Jack White’s Third Man Hardware is back with another collaborative pedal, this time creating a buzz with Beetronics with the Old Zoo Lion Meat.
The bizarrely named pedal, which looks like a can of tuna, is a short-run fuzz pedal limited to just 333 units. It’s not the first time White’s left-of-center gear firm has spat out a fuzz box, but none have been this streamlined.
The stompbox redresses Beettronics’ tuna-can design, offering “thick, vintage-inspired tones” and a no-frills single-dial design. Turning the ‘Phlegmatic Roar’ dial sets the overall output volume, while the fuzz is dictated by the Volume knob of a player’s electric guitar.
When rolled back, it promises an articulate clean. When at its most extreme, expect a “roaring wall of vintage fuzz”.
In a quirky twist, the pedal’s underside features a transparent back cover, meaning Beetronics’ bee-bestowed circuit board is visible. And there’s not even a hint of tuna to be seen.
Artwork has been provided by Rob Jones, with whom White has worked before. The pedal ships in “an over-the-top blister pack” which is, fittingly, designed to look like a vintage meat label, and plays on the biblical story of Samson and the lion.
As a statement from the collaboration says: “Eat up, then plug in to give your guitar a belly full of bees, like the carcass of Samson’s legendary leonine corpse.”
Each pedal is priced at $150 and is exclusively available via Reverb.
However, at the time of writing, the drop has already buzzed off. As such, Reverb recommends users hit the heart icon in case any second-hand units appear on the site in the future.
For other eye-catching Third Man Hardware collabs, see its one-of-a-kind reverb, made with JHS Pedals, and the Knife Drop, a synth/octave/overdrive built with Eventide.
Beetronics, meanwhile, ventured beyond the usual analog delay paradigm with its recent release, the Bee Bee Dee.
