Fjord Fuzz's 2nd Pedal of the Month is the Lillebjørn CMOS PLL Style 3 x Parallel Octave Fuzz Harmonizer

Fjord Fuzz’s February Pedal of the Month is a really cool simplified take on the PLL Phase Locked Loop style circuit - where you have 3 Parallel Fuzzy Octaves that you have individual Level controls for. 

Controls - Root Frequency Level, 1 Octave Down Level, 2 Octaves Down Level.

I recommend you first explore each Octave separately, then in pairs, and finally try to find the optimal blend for all 3. All 3 dials on full is definitely too much!

Note that this is a very input sensitive pedal compared to some of the other PLL types - and really needs to be at the front of the chain - put the wrong pedal in front of it and it can totally choke out the Lillebjørn. This means it’s also sensitive to pickups - so you will probably get the best results with your neck pickup.

You get a cool squelchy / static-y synth-like fuzz - generated by the core CMOS chip. I really love the PLL format and have half a dozen pedals in that capsule collection to date - including a couple of Mantic Flex’s (Regular and Pro), the Beetronics Swarm, and the recent Acorn Amps ADHD. The Lillebjørn is the simplest to deploy of all of those - where you’re really just balancing octave fuzz output levels.

PLL style pedals are always something of an acquired taste, and most of the full-featured ones can be rather tricky to setup / dial in. Compared to that, operating the Lillebjørn is a breeze.

I encourage you to discover your own optimal blends - but will offer up a starting point for all 3 - where I like the dials set to 0 / Root @ 3 o’c, -1 @ 4 o’c, and -2 @ 12 o’c.

The Lillebjørn is a limited release - available for a relatively short period on the Fjord Fuzz Webstore for $150.

It’s not necessarily for everyone - like I said - PLL’s are typically something of an acquired taste, but for those that love the PLL format like I do - then this is another distinct and worthy entry into that arena!

How many of your are PLL fans?