If you’re interested in a full-scale review of this fine piece of equipment, and you have a few minutes to spare, then here you go. This is a rad piece that combines three very cool circuits and throws them in sequence together, rendering a lot of unique tonal possibilities. If you’ve got the dime, then it’s well worth it to get you some gear from Heavy Electronics.

(While you're reading, go check out the Heavy Electronics Facebook page, and if you are of the more traditional school of browsing the internets, go to the Heavy Electronics website.)

Okay, so first off, the pedal itself is constructed flawlessly. Knobs turn smoothly, inputs have a snug connection, footswitches have a nice, snappy click. Even with the controls for three separate pedals on the face of a single unit, nothing feels crowded, everything has room to move and clear without giving you arthritis. The Grind Fuzz (the right-most unit) has an extra knob on top that is normally on the side—even this does not get in the way of the functionality of the pedal.

It’s sturdy, heavy, and made from durable components. The LED’s are bright. Cosmetically, I love what Sayer did with the concept I presented. We kicked a few ideas around and even talked about some actual graphics concepts, but in the end I kept wanting to have a box that was plain and non-descript. It’s barely noticeable, but that is what draws attention to it. Even when I picked it up at the guitar store, I walked in on the middle of a conversation between two of the shop guys trying to figure out just what in the heck this black box was. This is a good time to give a nod to Sayer’s instincts on this. My initial idea and the one I stuck to the most was a completely non-painted enclosure, and we had talked about having a metal nameplate riveted to it with the HE logo. I was pretty adamant about wanting a flat, grey, unfinished box. Sayer suggested a black box and told me some of the ideas he had for it, knowing that I wanted an industrial look. He won me over right at the last minute, and I must say that I am glad that he did. The brushed look is actually quite beautiful, and the metal flecks that dotted the holes around the switches touch it off nicely with a little glimmer. I realize none of this matters to the functionality of the pedal, but I only bring it up as a testament to Sayer’s creative input in the process. And I say this as a person with an art degree: Sayer has a mind for understanding what you want, and an eye for pulling it off.

Oh, and a lifetime warranty.

Now to the sound of the pedal itself. I will begin by saying that as far as technical knowledge goes, I know very little. I do know how things sound and how to explain that. I do not know what magics in the box that make it sound cool. Also, the most appropriate adjective for the three circuits on this pedal is “RESPONSIVE.” Onward.

The right most set is the Grind Fuzz. The top two knobs are your basic Level and Gain knobs, the switch in between them adds a lot of harmonic overtones, and the little knob is a voltage sag. The switch is most noticeable with the sag cranked fully clockwise (a nice touch is that the green LED gets brighter the more you crank the knob.) This is not a fuzz the way you think of an EHX Big Muff Pi. It doesn’t sound as “modern,” and is more reminiscent of some of the 60s and 70s fuzz circuits. Dialed down, the GF gives some rad overdrive—cranked and it’s got a lot of chime. The hotter my tubes get, the more unruly the GF gets, and in a good way. What that means is that it becomes very responsive when the amp gets nice and warmed up, so the pedal becomes more versatile the more you dig into it.

The middle is the Hwy 77 distortion pedal. Also responsive, and very straightforward. This is also a LOUD circuit, and the best part is the little knob in between the Level and Gain knobs. I’ve played a lot of pedals that have a “Tone” or “Voice” knob similar to this one. Never have I played one that has such a broad sweep of tone. It goes from a very beefy, warm, almost subdued tone to a sharp, hot, and alive sound. And sustain, my goodness. It almost works as a compressor, it lengthens your notes so well. From a personal standpoint, this is probably the best pedal for lead work because you can get a tone that not only stands out in the mix, but it fills up the space without adding noise.

The left most pedal is the Red Eyes overdrive. The two little LED’s above the switch light up the harder you play, a nice touch. This is also a pretty straightforward circuit, but again with the responsiveness. The overdrive is never muddy, so you can pretty much give it all you got and it keeps giving. I like a gritty, snappy tone. If my playing were a road, it would be a road made of gravel on a hot day in the middle of a draught. I don’t like smooth, modern overdrive—I dig older tones; my favorite guitarists have tones that are very bouncy rather than flat. Organic is another good word for it.

Stacking is possible; if I wanted, I could run all of them at once and create all sorts of mayhem, probably not what I will do. However, any two of them at the same time compliment each other well. There is also the option later of having it modified so that I can switch the stacking order, not sure if I will do that or not.

My two main guitars are a Fender 72 Tele Custom, with a humbucker in the neck position and a single coil in the bridge position, and then an Epiphone Casino, fully hollowbody, with two P-90’s. Either one of these I run into a Boss Tuner, a Fulltone Fatboost 2, a Fairfield Circuitry Barbershop Overdrive, the Heavy Electronics Custom, two MXR Carbon Copy Analog Delays (one set for slapback and a tiny bit of modulation which I run at all times, the other set for a longer, more lush delay that I kick in for solos,) and then an EHX Holy Grail Reverb, set very low. All of this runs into a first run Sovtek MIG-50 with an Orange 112 cabinet. At some point later I hope to get a Fender Reverb Head, at which point I will probably do away with the Holy Grail.

I play pretty straight to the point Americana and rock and roll. The Heavy Custom is right at home in this mix. I use the Barbershop overdrive as a foundational tone, dialing it down to get a touch of grit, but not much, and the Fatboost I have set for clean boost in case I need a few extra decibels without altering the tone. Running directly after these two, the Custom circuits bring out hotter tones. Running on their own, the circuits are a bit warmer. In other words, it’s versatile as heck, and thanks to it and my other pedals, I’ve pretty much got any tone that I could think of to suit my needs within reach.

So. There you have it. That’s about as in-depth as I imagine I can make it. I hope it’s been helpful. My hats off and my thanks to Sayer Payne for being patient with my constant barrage of questions, emails, and phone messages, and his ability to find the pulse of what I wanted and bring it to life. As I said before, visual art is my real forte, and having said that, it’s really cool to have had an idea for something in my head, and then seeing it made real by another person. This has easily been one of the coolest creative collaborations I’ve been a part of.

Take care and God bless,

J.M.