MP Fire Red Fuzz in stock

[Eskimo_Joe]

Anyone recieved the new ones ???

Not yet, but it's on the way!

[Eskimo_Joe]

Fire Red Fuzz #002 has landed! Details to come!

[cabo]

Ive had one for a few weeks,, Analoghog was nice enough to trade me a proto, (thanks again)
I find it to be a very user friendly fuzz,,,lots of good fuzz tones that covers a wide range with the tone knob,easy to dial in a useable variety. has a more modern fuzz feel than say the FolkFuzz or PPF and can get big sounding like the CAF only not as loose.
still messin around with this one as I realized the power supply came out and it been run down to 4volts the past few times.
yeah,, it was not sounding right,,,,anyone know if it can be run at higher than 9V?

[Eskimo_Joe]

Hey everybody, all my neighbors are gone for the holidays and I've had lots of time to crank up the Fire Red....here's my two cents (or more)

I. Your gear

Nash strat w/ maple neck, fatback neck, one-piece body, Van Zandts
Germino Club 40 (plexi)
BJF SBEQ

II. Your circumstances - here's where you tell where you played it, under what conditions, and for how long

Played it at bedroom levels intially for a couple hrs, then today at "loud as I can stand it" levels for about an hr+

III. General thoughts - Here's where you can tell us you loved it/hated it, etc....whatever random thoughts you want to provide (i.e. your opinion)

I love this pedal in a major way. It is huge sounding and more modern sounding than any of my other fuzzes.

IV. Evaluation of functionality - Here's where you provide feedback about each aspect of the pedal --- for instance, the drive, the nature, the volume....feedback about range, interactivity, dynamics, etc

The Fire Red has three knobs - Volume, Tone, and Fuzz. All of them are very straight forward, no tricks or hidden Bjorn magic. Volume takes you from a whisper to louder the he!!. There's plenty of gain on tap. Tone at counter clockwise is dark and at clockwise it is thinner and brighter. Bjorn has done an excellent job on this one -- I found that I could use the tone set all across the dial, even at the extremes. Fuzz - like the tone knob, I found that I could get very tasty sounds from one extreme to the other. Fuzz fully counter clockwise gives some nice texture that would be great for softer songs or some restrained rock. As soon as you get a 9 o'clock, you're moving into rock your face off power chord ecstasy. From there it just gets progressively more in your face with saturated modern sounding fuzz.

As I played with the knobs, putting tone fully counter clockwise and vice versa, usuable tones are found at all positions. There's quite a variety on tap. It all sounds like degrees of the Fire Red though, as opposed to sounding like multiple pedals, if that makes sense. The only problem area was fuzz and tone both fully clockwise --- this resulted in instant feedback and squealing etc, but I think that is probably expected for most fuzz pedals???

Overall, the knobs provide a very wide range of very usuable fuzz. No tricks here, just a great pedal.

V Stacking - Did you stack it? With what? How'd it go?

I stacked the Fire Red briefly with my wah (Supa Quack), a phaser (Purple Plum), and a delay (DBD). The Fire Red played very well with all the others. The Supa Quack likes it more than many of my other fuzz pedals.

VI Comparisons to other BJF pedals / other popular pedals (how does it fit in with the rest of the line...is it different enough, etc)

The Fire Red carves out some distinct territory from the other BJF fuzzes. To me, it is much more modern sounding and quite possibly, the most ballsy, in your face pedal that Bjorn has made so far (arguably).

To compare the BJF fuzzes, I put all the knobs on every pedal at 12 oclock to get a base sound.

Folk Fuzz - at those setting the Folk Fuzz is not even fuzzy. It doesn't make it's presence known in fuzz terms until you get the fuzz knob to 3 oclock. The Fire Red has much, much more edge and anger than the Folk Fuzz. It also sounds much bigger than the other BJF fuzzes if that makes sense. The Germino sounds big to begin with and when I click on the Fire Red, it feels huge.

Pink Purple - at those settings the Pink Purple is well into it's fuzzyness. The Fire Red is a bit louder at 12 oclock and has more edge, anger, and fuzz. It's more compressed and saturated than the PPF. The PPF sounds more vintage compared to the Fire Red.

Candy Apple - the CAF may be a touch louder than the Fire Red at those settings. I adjusted the tone away from 12 oclock since it is octave-ish there. Anyway, the CAF is a more raucous, disagreeable pedal. It has more grit and spite. The Fire Red seems more focused if that makes sense. Arguably, the Fire Red is just as angry and edgy, but in a different, more usable way.

Overall, the Fire Red seems more modern and angry than the other BJF fuzzes. As awesome as all the BJF fuzzes are, I think they are situational pedals. In other words, I don't think you can turn them on at the beginning of a gig and keep 'em on all night as a base sound. With the Fire Red though, I think it could be your base sound, especially if you are in a modern rock band.

VII What situations / kind of music can you see using the pedal for?

Modern rock! It does not feel vintage at all. You can probably squeeze some blues tones out of it with the fuzz fully counterclockwise, but the bread and butter of the Fire Red is in your face power chord rock n roll and searing solos.

Like most BJF designed pedals, it is equally usuable for rhythm and for lead. Leads jump out the amp and are piercing.

In terms of context, I can see artists like Jet, Buckcherry, The Hives, The Donnas, possibly The White Stripes etc using this type of pedal. Very powerful, very usuable sound!

VII Suggested improvements

None that I can think of.

VIII Bottom line --- rate the pedal on a scale of 1 to 10...is it a keeper? What does it knock off your board?

You guys know I'm a fanatic so take everything with a grain of salt, but I'd rate the Fire Red at solid 9.25. The Fire Red is distinct from my other fuzzes so it's more of an apples and oranges type of call when deciding what spot it would occupy on the board. I would say I would favor it over my other fuzzes for modern rock, which in that case, it would knock off the PPF and my Lovetone Big Cheese, but again, all three pedals offer something different, so it's kind of hard to say. In any case, it is definitely a keeper. In terms of the MP line, it could be the best or tied for the best with the Deep Blue Delay.

Hope that helps!

[zion]

Thanks E.J. for one of the most complete and usable reviews I've ever read!

[EyeFly]

EJ,

Well done...I think everyone wil find some useful information in this post.

I was thinking that we should just cut and paste this format as a "template" and use it for future reviews.

Merry Christmas...

cork

[Donner]

Yeah, that would make a great review template, maybe sort of a Top Ten Q and A list - well done EJ !

And Id agree, this one seems like Rock Fuzz for Dummies If you cant get a kick ass hard rock sound out of this in 60 seconds - go home.
The tone eq knob is where you likely take the longest deciding on as it covers the range from dark and pillowy to chainsaws and mosquitoes --- like EJ said those are just right settings for those sounds - I might never use the dark or biting eq settings , but if I did THATs what Id choose This will help the FRF to appeal to a very wide audience ...
The CAF PPF and even Folk Fuzzes have a wider pallette available and there are many nuances to be discovered ---
The FRF is for those that dont want to spend hours rolling thru the fields of finessed nuance


But with that said there are suprising useful settings below 12 oclock, none of the dial is wasted on simply wimpy versions of the screaming sounds ----- down here is where it sort of picks up the PPFs slightly grindy drivish possibilities ....


But yeah the FRF should do just fine in the guitar stores 30 secs to hit 'Holy Crap that RAWKS Ill take it !!!! ' division ....

[mopfloyd]

Top review,
This is how it should be done.Great work.
Donner,how would you compare the FRF to the SWF?
I think our findings so far are pretty alike.
Mop

[Donner]

Top review,
This is how it should be done.Great work.
Donner,how would you compare the FRF to the SWF?
I think our findings so far are pretty alike.
Mop

Well the SWF has more of a vintagy aggression - a particular EQ/flavor and of course its real calling card is its dynamic control ... to me the SWF sounds like a great old fuzz that someone just unearthed.......

The FRF will likely replace as many distortions as it will fuzzes, in fact its kind of Rock fuzz for rockers that dont like fuzz.... its more the way Gilmour uses fuzz than Hendrix --- its more full bodied than sputtery-buttery......

[mopfloyd]

Aha,
Thanks man,
Delicate sounds of FRF for all.
Jones, jones, jones,

Hold on, back to SWF for me....