{"product_id":"allora-high-gain-darlington-fuzz","title":"Allora High-Gain Darlington Fuzz","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Allora has its beginnings in requests from players to make a higher-gain version of the Brute.\u003cspan\u003e \u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eTo explore this path I started experimenting with Darlington transistors.\u003cspan\u003e \u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eThese transistors have incredibly high Hfe measurements in the 10’s of thousands, as opposed to the low-to mid hundreds of normal transistors.\u003cspan\u003e \u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eI’m using two Darlington’s in the Allora, and this amount of gain required substantial reworking of the input, output, and Detail controls;\u003cspan\u003e \u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eas well as reconfiguring the overall transistor arrangement (BC108C, BC549, MPSA12’s, 2N5089).\u003cspan\u003e \u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eI also opened up the Bias control to increase gating so that you can control noise, or not!\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHowever, all of this experimentation and adjusting did not yield a “higher-gain version of the Brute,” it turned into -\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003esomething else.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eThe Allora is more compressed, wilder, ruder, feeds-back, sputters, sags, spits, woofs, growls, and even horns(?), like no other fuzz I make.\u003cspan\u003e \u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eSome settings remind me of a Muff, other settings remind me of a Buzzaround.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Allora LOVES to be paired with a loud amp, and the generous Output allows it to hit the front end of an amp pretty hard - unity is right around noon.\u003cspan\u003e \u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eThe Focus Toggle allows you to shave off some low-end to make it play nice with an already dirty amp channel.\u003cspan\u003e \u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eThe three-way Texture toggle has the following options:\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e1 - Silicon 1N914 diodes\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e2 - Blower (straight transistor tone)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e3 - Special\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe first setting uses diodes that Christopher from SHOE turned me on to.\u003cspan\u003e \u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eThey are common silicon diodes, but the breakup is nice and smooth with a little added compression.\u003cspan\u003e \u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eWe use these diodes on the Red Spiral.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe second Blower setting is something that I started doing on a few one-off that I have come to love.\u003cspan\u003e \u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eIt is just the straight raw tone of the transistors clipping.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe third setting is a part that I discovered that scoops a tiny bit of the lower-mids, this allows for a smoother tonal transition between fuzzy and “clean” when using the guitar volume knob.\u003cspan\u003e \u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eAt higher-gain this setting tends to resolve to the upper octave, which is great for feedback.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Allora sounds “hot” to me and for some reason that brings to mind the color orange.\u003cspan\u003e \u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eI found a nice coppery translucent orange powder-coat and shot that over a hand-brushed top.\u003cspan\u003e \u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eThere is a nice depth and texture in it that changes with the light.\u003cspan\u003e \u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eWe paired the top with some sweet custom smoky purple Deco Wedge knobs hand-made by my wife Dawn.\u003cspan\u003e \u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eI designed some simple laser-cut graphics that don’t interfere with the top colour\/texture and the knobs.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA note or two about the expanded Bias control:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI increased the range on the bias to help control some of the inherent noise that comes with the increased gain of the Darlington transistors.\u003cspan\u003e \u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eRight around 2:00 on the Bias you can hear the gating kick-in and the noise floor is drastically improved.\u003cspan\u003e \u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eIf the gating cuts-off your sustain too abruptly, try moving the Bias back just a little, you will find a sweet-spot depending upon your guitar pickups that is a good balance between gating and sustain.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOr you can just mess with the Bias to find all kinds of crazy sounds, noise be damned!\u003cspan\u003e \u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eFor horn-like sounds where your pick attack is completely removed, try the 4:00 range on the Bias.\u003cspan\u003e \u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eFor aggressive, more OD-ish sounds keep the Bias in the 11:00 range.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIronically, one of my favorite settings on the Allora is lower-gain.\u003cspan\u003e \u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eSet the Output in the 3:00 range so it acts like a boost, then bring up the Gain and Bias to around 10:00-11:00 to “fill-out” the sound.\u003cspan\u003e \u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eThis setting sounds phenomenal with an amp channel that is on the verge of break-up.\u003cspan\u003e \u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eI use this setting a lot on both my AC30 and Thunderverb 50 to get a great clear rhythm grind.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo sum up, the Allora is a bit different from the fuzzes I normally gravitate to.\u003cspan\u003e \u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eIt isn’t “open” or “transparent” in any way.\u003cspan\u003e \u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eIt wants to do what it wants to do, and you kind of have to ride the wave.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Spiral Electric FX","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50963032604927,"sku":null,"price":272.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0844\/1023\/7183\/files\/SpiralAllora.jpg?v=1794181208","url":"https:\/\/maxvanta.shop\/products\/allora-high-gain-darlington-fuzz","provider":"Clearbrook Goods","version":"1.0","type":"link"}