Hello Gearheads! Today I’ve got the pleasure to feature another killer offering from Marc Ahlfs at Skreddy Pedals, which I just realized has been in business since 2004! Skreddy Pedals have been on the market since the earlier days of the boutique pedal craze and Marc has always been able to reserve a unique place in that acumen, revered circuits that are still used and talked about today all the while, pushing the boundaries on what he wants out of these little noise makers.
Marc reached out to me to have my thoughts on his newest drive pedal, the Serenity Fuzzdrive and I couldn’t be happier that he did! The Serenity Fuzzdrive is as Marc put it, the kind of drive pedal that just keeps you playing… until you’ve reached Serenity!
At it’s core, the Serenity Fuzzdrive was born out of a interest to nail some of David Gilmour’s tone on “Shine On You Crazzy Diamond”, and Marc found himself quickly hearing a wider tonal palate capable of not only creating near infinite sustain, but maintaining the purity of the guitar’s voice. Here’s a great rundown from Marc himself on how he came up with this circuit. Well worth reading as he goes deep into the build inspiration and creation!
“This project had originally been slated to be about playing with the discreet op-amp designs of the DS-2 and the BD-2, but I went through several iterations of that idea without finding anything I liked and quickly evolved it into something more generally similar to my original Hybrid Fuzzdriver/Screw Driver/Lunar Module topologies, but not focusing on the topology as much as focusing on coaxing the transistors into their optimal bias points and forcing the signal capacitors into maintaining the maximum transparency with regard to the guitar’s essential tone (and I did put considerable effort into minimizing unpleasant frequencies at the same time, both the ear-piercing hi-mids and the muddy-congested lo-mids, which I haven’t identified by their frequencies but just by ear). Then I optimized all of the various gain structures into maintaining that same tone from minimum to maximum gain without changing the frequency response as much as possible. Then, lastly, I focused on eliminating as much noise as possible without impacting the clarity of the circuit.
Of note is the fact that the Colorsound circuit, which I was inspired by the sound of on Shine On You Crazy Diamond, uses active treble and bass controls. I tried those for a single iteration of the development process, but they screwed up the transparency completely—there was no way to get them to maintain the focus on the original guitar’s sound—and also they imparted a synthetic feel, because they create phase shifts, which, when mixed together, no longer sound natural or organic. So I carefully crafted the “body” and “bril” controls to sculpt the pre-distortion bass and post-distortion treble without imparting any phase shifts that would fight against one another, and so maintained the clarity and “natural” sound of the signal from input to output. Plus I also put a lot of effort into voicing these 2 controls such that they affect the parts of the eq that you would want to increase or decrease without going too far into territories that should be left alone and also giving them enough power so they can boost or cut (btw, the “body” control does boost pre-distortion treble at clockwise; it’s not just a bass control) as much as you would probably ever want to boost or cut. All the usable tones but no undesirable ones.
Another thing that will sound different compared to the Colorsound is that the Overdriver/Power Drive will have a “brassy” sounding breakup, whereas the Serenity’s breakup is silky smooth and sweet like honey. So in the end, it’s not really that same effect at all but something completely different. Lastly, again compared to the Colorsound circuit, the input of the Serenity will be pedalboard friendly and not be persnickety about different types of pickups or buffers or stacking. It is certainly appropriate to use as a booster into another drive, but it stands alone just fine as a foundational drive, and it will not complain if sitting behind something else.”
With the Serenity Fuzzdrive in my studio, I found it to be a versatile and very musical device. I almost hate calling it transparent as that’s such a overdone and overused buzzword in the pedal industry… but the Serenity definitely keeps the voice of the instrument pure and it feels so totally natural. So, maybe rather than saying it’s transparent, I’d consider it pure - rich and capable of giving any shade of gain from light grit to raging infinite sustain. I will say this - Marc Ahlfs is the master of the midrange in drive circuits. All Skreddy pedals to my ear exhibit a sweet and fat midrange that’s never muffled or humped, never overbearing or strident. It’s like how a great sounding and feeling amplifier has a sweet midrange voice, close to the original tone of the instrument, letting the notes ring pure and clear. It’s a very impressive thing and undoubtedly why Skreddy Pedals have stood the test of time while remaining a current player in this over-saturated and at times boring industry.
The Serenity’s feature set is simple and quick to manage the tonal needs for any rig. I found the symbiosis of two gain control and two tone controls working with each other to be a very useful way to craft the tone you’re looking for. Sweet spots are literally everywhere on the Serenity and considering the gain that this pedal has on tap… it’s got one of the quietest noise floors I’ve ever heard!
The Serenity could very well be the one drive pedal a player has on their board or fit within a network of colors. I really enjoyed using it for all the tracks in the demo below. I used it on all the guitars as well as bass tracks. The way the Serenity holds true to the natural voice of the instrument is very impressive, without any odd harmonic or phasing characteristics that are fairly common with the “transparent overdrive” genre of pedals. I think the Serenity works for most genres of music and of course it exhibits my absolute favorite characteristic of any piece of gear… it aids in the pursuit of sounding like myself! To be honest, that’s all the matters and I consider that highest of all praises, so major kudos to Marc, Skreddy and the Serenity Fuzzdrive for pulling all of that off! I absolutely recommend you check one out!
Thanks for checking this Gearheads Feature on the Serenity Fuzzdrive from Skreddy Pedals. If you’d like to learn more about Skreddy Pedals please do check out these sites for more information.
https://www.instagram.com/skreddypedals
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Until next time Gearheads, please take a moment to Like, Subscribe & Share this Feature and I’ll see you all very soon!