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SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA EFFECTS MAKER JEORGETripps launched his Way Huge line of pedalsin 1992 with the Foot Pig fuzz and the RedLlama and Green Rhino overdrives. Later intro-ductions, such as the Aqua Puss analog delay,Blue Hippo chorus, Camel Toe overdrive, andSwollen Pickle fuzz helped to make Way Hugeone of the premiere go-to brands for boutiqueeffects. We don’t know how Tripps’ designsmight have evolved had he not shut down hiscompany in January 1999 to take a job withLine 6, but a trio of new Way Huge pedalsintroduced recently by Dunlop (with whom

Tripps has been instrumental in the develop-ment of its new MXR and Jimi Hendrix seriespedals) offers some clues, as they are clearlyaimed at players who want more tweakabilityfrom their effects. The Swollen Pickle Mk II,Fat Sandwich, and Pork Loin have way moremad-scientist-approved control options thanprevious Way Huge models. And while theyretain the same type of anodized aluminumhousings as the oldies, they now have two miniknobs on the control panel, user-adjustableinternal pots, and a hinged door on the rearside of the enclosure for easy battery access.

Way Huge Fat Sandwich, Pork Loin, and Swollen Pickle T E S T E D B Y A R T T H O M P S O N

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We tested these pedals using a Gibson His-toric Les Paul, a Fender Stratocaster, and PRSModern Eagle II. Our amp lineup included aRivera Venus 3, Victoria Golden Melody, anda Trillium Signature 2x10 combo.

FAT SA N D W I C HDesigned to satisfy your appetite for distor-tion, the Fat Sandwich ($179 street) is ahigh-calorie distortion/overdriver that sportsVolume, Distortion, Tone, Presence, andResonance controls. By removing the fourrubber feet, the box halves come apart toreveal three additional controls: Curve (finetunes the corner frequencies of the first dis-tortion stage), Highs (adjusts the high-endresponse between the two drive stages), andDrive (varies the gain of the second distor-tion stage). This pedal has a wide gain rangeand also a lot of output, and with a Les Paul,I found that putting the Distortion controlat nine o’ clock, the Tone knob at one o’clockand the Presence at 11 o’clock yieldedsmooth, tube-amp-like overdrive and plentyof sustain for bluesy solos. And thanks tothe Sandwich’s multi-stage clipping circuit,the tones remain balanced and smooth whenusing higher Distortion settings for moreaggressive rock tones. With a Strat’s bridgepickup, it was easy to obtain humbucker-like richness by also turning up the Reso-nance control to around three o’clock. Onceyou get things in the ballpark using theseknobs, you’re ready to delve into the inter-nal trimmers to fine-tune the response. TheCurve control significantly beefs up the lowmids and puts a little more hair on the toneswhen turned upward from its detented cen-ter position. The Highs pot also has a cen-ter detent, though adjusting it either waydidn’t make a huge difference in the sound.The most active of the three is the Drivetrimmer, which, when turned north fromits zero setting, starts piling on gain fast.Think of it as the “more” knob for the Over-drive circuit, and it helps to make the FatSandwich excel as an über-distortion boxfor those who want a pedal that can turnpretty much any guitar amp into a super-high-gain tone machine. KUDOS Ultra flexible distortion. Tons ofgain. Massive output. Clever controls.CONCERNS None.CONTACT (707) 745-2722; jimdunlop.com

P O R K L O I NEver since Voodoo Lab introduced the SparkleDrive many summers ago, the ability to

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blend clean and distorted signals to createa more defined type of grind has becomepopular with effects makers. At the centerof the Pork Loin ($169 street) are its blend-able Clean and Overdrive circuits. But thispedal does things a bit differently by usinga “modified classic British preamp” on theclean side that’s designed to distort whenpushed hard. The difference may seemsomewhat insignificant, but, by turningdown the internal Drive Mix trimmer (thusdefeating the BiFet overdrive sectionentirely), you can definitely hear how theclean preamp transitions from soundingwarm and clear at lower settings to clippedand more compressed when cranked up. Thenet result is to give the Pork Loin the abil-ity to deliver a very broad range of textures:everything from amp-clobbering overdrive(courtesy of its high output) to the soft dis-tortion you’d get from overdriving a vintagerecording mixer (think Abbey Road-era Beatles) to densely saturated tones (withthe Overdrive cranked and the Clean con-trol turned down) to the more articulatedistortion that’s heard as you start blend-ing in clean signal. On one gig, I found thatwith the Clean knob all the way up and theOverdrive and Volume controls at aboutnine o’clock, I had plenty of thick, juicy dis-tortion and just enough boost in volume forsolos using a PRS Modern Eagle II and aRivera Venus 3 amplifier. The Porker’s Tonecontrol is subtle, so I just bypassed it byturning it fully clockwise and put the Curvecontrol halfway up to obtain rich, throatygrind with a syrupy top-end wail. To accom-modate guitars with less output than thePRS, I eventually just kept the aforemen-tioned Drive Mix trimmer at its maximumsetting, and made some minor adjustmentsof the Presence trimmer (which alters thehigh end of the overdrive circuit) and theFilter trimmer (a tone control for the cleanpreamp) to get just the right amount ofbrightness from either single-coils or hum-buckers. From there, all it took were littletweaks the guitars’ tone controls to dial inthe optimum blend of ballsiness and slicefor whatever pickup configuration wasselected. The Pork Loin is a unique device,and the degree of control it offers is out-standing. Distortion connoisseurs who liketo get micro with their tones should defi-nitely give it a shot.KUDOS Delivers richly detailed and defineddistortion. Massive output. British-voicedclean preamp is a hip feature.

CONCERNS None.CONTACT (707) 745-2722; jimdunlop.com

S W O L L E N P I C K L E M K I IThe original Swollen Pickle was particu-larly adept at delivering high-gain fuzz withtons of bottom. The MkII version ($159street) packs the same Sustain, Loudness,and Filter controls, but adds all new Scoopand Crunch controls, as well as two inter-nal trimmers: Clip, which varies betweentwo set of clipping diodes, and Voice, whichadjusts the intensity of the Scoop control.The MkII Pickle has loads of output, canpump out massive volume boost even atlow Sustain settings, and its Filter controlis a powerful function that can sweep thetones from bottom heavy to pinched andnasally. Fuzz fans might have been happyto just have an affordable reissue of thisboutique classic, but the new functions letyou do things that go well beyond the orig-inal Pickle’s abilities. Take the Scoop con-trol for example, which can either evisceratethe midrange for skull-sucking metal tones,or flatten out the mid response to give youa snarkier, more vintage-style buzz. Thenthere’s the Crunch control, which, thoughdesigned to vary the compression inten-sity of the Sustain circuit, also affects thelow-end response. So you have many thingsto play with before even venturing insidethe Pickle. Start messing with the frequencyspectrum of the Scoop control, and you’llsee how easy it is to make those suckedmid sounds cut though an onstage mix.The Clip trimmer is subtler, though at oneend of its rotation the fuzz sounds becomesomewhat more dense and squashed, whilethe opposite extreme yields a slightly moreopen and effusive vibe. Once you get theseinternal controls dialed for optimum soundwith your rig, you can close the box andjust use the Filter and/or Crunch controlsto adjust the overall voicing and bottom-end content. The Swollen Pickle’s ultra-high-gain structure makes it less able toclean up when you turn down your gui-tar—at least compared to something likeDunlop’s Jimi Hendrix Fuzz Face replica—but that’s a minor quibble for having sucha vast palette of crushing fuzz at your fin-gertips. KUDOS Gargantuan sounding fuzz.Extremely flexible. A great choice for classicrock or hyper-metal tones.CONCERNS None.CONTACT (707) 745-2722; jimdunlop.comg

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