Reeves Electro Darlington Flyer Fuzz | Humbucker Tones!
The Darlington Flyer returns — this time with humbuckers, to show the other half of what this pedal can do. Welcome back to Edge of Breakup.
In this episode the Reeves Electro Darlington Flyer takes a second run — this time featuring the Frank Brothers Arcade Thinline with Righteous Sound RAF Humbuckers (A4 neck / A2 bridge), into the Benson Amps Monarch. The Effectrode Tube Vibe joins for the second half.
Watch the first Darlington Flyer demo with the Giordano Guitars single coils here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPrLfFMoBXk&t=2s
The Daughterboard Series is built entirely by Izzy Reeves — Markus' daughter — in their garden workshop in Northamptonshire, UK. Izzy handles the design, powder coating, drilling, screen printing, and assembly. Get on the Reeves Electro mailing list, these sell out extremely quickly: https://reeveselectro.co.uk
Quick recap of the circuit: a single-transistor fuzz with two switchable transistor voices. The Darlington Flyer mode uses a 1979 Motorola MPSA013 Darlington transistor — smooth, compressed, high-sustain. The Bipolar Junction mode uses a late-1980s Philips Silverface BC546 — more open, grittier, slightly gated. Fat Controller EQ toggle is full-range and bold. Narrow Gauge (Skinny) reduces low end for a more focused forward voice. Volume is the only knob. Fuzz gain is fixed.
What humbuckers reveal here versus the single coil demo: the Righteous Sound RAF's higher output — particularly the Alnico 4 neck pushing more signal into the circuit — compresses the Darlington transistor earlier and more completely, giving the Darlington Flyer mode an even thicker, more saturated character than with single coils. The Bipolar Junction mode's gated quality shifts meaningfully with humbuckers — the gating is less dramatic with higher output, which actually makes the BJT mode more immediately usable across more of the volume sweep. The Narrow Gauge switch does more useful work with humbuckers than with single coils, tightening up the low end that the RAF's alnico magnets naturally emphasize.
🎛️ Reeves Electro Darlington Flyer: https://reeveselectro.co.uk/products/the-darlington-flyer-switchable-transistor-fuzz
🎸 Frank Brothers Guitar Company: https://www.frankbrothersguitars.com
🎸 Righteous Sound Pickups: https://www.righteoussoundpickups.com
🔊 Benson Amps: https://www.bensonamps.com/guitar-amplifiers
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🎸 Frank Brothers Arcade Thinline | Righteous Sound RAF Humbuckers (A4 Neck / A2 Bridge)
🎛️ Reeves Electro Darlington Flyer | MPSA013 Darlington + BC546 BJT | Fat Controller / Narrow Gauge | Daughterboard Series
🎛️ Also: Effectrode Tube Vibe
🔊 Benson Amps Monarch
Recording: Universal Audio Apollo x4 | Lauten Audio LS-208 | Royer R10 & R121 | Sennheiser E906 | Ableton Live 11
