The Roger Mayer Spitfire is the latest fuzz guitar effect in the Rocket Series and has been
deliberately designed to produce the classic triode tube type distortion that is
particularly rich in harmonics that are very musical and pleasing to the ears. This
basically means that chords can be used at high levels of distortion without sounding
raucous or just plain nasty, as would be the case with other types of fuzz boxes. The
Spitfire maintains the guitar's original tone characteristics with the open sound, detail
and sonic heritage that have their roots in my association with the making of Jimi's
recordings. I have added a few new design twists and coupled with my extensive knowledge
from the retro fuzz and distortion boxes we already produce have come up with a new
sounding modern distortion/ fuzz sound that does indeed sound fresh and distinctive and
not just another boring reissue or clone of a 30 year old design. It has definite
advantages that will appeal to those players who strive for a modern sound with strong
roots in the past. The Spitfire is a very Low Noise analogue high gain design, stable,
free from radio and other electronic interference that cause so much trouble. It has a
greatly increased output level that enables it to overdrive the front end of any amp very
hard. Turning up the Gain or Drive control will produce feedback at very low sound levels
and a virtually never ending sustain that is very full and tight with the top end staying
sweet encouraging soaring string bends and wild solos. The overall EQ has been carefully
developed to produce a well-rounded fatness and musical tone, not the nasal or fizzy thin
type of fuzz sound that is common with digital modellers, multi effects etc. Analogue
circuitry really does sound better when it comes to high gain low noise situations; there
is no contest. The unit really comes into it's own during live performance situations as
it cleans up superbly well using the guitar volume control whilst maintaining the guitar's
original tone as the signal goes from wild distortion to the original guitar tone. This
effective control from the guitar makes life a great deal easier for the live player who
likes to change tone effortlessly from his axe. The Spitfire even when used at high gain
levels maintains a very clean transition from note to note that is transparent and free
from the usual nasty type of spitting sounds heard so often when the signal decays and a
new note begins. This of courses encourages fast solos with lots of sustain that actually
sound louder due to the fact that the spaces between the note are not filled up with mush
and noise. The circuit senses and uses electronic information fed directly from the
guitar's pickups to control it's own operational parameters and it is recommended to use
the Spitfire 1st in the signal processing chain to take full advantage of this internal
feedforward feature. It is this particular feature of the Spitfire that that helps to make
it quite different from early fuzz pedals and makes the unit respond very well to each
individual players touch, style and playing technique. Five minutes playing with the
Spitfire will convince anyone this is not just a re-hashed design but genuinely innovative
with some new tone colours.
The unit comes in the very rugged Rocket housing and features Hard Wire Bypass and an
attractive and striking Signal Red paint finish. It has two controls: Output Level, Drive
or Gain and is powered by an internal 9 Volt battery with an operational life of over
150Hrs so changing a battery should not be a problem. An external power supply (not
supplied) can be used. Successful operation is simple and is probably our easiest box to
use with no previous knowledge or study of a manual required. |
