Black Cat Germanium OD-Fuzz

Germanium Fuzz Lovers, rejoice! Black Cat Pedals is now offering a Germanium version of the popular Black Cat OD-Fuzz. Responding to many customer requests for an OD-Fuzz with Germanium transistors, Black Cat is now offering the Black Cat OD-Fuzz with the Germanium transistor option as a $15 upgrade.

 The Black Cat Germanium OD-Fuzz is essentially the same as a standard Black Cat OD-Fuzz, except the Fuzz Face side uses two NOS 1960s metal can RCA Germanium transistors. It cleans up well when you roll back the volume on the guitar, and does everything that people have come to expect from a good Germanium Fuzz Face. It also meshes amazingly well with the OD-1 side of the OD-Fuzz.

The Black Cat Germanium OD-Fuzz ($225) is just the thing for those who like their fuzz warm and woolly. While the standard Black Cat OD-Fuzz ($210) still uses NOS Philips BC108 transistors, for those who prefer their fuzz with a silicon sizzle. For more information, check out www.blackcatpedals.com.

Black Cat Pedals Video!

Here's a video that was shot by the folks at Premier Guitar magazine at the NY Amp Show. Greg and I are both stunningly articulate, though I can't vouch for photogenic qualities (that's why we let Sara model the shirts). This was shot rather late into the show, after I had done a full day of demoing and talking, so I was pretty beat. Greg sounds way more peppy and alert here.

Black Cat Custom MKI Americano v2

For anyone who didn't know, we did a second run of the Black Cat Custom Tone Bender MKI Americano, which we offered exclusively to our email subscribers. We built ten pedals, sold eight and have been sitting on the last two for a few weeks. But we've decided to stop being selfish and offer them up for sale. We changed the graphic slightly, but other than that these are exactly the same as the first batch. Here are some pictures of the MKI Americano v2.













We've received some fantastic feedback from our MKI Americano customers. I thought I would share a few of the comments we received. Needless to say, we're pretty overwhelmed with the response.


Hi Guys!
I won your MKI Americano on eBay in March and I just had to write to tell you that this is the best damn fuzz I have EVER PLAYED!!!!! This pedal is made so right you guys should be charging DAM prices for them. Never in my 17 years of playing and 4 years of buying VERY expensive boutique gear have I ever had so much joy playing music through a single device! It plays nice with all my guitars - 1998 Fender Strat Eric Clapton with Fralins, 1975 Stock Fender Telecaster, Gibson LP 1958 VOS, Jackson SL-3 etc. I think you guys get the idea. It loves my Mesa Stiletto 2x12 combo and my Marshall 1987x MKII. It works with everything I plug into it/it into. Great work! I have owned the ("insert name") here stuff, and I can honestly say this pedal is Number One. Could you please please please please please please please please I’M REALLY BEGGIN’ HERE GUYS!!!! Build me another one as a backup? DID I SAY PRETTY PLEASE!!!!???
Lots of love, John V

The pedal does have that MKI killer sound, dynamics and overtones; the way the notes bloom out after that are hit and raise to the distortion level, I love it! Great build and solid pedal!
Thanks, Mark H

Tom, I just got my MKI Americano and all I can say is WOW! It has far exceeded my expectations. This is probably the most difficult circuit (as I'm sure you guys know) to get right and you guys nailed it! I have 4 other MKI builds, which are all great pedals, but yours is the most authentic sounding. I think a lot of builders try too hard to make this circuit sound pretty and IMO the primitive sound is what I love about it. I was really hoping this pedal would sound more Yardbirds era Beck, sizzle, spit and all, and I got exactly that. Excellent! I am really surprised you guys got so close using American components, but I guess they are not as important as the builder's skill and ears. Anyway, Thank you for giving me the opportunity to get this incredible pedal, and I will definitely be doing business with you in the future as my finances permit. Thank you Tom and all at the shop for a really fantastic build, I will certainly enjoy it!
Mike B

The MKI arrived bright and early last week. I have to tell ya that I was in heaven over the weekend, bro. My God it's just brilliant, Tom! Absolutely brilliant! You guys hit this thing right outta the ballpark. With a Les Paul and the volume rolled back to around 7 it's so tastefully lethal. It's the 1st time I've ever turned on a pedal, fuzz or otherwise, and heard the sounds I've always heard on all my favorite records. I know you're prolly thinking that it's just the honeymoon period. But after playing for almost 32 years Tom I don't have honeymoons anymore. At this stage of the game it only takes me a few minutes to know whether or not I'm going to like a circuit or not. And after not even a minute I knew the Americano was going to be special for me. I just love it Tom. And I wanted ya to know. So that's all amigo. I just wanted to let you know that your hard work is appreciated. And that I love my MKI a metric ton. Thanks for the awesome circuit, and the lovely craftsmanship too. Peace Always,
Charlie R
 

More Black Cat Pedals T-Shirts

Due to popular demand, we've added a couple more sizes to our selection of Black Cat Pedals t-shirts - Small and XXL. Yes, believe it or not we have had several requests for the XXL size... in BOTH colors! And not surprisingly, we've had some requests for Small size shirts as well, one of which came from our Black Cat Pedals spokesmodel Sara, who told us that she never wears her Medium Black Cat t-shirt because it's too big for her. Here you can see her modeling the new Small size shirts.

We now have Black Cat t-shirts in both colors and all five sizes available at the FMO Gear Shop.

New Pedal - Black Cat Custom Professional MKII

Black Cat Custom is at it again. In the vein of the infamous Black Cat Tone Bender MKI Americano, we have created the Black Cat Custom Professional MKII. Like the MKI Americano, the Professional MKII began as a special request from a customer, but this time we only made two additional pedals (still available for sale as of this writing).

The Black Cat Custom Professional MKII is our take on the iconic 1960s Sola Sound Tone Bender Professional MKII, made famous by Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, and Eric Clapton among others. The Black Cat MKII is wired point-to-point on double turrets, just like the MKI Americano. However, we opted for a more traditional approach, rather than repeating the Americano theme.

Our component selection for the MKII reflects an old-school British flair, using a Newmarket NKT274 and two Philips OC75 transistors, Mullard tropical fish capacitors, and the board material is made from genuine Stonehenge bluestone (okay, I made that last part up). In all seriousness, the Black Cat Professional MKII is everything we could want in a great MKII Tone Bender.

NY Amp Show

We attended our first public event as Black Cat Pedals at the NY Amp Show, June 5th and 6th at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Piscataway, NJ... Here for your viewing pleasure are some pictures.

Welcome to the Amp Show!

 Inside the Embassy Suites Hotel 

Here's the Black Cat Pedals room

Embassy Suites Hotel Lobby

  Black Cat Pedalboard

Tom demos some Black Cat Pedals

Amp Show Souvenirs

Who wants a Tweed Deluxe?

That's right, we're making amps now! Check out this Tweed Deluxe clone that was just built by our assistant tech, Chase. He actually did this on his own, with very little input or assistance from Greg. And believe it or not, this was Chase's first amp build - not too shabby, huh?


Chase ordered the 5E3 kit from Mission Amps and asked if he could take a day off and work on it at our shop. Then he dug in and got to working on it pretty intensely and managed to have it finished in a couple of days. Here are some pictures of the result. Anyone need an amp kit built? Let us know!

I'm Awesome!

Hey everybody, I'm awesome! At least that's what it says on these cupcakes that Black Cat Sara made for my birthday. In case you can't see it, there's a letter on each cupcake so altogether they spell "You're Awesome." It made me feel pretty special when she brought in these awesome cupcakes... and they were pretty tasty too! Sara and I ate most of them right there on the spot, although we had some help from everyone else in the shop. Now, I don't know how awesome I really am, but I sure do have a great crew working here.

FMO Customer of the Month - 5/10

For some strange reason, that I won't even begin to question, our sales over the past couple of months have been absolutely phenomnal. It seems like everything has picked up all at once - our custom and repair work, vintage sales, and new dealers for Black Cat Pedals. At first, I thought it must be a fluke, but the orders and requests just keep coming.

Among all this activity, there is one particular customer who really stands out - our new Canadian friend, Mr. David Sheeler. David is a vintage effects collector with exquisite taste who just discovered the FMO Gear Shop on the web. A great match! For we all know, the FMO Gear Shop has more vintage effects than any place else on the web. We helped David add several prime pieces to his collection, including a Tycobrahe PedalFlanger, an original Vox Clyde McCoy, and an original MXR Blue Box. As if that weren't enough, Dave's a super nice guy who's been great to deal with. Thanks Dave!

Two Different Shows in One Day

Things have been crazy/busy this past week, which culminated yesterday with being a vendor at the first ever Westchester Guitar Show, hosted by Rosehill Music Center, then leaving right from the guitar show to go see Todd Rundgren at the Ridgefield Playhouse. The show for this current tour is called "Todd Rundgren's Johnson" and features his band performing select works of blues legend Robert Johnson, along with many of Todd's own songs done up with a blues treatment. I went with Analog Mike, who had backstage passes and kindly invited me as his +1 guest.

I've been a Todd Rundgren fan for many, many years and I've probably seen him over 20 times. So even though I knew the guitar show would be grueling and leave me exhausted, I told Mike I would definitely be attending the concert. We had the passes courtesy of Todd's guitarist, Jesse Gress, who's an Analog Man customer. Also playing was Todd's cohort and ex-bandmate in Utopia, Kasim Sulton on bass, and former Tubes drummer Prairie Prince. Mike suggested we give Todd a signed copy of Analog Man's Guide To Vintage Effects (great idea!). The show was great, and afterwards Jesse came out and took us backstage to hang out for a bit. Here's a picture I took of Jesse's pedalboard.

Eventually, we were ushered to the tour bus, where I finally got to meet Todd and found myself... well, a little tongue-tied, honestly. I did give him a signed copy of Analog Man's Guide though, and I also brought my own personal copy of the book (in which I collect autographs) for Todd to sign. He wanted to know which page to sign, so I asked him what his favorite pedal was. After a few chuckles and a little head scratching, he said, "Well, the first pedal I ever had was that brown fuzzbox... I think it was... a Maestro?" I quickly opened the book to the picture of the Maestro FZ-1 Fuzztone. He wrote "Mmmm... I'm getting fluffy fuzzy" along with his signature and the date. 

First Ever Interview

Stomp That Box has just published the first ever interview with yours truly. It's a lengthy, tell-all piece that details my early days at Analog Man right up to the revival of Black Cat Pedals. It's a great read with a lot of interesting and humorous anecdotes. A must for pedal heads! 

CLICK HERE TO READ

New Blog Page!

Oh hey, look! We have a new blog page. We switched over to blogger to take advantage of the features and versatility we were missing on our old blog. Unfortunately, we lost ALL the old comments that you kind people have left for us over the past year and a half. That actually bummed me out. Oh well. Please feel free to leave lots of new comments, we'd like that.

Here’s the latest from Black Cat Pedals - the Black Cat Custom K-Fuzz!

We had two customers call in the same week with a request for us to build a Kay Fuzztone replica. I knew our last custom project (the infamous Black Cat Tone Bender MKI Americano) would be a tough act to follow. So I wanted to make sure we came up with something really spectacular. And just like with the MKI Americano, I figured as long as we were doing it, we might as well go ahead and make five of them.

The original Kay Fuzztone dates back to the late 1960s. Kay produced a series of pedals using the same cheap, soft plastic treadle-type enclosure. Each pedal was a different color – there was the blue Kay Tremolo, red Wah-Wah, black Bass Boost, and the orange Fuzztone. They were super cheesy and flimsy, but some of the circuits sounded fairly decent.

The orange Kay Fuzztone has recently become extremely popular, mostly due to the fact that it was used by The Edge of U2 for the intro to the song “Elevation.” It’s also apparently a favorite of producer Daniel Lanois. So, not surprisingly, the prices for the original have seen a big increase. One recently sold on eBay for $313.19 and another one went for $511.50!!!

In keeping with the tradition of the MKI Americano, we went all out and over-the-top, doing everything the hard way and making this our most expensive undertaking yet. We needed to use a wah-type enclosure. But it couldn’t be just any wah case, no. I had to insist it was orange, like the original Kay Fuzz, which meant I had to order unpainted, unassembled wah kits ($50 each). Then I had to get them painted. I took them to a place specializing in custom automotive finishing (which added another $35 to the cost of each pedal). The color we chose is called “Molten Orange Candy.” It looks spectacular in person! But we didn’t stop there; I insisted we have something equally spectacular for the tread. I finally found this shiny, yet surprisingly durable gold glitter rubber foam material. This is one seriously pimped out pedal!

It was actually our builder Greg’s idea to install an orange LED in the lower part of the case to create an under-lighting effect, which I got a kick out of (I told him it was like something I would have come up with). To further accentuate the effect, we installed a reflective insert on the underside of the top piece. Sound-wise, it's dead nuts close to the original, except the ride feels much smoother for your foot, as it's a real cast metal case with high quality hardware. The actual circuit is the same as the original Kay Fuzztone, only we used better quality premium parts in ours. Greg etched the boards himself, and his builds are meticulous as usual. So there it is, the Black Cat Custom K-Fuzz! Priced at $275 each, our short run of 5 pedals sold out within a week.

Black Cat Pedals T-Shirts are here!

Look what we just got - brand new Black Cat Pedals T-Shirts. There are two different shirts available: Black with yellow cat logo, and Ash with black cat logo, both in sizes Medium, Large, and X-Large. Here you can see both shirts being modeled by the lovely Black Cat Sara (click on the thumbnail pics for close-ups). You can get your own Black Cat Pedals Tee at the FMO Gear Shop.
 

Behold - the Black Cat Tone Bender MKI Americano!

Check out the debut pedal from Black Cat Custom - introducing the Black Cat Tone Bender MKI Americano! This was special request commissioned by a customer, so we decided to make five of them. They all sold rather quickly.

Although we told the customer we could make a MKI for him, it seemed to me that there are already a few DAM good builders who have been doing the point-to-point MKI thing lately. I wanted ours to be unique, so I decided to come up with an angle that would really distinguish ours from the rest. Since Black Cat Pedals is a decidedly American brand, I came up with the idea of making an American version of the MKI – Black Cat Tone Bender MKI Americano. Rather than using British-made components (or Asian, for that matter), we made a deliberate point of using all AMERICAN components (which, believe me, was no easy feat in this finicky circuit): Texas Instruments 2N404 trannies, Sozo and (USA) Sprague caps, NOS carbon comp resistors, Switchcraft jacks, Carling switch, etc... all inside a custom handmade enclosure. We used red and white cloth wire to go with the blue of those Sozo caps (those big ones were $7 each!). And for a final touch, the legs of each transistor are dressed with red, white and blue wire. So here, for your viewing pleasure, is the result (click on the thumbnail pics to get a better look).