Vanhouten Maestro MFZ-1 copy fuzz, currently available as Chicago Ironworks Black Fudge

   This pedal is no longer made as a custom pedal in a plain yellow enclosure, but it's currently available as the Chicago Ironworks Black Fudge.   If you order it now it comes in a nice silk-screened black enclosure with the Chicago Ironworks logo and Black Fudge graphics.   It's a copy of the infamous Maestro MFZ-1 fuzz, with the original TL022 chip and modern and NOS parts, built in a smaller enclosure with user-friendly knobs.
     The pedal has two knobs for volume and gain.   The volume has to be turned up fairly high to get unity gain.   The gain knob goes from a crunchy lower gain overdrive/distortion to a fairly high gain fuzz, with an emphasis on the odd order harmonics.   The pedal sounds good throughout all of the gain settings, with a fairly smooth distortion that has it's own unique sound.   It's a cool sounding pedal and although I never tried an original Maestro, I'm convinced that it faithfully recreates the vibe of the original, as it has a unique and musical sound.   Both creamy and gritty, sounding like the 70's pedal it copies, it was worth the low price I got it for,   The new version is well worth the money too, with it's improved look.   Vanhouten has been building all sorts of cool boutique-quality pedals for a long time, his new line of Chicago Ironworks pedals are the next logical step in his development as a worthy pedal maker.