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I picked up an EHX Lizard Queen on Saturday and wanted to share my experience.

I was excited about this pedal and looking forward to exploring the Octave settings.

I plugged into my pedalboard and ran into some issues. The pedal was extremely loud even with the volume only slightly above zero. When the pedal was activated, it was picking up an AM Radio station. The sound seems kinda "farty" for lack of a better term and no sustain.

I pulled the pedal off the pedalboard and went directly into the amp. The issues appeared to stop. For grins, I put back on the board in the original configuration and the problems didn't return. I am not sure why it worked the second time. I am not entirely convinced the pedal is working as it should.

I compared to my Russian Big Muff and my MadebyMike Germanium Fuzzface. The balance knob turned left sounds similar to a Big Muff and to the right more along the lines of the Fuzzface. The octave knob is very interactive with the balance knob. Unfortunately, the octave function seemed very weak and didn't really stand out even turned all the way up.

I am returning the pedal to the store. It didn't really stand out and I am not confident that the pedal is 100% working as it should.

I might try another Lizard Queen in the store later to make sure I didn't receive a defective one.

That's disappointing. Weird about the radio.

Jasmine keeps calling it the Lizard Queef because of the font.

Which actually kind of makes me want it.

Is it not just two really basic fuzz circuits smashed together? Might not be difficult to make one and paint it up as a Lizard Queef.

NickS wrote: ↑Mon Apr 24, 2023 7:42 am That's disappointing. Weird about the radio.

It's apparently not uncommon with certain fuzz circuits. It does seem odd for a new pedal and the fact that it went away. It didn't inspire confidence which is why I am returning.

Keep in mind, that this is sample size of one and could just be my bad luck. I have owned numerous EHX pedals and this has never happened, though my vintage Holy Grail made some fun noises because the power supply was not enough to handle it.

Same here, I tried one this weekend. The octave was not as prominent as I had hoped. As a pedal it’s pretty cool, and could get lots of useable tones. Was fun to mess around with but I prefer my Russian muff or Fuzz face. It’s already packed up ready to go back.

I used to get really strong radio through my fuzz face when I was in the room at the front of our house. I no longer get it since moving to the back of the house.

Thom wrote: ↑Mon Apr 24, 2023 2:52 pm Same here, I tried one this weekend. The octave was not as prominent as I had hoped. As a pedal it’s pretty cool, and could get lots of useable tones. Was fun to mess around with but I prefer my Russian muff or Fuzz face. It’s already packed up ready to go back.

At least it was not just me then. I may try out an Op-amp Muff since I have never had one of those yet.

Thom wrote: ↑Mon Apr 24, 2023 2:54 pm I used to get really strong radio through my fuzz face when I was in the room at the front of our house. I no longer get it since moving to the back of the house.

My Germanium Fuzzface was on the board next to it and not a peep.

Won’t be able to get to the post office before Friday so thought I’d have a play with it again tonight… Didn’t change my opinion but when packing it away I somehow managed to drop it onto my pedalboard and now it has 3 dings in it… FFs! Can’t return it now, policy is quite clear it has to be mint. On the plus side, it led me to trying it on bass and it sounds pretty awesome. Guess it’s going on the bass board!

I call dibs, Thom!

Please stop buying pedals that give money to the bad people.

Mike wrote: ↑Sat Apr 29, 2023 6:13 pm Please stop buying pedals that give money to the bad people.

JHS or Electro Harmonix?

JHS

This pedal uses 2 openly available circuits that have been freely available on the DIY pedal community for a very long time.
Link

So many boutique builders owe Tim Escobedo many many many many meals.

I dropped out of the DIY scene back when all these boutique builders starting throwing shit fits every time we discussed one of their circuits. I could see where it was going. Obviously many pedals were derivatives of past works, and those two circuits are free to reproduce, that was the point of the DIY scene.

But it was also supposed to go both ways. You take from the public, and don't start tossing legal threats the moment we start discussing your pedals. So many arguments were had about that.

Either way, that LQ circuit is pretty simple, the Bazz Fuss that it's based on what what I built for St Jimmy for his Altoids Tin pedal. It's a decent enough circuit. No way would I spend what EHX wants for this thing.

The very first pedal I built that wasn't a kit was a Dist+ into a Pushme Pullyou. Escobedo's Harmonic Jerkulator is very underrated, proving a Harmonic Perc doesn't need a whole bunch of fussy values and unobtainium diodes to sound good.

My kid built the Fuzzdog kit for the Lizard Queen, which I have no reason to believe isn't 100% accurate. She's only ten, so she did the board populating and onboard soldering. Then I drilled the enclosure and talked her through the off-board wiring which us where most noobs make mistakes. She did the actual soldering though. So yeah, recommend Fuzzdog. The parts placement isn't super easy for soldering access, but there's a trade-off to keep the board nice and small. Daughter was overjoyed with the finished pedal and showed it off at school - none of the kids knew what a guitar pedal is/was, unsurprisingly.

As for sounds, yeah it sounds how you'd expect. Baz Fuss is always good. Overall it sounds surprisingly 'unfinished' for a commercially released pedal. Like the bias (or whatever) pot might be the wrong value or taper, and the octave effect is rough.

timhulio wrote: ↑Fri Jul 07, 2023 11:03 am My kid built the Fuzzdog kit for the Lizard Queen, which I have no reason to believe isn't 100% accurate. She's only ten

This is terrifying to read like when you hear that Zinedine Zidane's son is also a footballer and is on the books somewhere.