely usable. Really quiet pedal too.

Fran, I'll do a vid next week and maybe A/B it with my clone.

71Smallbox · Post by **71Smallbox** » Thu Aug 02, 2012 3:01 pm

Sweet!!! Demo please!

timhulio · Post by **timhulio** » Thu Aug 02, 2012 4:35 pm

Ben, where are you based these days? I'd relish the chance to demo your pedal against the combined FY2/FY6 thing I've just built.

Ben79 · Post by **Ben79** » Thu Aug 02, 2012 10:18 pm

Brixton. I'd like to hear that too. I can bring it to Fuzzwell Hills sometime if you like. I could bring my Hofner with the inbuilt fuzz circuit too if you're curious about it. It's probably basically a silicon fuzz face but it's fun, especially with the finger operated on-board wah.

Benmurray85 · Post by **Benmurray85** » Fri Aug 03, 2012 11:07 am

Ben79 wrote:definitely a good fuzz if you want to play generic pentatonic rock to girls that think you might be a bit wild and dangerous.

Ben79 · Post by **Ben79** » Wed Aug 08, 2012 9:35 pm

Recorded some fuzz today. Wasn't actually trying to make a demo, just recording some guitar for a video soundtrack but I thought I'd share it.

First one is up around the 12th fret and with the wah on...

sound

Second is lower down, just some jamming on a doomy riff - soon as I hit record my ability to play guitar diminishes by about 50% though. Anyone else suffer with this affliction?

more sound

Guitar is an old Ibanez destroyer into a Bassman 100 into an Orange 4x12 with Greenbacks and Blackbacks - Shure SM57 is near the edge of a Greenback. Recorded in my art studio so there's some room reverb.

Fran · Post by **Fran** » Thu Aug 09, 2012 9:18 pm

I really like the sounds of the second demo, thanks Ben