The Black Arts Toneworks Crown of Horns is the odd one out in the Black Arts family. It shares DNA with two of the brand’s best-known fuzzes, but ends up sounding like neither of them exactly!
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Key Features
- Op-amp based Muff-style fuzz circuit
- Hybrid tone section drawing on both the Pharaoh and LSTR circuits
- Horns switch bypasses the tone stack entirely for a huge, flat volume boost
- True bypass, no battery connection
- Low current draw, typical of a simple analogue fuzz circuit
Between Two Fuzzes
Black Arts’ Pharaoh is the more utilitarian, middy fuzz in the range, and the LSTR is the wilder, more scooped alternative. The Crown of Horns sits deliberately between the two, built around an op-amp Muff heart with a hybrid tone section pulling from both circuits — not quite as middy as the Pharaoh, not quite as scooped as the LSTR.
What sets it apart is the Horns switch. Rather than a standard tone or voicing control, it bypasses the tone stack completely for a huge, flat volume boost. How that behaves depends heavily on your amp — some setups will give you a straightforward loud clean boost, others push into fat, saturated territory. It rewards experimentation with your specific rig rather than behaving the same way for everyone.
Controls:
- Load (Dirt/Gain): Adjusts the amount of fuzz/distortion and harmonic saturation.
- Tone: Active tilt-style EQ for boosting or cutting treble/bass.
- Mids: Offers substantial mid-range cut or boost.
- Level (Volume): Controls overall output volume to match or boost your amp.
- Horns Switch (Footswitch/Toggle): Bypasses the tone stack completely for a flat, massive volume boost or heavy amp-interactive saturation.
- On/Off Footswitch: True-bypass engagement switch
Power
Runs on a standard 9V DC supply, no battery connection. Current draw isn’t published by the manufacturer, but as a simple analogue fuzz circuit it draws very little.
Who Is This For
Worth a look if you’ve tried a Muff-style fuzz before and want something that sits in its own space tonally, with a genuinely useful extra trick in the Horns switch rather than just another gain stage.
Watch The Crown Of Horns In Action
FAQs
It’s an op-amp based Muff-style fuzz that sits tonally between the Pharaoh and LSTR, with a Horns switch that bypasses the tone stack for a huge, flat volume boost.
A standard 9V DC supply. There’s no battery connection. Current draw is low, typical of a simple analogue fuzz circuit.
True bypass.
It bypasses the tone stack entirely for a huge, flat volume boost. The result depends on your amp, ranging from a big clean volume boost to a slab of fat saturation.
The Crown of Horns uses a hybrid tone section pulling from both circuits, sitting between the Pharaoh’s mid-focused voicing and the LSTR’s more scooped sound.
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