Hollywood, California—Fender Musical Instruments Corporation (FMIC) today announced the expansion of its well-received effects pedals line with the Engager Boost, The Pelt Fuzz, and Full Moon Distortion effects pedals-debuting at Summer NAMM 2018 in Nashville, Tenn. These additions to Fender’s growing effects pedals offering come as the next step for the brand’s continual commitment to the category. Priced from $89.99 to $149.99, the new pedals provide a diverse set of effects designed for players at every stage of their musical journey-from pro players to guitarists looking for their first stompbox.
Designed in Southern California, these new Fender pedals were engineered with insight from professional gigging and studio musicians, artists and some of the industry’s best minds. At the helm is in-house expert Stan Cotey, who spent 25 years in professional audio and 12 years engineering tone and designing many of Fender’s digital and tube guitar amplifiers. Cotey brings a unique perspective from working directly with artists, such as Eric Clapton, The Edge and Joe Bonamassa-all legendary guitar tone aficionados in their own right.
“After our first official step into the pedals space in February, we were eager to unlock even more possibilities for today’s players and creators looking to expand their tonal palette,” said Stan Cotey, VP of Product Innovation at Fender. “It’s the unique feature sets and combinations that make this second wave of effects pedals stand out: The Full Moon Distortion is our first-ever high gain effects pedal designed to create a broad range of modern, aggressive tones that today’s hard rock and metal guitarists crave; the Pelt Fuzz pedal provides added tonal flexibility with both vintage and modern-style effects; while The Engager Boost gives players sonic transparency, colorful tone-shaping capabilities and aggressive gain to cut through any mix.”
These effects pedals are engineered for the artists who are looking for stage-ready features and signature Fender aesthetics, including sleek and modern exteriors crafted from lightweight, durable anodized aluminum. The enclosures are engineered for heavy-duty use, while LED-backlit knobs and LED Fender amp jewels show control settings at a glance, perfect for every environment. For ease of use, each pedal features an exclusive, patent-applied-for, magnetically-latched 9V battery door, making it quick and easy to change batteries, as well as streamlined labeling.
These effect pedals feature all-original circuits, not mere copies or clones of existing designs; they include:
- Engager Boost ($89.99) provides players with more volume (20 decibels of boost) for fatter tone, making it the ideal clean boost pedal. The adjustable, onboard 3-band EQ shapes tone to cut through a mix, while the Frequency switch lets players select the middle frequency range, ideal for shaping tone precisely. The Engager Boost features a FET input buffer and is also perfect for boosting a signal into a tube amplifier’s preamp. True and buffered bypass modes ensure this pedal plays nicely in any setting.
- The Pelt Fuzz ($129.99) All the familiar controls are there: Level, Fuzz and Tone, along with a Bloom control to shape the contours of a player’s sound. The Mid switch lets players boost or cut the midrange for even more voicing options, while the Thick switch adds some girth. With the ability to be placed anywhere on the signal chain, this silicon-based stompbox provides added tonal flexibility.
- Full Moon Distortion ($149.99) Packed with brutal, high-gain tone, three-band EQ, a high-treble filter and sound-shaping options galore, the Full Moon Distortion pedal has everything you need to unleash sonic mayhem. Both symmetrical and asymmetrical clipping modes are lurking under the Texture switch, while the Bite switch shifts the upper mid-range and harmonics to bring out pick attack, letting players cut and chug through the mix with ease. Also included is a separate footswitch boost.
For technical specs, additional information on new Fender products and to find a retail partner near you, visit www.fender.com.
