This is a very musical fuzz box that's built like a tank. It has a particular timbre that is unique. As indicated by their own promotional literature, this is a "modern" fuzz. The Mad Dog's 'sonic signature' bares little or no resemblance to fuzz boxes of the 60s and 70s.

The design mission is geared toward "putting lots of hair" on the input channel of a clean amp without any eccentricities. By that, I mean that it will not break out into self-oscillation or generate ungodly amounts of intermodulation distortion resulting in an incoherent wash and loss of articulation. Although, I dig that at times, I really do.

The fuzz and level controls are perfectly smooth and linear. There are no sudden radical jumps in amplitude while rotating the knobs. This pedal is true bypass and the switch feels like it will last a kazillion on-off cycles. It sounds great powered either by an internal battery (supplied) or a VooDoo Labs II torroidal power supply. There is no change in character.

Apparently, this fuzz box uses modern off-the-shelf transistors in cascade. 2N3904s? I suspect that they are nothing "exotic", N.O.S., or in an oddball archaic TO-x package. There is no schematic supplied and I have been too lazy to email ToadWorks or open up the box to find out what type of transistors it uses. There is most definitely no op-amp involved.

I am very pleased with this unit. It's a "keeper". When I want modern and stable, I will use the Mad Dog. For renditions of "Psychotic Reaction" by Count Five, I will use my Ashbass FUZZbrite.

I'm sure that other fuzz aficianados share the same philosophy: that there is not one particular "best" fuzz. Each fuzz box is like a different flavor of ice cream. It's nice to have various ones available in your palette.