Analog Noir Moon Lion Germanium Fuzz & Boost
Analog Noir returns to the channel — this time with the Moon Lion, a dual pedal combining a Square Face-spec Fuzz Face and a Rangemaster Treble Booster in one box. Welcome back to Edge of Breakup.
In this episode the Analog Noir Moon Lion takes center stage — featuring the Fender Custom Shop 1960 Journeyman Relic Stratocaster with Curtis Novak Strat-V High Wind (Neck + Middle) and Curtis Novak Strat-TB (Bridge) and Emerson Custom Wiring and Treble Bleed, into the Benson Amps Monarch 2x12" via the Boss Waza Tube Amp Expander with the Echo Fix EF-X3 Chorus Echo.
Get a Moon Lion: https://www.analognoirelectric.com/shop/p/dual-rangemaster-fuzz-face All Analog Noir pedals: https://www.analognoirelectric.com/shop
Also on the channel: the Analog Noir MKI Tone Bender.
The concept of the Moon Lion is simple and powerful: the Fuzz Face and the Rangemaster Treble Booster are the two most important germanium circuits in British guitar history. The Fuzz Face came first — Jimi Hendrix's defining dirt circuit. The Rangemaster shaped Clapton's woman tone on the Beano record, Tony Iommi's thick early Sabbath crunch, and Brian May's entire guitar voice. Putting them in one box with independent footswitches means you don't have to choose which one goes first in the chain — you can run Fuzz Face alone, Rangemaster alone, or stack the Fuzz Face into the Rangemaster together.
The Fuzz Face side is built to Cesar Diaz's Square Face specification. Cesar Diaz was Stevie Ray Vaughan's amp tech — known as "The Amp Doctor" — and worked with Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, and Neil Young. SRV's original round Fuzz Faces were unreliable, so Diaz built him modified versions in rectangular enclosures with true bypass switching and circuit modifications that became known as the Square Face. Analog Noir's version is loaded with Mullard GET113 and CV7355 mil spec germanium transistors. Vintage TRW polypropylene film capacitors. Vintage carbon composition resistors. Full point-to-point hand-wired construction. Bias knob for dialing in the sweet spot or inducing gated and spitting textures (explored from 04:25).
The Rangemaster side is a faithful reproduction of the 1965 Dallas Arbiter Rangemaster Treble Booster with a three-position EQ switch — High (the original Rangemaster setting), Mid (boosting mid frequencies into the amp), Low (extending the boost into the low end for a fuller range push). Explored from 13:51 through 18:20. The sweet spot of Rangemaster into a pushed amp at the edge of breakup is exactly what this demo is about.
Both sides stacked from 19:20 — Fuzz Face into Rangemaster — with volume knob cleanup explored from 20:24.
🎛️ Analog Noir Effects: https://www.analognoirelectric.com 🎸 Curtis Novak Pickups: https://www.curtisnovak.com 🔊 Benson Amps: https://www.bensonamps.com/guitar-amplifiers
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🎸 Fender Custom Shop '60 Journeyman Relic Strat | Curtis Novak Strat-V (Neck + Middle) + Strat-TB (Bridge) | Emerson Custom Wiring + Treble Bleed 🎛️ Analog Noir Moon Lion | Square Face (Diaz Spec) + Rangemaster | Mullard GET113 + CV7355 Ge | TRW Film Caps | Carbon Comp | Point-to-Point | 3-Way EQ Switch 🎛️ Also: Echo Fix EF-X3 🔊 Benson Amps Monarch 2x12" | Boss Waza TAE
Recording: Universal Audio Apollo x4 | Lauten Audio LS-208 | Royer R10 & R121 | Sennheiser E906 | Ableton Live 12
