Gimme Five

Walrus Audio adds to its Five-State range of overdrive and distortion effects with this quintet of fuzzes in one box

- Trevor Curwen 

Third in the series of Walrus Audio’s Five-State pedals, the Eons fuzz follows the Ages overdrive and the Era distortion, which offer five different gain states and five distortion modes respectively. Adopting the same basic format, a five-way mode switch gives you distinct variations on the fuzz effect, which can be tweaked with an array of five knobs. Volume, Gain, Bass and Treble controls may be standard kit in a dirt pedal, but the secret weapon here is the fifth knob, which can adjust the pedal’s operating voltage, starving the circuit from 18 volts down to a ‘battery-on-its-last-legs’ three volts.

 Mode 1 delivers a traditional silicon fuzz that can be smooth and sustain-y, and features plenty of leeway for focusing the overall sound via the two tone knobs, plus loads more via the voltage knob. Lowering it moves things from the wide-open sound to extreme spitty and gated but with plenty of subtle variation to be explored along the way. Mode II features a bass boost at the front-end of the circuit, offering a quite different take on silicon fuzz, with loads of extra girth if you need it. The tonal territory covered here makes this a viable substitute for situations where you’d reach for a Big Muff.