Analog Man presents the PEPPERMINT FUZZ

A little history

There were some nasty, buzzy fuzz pedals made in the mid 1960s. Some best examples are the Mosrite Fuzzrite, Maestro Fuzz Tone, Jordan Bosstone, Kay fuzz, etc. We found some super high gain germanium transistors in late 2006 that could be tuned to get those sounds so we are able to offer these pedals, which we named the PEPPERMINT FUZZ in tribute to the song INCENSE AND PEPPERMINTS which features this very sound. It can also be used for some later punk rock sounds like the Stooges, etc. It can also do a decent late 60s Fuzzface sound if dialed in properly, and can get close to the oldest 2 knob TONE BENDER pedals (MK-I and MK-II).

All Peppermint fuzz pedals have always been hand made in the USA.

Dark Peppermint Fuzz

Sorry we ran out of Dark Peppermint transistors and not sure if we can get more. But still making the normal Peppermint Fuzz. The DARK Peppermint fuzz is similar but uses some darker sounding transistors. They are the same transistor model but a different brand, made in 1975. The basic sound is similar but not as bright. There is more difference with the extreme sounds, the DARK version is not as sitar like, it is fatter and can get a sort of trumpet sound when backing off the volume control. We are about out of the Dark Peppermint transistors in early 2013 and I can't seem to find more. We ran out in late January, 2013. We made a very small batch in the summer of 2014 and they sold out pretty quickly. We also made a small batch in early 2015 but they sold out. We got more in late 2020 and made another small batch.

The Dark Peppermint fuzz has a light flourescent BLUE coating over the pedal. It glows slightly under flourescent lights. The blue coating is a bit fragile so it does not always look perfect.

Features

The PEPPERMINT FUZZ is similar to a fuzzface in architecture but has specific tweeks to make it more flexible and sound much crazier.

1. True bypass on / off switch, no loss of tone when off.
2. Battery disconnected when INPUT cable is removed. (input is on the right).
3. Power jack is on the side, there is no room on top. It is now optional, as you cannot share power with other effects as this pedal is reverse polarity. If you share a power supply with a normal pedal (negative ground), you will destroy the power supply. This means you can't use a daisy chain or a power supply with only one output. The PedalPower2 has all isolated outputs so that one would be safe. More info at http://www.analogman.com/fuzzface.htm#power
4. Battery should be a cheap non-alkaline general purpose battery, as found in dollar stores. These sound better than an alkaline in this pedal, and even a cheap battery will last years since there is no LED.
5. For best sound, this effect should not have any buffers or non-true bypass effects between it and the guitar. But you can try other pedals before it for various effects.
6. Volume Knob (on the left) needs no explanation. Should be able to get nice and loud to kick up your amp.
7. Fuzz knob (on the right): Best to keep it up almost all the way up for craziest sounds. Turn it down for more normal fuzzface tones.
8. BUZZ knob: the knob in the center of the pedal. This allows controlling the sound of the fuzz from weak to hard edged fuzz. You can turn it down to get a warmer looser fuzz sound which can sometimes be useful. Turning it up gets louder and harder, good for Neil Young sounds. You may find you need to turn it down a bit (CCW) at higher temperatures, and up (CW) at lower temperatures. For standard fuzzface tones turn the BUZZ knob down a bit along with the FUZZ knob.
9. DOES NOT really clean up when you back down your guitar like our Sunface fuzz. But turning the guitar down some makes it cut better by removing some sustain and low end, makes it a little more jangly if that makes any sense. For example I will play some chords with the volume up high, then back it off a bit for some lead licks.
10. There is a trimpot inside the pedal that allows it to work at various temperatures, and for different sounds. It is a blue square thing with a white center with a screwdriver slot. Use a tiny screwdriver to gently turn the white center part. Set it by plugging a guitar straight into the pedal, and turning fuzz and vol knobs up all the way. Then set the BUZZ knob depending on what sounds you want. For normal fuzz sounds, turn the BUZZ knob all the way down. For more buzzy, gated sounds, like a Sitar, turn the BUZZ knob to about 12:00. Turn the trimpot fully CCW (counter clockwise) and the sound should stop (gated). Then without playing the guitar, turn the trimpot clockwise to find the spot where the ambient noise from the guitar starts to come through. This setting changes depending on temperature and buzz knob setting. Try various trimpot settings to get different sounds.
11. For Sitar like sounds, turn the fuzz knob up all the way then back the guitar down until the sustain dies (usually a few numbers on a standard strat type guitar). BUZZ knob setting will depend on trimpot setting.
12. Optional ON/OFF fuzz pot: turning the FUZZ knob all the way down will click and disconnect the battery. This is useful if you run in a tight pedalboard where there is no room to pull out the input cable to disconnect the battery when you are done playing.This is available on side jacks only.
13. Optional ON/OFF mini toggle is available on the top jacks model to disconnect the battery.
14. SIZE : 2 5/16" x 4 5/16", MXR size 1290 or 1590B enclosure.

Samples

Here is a sample of playing a Strat into the Peppermint and Dark Peppermint through a clean Fender Twin Reverb.

Here is a quick and dirty sample of the sitar sound. This is an extreme setting, with the fuzz and buzz knobs up about all the way and the guitar backed down.

Here is a sample of this old style pedal used to make MODERN MUSIC. It's Alf T. Hana of athana in Norway.
It's his singlecoil guitar. The Peppermint Fuzz is used with a Boss DD3 delay, into a 1970 Marshall 20w amp with silverback speaker, recorded with an SM57 mic through a Neve preamp. The first part is the neck pickup, then the bridge. NuPeppermintTune.mp3

Al Schnier from moe. got an early one and wrote me:

I love the peppermint fuzz. it is one of the most versatile fuzz pedals I've come across. It does everything from a subtle overdrive to full on buzzsaw meltdown. LOVE IT.

Adrian Belew, one of the kings of fuzz, wrote:

just a thank you note for the pedals. I'm in love with the peppermint fuzz which has become a permanent part of my guitar rig.
I wrote a new piece of music and gave the peppermint fuzz a prominent place in it.

Here is a shot of his rig with the Peppermint next to his Whammy.

Gary Clark Jr.'s guitarist ZAPATA! got a Peppermint fuzz just before their tour of Australia and New Zealand in early 2013. He wrote "The Peppermint Fuzz is Epic!!!".

For easy ordering, check out our new website buyanalogman.com . The new website uses a shopping cart for everything so it's very easy to buy multiple items or add in options. It allows using paypal in addition to several other payment methods including credit cards. It also keeps track of status, tracking numbers, etc and allow editing orders after they are placed so it's best to use our new website.

Our peppermint fuzz is both REAL COOL and WAY-OUT!