TWA
KRYTICAL MASS® - reactive octave fuzz
KRYTICAL MASS® - reactive octave fuzz
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Reactive Octave Fuzz
- Fuzz circuit inspired by vintage Maestro Bass Brassmaster
- Pronounced upper octave harmonic AND subtle lower harmonic
- Filter-like sweeps on long notes
- Super tight muting without a noise gate!
- Selectable HP, LP, and BP filters with adjustable midrange
- Bias Voltage adjustment
- Edge control
- Transformer polarity switch
Read the Guitar Pedal X review now
Prepare for meltdown with the KM-01 Krytical Mass®!
Based on the coveted Maestro Bass Brassmaster, Krytical Mass® was born from exhaustive critical analysis into the inner workings of that Holy Grail device and the few noble attempts that have been made to clone it.
Krytical Mass® spits out fat, formidable fuzz with a pronounced octave up as well as a more subtle octave down and a scorching, filter-like sweep on sustained notes. Muted notes will “kill” the fuzz with almost gate-like precision, yielding a super-tight, synth-like pulse that is simply addictive to play.
Where other replicas tend to be harsh and sterile sounding, Krytical Mass® is able to capture the aggressive yet warm & organic edge of the original Brassmaster using a unique complement of EQ and voltage manipulation controls.
One of the great mysteries of the Brassmaster is its unmarked transformer and how it was wound. Analysis suggests that this component may have actually been wired with negative polarity, so Krytical Mass® includes a switch to toggle between positive & negative phase wirings for additional tonal options.
Another unique feature of Krytical Mass® is the ability to adjust the bias voltage of the transistors to taste, accentuating either 2nd order harmonics for more lows or higher-order harmonics for more complex waveform content.
Also on board are selectable High Pass, Low Pass, and Band Pass filters with adjustable midrange to fine-tune Krytical Mass® to your particular tonal tastes.
Set off your own nuclear chain reaction with Krytical Mass®—only from Totally Wycked Audio®!
*Please note, like all TWA Pedals, the Krytical Mass® will be manufactured in a limited batch of 100. Unfortunately we are unable to predict exactly when/if a next batch will be manufactured, however if these sell out quickly, we will definitely be making more soon!
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As a preface: nobody pays me to do reviews or sends me pedals; I purchase them all myself because I love collecting them.
The Krytical Mass has an unbelievably pleasant sound that somehow manages to be aggressive and snarling in the lower registers of the guitar, yet smooth and almost horn-like when playing single notes higher on the neck. Solo sounds ring through with a synthesizer-esque smoothness and an absolutely glorious midrange that is both authoritative and elegant. This becomes far more apparent when cascading the fuzz into an amp’s dirty channel (which is how I use almost all of my fuzzes); when run directly into the clean channel, the KM still sounds great, but slamming a distorted amp results in a tone with an amazingly “squishy” feel under the fingers and a heavy, menacing tonality that would be impossible to ignore in a mix. I have always shied away from upper-octave fuzzes, as they usually provide a sound that I am not much a fan of, but in the case of the KM, the upper octave seems perfectly dialed in; it is not abrasive or excessive, and instead lends a subtle grind to chords and a phantom screech to sustained notes. Perhaps the fact that the unit pays tribute to a circuit originally conceived for bass guitar explains the subtle and pleasing “Octavia” sound that is far from overbearing.
In summary: do yourself a favor and check this thing out. Heavy metal and licks reminiscent of “Cliffs of Dover” can both be achieved without changing a knob. Wow.