![]() Luckily, there’s a footswitch marked ‘expand’ that can lift us right out of the gloom. This might be a handy foundation on which to layer a bunch of other guitar tracks, but on its own it feels too muffled to be of much use. It’s also very dark and woolly, even with the tone at maximum. As expected, it’s big and fluffy, even with the sustain at minimum. So, first up it’s the basic fuzz sound with no fancy stuff added. Right, shall we whip out the old Les Paul and start running through those old blues-rock riffs? Nah, don’t worry: my trusty first-year AVRI Jazzmaster is ready for action, and I’ve got my hand resting on the trem ready for those woozy chord bends. If you care about manufacturing origins, this one is made in China too with just the final assembly happening in the USA.įender Shields Blender logo. The F-topped skirted knobs look suitably retro, as does the textured black vinyl around the footswitches. If you have a problem with that, you’re nuts.Īll those acres of aluminium make for a fairly heavy unit, and the Shields Blender does feel moderately sturdy if not exactly reeking of high-end quality. One more significant update from the 1968 design is that this time the guitar input is on right and the amp output on the left, just as they are on virtually every other guitar pedal in the universe these days. There’s a perfectly good explanation for this, and it’s… no, sorry, there isn’t, it’s nuts. But the real oddity here is that, while three of them have little red LEDs that light up when engaged, the down-octave’s LED is orange/red when it’s bypassed and turns white when it’s on. The footswitches are not in any way aligned with the knobs, which is confusing from the off. Then, moving leftwards, we find a pair of dials for the voltage sag – amount of sag and trigger level – and finally, another pair for the down-octave, letting us adjust its output level and fuzziness. The four controls of the original Blender, as listed above, are found on the right half of the unit, along with the (rather cramped) octave button. But while the markings on the central control panel are not about to win any design awards for clarity, you will master it quickly enough – the trick is to divide the knobs into three groups.įender Shields Blender central control panel. ![]() ![]() If that’s starting to sound like a complicated stompbox, it most certainly is. You also get a push-button switch for engaging the up-octave circuit. As well as replicating the controls of the original 1968 unit – volume, sustain, tone and blend, with the second footswitch engaging a treble boost – this version adds a switchable down-octave and a voltage sag circuit for, according to Fender, “imploding fuzz tones”. This, then, could be more than just a shortcut to the ‘wall of noise’ fuzz tones that defined MBV’s mature sound (don’t listen to the early stuff, it’s terrible). The pedal is the first bit of guitar kit Shields has ever put his name to, and it’s based on his own vintage Fender Blender – only with four footswitches instead of two, and eight control knobs instead of four. However, Fender has recently announced a non-limited version that’s identical bar the pen-scribble and is made in China, and $200 cheaper. The unit we have is made in the USA, hand-signed by the man himself, and limited to just 700 units worldwide. That’s what Fender is offering with its Shields Blender, an octave fuzz pedal designed in collaboration with the man himself. READ MORE: Kevin Shields – “Fender were the first brand to ever really ask me to do a signature pedal”.
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