Mike Verala Adds a Second Killer Fuzz to the ToneTuga FX Range - the Salvage Fuzz - made from spare parts!

I’ve just recently taken delivery of my own Salvage Fuzz - Organic variety (as pictured above right). Much like with the Reeves Electro BlackHatSound it took me a while to decide on the colour scheme - and I was eventually split between the Shade and Organic variants before coming down in favour of the latter.

Mike describes this as very much his Pandemic Fuzz - where limited parts supply because of Covid restrictions - led him to make best use of what he already had in his parts bins - which wasn’t all exactly stellar in nature.

In fact the Transistors used on this occasion had a predisposition to being rather ’weak sauce’ in nature until you fed the signal back in on itself. So via serendipitous means we have a great example of the genre I call fuzzy-drive - with excellent Overdrive voicings with the Fuzz/Gain dial set before mid-way - and more saturated and fuzzy tones after noon.

This is a loud and bright-leaning fuzz which has a tremendous amount of variety and flexibility in tones - especially courtesy of those Low and High pots. The Salvage rightly made its way into my Best of 2020 Fuzz selection, and it’s a great rotation fuzz for me - both on slots #5 and #12 of the pedal-chain. It’s just really versatile and bends well to will!

Actually I’ve also long wanted the Gilmourish Prysm/Prism Fuzz too (pictured above left) - based on the tones of Pink Floyd’s Comfortably Numb - which means EHX Ram’s Head variety. While it’s not like I really need any more Big Muffs - but the combination of that artwork and those tones is something I still find somewhat appealing.

Note that my preference here is for the V1 artwork - for which there are relatively few still in circulation - perhaps Mike can be persuaded to do another run of those artworks - or else I’m just back to stalking Reverb.com.

Mike also has a couple of overdrives worth checking out - various editions of his distinct Clockwork Multidriver, and newer ’Clear’ Songbird Overdrive too. I’m not so enamoured by the larger Delphine Delay - as I always take my Delays in Stereo - as befits my signal chain!

Definitely some interesting outliers here versus the mainstream - and most with distinctively appealing graphics. Most are still available via the ToneTuga FX Webstore - with most of the compact pedals around the $165 - which is good value.

Note also that part of the ToneTuga proceeds go towards Sea Turtle Conservation - so for decent folks - another reason to source your pedals from Mike.