Nov 18, 2011
The Merkin Fuzz by Catalinbread Effects Pedal Demo- Classic Fuzz Tones
Watch in HD for best sound
http://www.catalinbread.com and http://klhcustomrelics.com and http://www.bulletcable.com
Most of you have had to have heard about the Merkin fuzz 
It’s a Silicon based fuzz, which aren’t usually my bag, but the Merkin’s 3 tranny combo gives me something I like….. amazing crunch on single notes and a surprisingly tight and focused fuzz, even at higher settings. It works amazingly well with your volume and tone knobs, which is great if you are using it for a gig because you don’t have to stoop down and sweat all over yourself, probably knock over your beer because your cable is wrapped everywhere and when you try to loosen it, it just flies all over the place……. nah, you just switch the tones up by rolling around on your guitar knobs. Personally, I liked it a little better with Humbuckers, but that may just be me, who knows. I do really like that you can get this to sound really dirty and fuzzy and it can take on some of that velcro sounding fuzz with the slightest amount of sputtering thrown in with some dashes over upper octave. I had seen videos of it before and I was kind of thinking that I would probably be all about it…… and I am happy to say that I totally dig it. Alright, now seriously, go google what a Merkin is
Here is some info from the Catalinbread site:
The Catalinbread Merkin is a fuzz pedal that’s just rite for classic sixties fuzz sounds and beyond! Extended and refined from a classic fuzz circuit, this 3 silicon transistor circuit is very textural, varying from blunt to ripping. It’s controls are simple, a volume, and a texture knob with huge range, from cleanish blend counter-clockwise to full fuzz as you turn the knob clockwise.
When developing the Merkin, we chose components for sweet yet buzzing tone which still has a very touch sensitive response. The Merkin is also very responsive to your guitar’s volume and tone controls so you can spend less time stooped over your pedalboard, and more time actually playing. Along with a slew of sixties fuzz sounds from the Ventures to the Stooges and many points in between, The Merkin Fuzz is able to do octave-up sounds by using your guitar’s neck pickup with the tone rolled off. It works great for bass too.
The life-blood of a fuzz is its power supply and the Merkin is no different. Use a carbon battery for warm vintage tone and smooth response. Use an alkaline or 9 volt dc supply for a harder sound, or run on 18 volt DC supply for even more output and an aggressive sound! Volume unity for the Merkin resides around 9:00, which means there’s lots of boost on tap.
And if you dig the pedal from the demo I did, then you need to see the one Catalinbread did…. I think this is one of the best demos for a pedal ever, simply because they show that their pedal does just what they say it does…. kill it with the classic fuzz tones.
Gear used for my demo:
KLH custom relics fuzzcaster
Univox Ripper
Visual Sound Workhorse Stallion
Lots of Bullet Cable
Sennheiser e906
Fuzzbox Cocktail- The Pink
Nov 18, 2011 @ 17:19:55
oh mylady im impressed…ken
Nov 21, 2011 @ 19:07:26
heya fuzzygirl, i had a merkin, the older graphics, i sold it. Its a very specific sound, extremely trebly and mine changed the attack of the notes in a way i didnt like. Having said that used in combination with other pedals it was possible to get some usuable sounds. Unfortuneatly it just wasnt versatile enough.