All NOS Soviet transistors. Dense, harmonically rich fuzz. Core switch toggles between subtle fuzz and crushing saturation. Fission, Yield, Fallout — the knobs tell you everything. Brutal. Cold War. No apologies.
This is a 2-stage transistor fuzz built around NOS Soviet transistors. Not because it's trendy. Because the character is right — dense, harmonically complex, and unlike anything made with modern silicon.
The sound reference is thick, saturated alt-rock fuzz from the 90s. Think wall-of-sound guitars with sustain that goes on forever and harmonic content that sits in the mix without getting lost.
Most fuzz pedals focus on gain. This one focuses on waveform shape. The first stage produces a specific asymmetric waveform — fast attack, hard clip, slow return. That R-shaped wave is the character of the pedal.
The second stage is the primary fuzz engine. It takes that shaped wave and multiplies the harmonic content. The result is dense, chewy saturation with more complexity than standard symmetrical clipping.
Soviet-era transistors behave differently than modern parts. Higher gain, more leakage, less consistency from unit to unit. In most circuits, that's a problem. In a fuzz circuit, it's character.
The higher gain contributes to the asymmetric waveform in the first stage. The leakage affects the biasing and adds harmonic complexity. You can't get this sound with modern silicon. We've tried.
The Core switch changes the entire character of the pedal. It's not just "more" or "less" — it's two distinct voices.
In subtle mode, the fuzz is controlled and musical. You still get harmonic richness and sustain, but it's tighter, more defined, and sits in the mix without dominating.
This is for rhythm work, textured chords, or lead tones where you need clarity and note definition alongside the fuzz character.
Flip the switch and the fuzz goes deep. Dense, saturated, harmonically overwhelming. This is wall-of-sound territory — thick, chewy, sustained tones inspired by 90s alt-rock where the fuzz becomes the centerpiece of the sound.
This mode is for when you want the guitar to fill every frequency and sustain notes into infinity.
The Nuke started with a sonic goal: dense, harmonically rich fuzz that doesn't lose clarity in a full band mix. The kind of sound that fills every frequency but still lets individual notes cut through.
That sound lives in thick, saturated alt-rock guitar tones from the 90s. But recreating it isn't as simple as cranking the gain on a standard fuzz circuit.
The breakthrough came from focusing on waveform shape instead of raw gain. The first stage produces an asymmetric R-shaped wave — fast attack, hard clip, slow return. That shape defines the character. The second stage multiplies the harmonic content.
Soviet transistors made it work. Higher gain, more leakage, less consistency — all the things that make modern engineers cringe. But in a fuzz circuit, those "flaws" become character.
The Core switch came later, during breadboard testing. Subtle mode for controlled, musical fuzz. Crushing mode for when you want the guitar to take over completely. Two voices, one circuit, no compromises.