Xploration • Curation • Recommendation
My Airline Dirty Birdy Fuzz has landed - it is indeed very aptly named for its unusual mix of hairy dirt and smooth sustain!
After my earlier Dirty Birdy overview article - where I complained of the seemingly excessive international shipping fees. The very genial Pete from Airline Guitars reached out to me and asked me for advice on what the shipping costs to the UK should be. I shared with him the shipping costs of the last 4 pedals I had acquired from North America - where those ranged from around $25 to $50 - with the median values mostly around the $50 mark.
Shortly afterwards Pete replied that they had adjusted the UK shipping down to just a flat rate of $32 to anywhere in the UK - which is very reasonable indeed. This means that it will cost you just $99 + $32 - which amounts to £75 + £24 - or £99 - which is indeed exceptional value!
Pete gave me a choice of Dirty Birdy variant and I selected the Vintage Pastels as my favourite edition - you can see all the options below in my original visual :
As mentioned, this Dirty Birdy fuzz generates an unusual combination of hairy grit and smooth sustain - a little like you get on some filter fuzzes. Overall the profile can tend toward thin. The EQ is kind of a see-saw Dark > Bright, while I feel this pedal would benefit from a Spectrum tone stack or even separate Bass and Treble EQ's.
I noted that there was a trim-pot accessible when you pop the back of the pedal - that's all you see - the hole! As it's a reverse-board circuit - meaning all the components are hidden from view, and that trimmer is actually relatively difficult to adjust - even with the right micro screw-driver. I wound it fully clockwise and got a lot more sustain, and a lot less hair. It's obviously some kind of Bias pot - and the way I applied it gave me a smoother more sustaining output which I feel I prefer.
The volume output of the fuzz could be improved - as I have that constantly maxed out, and it's not close in output level to any of the other fuzzes currently on the board - which are in double figures.
Also there is a fair amount of gain cleanup via your guitar volume - while it's not quite Fuzz Face level - and you still end up with a slight trace of dirt in the signal.
Dirty Birdy Controls - Level, Tone, Thrust (Fuzz).
As far as I'm concerned this is a somewhat adapted fuzz - it doesn't to that full-on sear, and never fully opens up - while it has a fairly wide range of tones and textures.
I feel it's particularly suitable for those fuzzy-drive tones - as much of what it delivers falls under that genre for me. You need to crank the Thrust up quite high - to 3 o'c and beyond to get to that violin-esque singing tone.
I mostly like the Thrust @ 3 o'c or Max, Level @ Max, and Tone @ circa 1-2 o'c. If you crank up the Tone too much the output gets too thin for me. I'm never quite 100% happy with where the Tone control takes me!
I have also taken to using the Mid Boost from the CTC Triptychon - which is right at the start of my chain - that adds more sear and volume to the Dirty Birdy - and really perfects its output!
Generally I quite like to have it fully cranked - and then use my Guitar Volume knob to temper the output of the Fuzz.
It's a really cool fuzz for sure - not your typical fuzz by any means - where at its core it has quite a unique character - while when I've fully adjusted and boosted its output it sounds more like Big Muff territory - which it certainly isn't by default - it is as I've said - a unique combination of hairy grit and smooth sustain with a foot very much in the drive / fuzzy-drive camp!
The Dirty Birdy is $99 for Americans, and £99 for Brits via the Airline Guitars Webstore - with shipping included in that price - see my maths at the start of this article!
Demos
