British pedal and amp builder Stone Deaf has announced a limited ‘Black Edition’ run of three of its stompboxes, including the Fig Fumb, Kliptonite and the Warp Drive.
Starting with the Fig Fumb, the builder says that the altered fuzz/filter circuit was initially born out of response to issues in sourcing the correct components for the normal unit.
The firm decided to get creative with the components that were available and the result is the Fig Fumb Black Edition – “a Muff-style fuzz with a different bark, a tighter bass response, an altered noise gate with a smoother feel and a wider usability in all extreme settings of the EQ.”
Elsewhere in the Black Edition range, there’s a new take on the Kliptonite – a fuzz/overdrive combo that combines Stone Deaf’s Velcro Fuzz circuit and Tube Sound overdrive into one unit that can be mixed in different ratios.
The Black Edition Kliptonite goes further down the rabbit hole, adding a parametric EQ to the mix, vastly expanding the tonal options. The gain stages have also been tweaked and better balanced, ensuring the fuzz doesn’t wash out the overdrive.
Finally, the Black Edition Warp Drive has also been augmented, incorporating a symmetrical LED clipping diode, which Stone Deaf says results in “a more saturated and harmonically rich amp like sound and feel by increasing the amount of opportunities for pinched even harmonics.”
In addition, the onboard noise gate has been smoothed out, offering a more nuanced response and there’s a wider range of “usable” mid frequencies available when tweaking the central Bandwidth control.
There are some lovely demos showcasing the tonal possibilities of each of the boxes, but suffice to say the sounds are still top-notch.
The global supply chain has taken a considerable hit in recent years – initially with the pandemic lockdowns and then sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – resulting in many manufacturers having to pause or alter production of guitar gear.
For instance, EHX faced supply chain issues with its Russian tube factories last year, while the US-based Western Electric has stepped-up production on its homemade tubes in response.
Hopefully it will be resolved soon, but in the meantime, Stone Deaf’s Black Edition pedals seem like an elegant and fun response to the situation.
For more information on the range, head to Stone Deaf FX.
