Deviltone summons the Jezebel fuzz
Deviltone is the product of Pearland, Texas-based one-man show Eric Dolch. Eric’s story is a lot like many small scale effects builders and, ironically, sappy baseball movies – If you build it, they will come. What Eric built was the Jezebel fuzz – a salute to the classic Fuzzface that has a penchant for cleaning up like no other pedal I’ve encountered. While Eric makes both silicon and germanium Jezebel models, the one I had to review was silicon-based. Given our proximity and fact that we bump into each other from time to time at shows and fests and such, I managed to coax Eric into letting me borrow a Jezebel and put it through its paces.
No fancy packaging or instructions with this one. Eric handed me the Jezebel (#6, I believe) in a purple Crown Royal felt bag. The pedal is hand-wired – like all Deviltone stomps – and sports a burgundy mist and cream custom paint job. The controls are pretty straight forward. Two knobs – Volume and Fuzz, and the on/off switch. This Jezebel was minus an LED, but Eric did say he planned to add one later. Most of his other Jezebels have them.
To the pedal… first with the Strat (neck pickup), the Volume on the Jezebel is at noon, while the Fuzz knob is dimed. About mid-way through this jangle, I will roll back the volume knob on the guitar slightly to let you hear the clean up. Hear we go… first clean, then the fuzz…
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The fuzz gives off a thick, meaty tone that really soaks into the single coils of the Strat. I love that you can still hear the signature Strat chime just beneath the wall of fuzz. The clean up is fairly dramatic, not gradual, when you pull back on the guitar’s volume. This can be tweaked however via an internal trim pot if desired.
Switching to the Les Paul, with the Volume at 3 o’clock and the Fuzz around 1 o’clock, I launch into the riff that launched a thousand bands… or at least one very small Stonehenge monument. Clean first, then… am gonna rock ya!
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Rolling back the fuzz, the Jezebel still gives good growl through the humbuckers of the Les Paul.
Finally, jumping back to the Strat (bridge pickup), the knobs are both pegged on this simple chord progression. Clean first… then the Jezebel!
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The Deviltone Jezebel is a very responsive and creamy fuzz with a clean up that adds a cool benefit to folks like me that can get their feet crossed easily dancing across a pedalboard to switch things on and off. I really dug the dimed tone of the Jezebel, both for single coils and humbuckers – smooth and chunky all at once. If you are in the market for a Fuzz Face-style stomp and don’t have the green to drop on the original, shoot Eric an e-mail and see if he can hook you up with a Deviltone Jezebel. In fact, as of this writing, the very one reviewed is for sale for $200. Get it. You won’t regret it. That’s my opinion anyway… your mileage may very.
PLEASE NOTE: All YMMV Review clips are played through a Reverend Hellhound 40/60 combo amp with 1×12 extension cab. No reverb or other effects were added to the clips. Guitars used in this review include a 1979 Gibson Les Paul Custom and a 1998 Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster.
