Pedal-building wizard David Rainger is back at it again with “another brilliantly unconventional dirt pedal”, the Rainger FX Razor Fuzz.
More than just a mangled fuzz pedal, it's headlined by a unique overlaying feature that Rainger is describing as a virtual plectrum. “Think Brian May’s sixpence coin plectrum on steroids,” it says.
In other words: guitar pick modeling is now a thing, as the Razor Fuzz offers virtual tones of plectrums made from sandpaper and metal.
Chiselled into submission for “intense” tones aplenty, the gated fuzz lands as the counterpart to Rainger's Pull Focus distortion pedal. Where that worked by “augmenting musical sustain” with reverb and chorus effects slowly fading into sustained notes, the Razor Fuzz is far more immediate and clangorous.
The standout ‘virtual plectrum’ feature “enhances the attack of each note with several selectable sounds,” including “gated bursts of white noise,” and randomized pitches. So, where the Pull Focus injected ethereal beauty into spaces in a guitar signal, the Razor Fuzz fills the gaps with all-out cacophony.
It pairs a transistor-based analog circuit with digital experimentalism for “a unique and groundbreaking sonic blend” that isn’t for the faint-hearted.
Alongside standard knobs for Volume and Tone, the Pick Volume dictates the harshness of the effect delivered in tandem with the fuzz, and there’s a Pitch dial linked to the last of its four voicings: Sandpaper, Metal, Metal Long, and 1 Note.
The Sandpaper voice works as its name implies, delivering a harsh, grating tonality to what's played. The Metal mode is shrill, like hitting nails against aluminum, while Metal Long is a more resonant take on the same concept. It could also be compared to a more randomized ring modulator effect – one that, thanks to bands like Novelists, is finding a new home in modern metal.
Lastly, 1 Note is tied to the Pitch dial, and there's a real Stooges dirge to the sound heard in the demo video.
There are also two gain levels baked in, switchable via an Extra button on the top side of the pedal alongside the jack in/outputs.
“Electric guitarists can be notoriously obsessive about every aspect of their sound, not least the type of pick they use, and often this colours the attack of the note itself and how they play,” Rainger FX says. “We decided to investigate this further, in a digital, non-physical way.
“The Razor Fuzz detects your real pick attack, and adds an extra one, hugely exaggerating the leading edge attack, and creating unique sounds.”
This pick-detection technology first surfaced on its Break Box distortion, and it has clarified that all new versions of that unit and the Pull Focus come with the next-gen tech that the Razor Fuzz arrives with.
David Rainger is a seasoned recording engineer and guitar tech journalist turned pedal maverick, with Eric Clapton-backed guitarist Mk.Gee a champion of Rainger's Reverb X pedal. The likes of John Frusciante and Joey Landreth are also listed as Rainger artists on its website.
The Rainger FX Razer Fuzz is out now for £238.80 incl VAT (approx. $320).
Visit Rainger FX for more.
