The Caprid from Wren & Cuff is a #muff type #fuzz pedal that's built to the specs of the 70's Electro Harmonix "ram's head" Big Muff Pi and seems to be a pretty good copy of the later!
The pedal, like the original, has a very full, rich and creamy fuzz sound to it. The bottom end is just HUGE and the tone range is impressive and useful. One thing that is worth mentioning, is the incredible ability of the pedal to produce so much distortion while preserving great note separation and clarity - this is something that many dirt pedals just can't do well! In general this pedal loves clean amps, but through experimentation, I discovered that it can work great in front of slightly overdriven tube amp, or full range overdrive pedal! Another option I recommend experimenting with, is pushing with an overdrive pedal that has a mid bump, or EQ control. Doing that will allow you to compensate for the lack of mids, which might come very handy in live soloing situations!
This pedal will take lead work very well of course, but for me it really shines when dialled for thick rhythm tones. Be it long monstrous power chords, or angry metal riffs - the sound of this thing is just HUGE!
Many famous players use muffs, but like many fuzz pedals, muffs are very sensitive to your signal chain and therefore require some care when setting them up. In the wrong hands, they might sound bad or out of place. Having said that, from my experience, out of the fuzz family of dirt pedals, muffs are the easiest to handle.
For y'all Pink Floyd fans out there, this thing is great for The Wall / Final Cut era type of sound. It will also do a nice job reproducing the attitude of many Dark Side solos, songs like Echos and others..
For Nirvana fans, dial the sustain knob around 1 O'clock, the volume around 2 O'clock and the tone to match your amp (for me it's around noon), set your preamp gain just before breakup and have fun.
Pros
well built
sounds great with single-coil, humbucker and bass guitars
pairs well with any type of pickup and sounds very consistent
sounds great in front of an OCD type overdrive and pushed tube amp
good range of useable tones
great note separation and clarity, even with high gain
very good recreation of the original as far as I can tell
true bypass
Cons
like the original (probably less) - noisy, especially with single coil pickups. If you plan to play live, loud, on guitars that have only single coil pickups, it might be a huge deal for you. Here is what the Wren & Cuff manual says:
No your pedal isn’t broken. Trust me, it’s much quieter than the originals but does have a bit more noise than most modern-day muffs. This is due to the circuit design, different configuration in the clipping sections, and old-style “brownie” 1/2 watt carbon composition resistors used. Embrace the noise!
like the original - very big enclosure - not pedal board friendly. Update: Wren & Cuff now has a small version of these! Never tried them, but they should sound very similar according to their website..
Overall, if you are after that huge muff sound, it's hard to beat this one, despite the noise. It's just a one of a kind pedal! I have to say that Wren & Cuff have an impressive range of very nice muff pedals. If you are a muff fan, be sure to check them all out!
Sound Demos
Taken from Nirvana "Drain You" from the album "Nevermind".
Taken from Soundgarden "Ugly Truth" from the album "Louder Than Love".
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