Xploration • Curation • Recommendation
Gigahearts' MK2 Small Cheese Fuzz delivers a most potent Taste Explosion!
This is my 3rd Lovetone Big Cheese derivative to date, and the most expansive / granular of the 3, first was the somewhat welter-weight JHS Cheese Ball, which sounds positively anaemic when compared to either of the Thorpy FX Field Marshal or this Gigahearts Small Cheese.
Both the latter ones are quite a bit more vibrant and visceral - possibly with the Small Cheese MK2 having just a little more in the engine room - that one can get ridiculously loud - just as I like it!
I’ve always loved the ThorpyFX Field Marshal edition, and the Small Cheese is very much more of the same, with a soupçon more up its sleeve - I don’t think you could go wrong with either of those. While you would be disappointed if you owned the Cheese Ball and then compared that to the later louder and more vibrant alternative potent editions.
Small Cheese Controls - Volume, Curds (Fuzz / Sustain), Trim (Gating Threshold for Left FTSW Mode), FTSW Mode : Gating to Left / Tone Bypass to Right, EQ Profile : Mid Boost / Heavy Mid Scoop / Mid Scoop, Tone (Tilt EQ : < LPF | HPW >), Balance (Relative Tone Bypass Volume for Right FTSW Mode).
It turns out that I like the Mid Boost EQ option about the same as the Mid Scoop, while the Heavy Mid Scoop does nothing for me really! Generally I prefer Mid Scoop with Heavy Gating and Mid Boost without. You can kind of go 3 o'c on the 4 upper knobs for a perfect output. While the Balance knob is usually cranked back to 9 o'c - it gets blisteringly loud when Tone Bypass is applied - so needs to be attenuated!
For the Gated / Right FTSW Mode I typically have trim @ 3 o'c, and then crank the Curds (Fuzz) up between Noon and 3 o'c. If the Trim is @ Max, then I can only go as high as 2 o'c on the Curds - before it starts to choke out entirely. With Trim @ 3 o'c you can run between Noon and 3 o'c on the Curds for a wide variety of gated outputs - which typically sound better with Mid Scoop applied.
So generally I have 3 favourite Tones here - Mid Boost with most everything @ 3 o'c and Curds @ Noon, Tone Bypass with Curds @ 3 o'c, and Balance @ 9 o'c, and Heavy Gated with Trim @ 3 o'c to Max, and Curds ideally at between 1 and 2 o'c.
This is a really smartly thought out Fuzz - sounds superb at least 3-ways! And has plenty in reserve on every dial. It can be wonderfully vibrant, visceral and even quite brutal at times. A genuinely versatile and potent fuzz.
The MK2 Small Cheese is yours for just £135 (c. $180) from the Gigahearts FX Webstore. It's a vertitable Cheese Board of a fuzz with lots of different potent flavours - well worth seeking out!
There are no new demos out yet of the MK2 edition - while the original sounds near enough as impressive, just not quite so granularly controllable! Also the labels are more easily understandable / intuitive and matter-of-fact on the new version! Probably worth the upgrade - and a great jumping off point if you're new to Full-fat Hard Cheese Fuzzes!
Demos
