While
Joe Gore has done many things in his life, from music journalism to recording with Tom Waits and beyond, his life took an interesting turn a few years ago. While working on new Apple programs, Gore was tasked with creating analog sounds for the digital age. To better understand the art, he started to build his own amps and pedals.
Despite keeping his hands in print and music, Joe has developed his own line of guitar pedals, which is now being carried exclusively by Vintage King. His latest pedal, the
Duh Remedial Fuzz, is an epic example of Gore's vision. Sticking with a classic mantra of non-conformity and practicality, this pedal is capable of slaying with just one knob.
While it can be fun to use a pedal with as many as knobs as possible, the Duh pedal reduces the art down to a single knob. Simply hit the pedal button and you are hit with a heavy fuzz, whose volume is controlled by the large dial on the Duh's body. Unlike some other fuzz pedals, you can control the attack of the sound with your guitar's volume knobs, which really allows for a wide range of sounds.
"To my ear, most distortion effects have way too much gain, resulting in over-compressed sounds," Gore says of more common gain-based pedals. "If you’ve ever played a pedal that sounded massive in your bedroom, but seemed to vanish onstage with bass and drums, you know what I’m talking about. My pedals maintain strong note definition and don’t smooth over your dynamics."
When he set about creating the Duh, Gore was focused on creating a tone of his own. Through the years, so many classic fuzz pedals have been remade and reproduced, but the Duh brings some new things to the table that go unmattched by its peers. With more present mids in the mix (especially when compared to similar fuzz pedals), the Duh offers airy highs while still delivering a crushing bottom end.
While it's fun to talk about pedals, there is nothing better than actually getting to hear some brand new gear. Check out the video below of the man himself, Joe Gore, showing off the Duh Remedial Fuzz pedal and witness how responsive this pedal truly can be to your playing.
