Hello Gearheads! Today I’d like to highlight another smaller builder, Big Monk Devices out of Baldwinsville, NY. I’ve known of Big Monk for several years as a builder on the popular gear forum, The Gear Page. Always offering a unique perspective and and looking to maintain the historical accurate tones without the historical problems associated with vintage gear. Monk seems to find importance in not being beholden to the artifacts of said history, but more importantly find excellent and I might add smart solutions to achieve the same tones we ALL love.
Enter The Pompeii. The Pompeii at it’s heart is a simple Silicon Fuzz Face, taking it’s namesake from a very famous era in the band Pink Floyd’s musical history. David Gilmour of Pink Floyd was famous during that time for using a specific Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face, achieving those rich and fuzzy lead tones saturating the air waves then… and now.
I spoke earlier of Big Monk’s penchant for busting down the archetypes of vintage gear and one of the most interesting and honestly mind blowing additions to this circuit is how it interacts with a buffer…. or shall I say doesn’t interact at all! You can literally place this Fuzz Face anywhere in your chain. After a buffered pedal, second in line, ninth in line… you can literally put it anywhere and The Pompeii will “act” as it’s sitting pretty first in line right after your guitar cable. I’m not sure what magic Monk is conjuring with this hat trick, but I’ll tell you it’s impressive. One of my favorite examples of testing this feature…er… improvement, was using the active preamp boost on my Tyler Retro SE. Normally turning that little bugger on would smash the front end of any fuzz and make it sound like gated wall of bees. It’s not something you’d do with a vintage fuzz pedal. Not the case here. The Pompeii hold it’s voice and doesn’t “geek out” in the slightest way. Impressive!
Sonically, I found The Pompeii to have less gain than most Silicon Fuzz Faces and specifically what we would maybe think of when hearing Pink Floyd, but one must remember that Gilmour’s tone was sustaining, not necessarily a fuzzy mess. The Pompeii yields a fantastic and strong voice and when coupled with an amplifier that’s working well on the edge of breakup, you’re rewarded with incredible sustain, weight and a clean volume roll-off like no other. It’s a fantastic sounding fuzz that I honestly wouldn’t put in any corner just because it’s named about a famous band’s seminal period.
I found I really appreciated the way this fuzz interacts with guitar and all of it’s controls significantly more than any typical Fuzz Face replica. That’s not to say I don’t love those for their quirks, their feel and delicate details… I do and if you’ve followed my features, you know that to be true. That said - there’s something very cool happening here. It’s a marriage of simplicity in design, simplicity in feature set and ultimately, simplicity in the tone The Pompeii delivers. I’ve tried MANY “improved” Fuzz Face designs and none have had the utility of sound down to such a pleasing manner. Hats off to Big Monk in a big way.
In the video demo below, I used The Pompeii on all the electric guitars. I used the volume knob on my guitar to get the cleanest tones by rolling it down. I really enjoyed making this feature and hope you enjoy watching it as well! I highly encourage you to check out Big Monk Devices and experience this great sounding fuzz!
Thanks for checking this Gearheads Feature on the Big Monk Devices Pompeii. If you’d like to learn more about Big Monk Devices and their work please do check out these sites for more information.
https://www.instagram.com/bigmonkedc
Until next time Gearheads, please take a moment to Like, Subscribe & Share this Feature and I’ll see you all very soon!