BLAMMO! Electronics L.A. Square Face Pedal
The L.A. Square Face is our head nod to the most beloved/famous patron of L.A.’s Rainbow Room by way of the classic Diaz Texas Square Face made by Cesar Diaz, a guitar player and tech to the stars. As you might have guessed, the Texas Square Face was based on the Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face but used a different brand and style of transistors had a bit more output volume and was housed in a smaller square-shaped enclosure. Stevie Ray Vaughn was known for using one, which is half the reason they command such high prices today, but also because they sound really darn good with a Strat.
BLAMMO! Electronics L.A. Square Face Pedal Review
The BLAMMO! version is similar to the original but not exactly the same. We swapped out the clicky 3PDT style footswitch for a much quieter relay-based soft switching system that is set up in a true bypass fashion. The power filtering has been beefed up a bit to help hush and smooth out some of the background hiss, and we’ve moved the jacks from the side to the top of the enclosure to help save space on your pedalboard. As for similarities, all the capacitor values are the same, and the NTE103 germanium transistors for the red version are too, though they are newly manufactured instead of being new-old-stock, which in this case is a good thing because the new versions have a much higher gain (between 400 – 650 HFE) resulting in a rattier, blown out voicing. Kinda splatty and gated compared to that classic, smooth woolly sound the FF and its counterparts are known for. A quality I think any Motorhead fan would approve of.
But if you’re more into that vintage sound, the blue version that uses BC108b silicon transistors might be more your thing. True, they have a higher gain than the ones used in a standard Fuzz Face (250-400hfe instead of the 80-110hfe range), but in this case, the sound is still very familiar. It even responds the same when dialing back on the guitar's volume knob, but the overall tone has a bit more crunch to it when everything is dimmed. And think of the Hybrid as a mix between the two that leans more toward the silicon side in terms of function and sound.
BLAMMO! Electronics L.A. Square Face Pedal Specs
- True Bypass
- Relay based soft-switching
- Audio grade Nichicon capacitors
- Carbon comp resistors
- Teflon coated wiring
- Top mounted jacks
- BC108b transistors in Silicon version w/ green LED
- NTE103 transistors in Germanium version w/ red LED
- Accepts the standard 2.1mm center negative 9-volt DC adapter
- Current draw: 32ma
- Handmade with love in Portland, Oregon
BLAMMO! Electronics L.A. Square Face Pedal Warranty
BLAMMO! Electronics will fix it and make it right if something is wrong with your pedal. If there are signs of wear and tear or neglect, it will probably have a small repair cost. Reach out to us for more information.
