“A wild thing, and we think you’ll love it”: Warm Audio The Black Keys Peach Fuzz review

What is it?

Warm Audio has released a take on the fOXX Tone Machine before, the carpeted little octave-fuzz used by the likes of Billy Gibbons, Beck, Peter Frampton and countless others.

The Austin, TX gear brand’s Foxy Tone Box is a 1:1 replica of the circuit, and even presents the classic fuzz pedal in its horizontally forbidding enclosure, footswitch on top, dials and switch on the side, resplendent in a bright orange felt finish.

But the Peach Fuzz is something a little bit different, and was designed with help from the Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach – who counts himself among those countless others in the fOXX fan club.

“We’d never done a pedal, but when we were talking about what fun things to do for the album Peaches, we were talking about pedals,” Auerbach told Reverb. “I was like, ‘Well, hey, there’s this flocked pedal – might be fun to make a Peach Fuzz.’ So we reached out to these guys, and because I’ve been using a bunch of their stuff – Pat [Carney, The Black Keys drummer] uses a bunch of their studio gear – they helped put this together for us.”

Here, Warm Audio gives us a second footswitch for the octave effect, houses the circuit in a more pedalboard-friendly format, and gives us switchable momentary and latching modes for the octave effect.

“I didn’t want to really do a pedal unless it was really good and really useable for people,” says Auerbach.

This limited edition fuzzbox is another shag-pile design, soft to the touch, peach-pink like blancmange, and is an altogether more practical option – so long as you don’t mind stains on its carpet finish.

But peach-pink cute or not, history tells us that a fur-covered fuzz can only be tamed so much. There’s a touch of the wild animal about these things.

Specs

• Launch price: $199 | £199 | €229
• Type: Octave fuzz pedal
• Controls: Volume, Sustain, Fuzz Mellow-Brite, Momentary/Latching toggle, engage/bypass footswitch, octave on/off footswitch
• Features: Fuzz with switchable octave-up effect, momentary and latching modes on the octave effect, NOS 2N3565 Fairchild transistors, Germanium 1N34A diodes, carbon resistors, and premium film capacitors to deliver authentic vintage fuzz
• Connectivity: 1/4” input, 1/4” output, 9V center negative power input
• Bypass: True bypass
• Power: 9V DC or battery
• Dimensions: 140mm x 84mm x 58mm
• Weight: 0.8lbs / 0.36kg
• Contact: Warm Audio

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★½

Those who get their rocks off poring over fuzz-circuit schematics, taking a quasi-erotic voyeuristic interest in what’s going on in the breadboards of others, must really love Warm Audio.

This is a tell-all company. So we can talk about the componentry, about how we have gold-plated PCD construction, super-tidy, with a tasting menu of “NOS 2N3565 Fairchild transistors, Germanium 1N34A diodes, carbon resistors, and premium film capacitors” under the hood.

All this is to say, it wasn’t put together using stuff you found lying around the house, random diodes found down the back of the couch.

Every Warm Audio pedal we have used has felt like a legit option for the touring player’s pedalboard. And it is covered by a five-year warranty

The Peach Fuzz is no exception (robust switches, robust housing, etc), and yet it kind of is, if only for that flock-covered finish. It’ll get dirty over time. But you don’t worry about those kinds of things, right? Right!?

Clearly some players do – why else would Warm Audio have launched a special edition of its Foxy Tone Box in Werewolf Black…

Usability and features

Usability and features rating: ★★★★★

How easy a pedal is to use is a complicated question; it’s both a matter of fact and a subjective opinion. My preference, as in the fuzz pedals I typically find the easiest to use, is for those with two to three knobs. If you can get away with a single knob, that’s cool. Once you start adding bias knobs, blend controls, 3-band EQ, it begins to feel like a mission to understand what sounds the pedal can make and how you can find them.

As per the design brief from Auerbach, Warm Audio has expanded the fOXX/Foxy control set, adding a footswitch, adding a toggle for the octave footswitch’s momentary and latching modes, but essentially it’s a simple three-knob setup, with output volume, gain and tone.

The original fOXX Tone Machine allowed you to take the octave in and out, but not mid-song, not unless you can take your hands off your guitar, reach down to your ‘board and flick the switch.

Presenting the octave effect as a separate footswitchable add-on with the performance-friendly momentary operation is the Pareto optimal solution. The octave, after all, is a complementary effect to the core fuzz voice, it can be an acquired taste, and not for all situations. The original toggle-switch design allowed you to take the octave in and out but not mid-song.

The top-mounted jacks might make it a little easier for you to find a spot for the Peach Fuzz on your ‘board, but it’s worth noting that it’s a considerably chunkier proposition than, say, a Compact Series Boss pedal.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★½

The Peach Fuzz has not fallen far from the tree. Its core fuzz sound – this great swooshing tide of saturation – is what you would expect from an octave-fuzz with fOXX DNA.

Depending on which side of noon the Mellow-Brite tone knob is sitting – and there’s a lot of range to that blue dial – this can be square-wave woof or a sharper and more wasp-ish sound, but either way we’re talking about a fuzz with the capability to transform your electric guitar tone, at times flattening its identity.

When maxed out, the octave disengaged, I had to look down to my hands to see that it really was an HSS S-style that I was playing. But this is part of its charm. This is why we plug a fuzz in, with those super-saturated sounds making single notes assume the quality of a horn part, or even a synth.

Add in the octave up and the effect is doubly transformative, with this sort of anarcho-harpsichord quality to single notes, and all bets are off when playing chords. More of which in second. But what I want from a fuzz, particularly one that evokes a ‘70s classic, is to be able to dial in a sound that can be used as a substitute for mild overdrive, that crispy heat that makes your edge-of-breakup tones that sort of scratchy CCR quality, and also the capability to go full feral animal, and the Peach Fuzz can do that.

The controls are interactive. With the Sustain knob fully counterclockwise, the Volume control feels as if it’s a little inhibited, but just dialing in a little Sustain gives it a bump, and that works well as an unclean boost, not quite full-fuzz, but still introducing its radicalizing quality to your tone. Again, it’s that subversive drive sound that adds a spikiness to your tone.

Perhaps because of its unruliness, there is a certain poetry to fuzz, that you don’t need to painstakingly tone match for it to do a certain job. With my ‘50s-style Blackguard Tele, it can get you in the ballpark of Keith Richards’ Satisfaction tone. It can sell the illusion of violining vroom of Randy Bachman in his pomp.

With Auerbach’s name attached, it should unlock some of his Black Keys tone, too. But never mind the Black Keys. Don’t let the Peach flock finish fool you. You could call it ‘The Rutting Stag’ or ‘Intemperate Walrus’ and put it to work on riffs in the style of Melvins and Sleep. The doom kids will love it.

The key is to roll with the anarchy. This is where the octave-up effect comes in. Fans of the O.G. Roger Mayer Octavia and UniVox Super-Fuzz might have a similarly good time with the Peach Fuzz, though they will find it a more aggressive option – and thicker, too, especially when the Mellow-Brite knob is sitting around 10 o’clock.

The more treble you introduce, the more that octave up effect asserts itself. It’s touch-sensitive but not in the way we usually understand touch-sensitivity. The harder you player, the wilder your vibrato, and the more you bend the strings, the more overtones come spilling out in all directions.

At extreme settings it’s like a horse that’s lost its rider, but then fuzz was never an effect for the buttoned-up, fastidious player.

Dimed, it’s a force of nature – a nuclear option for dropped tunings. But there are some exquisite vintage fuzz tones to be found that can complement your rhythm and lead playing alike.

Verdict

Fans of Dan Auerbach and the Black Keys will undoubtedly get a lot out of this. The Peach Fuzz does a convincing job of replicating the kinds of fuzz sounds that were all over ‘70s rock. It would give slide players another vintage texture to work with, channeling early Duane Allman, riding the wave of infinite sustain.

A fuzz like this might be an acquired taste, but you might be surprised at how many styles this could work with; grunge, metal, pop, rock ’n’ roll and blues, indie, alt-rock and so on. Its octave-up skronk is just the thing for psych and garage-rock, and adding tape echo and tremolo might help Jimmy open the doors of perception. “Far out,” as they would say back in 1971 when Steve Ridinger designed the fOXX Tone Machine, from which this is descended.

While we are praising Warm Audio and Auerbach for the practical improvements to the fOXX, for the record, Ridinger got there first with the Danelectro fUZZ 3699, which also has the footswitchable octave and there's a midboost – though there isn't the momentary/latching operation on the octave footswitch.

The Peach Fuzz is wild when you want it to be, but with that bestial octave effectively chained up until you need to unleash it, it’s surprisingly practical, giving us all a choice on how we want to wield its chaos and when. But there’s mojo all across the range of that Sustain dial, sweet spot after sweet spot.

Guitar World verdict: Warm Audio and Dan Auerbach have improved upon the classic octave-fuzz, housetraining the fOXX with a more pedalboard-friendly design and offering players more control over its strident octave chaos. They even made it cute. But rest assured, the Peach Fuzz is still a wild thing, and we think you’ll love it

Also try

Warm Audio Foxy Tone Box
$149 | £119 | €179

Warm Audio's faithful take on the fOXX Tone Machine will get you those sounds and it's a little cheaper – though the enclosure design is not quite as player-friendly.

Danelectro 3699 Fuzz
$199 | £189 | €199

This is the one to A/B against the Peach Fuzz to see which you prefer. Designed by the man who made the original fOXX Tone Machine, and this time Steve Ridinger made his octave footswitchable – and there's a mid-boost. It's exceptional.

Read more: Danelectro 3699 Fuzz review

JHS Pedals Coyote
$149 | £149 | €199

Okay, here's a wildcard. The Coyote exists out of the classic octave-fuzz lineage, and offers something completely different. The simple two-knob layout is intuitive. The sounds are... well, you've got to check 'em out.

Read more: JHS Coyote review

Hands-on videos

Warm Audio

The Black Keys Peach Fuzz FX Pedal | Product Deep Dive & Demo - YouTube

Watch On

Jack Fossett Guitar

Warm Audio Peach Fuzz | Black Keys Dan Auerbach Signature Fuzz Pedal - YouTube

Watch On

Dan Auerbach x Reverb

Dan Auerbach on Black Keys Peach Fuzz Pedal + His History of Fuzzes - YouTube

Watch On

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