Fairfield Circuitry

When I was a teenager, the only cool and exciting pedals I knew about were BOSS pedals. I still remember being blown away by my friends BOSS phaser, and being completely over the moon when my mom got me one. I must have played "space oddity" by david bowie a thousand times over with that phaser "swooshing" the song all over the place. Nowadays, there are seemingly endless options for pedals and many new and exciting companies coming up. Today I want to talk about one that I find particularly cool: Fairfield Circuitry.

Fairfield Circuitry is owned and operated by Guillaume Fairfield and has been making pedals for musicians in the know since 2008. At present he makes 5 pedals: The Barbershop Overdrive, The Four Eyes Fuzz, Randy's Revenge Ring mod, The Operator feedback loop and the Unpleasant Surprise experimental fuzz gate. The things I loved immediately about these bad boys is the look of them. To me they look like evil robots from the future...but you may also just say minimalist! The simple gray boxes with the "burned in" numbers and dial descriptions look a little more like something out of "Terminator" than what you may be used to on a pedal board. Seems like a small thing but in a world of colorful and splashy looking pedals, it's pretty cool to see these stark and simplistic boxes lined up in a cabinet. All the pedals operate on standard 9 volts and can be powered with anything from a 1 spot to a pedal power brick. 

The Barbershop is a beautiful overdrive pedal that comes the closest I've heard to a natural warm tube amp. The pedal features a power sag knob allowing you to reduce the voltage sent to the amp. This let's you either get that warm, "pushed" amp sound, or dial in some nice crunchy sounds. It's very flexible and a good addition to any pedal board, even if you already have an overdrive you love. The Four Eyes Cross over fuzz, it's frequency control, switchable resonance and the option to add a footswitch is one of the most versatile fuzz pedals out there, allowing you to get a wide range of flavors in one box. 

My two favorite of the bunch have to be "the unpleasant surprise" and "randy's revenge". The "unpleasant" is described as an experimental fuzz gate, and I suppose thats about as close as you can get to being accurate with this wacky piece. I've often described it to customers as a more usable version of a Zvex Fuzz Factory. Giving you everything from odd creaking  noises to out and out thick deadly fuzz this little monster adds a fun element to any pedal board and can be even more wacky when combined with other effects. I've run this thing through a number of delays, tremolo's and more and never been bored! The "randy's revenge" is a ring mod with just as many possibilities as the "unpleasant surprise". When the main frequency knob is between 0 and 12, you get some beautiful trem/vibe effects. Past 12 you creep into other worldly territory with all the crazy noises a ring mod fan could want. Play a little with the low pass filter and mix knobs and you'll find yourself overwhelmed with new noises to add to your palate! 

You can find the whole array of Fairfield Circuitry pedals at Rudy's and can learn more by checking out their website. These days it's all about who can stand out in the crowd of pedal companies and Fairfield easily accomplishes this task with their beautiful understated design, and unique sounds.

As always feel free to post comments or questions!

-K.