Xploration • Curation • Recommendation
SHOKR Pedals unleashes its first-born circuit - the smart KRUSH FuzzVerb Shoegazer style combination - with a Muff on one side and a saturating PT2399 Belton Brick Reverb on the other
Key Points
SHOKR Pedals — founded by Newbridge, Ireland’s Dan O’Shaugnessy (formerly A-51 EFX) — debuts the KRUSH Fuzz-Verb, a shoegaze-oriented two-in-one pedal pairing a 4 × 2N5089 Big Muff–style fuzz (inspired by Green Russian Muff and DBA Fuzz War) with a triple-PT2399 Belton Brick “spring” style reverb that adds an Overdrive/saturation control for gritty, textured tails. The fuzz side offers Fuzz/Sustain, Tone and Volume with a footswitch; the reverb side provides Dry/Wet Mix, Overdrive/Saturation/Grit and a reverb footswitch. You can’t run reverb into fuzz internally, but the two sides pair extremely well and create complex, searing shoegaze textures. The pedal ships in a roomy enclosure with distinctive artwork; initial batch (7 units at time of writing) is available from SHOKR’s webstore for €170 / $198 / £149. Overall—a strong, well-priced first release with a compelling sound for shoegaze and fuzz fans.
SHOKR Pedals is Newbridge, Ireland native Dan O’Shaugnessy - who has previous form with his earlier A-51 EFX brand - which consisted of pedals like the Uranus Boost, Plasmodial Slime Bass Overdrive, and Warped Worm Distortion.
He felt he had kind of boxed himself in a little with the A-51 EFX Brand, and wanted to pivot in a different fresher, and more modern direction. So it made sense to launch a new brand - SHOKR Pedals - for which the KRUSH Fuzz-Verb is its launch pedal.
What you have here is a 4 x 2N5089 Fuzz voicing - which mostly takes inspiration from the Green Russian Muff, but also from DBA’s Fuzz War circuit. So the Muff-like voicing here is pretty ’Krushing’ and searing.
On the other side we have a Brian Neunaber style Belton Brick Spring style Reverb - which essentially consists of a triple PT2399 array. For the Krush Pedal - it is imbued with the additional ’Overdrive’ control - which adds saturation and gritty texture to the reverb - which of course combines superbly with the core Fuzz voicing.
This is very much a Shoegazer style pedal - while it doesn’t give you the ability to run Reverb into Fuzz - as is often popular for that genre. But more than makes up for that with its complex textured output.
What you do get is two incredibly compatible and complementary sides - which each enhances the output of the other.
This a very strong first release from said SHOKR brand!
Controls - MUFF } Fuzz / Sustain, Tone, Volume, Fuzz Footswitch; BB REVERB } Dry>Wet Mix, Overdrive / Saturation / Grit, Reverb Footswitch.
As of the time of writing - there are 7 of these available from the very first batch on the SHOKR Pedals Webstore - where they’re going for €170 / $198 / £149 and equivalent - which is very decent value.
Definitely one that goes on the list!
I would of course have preferred for this circuit to come in a more compact edition - while I can appreciate that the form factor is actually pretty perfect for this pedal. And features a really cool artwork - which inspired me to find an amethyst crystal for the background.
I love seeing new brands putting their best foot forward from the start - and this is a fine addition to the pedal scene! Looks and sounds great!
Demos
