Review of TONEbUTCHeR Pocket Pus

So, you might be looking for something a little different to add to the pedal board. Something a little unique? Something a little unusual? Check out the TONEbUTCHeR Pocket Pus!

I received the pedal in the mail from TONEbUTCHeR (out of Costa Mesa, CA) and was immediately surprised by it’s size. It’s TINY! We’re talking 2.6″ long, 1.5″ wide and 2″ tall with the knobs. You literally can put this in your pocket. It’s powered by a little 3V battery mounted on the side of the pedal. The unit has two knobs (non labeled), I’m assuming one is level and the other is gain.

To describe this pedal.. it’s an aggressive fuzz with cascading / oscillating octaves. It can get heavy fuzz riffs, to chirping / beeping noise craziness. One interesting thing we discovered, if you started the signal (volume roll) you can create bizarre sustained sounds reminiscent of a theremin. Noise guys.. will love this pedal.  You definitely can get some interesting explosions and feedback with this. I can see some fun things while incorporating it with a EHX Killswitch.

I asked the TONEbUTCHeR guys what the Pocket Pus was all about. This is what they had to say:

The PocketPus is a silicone transistor design, based around a  signal path that can be gradually fed back on itself via a handpicked capacitor and potentiometer combo. Nothing more nothing less, just sonic destruction if you want. The Pocket puss also features Swtchcraft jacks, Alpha pots and true bypass switching.  TONEbUTCHeR Todd discovered the sonic creation (mistake) while prototyping in his kitchen five years ago and stuck with it, adding some refinements along the way.

“Experiment to Create”, is our model and our mantra – it is in our DNA, and that’s exactly what we want people to do with our pedals. Just mess around with them, and find and create their own new sounds, that’s also a main driver on why there are no labels or instructions.

Okay.. enough talk. Let’s hear this thing. For these demos we wanted to explore some of the weirder areas and really showcase how this affects the signal. As always, I enlisted the help of Jimmy Rolle with the demo. He’s playing a Les Paul Custom Shop Elegant guitar through a Rivera Knucklehead / Marshall 4×12 cabinet. We used a Shure SM57 and a Fathead SPII Ribbon Mic. Both mics ran into a ART Pro MPAII PreAmp.

This first clip is Jimmy playing the clean channel of the amp. You will hear some oscillations and rapid beeping/chirping that is either him rolling the volume knob or killswitching the pickup (one pickup is rolled off and switching to it via toggle).

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Also available is a high quality MP3 clip at SoundCloud

This next clips is Jimmy using the Pocket Pus in conjunction with other pedals and his gain channel. The pedal reacts interestingly with some pedals (ie: Wah). We also wanted to show him adjusting volume and pickup switches for some of the noises heard in the first demo.

[iframe_loader width=”425″ height=”344″ frameborder=”0″ longdesc=”” marginheight=”0″ marginwidth=”0″ name=” click_words=”” click_url=”” scrolling=”auto” src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/Q6TKB6hC2pI”]

Also available is a high quality MP3 clip at SoundCloud

As you can see/hear, you can get some crazy things with the pedal. It’s definitely not for everyone, but for those of you interested in something different, the Pocket Pus might be the thing. I recently did a pedal board break down for Russian Circle’s Brian Cook (Bass player) and during my research I saw that he was using a Pocket Pus as well!

If you’re interested in the TONEbUTCHeR Pocket Pus, they’re available for $85. I did not see it on their site yet, but they mentioned that it would be up soon, if you’re interested – shoot them a email! Also, you can contact them via their Facebook page.

Now.. what of this particular TONEbUTCHeR Pocket Pus??? I would like to give this guy away! If you’re interested in potentially winning this pedal, please sign up to the mailing list! I’ll be announcing the give away soon with full details!

UPDATE

This is now available on their website. To order your Pocket Pus, click here!