Welcome Gearheads to another Fuzzy Feature! Today I’ve got a really unique and under the radar fuzz to showcase. Balam FX, is a part time builder of really great sounding fuzzes. Born out of the love for collecting anything he could get his hands on, the 2020 Pandemic shutdowns created the space for Balam FX to start building and selling these killer pedals online. There’s been a really cool movement of under the radar, uber boutique builders, mostly in the fuzz pedal varietal that have all popped up after the pandemic lockdowns. Call it captive creativity, I simply call is inspiring!
What makes the story of Balam Fx even more unique and awesome is the fact that all the profits are donated to charity and the remainder is donated to a specific organization in Chiapas, Mexico that helps kids from the Lancandon tribe get education benefits. Being from Chiapas, this was near and dear to his heart and is a remarkable story of kindness and creation. There is a true sense of giving back in all that Balam FX does and I can’t say enough amazing things about them.
The Itzamna Fuzz, named after the Mayan deity and ruler of heaven and hell is aptly titled as it’s one ruling fuzz tone! Balam knew I had a long history of loving the Fuzz Face circuit and decided to build a nice take on one. It’s built in a “naked” wiring scheme where all the solder traces are free flowing throughout the enclosure and on a tag board, which makes for a uniquely artistic circuit. With all NOS components, this is a very cool looking and sounding fuzz pedal.
Sonically, the fuzz is a ripping, thick Germanium fuzz. Capable of massive amount of gain that sound amazing into both a clean and dirty amplifier. There’s a pretty small sweetspot on the gain knob, so you’re going get the majority of your tone shaping from your guitar’s volume knob. This is an extremely common scenario with Fuzz Faces and honestly, it’s all part of the charm.
The Itzamna has 3 controls. Volume, Gain and Bias. The bias control acts as very subtle shift in dynamics to my ear, much less effecting than most bias knobs that take you from fat to thin or full to farty… This bias control really just shifts the EQ a bit and adds or subtracts a bit of girth. While it is different than most controls of this type, I found it super useful for getting my tone with different amps or guitars and is mostly set and forget. As I stated above, there’s a S**t Ton of gain in this box, more than most vintage Fuzz Face clones, which is pretty addictive. It’s got a nice presence and 3D quality though, that never gets too compressed and shines in a mix… which if you’ve played many Fuzz Faces, you know that’s not an easy thing to accomplish. This fuzz will NOT disappear into the sunken place of your band’s mix! There’s also quite a bit of volume on tap and I found that I either liked shelving it back a touch for more compression and a less robust gained up tone or full up for the fattest and most rich fuzz tone. You could dial the gain back a bit when the volume was higher. These instances are also quite familiar with most vintage Fuzz Faces, but I felt the interaction was more pleasing on the Itzamna. More is more!
In the demo below, I used the Itzamna on all the guitars even on some bass parts. What a great sounding vintage fuzz tone that’s capable of gnarly full tilt madness all the way to cleaner passages and anything in between. I’ll be completely honest here - this fuzz meets and matches some of the most expensive Germanium fuzzes I’ve played in my career and I think it’s absolutely awesome. I love it when someone creates something out of a deep respect and passion for the craft, using off kilter components and not trying to jump in the same boat as all the other builders out there… this is NOT a NKT275 fuzz, but it certainly roars as much or better than some of the best sounding versions of those high dollar investment pieces. I’m not sure what the future is for Balam FX, but I certainly hope he keeps building and inspiring. Please contact him and get the fuzz sound that’s in your head, while helping to support such an amazing cause. It’s an equal handshake here folks, inspiration meets love and humanity!
Thanks for checking this Gearheads Feature on the Balam FX Itzamna Fuzz. If you’d like to learn more about Balam FX is up to, please do check out these sites for more information.
https://www.instagram.com/balam.fx/
https://reverb.com/shop/peps-music
Until next time Gearheads, please take a moment to Like, Subscribe & Share this Feature and I’ll see you all very soon!