The Siam Howler

The Lore:

The Howler is a mysterious cryptid located in the Ozarks. No one really knows what they look like, some say it’s like a cougar, others say it is a combination of a goat, wolf, and cat. And yet, others say it’s a shaggy giant hyena with red glowing eyes and horns. No matter the physical description it’s horrifying to hear in the wild with it’s long mournful blood-curdling cry.

Now you might ask, why Siam Howler and not Ozark Howler? It’s elementary, dear reader. Siam because I went down a rabbit hole of chasing the Siamese Dream tone and found the answer in Thailand. And Thailand is also Siam and Siam is the first four letters in Siamese Dream. So, putting two and two together: The Siam Howler.

The Details:

I’m a huge fan of The Smashing Pumpkins. Siamese Dream and Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness were major defining albums in my life. I spent hours (and probably years) listening to them on repeat. We all know The Op Amp Big Muff was a staple on Billy’s board during that time and recently, to me anyway, I was made aware of the MSA Pedal Steel Fuzz that was apparently used as a sweetener on top of the Big Muff. Taking that, I built a MSA Pedal Steel Fuzz, which is basically a Jordon Boss Tone. Then I got the great idea that I should replace all the silicon transistors in it with Russian Germanium transistors. So I did, then I wanted to add different clipping diodes, so I did. Then being me, I decided to take the octave up portion of the Shin Ei Super Fuzz, and put it into this circuit as well. And just because I could, I threw in a voltage starve since nothing says fun like starving Ge transistors of voltage.

For those of you who are into mojo parts we have:

• NOS Russian D9K Ge diodes
• NOS Russian GT310B transistor
• NOS Russian MP38B transistor
• Diffuse yellow LEDs :)

Unlike many fuzzes, this one can sit anywhere in the chain and works really well when being stacked after a boost, overdrive, or another fuzz and as a vintage-style low to medium gain fuzz, you might need to boost the signal going into the pedal as some pickups don't provide enough signal. I've found that a Klon-style overdrive or BM-style fuzz can really bring out the rowdy nature of the pedal and add some texture to your tone. 

Controls:

• Howl - the volume
• Hunger - voltage starve to main fuzz circuit
• Attack - input trim
• Snarl - tone control
• Fangs - clipping diode selector (none, yellow LED, Ge - D9K, and Si)
• Growl - Octave Up tune when it is active
• Encounter - turn on the effect
• Shriek - activate octave circuit

Power Requirements:

• 9V DC, negative-tip (Boss-style), not included
• 10mA current draw when active
• No batteries (got to keep Mother Earth healthy for the cryptids 👽)