Emmergy FX's Slowdriver 4-Transistor Shoegazer Fuzz Distortion is so good that it's used by Christian Savill of Slowdive fame, the very band which inspired the name of this pedal

This is a very unique 4-Stage / 4-Transistor Fuzz - not really Big Muff ’adjacent’ despite the same number of Transistors - and significantly more crunchy than your typical Muff, and with more bite and sear for that matter also - with a very distinct texture and character.

 It uses 2N3904 Transistors, which along with the BC183’s are the go-to transistors for Type 3 Fuzz Faces (Germanium-sounding Silicon). The 2N3904 and BC183 are the closest sounding / profile-matching Silicon variants to the original AC125 / NKT275 Germanium Transistor types.

Those 2N3904’s are very warm sounding - and have a good flavour of Germanium style grit - which when levelled up by the Slowdriver’s 4 gain stages delivers an incredibly richly textured somewhat crunchy and searing distortion (understandable considering the Rat and Tone Bender roots!) - it sound amazing right from the start with the 4 dials at noon. And then ramps up in waves from thereon in - I believe it’s one of the favourite distortions for my good friend Pedal Experiments Phil - and understandably so - it yields instant satisfaction!

Supposedly the provenance of this pedal starts with the Catalinbread Katzenkönig - which inspired Michael’s RatBender take on that pedal - which then evolved into the Slowdriver. That kind of explains the extra bite and crunch of this circuit - which has been evolved and honed over a few iterations. The 4-Transistor Gain Stages seem to be somewhat coincidentally Big Muff in arrangement - where you can still get more Big Muff style outputs by cranking up the Filter Knob - and tempering that natural bite and aggression that the pedal has so much of by default.

Controls - Filter (Hi-Cut), Volume, Clipping Diodes : Silicon / None / Germanium, Gain, Pre-Gain.

In fact by starting everything at noon - you’re slightly over-cooking the circuit already - as it’s already blistering with my favourite settings - which are Filter @ 9 o’c, Volume @ 11 o’c, Gain @ 2 o’c, and Pregain @ 10 o’c. The Slowdriver is a monstrous beast - in the best possible sense. It has so much of everything onboard with a really vast range - that you always have further gears to go - up and down from wherever you land.

I can see why it’s so popular - it’s so immediately captivating - and that combination of crunch and sear delivers the most exceptional textures. Most Shoegaze Fuzzes that I’m acquainted with are somewhat smoother and more blurry / smeary as such - while this one is absolutely blisteringly fierce. I’ve been instantly smitten by this slightly rawer visceral distortion - it sounds so captivating! 

And the even more incredible thing is that it’s just £120 from the Emmergy FX Webstore. It’s so good that I’m determined now to do a feature on the ’Best of British Affordable Pedals’ with this aa a leading contender alongside pedals from brands including Funny Little Boxes, Glowfly FX, and SoundLad Liverpool  it will be one pedal per brand - and I will be looking to populate my usual grid of 9 - so if you have any suggestions - drop me a line - in the below comments.

I agree with Phil that this is one of the best Distortion Pedals / Fuzzstortions that I have yet encountered - it’s so compelling - and has such a wide-ranging output! I really love my version with the rippled red aluminium knobs - it looks very attractive indeed - not quite as attractive as the Limited Gold Edition of Emmergy FX’s Mirror Mirror - while it runs that one pretty close.

When I first met Emmergy FX’s Michael Gardner at the Stourbridge FX Expo in 2022 - he had relatively recently started employing those vibrant swirly artworks - and I encouraged him to really push on with those styles - and marry them to equally vibrant knob selections - and it seems he’s very much heeded that advice - whether consciously or subconsciously - the range of pedals he had with him at the Leeds Pedal Show were all exceedingly appealing in how they looked. It’s an important factor for the pedal sector - as lots of players / customers hear first with their eyes - way before they rationalise the pedal’s output!

The Slowdriver Fuzz Distortion deserves to do really well - and at £120 it should be within most everyone’s reach - it’s such good value!