Sola Sound The Colorsound Fuzz 2021 Third Run by David Main D*A*M

At the time of purchase (Nov 2021) the accompanying letter indicated that this was among the 150 of the third run. Fantastic entry pedal to Colorsound Fuzz. Shipped from Seoul, Korea via EMS with tracking number. I will message you to confirm your address so please look out for DMs.

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From Macari's:
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The Colorsound Third Run

So what’s this all about?

Well, in true Sola Sound style this is a pedal that started off as something special then turned into something else – something REALLY special!!

You may remember that a couple of years ago, we decided to make a sub £ 200 fuzz. We used cases left over from the Bum Fuzz project and called it the cheap ass bum fuzz – they all sold.

Well, we wanted to carry on, so we made a bunch of cases intending to make another high quality but affordable pedal (Huge thanks to Alan Murray who designed it as always and a massive thank you to Electric Warrior who cleaned it up and added the arrows of funkiness)

It nearly happened, but something came up.

Dave Main discovered a weird Jumbo Tone Bender anomaly – a few 70s models with a fourth stage of gain that was never in circuit and a backwards transistor to boot – surely it was never meant to exist ! But in true fuzz nerd style we decided to develop the idea as if it WAS meant to exist. Dave built the adapted circuit into a sort of Jumbo Supa Tone Bender. We housed it in our Batman logo case and it became the Bat Supe. It sounded frankly, incredible!!

Soon after all this madness the new cheap ass project cases arrived. The intention was to make them with a regular Jumbo Tone Bender circuit inside like the cheap ass bum fuzz, but with this new ‘fourth stage of gain ‘ discovery  Dave started pushing me towards and affordable Bat Supe pedal , no vintage mojo parts , but still great components , single screen on the case , cheaper knobs .

I resisted . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . For almost 3 minutes.

Two weeks later he sent me the prototype . . . . I plugged it in and another 3 minutes later gave it the green light!

Basically, if you own all the fuzzes we’ve ever made, you still need this one – it’s like having the best Jumbo Tone Bender ever but where a Jumbo normally runs into over-dark bass when you back the treble off , this supplies the most focused and useable  bass laden fuzz sounds I have ever heard  - Its powerful , full of amazing overtones and is just different – its killer !

The first run was 50 orange and black print – the second run blue with orange print - this is the third red on yellow - super cool !

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Here’s some explanation from David Main himself  . . . .

It goes like this - The Colorsound Bat Soup project was the recreation of something of that should have been, a pre-existing idea that lay dormant then dragged into sunlight.

The Colorsound Fuzz is the same concept; the four gain stage silicon fuzz circuit, but with a more intensive overhaul. In a nutshell, it's how I would approach the designing of the Supa Tone Bender* circuit with a blank canvas.

The project overview is simply the version 2 of the Cheap Arse Bum Fuzz Unit, the entry level D*A*M built Sola Sound product, the gate way drug if you will. The connection ends there, there is no sonic or visual attachment to the V1 Cheap Arse version; this is a new product through and through.

Tonally speaking the most notable addition is the increased gain level along with the refinement of the Tone control sweep. The lows have a healthier mid-range presence without excessive muddying or loss of clarity, the highs are sharp and bright without an overly brittle or weak timbre. The Fuzz control sweep is equally balanced ranging from mild dusky overdrive to full-blown heavy duty saturation. The overall output is fairly ample giving it means to excel with higher output pick-up types, bass instruments and guitars with low pitched alternative tunings. A simple summary being - I've done what I think to be an improvement on this circuit type, to each his own, horses for courses...buy the ticket, take the ride.

The circuit construction is built around four low noise gain selected BC549C silicon devices offering both stability and excellent audio performance. This V2 incarnation also sports an active status LED and an external battery eliminator. Huge thanks to Electric Warrior for the most excellent execution of the graphics. A modern day take on a classic design is no easy task but in this he has truly excelled. Bravo, sir.

All units being assembled by Daniel Lee Tunstill. All set-up procedures, transistor selection, final testing and inspection are carried out by myself.