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Mercury Fuzz Update!

We’re very close to shipping the new Mercury tube fuzz pedals. This will be the first time I’ve got my act together to ship out a new pedal design before Christmas – a serious milestone for Effectrode! The circuitry of the Mercury fuzz is very similar to the Helios fuzz, however the N.O.S. blackplate Philips 6112 tube in the Mercury is a much more efficient emitter of electrons than the 6N17 in the Helios. This is undoubtedly because of the huge engineering resources Philips/Mullard put into researching and developing the cathode coating materials in their tubes – their reputation for quality is legendary. What this means in terms of use is that this tube gives fatter, more robust sounding fuzz and some very nice tubey tones ideal for blues. I would put this little pedal against any top of of the range tube amp – it really sounds that good!

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36 COMMENTS

Marc Savett February 5, 2017 at 03:25:59 Log in to Reply

Will you email me when the mercury fuzz is available thanks Marc Savett

Marc Savett February 5, 2017 at 01:25:35 Log in to Reply

Want the mercury fuzz bad it's a tuff wait one day at a time

haussaire November 8, 2016 at 06:45:19 Log in to Reply

hi phil i m' wait mercury , i like effectrode see you aligator.jmh.

Andy October 26, 2016 at 09:41:48 Log in to Reply

Hi Phil, will the new Mercury be a solid finish or metallic like the Helios please?

Phil October 28, 2016 at 06:26:56 Log in to Reply

Hi Andy, the new Mercury will be solid finish paint work.

Pierre October 13, 2016 at 09:01:04 Log in to Reply

Hello Phil,I'm very interesting in the Mercury tube fuzz, do you have some of them in stock as you aimed to have them ready for summer 2016? If yes, I buy one of them!

Phil October 14, 2016 at 09:08:10 Log in to Reply

Hi Pierre, We're running behind schedule on the Mercury fuzz and are just starting work on the next batch now. If you'd like to be added to the waiting list please send an email to sales@effectrode.com

Giovanni October 25, 2015 at 09:29:07 Log in to Reply

Hi Phil! As Alan said: will you be making again the fantastic Mercury Tube Fuzz? I would have liked a lot to buy it before the sold-out but I couldn't...

Phil October 26, 2015 at 02:47:32 Log in to Reply

Hi Giovanni,Yes, we will be making another a batch of 'Mercury' tube fuzzes. We have stock of some superb new old stock Philips 6112 tubes, enough to build at least one more batch of Mercury fuzzes. We're aiming to have them ready for summer next year.

Alan October 9, 2015 at 09:22:12 Log in to Reply

Did I hear that you will be making some more mercury fuzz pedals? If so I will have one off you :-)

Mika October 8, 2015 at 10:43:20 Log in to Reply

Was stupid/foolish enough not to list for Mercury fuzz when they came out. Luckily, managed to get one off from eBay, with a reasonable $280. And - this is THE fuzz, as far as I'm concerned.Aggressive scream when needed, tasty harmonics, ultra-responsive to guitar volume and picking and gorgeous tone throughout. I mean, have two AnalogMan Sunfaces next to it, and they're not bad, but... this is something else altogether.

Phil October 8, 2015 at 01:12:33 Log in to Reply

Thankyou :D

RyanGallagher January 12, 2015 at 10:07:43 Log in to Reply

So I've had time to really play with my mercury fuzz and get the internal trim pots to where I think I like them. I'm sure I'll tinker some over time but I really dig where I've got it right now. I have Mesa/Boogie DC-5 and the mercury fuzz is a great contrast to the modern high gain of my amp and V-twin pedal. My only wish would be to have another mercury or if you guys made a dual mercury. I'm constantly going back and forth between fuzzed out with the 2nd gain stage engaged and turning the heat switch off and setting the fuzz at about half or 12:00. This pedal cleans up so good and makes for the greatest blues overdrive.It would be great to have two of these in one pedal.Will you ever make the Helios again?If I was going to have two I think it would be ideal to have a Mercury and a Helios. Is this a pipe dream?

Phil January 13, 2015 at 10:03:53 Log in to Reply

Hi Ryan,It is a pipe dream, at least for the forseeable future. I've too much work on. You might see one come up on Ebay at some point though.

RyanGallagher January 15, 2015 at 06:27:01 Log in to Reply

I appreciate your honesty Phil, you seem like good people.I don't see to much of your stuff on e-bay,I look regularly. No one wants to part with their Effectrode pedals. I've got my eyes on a tube vibe. Thanks for everything, take care.

RyanGallagher December 17, 2014 at 11:18:15 Log in to Reply

Received my Mercury pedal today. I had it right next to my Mesa Boogie v-twin tube pedal and it is just as big and rich sounding as the Mesa. Even great sounding transistor fuzz's have a hard time competing with that pedal.Whenever you from all tube overdrive to a solid state overdrive or fuzz there's always this drastic change in overall sound quality going from tube to transistor so I've always had trouble committing to any one fuzz circuit.The Mercury on the other hand is like this magical third tube super drive fuzz channel I now have suddenly. This thing keeps going where the Mesa drops off and that is really saying something because the V-twin is as good or better than a lot of amp distortions. Needless to say I'm very pleased. I've been playing with the same overdrive and distortions for a long time and I've been wanting something new but just haven't found anything I liked better until know. Usually I would just use fuzz pedals for specific things but this is great for leads and for rhythm. Then if you back off of the gain it's a great overdrive. Very fat and defined. Sorry for rambling on but I've been looking for many years to find something for this hole in my sound and I think this guy might be it. I have an unhealthy relationship with guitar tones. I can't to try more Effectrode pedals. Service was also great. Thank you guys very much and have a merry Christmas!!!

Phil December 18, 2014 at 11:16:01 Log in to Reply

Thanks for taking the time to write down your thought on the 'Mercury' fuzz Ryan - much appreciated :)

RyanGallagher December 22, 2014 at 07:26:04 Log in to Reply

Ya, I was a little excited. Sorry for going on like that, it's just a really awesome pedal.

Phil December 23, 2014 at 09:42:36 Log in to Reply

Not at all - it's great to get feedback. Happy Chirtmas Ryan.

Matthias December 17, 2014 at 07:12:22 Log in to Reply

The Mercury fuzz sounds awsome!! I got some crazy tones with it! Thank you

Phil December 17, 2014 at 10:23:01 Log in to Reply

Thankyou Matthias :)

jokke December 15, 2014 at 07:57:11 Log in to Reply

Hi Phil, how does the Mercury Fuzz work with bass? Do you loose a lot of low end, does it get muddy and so on? Would love to hear a few different sound clips on bass as well.The PC-2A is wonderful with bass so I figured that this one will also work fine, but it's a big difference between Fuzz and Compressor.

Phil December 15, 2014 at 08:35:31 Log in to Reply

Hi Jokke,There's no audible loss of lower frequencies associated with bass guitar. The first tube input stage is very similar to a Fender Bassman, except it is biased hotter. The second stage is cold biased and then there is a germanium diode clipping circuit. It's a pretty transparent circuit.

RyanGallagher December 12, 2014 at 08:32:01 Log in to Reply

Just completed my pay pal transaction for my new mercury fuzz. I'm really jazzed. Is this a completely original circuit or inspired from another circuit? I just wonder why I've never seen a tube driven fuzz circuit. There's definitely no shortage of great sounding solid state fuzz circuits I just have always wondered why no one has really come up with a tube driven fuzz pedal(that I know of anyway). To me tube overdrives are just always more pleasing to my ears and I was just wondering what led you to create this particular device? Did you set out to design a tube fuzz or did you stumble across it whilst tinkering? Anyway, can't wait. Thanks.

Phil December 12, 2014 at 10:31:40 Log in to Reply

Hi Ryan, It is an original design (as are all Effectrode designs). I'm sure there are other tube fuzz designs out there made by individual enthusiasts. Large manufacturers probably stay clear of working with tube because of the huge research and development overhead needed to figure out how to design new kinds of tube circuitry (which I love to do!) and also the requirement of hand selecting tubes. The 'Mercury' fuzz requires tubes with low microphony and noise to operate because of the very high gains (60dBu) needed to drive the germanium clipping diodes. It pushes tubes to their absolute limits and magnifies any noise or microphony so is very expensive in terms of time do make.

ryan December 11, 2014 at 03:01:47 Log in to Reply

Is it still possible to get on a waiting list for Mercury or are they already sold out.

Phil December 11, 2014 at 04:10:33 Log in to Reply

Hi Ryan, Yes you can still on the 'Mercury' tube fuzz waiting list. Just send an email to Sam at our sales email address and she'll put you on the list. Thankyou, Phil

Ask Elverdrøm December 6, 2014 at 01:26:59 Log in to Reply

Dear David if you sell your Helios for the Mercury, please let me know. I will be happy to buy Helios (good price).

Martyn March 31, 2015 at 07:37:34 Log in to Reply

Hi I have a Helios that I am looking to sell - are you still interested? Best regards, Martyn

Phil April 1, 2015 at 10:53:53 Log in to Reply

I already have one thanks Martyn, Phil

David December 3, 2014 at 05:28:46 Log in to Reply

Phil, I own the Helios and play a lot of blues, which is what it sounds like the Mercury may be setup for better. What do you think? I'm trying to figure out if I should sell the Helios and get the Mercury or is it possible to change out the tube in the Helios to the Mercury's tube? Thoughts?

Phil December 3, 2014 at 08:46:30 Log in to Reply

Hi David, I don't have Helios to compare directly with the Mercury as we sold them all. I don't recommend changing the tube as the pinouts are different and the the bias points for the tubes are different - they would need rebiasing. The Helios is also an incredibly bluesy sounding little pedal. If you do sell your Helios, make sure you get a good price for it as only 200 were made.

Christopher December 28, 2014 at 09:29:12 Log in to Reply

David, if you are willing to sell your Helios I am willing to buy it at the original price or name your own. If interested please reply to this comment with contact info. Thank you. - Christopher

Paul January 11, 2015 at 12:23:45 Log in to Reply

Christopher, I have a Helios available if you are still interested? Based in the UKBest regardsPaul

Christophr January 11, 2015 at 06:52:14 Log in to Reply

Paul, I apologize for not replying sooner. I am still interested in the Helios if you still have it! You can email me at chrisdaniel83@gmail.com

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