What made me come up with the Mohair Fuzztortion? Well, after I designed the Groovy Wizard, which was all about open, dynamic, touch-sensitive, non-compressed response, I wanted to do something higher gain with some sweet compression for endless sustain leads and riffing. The Groovy Wizard was the pedal I always wished existed. And it came out so wide-ranging from clean to drive to fuzz that I could explore ideas that were maybe not as “versatile”, but more special purpose.
While I was considering circuit topologies to use I was reminded of another thought I had years ago. See, I was never really a big fan of the American four-transistor circuit, the BMP. It often felt like playing through a brick wall limiter redlined so that there was zero dynamic response. But I had always wondered - could I come up with a version of the BMP that I actually liked? I decided to take a stab at it.
I started by refreshing my memory on all the versions of the circuit, both from the original company and also versions by other builders. I just wanted to survey the range of what had been done before. I wasn’t out to make a clone of any particular version. My goal instead was to take the basic circuit and work with it and tune it until I liked it. So I then put up the basic circuit on the breadboard and started exploring every nook and cranny of it to see what made it tick. I explored transistor types, bias points, capacitor values and types, clipping diodes, power rail circuits, tone stacks, and more. And I kept at it until I arrived at something I liked. And what I ended up with, while not doing the epic clean-up like with the Groovy Wizard, what I ended up with breathed and had a bounce to its dynamic response. I realized when I was done that what I ended with was somewhat close to the ram’s head spec, in terms of bias, coupling caps, and tone stack. Now, the tone stack is one area where there is a lot of potential for doing something different. But after tuning the circuit by ear, I landed very close to those classic values for the tone stack. It gave a tone that could get that sustain-y, synth-y lead tone with the big bass and treble response and slight scoop in the mids.
I was liking where I was with the circuit. It was sounding like a more refined, polished, and open version of the classic. But, I could see in certain musical contexts it could also have some of the classic drawbacks of the BMP - namely, getting lost in the mix and having a slow, legato response. I considered many possible solutions to this but I also didn’t want to compromise that classic feel and response. And then it dawned on me - what if I put a booster in front to fill in those mids that get scooped out later? And what better circuit to use for that purpose than the Rangemaster treble-booster circuit?! So I added another stage to the front of the main circuit and tuned it specifically to boost it. I added a high-pass control that varied the frequency response of the booster going from tightened lows and blazing midrange harmonics all the way to a full range boost to make things super thick with virtually endless sustain. Now I had a circuit that would rip through any mix and allowed you riff and palm mute as fast as you wanted.
Wait, what if I put a foot switch for the booster stage? Then I could have the fat, vocal, legato response and with a stomp of the switch go to raging harmonics and blazing speed picking. So that’s what I did!
I ended up with a pedal that was simple - four knobs, two footswitches, but with a super wide range of tones and playing responses available while still retaining an open quality with a bounce to the dynamics. Awesome. I didn’t have a name in mind though and we decided to do a YouTube naming contest. We got close to a thousand suggestions and out of all that we decided on the name Mohair. When I saw that suggestion I knew it was perfect. Mohair is a type of wool from the Angora goat known for it’s luxurious and refined qualities. And that’s exactly what my goal was with this pedal - to make a luxurious and refined take on a classic circuit. Plus, this pedal gives your guitar mo’ hair!
Thanks for reading this and I hope you take the chance to check out the Mohair Fuzztortion. I’m super happy with how it came out and it is a blast to play.
Peace, sisters and brothers,
Howard
