Gnomeratron Instructions!
Gnomeratron Instructions
The Gnomeratron (at least, the main model almost everyone buys) has 10 switches and 10 knobs, so you might just need a little help navigating the thing at first. The good news is that, conceptually, it's all fairly simple, standard stuff.Fuzz Side
The fuzz side of the pedal has all the main controls for the fuzz circuit. It's everything to the left of the "Magic" switch. The fuzz circuit has two clipping stages in series (so, one after the other). The octave-up circuit is between them when it's on.
Fuzz: This is the volume control for the fuzz.
Gain: Main input gain control. This comes before the other gain controls (more on those later).
Gate: This acts as a gate control. It's more of a gate effect than a noise gate, but the pedal does get quiet when the gate is active. Lower gain, quieter signals gate more effectively. It works to gate off oscillations as well for the more noisy, weirder sounds.
Tone: This is an EQ after the fuzz. Turn it up for brighter sounds, and down for darker sounds.
Diode 1: This switches out clipping diodes in the first clipping stage. Right is Schottky, left is standard silicon, and in the middle is two silicon diodes in series. Basically, switch it to the right for more clipping (distortion), but less volume, right for standard clipping (what you'll find in most Muff-style fuzzes), and the middle for less clipping, but more volume. More volume in the first stage means the octave or second stage get hit harder.
Diode 2: Same, but for the second clipping stage! This one actually affects the pedal's volume, so be careful if you're running into a clean amp.
Octave: This turns on the octave-up circuit. It's an analog circuit, so you're not getting POG style digital octave effects. Just classic, splatty, lo-fi goodness.
Filter: This works with the tone control. When it's flipped to the right, the tone control has a deeper mid-scoop than to the left.
Clean Side
On the right of the magic switch are the standard controls for the clean blend. It's just volume and tone. Turn down the tone if you only want clean bass signal. The volume control is labeled "cleanish" because the circuit can get dirty (see below).
Magic!
The magic switch feeds the clean circuit into the fuzz. If you don't like clean blends, use it as a bass boost in front of the fuzz for better octave effects!
Tiny Switches and Trimmers
On the left side of the pedal, tucked away to be ignored and so feet don't break them are 4 tiny switches and 4 little trimmer knobs. The switches are extra controls for both the fuzz and clean sides, and the knobs are gain controls for various stages of the pedal.
Switches first, top to bottom:
Clipping 1: This is a hard/soft clipping switch for the first clipping stage. Flip it up for soft clipping and down for hard clipping. Putting the switch in the middle turns off the clipping diodes entirely, which will hit the second clipping stage extra hard, but you can also turn the gain right down to send a cleaner signal into the octave circuit!
Clipping 2: Same thing, but for the second clipping stage. Turning off the clipping diodes on the second stage makes the pedal super loud. Hard clipping is way more noticeable and cool on this stage!
Oscillate/Gain Boost: Flip this switch up to engage a feedback loop between the two clipping stages. Flip it down to immediately crank the gain of the second clipping stage. In the middle, it doesn't do anything.
Clean Clipping: This switch activates clipping diodes for the clean blend. It dirties up the clean signal, which helps it blend better with the fuzz (at the expense of clean low end). Silicon diodes with flipped up, schottky when flipped down. No diodes in the middle.
Now, knobs!
Gain 1: This is a gain control for the first clipping stage. It's designed to be cranked all the way up (assuming you have a current model). It's a bit redundant with the main gain control, but it's useful for setting a maximum gain setting.
Gain 2: As ever, the controls for the second clipping stage are more useful. It's still designed to be cranked, but turning it down will allow more gated effects and reduce clipping after the octave circuit.
Fuzz Output Gain: This is a boost for the fuzz output. Turn it down if the pedal is too loud, and up if it's too quiet. Turning it up too high will make the output stage clip and make the pedal noisy. About in the middle is the "standard" setting.
Clean Gain: This increases the gain of the clean circuit. Use it to make the clean... less clean. There's a JFET stage at the end of the clean circuit that sounds cool when you push it hard!
Oh, that little switch on the back of the pedal.
Starve! Or... dying battery sim. It's not a starve like a lot of pedals have. It reduces the voltage of the fuzz circuit from 9V to 6V and adds a little resistance in series with it, effectively emulating an old battery. It makes the pedal a little quieter and darker and pairs well oscillating sounds.
Specs!
This is a standard guitar pedal, and runs on standard guitar pedal power. A 9V, center-negative supply. Some parts in the pedal aren't rated for 18V, so please don't try that. It uses less than 20mA and has an input impedance of around 1Megaohm. Not that it matters in this situation. It's also true bypass, because of course it is.