GRAN FUZZ / PROTOTYPE NO.4

RUBEN BLOCK
GRAN FUZZ / PROTOTYPE NO.4

We met Ruben at the Burgerweeshuis in Deventer. Ruben has very distinctive taste when it comes to his sound. It was impressive to see all the gear he uses. After a very warm welcome, the Gran Fuzz was immediately plugged in and listened to. He admitted: "I'm going to spend a lot of time with the Gran Fuzz. The sound has something special..." Something he hadn't heard before.

 

Ruben Block is a Flemish singer and guitarist, best known as the frontman and lead singer of the Belgian rock band Triggerfinger, which he founded in 1998. With their own brand of dark, heavy, and somewhat rootsy rock, Triggerfinger has managed to conquer an impressive swath of international territory, becoming virtual rock stars in Belgium and the Netherlands.

 

Triggerfinger combines hard rock and stoner rock and made its breakthrough with their debut album 'Triggerfinger. They performed live at major festivals such as Rock Werchter, Pukkelpop, and Pinkpop, and had a radio hit with their coverversion of "I Follow Rivers."

 

Besides his work with Triggerfinger, Block developed a solo career and released his solo album, "Looking to Glide," in 2022.

 

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The Gran Fuzz is a hand-built analog fuzz pedal based on a 1,5V 1960s circuit, modified for use with modern 9V power supplies. It produces a thick, mid-focused fuzz tone that reacts strongly to playing dynamics and volume changes on your instrument. The Gran Fuzz features a modified filter and an added gain stage. This gives it enormous headroom and allows it to also be used as a booster. The pedal works well with both guitar and bass.

 

Controls are simple and effective:

  • Fuzz adjusts the amount of gain and saturation.

  • Tone shapes the brightness and bite of the fuzz.

  • Volume controls the overall output level.

 

Each pedal is built in a custom metal enclosure, manually assembled, and fitted with selected components. Because every build is done by hand, no two units look or sound exactly the same. 

 

Power: 9V-12 DC, center negative
Bypass: True bypass switching
Input/output: Standard ¼" mono jacks