>>> Sparkle Face Research Project <<<

[Donner]

How much is the sparkle face? Or have they all gone now ?

It's $395 like other 3 knob BJFs..they are all long gone..but I think there will be another batch....

[Baggy]

Thank you, with being in the UK I suppose I would have to pay duty charges on top of that. I'm guessing there is no EU distributors of this/or other pedals. Tried looking at custom sounds website but can't find any mention of Bjorn's pedals there.

[12ax8]

Hi, What a great fuzz. Sparkle really shines. I use Mp 21 head, old model without reverb and Marshall 212 closed cab with g12h30 anniversary and JV strats with vintage low output pickups.. That amp takes all distortion pedals great. Its great rock n roll amp. With cut and treble I can tweak always great crunch and od sounds by itself. I used small crunch at basic element.

But with Sparkle FuZz it really rocks. I tested it also with openback amp that hate fuzZ pedal, usually those sound thin and harsh, but with sparkles saturation control full clockwise 10/10 - sound was full, fat and my opinion great angry fuzz. With volume control you can tweak how hard it attack preamp tubes. Usually more volume - more soul to sound and danger feeling. That is why fuzz åre more inspire than usually overdrive and other distortion pedals. That danger element make great fuzz, not just guitar sound that got distorted. No danger, no feeling that is feedbacks at any position, less smile and fun. No extra years to your life calendar. This one got sweet soul.

Saturation full clockwise, fuzz is fat but not anyway muddy. Nice balance with mids and treble .That position it my favorite with bridge pickup. Huge fat sweet creamy fuzz. If I tweak saturation control little off (7/10), I lose little bass and gain, but I get more tight sounds. Its heavy machine. With saturation 1/10 it cleans more, but with max fuzz its still
Fuzz.

That saturation pot gives us great tool to tweak more fuzz sounds than many other fuzz.

I have to say that fuzz control work well. Best area is from half way to max, usually other fuzzface type fuzz - 8 to max. So there are those distortion and overdrive elements with gain min to center position.

With volume, sat. and gain there are sounds to choose from. Every gear setup is different.
Pedal cleans quite nice and don't get muddy with volume pot. It ain't too sensitive. It got more than needed volume to break walls and enough gain. It ain't noisy but not quiet, its fuzz. Less noise than usual fuzzface.

It looks great, and it got soul. Great paintjob, with at great small box with powerjack.

I like very much also at Candy Apple fuzz. Nice lo-fi sounds and hint of upper octave.

But we need balance of every sounds pallets. Natural acoustic to heavy fuzz tones. Like food, beef is tasty but not everyday.

Almost always last fuzz that you play, sounds best ever. Its great that we have lot of those. Thanks Björn and Don.

Sorry my messy flow with bad English. Thanks and sorry from Helsinki Finland North Europe. Have a great tones and weekend.

-Juha-

[ak47]

But with Sparkle FuZz it really rocks. I tested it also with openback amp that hate fuzZ pedal, usually those sound thin and harsh, but with sparkles saturation control full clockwise 10/10 - sound was full, fat and my opinion great angry fuzz. With volume control you can tweak how hard it attack preamp tubes. Usually more volume - more soul to sound and danger feeling. That is why fuzz åre more inspire than usually overdrive and other distortion pedals. That danger element make great fuzz, not just guitar sound that got distorted. No danger, no feeling that is feedbacks at any position, less smile and fun. No extra years to your life calendar. This one got sweet soul.

Totally this Juha!! You really nailed it with your description!

[12ax8]

Today, I tested with wah. I used Vox v846 67/68 wah and Sparkle. With max Fuzz and max saturation system oscillates or got high pitch noise when wah was on heel position.

I just adjust saturation to 3 clock and noise was gone. Now it worked fine and powerful.

Usually old wah wahs and germanium transistors don't like each others. Only almost none difference when you use wah. I just tried some other fuzz face variant and it didn't work.
Need some buffered pedal between wah and fuzz or new technology wah.

But Sparkle ❇ works great, there must be some Swedish impedance trick, great one.

I used wah - fuzz - amp setup.

- Juha -

[Donner]

Thanks Juha!
Very incite full review...I let someone talk me out of the one I was going to keep so I'm not much help til there are more...... keep up the good research.....

[zhivago]

I had a religious experience this afternoon, and thought I'd make a quick and dirty clip.

One of my favourites is Neil Young...I love his thick and chewy Tweed tones, and by boosting the HBOD with the SF I managed to get some really awesome Neil tones at apartment levels!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G40zok0NL2A

[ak47]

Very very tasty sounds! I have been experimenting with similar ideas using the SF to boost a One Control Hookers Green Bassmachine.. pulling back the saturation to enable a sweetspot on the pick attack to open up.. delicious!!

[ak47]

12ax8 .. spot on about the wah interaction.. it retains the 'grok' that would turn most fuzzes into a broken kids toy.. love the Sparkle!!

[zhivago]

Very very tasty sounds! I have been experimenting with similar ideas using the SF to boost a One Control Hookers Green Bassmachine.. pulling back the saturation to enable a sweetspot on the pick attack to open up.. delicious!!

It really is a great boost...the Saturation knob is key, twisting that dial gives so many great sounds!