Unleash the fuzz.” This motif could be the company motto of Black Arts Toneworks, a brand that specialises in producing rich, dark growls from the depths of a guitar player’s heart. Black Arts Toneworks themselves claim to have their pedals firmly rooted in the DNA of “classic fuzz” but with a few surprises added to the repertoire.
The basic premise of Black Arts was to bring to guitarists, and bassists, a pedal that could increase gain while emphasising the essential tone of both instrument and amp, without excessive dulling of the sound and the ability to control clipping. In effect, to maintain the gain so the amp takes the strain.
In their fourth year of trading, Black Arts Toneworks have announced a redesign of the artwork. Although not in any way enhancing the sound, fresh aesthetic touches are an added bonus to the BAT product line.
Of the range of OD, distortion and fuzz BAT produce, it was the Pharaoh that brought them to the attention of the world’s guitarists.
The Pharaoh’s twist was diode selection. It enabled switching between bypass, silicon and Geranium diodes, each with a distinctive focus between warm and tubey, to harsh and raspy. While a wide range signal cap allowed the depth of the instrument’s tone to shine without getting lost in the mix.
The advantage of diode selection is something taken into other pedals from BAT and if guitarists are to be believed, gives the dualfuzz models or pedals like the Pharaoh their prime selling point.
The Pharaoh has unequivocally proved its mettle and still stands as one of the best fuzz pedals available – no mean feat for a reasonably new and small independent company. Keen to capitalize on the success of the Pharaoh, BAT went on to design and build an eclectic set of FX pedals to suit most styles of players.
With names appropriate to a Black Sabbath album and sounds to match, BAT have taken fuzz and distortion from highly controlled maximum destruction for doom laden rhythm sections, to the more simple “Ritual” which claims purity and no nonsense, allowing the guitar to do most of the work.
What BAT ultimately realised, is that guitarists want fun from their fuzz. The BAT’s have this in abundance. There is a touch of humour behind the artwork and a touch of play woven into the dark and moody world of BAT fuzz.
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