Apparently only a few components away from the absolutely cherished D*A*M* Meathead, the Savage Henry offers the same simple operation and amazing tones.  Thick and funky, there is no mistaking that it is active, and this is good since there is no LED to notify you of this:  A footswitch and level knob are the only controls available to you here…and that is likely all you will need.

The actual build is made from “environmentally conscious” materials from local (to England) suppliers.  It is a solid build, though this comes as no surprise given it’s reaction to David Main and the product he is known to build.

The circuit itself lends itself to a dynamic tone that relishes in biting yet warm buzz, and the key word here is BUZZ.  Brush the strings lightly and the Savage Henry reacts like a wound-up muscle car just waiting to pounce…Dig in and it responds with quirky synth tones that are cutting without shredding your speaker cones to bits.  This tone is hard to decipher between a square wave form and an actual Octave circuit.

There is very little about the Savage Henry that is subtle.  Set the “Level” control to the Skull and Crossbones setting and there is no output, but other than that it is loud an proud, with enough output to SERIOUSLY PUNISH the input of your amplifier.  Do yourself  a favour and use this control in care, but also be mindful of this control’s ability to unleash the true potential for mammoth grind:  Anything less than full tilt isn’t doing the Savage Henry justice in the world of Fuzz.

Having compared this lil’ beast to just about every other fuzz in the collection, the verdict is this:  The Savage Henry doesn’t really need a footswitch.  Not only should it be kept on eternally for it’s delicious buzz but it’s just too darn hard to turn off.

Get it.