Roadrunner Guitars Interview 1 Supersonic Fuzz

Supersonic has been installed in the fuzz landscape for more than 20 years, what was your initial thinking to create it?

For the record, this fuzz was «created» in a van when I was on tour in Spain with my band at the time: The Squares…

We were all fans of fuzz long before it became fashioned…

For us, the Troggs, the Seeds , the Animals and the Yardbirds were simply the best groups in the world ! due to the Fuzz and the tremolo they used….

I spent a lot of time in London at that time, we played with English bands from the Garage Punk scene. I recorded at Toe Rag (the studio that will produce albums of bands like The Kills, Madness or White Stripes years later), we were signed to Billy Childish’s legendary Chatham label “Hangman Records”.

As soon as we had a little bit of time, we would go hunting and buy fuzz and tremolos… another passion of mine !

Quickly using these antiquities we realized that most of them ate the level and were not very reliable during our concerts… uh.. hectic…!

We decided to create our own fuzz…

The sound had to be “English” but with more bass (so that I can use it on a bass) if necessary, so with an effective tone setting, more level, in order to blow up our Vox amps … : ), and in a durable and solid case…

The Internet did not exist in 1993, so we managed everything locally. The pieces for the effects were hard to find, and I wanted the case to be up to the electronics that we had developed … we knew foundry workers, but initially the first 5 were made from blocks of milled aluminum …. It was not convenient, too expensive and too long to produce…so I carved a piece of alder, like what I was taught in high school and I went to see my fellow foundry makers who took care of the cast, so was born the Supersonic ….

We pulled the circuits and the boxes ourselves for a long time before subcontracting them in a Vosges foundry factory since 2000….

Working with local workers again… 😉

What about Supersonic Artists?

The supersonic was adopted by musicians from very different backgrounds from Billy Gibbons, Jon Spencer, to Nicolas Fiszmann (bassist of Sting, Vanessa Paradis, etc.) or Jon Button (current bassist of the Who) through the keyboards of the Beastie Boys Money Mark (Mark Ramos Nishita) and Djs. I am quite proud that this effect, which was to aim to be confidential and used in a punk band, has such a «career»…

A short documentary on London’s famous all analogue ToeRag Studio (on Jon Helmer Youtube Channel) Vibey Library : The Story of Toerag Studios London

A big thanks to Roadrunner Guitars for joining the Luthiers.com Family as soon as the website opened!

You can find it on Luthiers at these addresses:

- for guitars and basses: https://luthiers.com/listing/roadrunner-guitars/
- for amplifiers, effects & accessories: https://luthiers.com/listing/roadrunner-amps-effects-accessories/
- for custom spare parts: https://luthiers.com/listing/roadrunner-guitars-parts/

And we strongly recommend that you also discover these latest creations on its website: https://www.roadrunnerguitars.com

Roadrunner Guitars joined Luthiers.com

Luthiers’ latest favorite in Roadrunner Effects creations is undoubtedly the SuperSonic Fuzz which is available on its website at this address: https://www.roadrunnerguitars.com/shop/effects/fuzz/roadrunner-supersonic-fuzz/

Some pictures of the Roadrunner SuperSonic Fuzz

In the coming weeks, as for all the others luthiers for plucked string instruments, luthiers for bowed string instruments, amps & effects makers, wood & supplies dealers, lutherie events, jobs, schools & teachers registered on our website, you will be able to follow our series of mini-interviews dedicated to the fascinating universe of luthiers.