SKREDDY PEDALS
ROVER FUZZ
REVIEW BY ERIC TISCHLER
STREET PRICE $149.00
I love the sound of a Tone
Bender MKII. How I get
that sound is immaterial,
so I was thrilled to learn
that Marc “Skreddy” Ahlfs
released a silicon take on
this classic germanium
fuzz—Rover—as part of his
new Precision Series.
Thanks to some deceptively
versatile controls, Rover
nails quintessentially MKII
tones with virtually anything
you throw at it. In addition
to the classic Level (output)
and Attack (amount of fuzz),
Skreddy’s added a “Wool”
control that controls the
low-end content going
into the fuzz. The latter
control sounds pretty
conventional—if atypical in
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GEAR REVIEW
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a fuzz—but, in practice, it’s
hugely useful: In addition
to functioning as a tone
control, it induces a range
of clipping characteristics
that help Rover cover a lot
of ground.
Following Skreddy’s advice,
I initially set the Fuzz
and Wool controls at 3
o’clock and was rewarded
with the thick, violin-like
sustain and clipped attack
that characterize a MKII.
The fuzz was perfectly
compressed; the attack
unmistakably MKII-like in
its angry bite and, despite
the meaty distortion, Rover
was totally responsive to
my vibrato. Some MKII fans
may miss the chaos factor
Skreddy Pedals Rover Fuzz
of a more traditional design,
which can result in a fuzz
that’s deeper but more
amorphous and a touch
response that requires a
little more . . . intuition. I
suspect, however, that most
users will be thrilled to have
the tones they heard on
countless records perfectly
dialed in, and Rover delivers
those tones in spades. Even
the vintage connoisseurs
should be impressed by how
well this little pedal captures
the sound of the classic
fuzz it’s modeled after. The
satisfyingly thick fuzz and
idiosyncratic clipping, the
way-more-than-vintage
output, the surprisingly
small footprint, the daisy-