About Wata's ELK Big Muff Sustainar and Hizumitas
Yuichiro Hosokawa
EarthQuaker Devices and Japanese legends Boris have teamed up to produce the new Hizumitas Fuzz Sustainar. The latest EQD stompbox is modeled on Boris guitarist Wata's original 1970s Elk BM Sustainar, a staple of her touring pedalboard for many years. Boris’s new album “W” will be released on January 20, featuring Wata playing the Hizumitas.
Yuichiro Hosokawa is the person who maintains Wata's board and all the band's stage gear and is a connoisseur of Big Muff-based fuzz circuits. Yuichiro has graciously offered his unique perspective on Boris, the Elk BM, Big Muffs, and the Hizumitas, translated from Japanese by EQD's own Taka Tozawa.
Boris formed in 1996.
Their music incorporates Hard Rock, Doom Metal, Black Metal, Drone, Noise, and Ambient. They are a three-piece band that is well known all over the world for taking those elements and sublimating them into loud volume and catchy melodies. They have a set up of close to 10 full-stack amps on stage. And they actually play them all and create a supernatural sound at their live shows that feels dangerous. When music connoisseurs say, "They play super loud," people always mention the band's name and ask, "Yeah? But they are not louder than Boris, right?"
So I was always afraid of those three people in Boris.
But while on an overseas tour as the pedalboard tech for the Japanese heavy-shoegaze instrumental quartet MONO (also EQD users) – who is also known worldwide for a roaring sound–I began working as a stage tech for the tour's headliner, Boris. So, it is I, Yuichiro Hosokawa, professional stage tech for Boris and owner of the Yokohama-based pedal shop CULT, who is writing this Boris blog.
As I mentioned initially, I take care of Boris's gear on stage, and I get to hear what most of you won't get to hear; the actual stage sound. Not the sound through the PA system that you get in the audience. The volume will exceed your expectations no matter how much you expect. It's that LOUD. When all those amps on stage put out the sound, you might not believe it, but what you feel is not the sound. It's a wind. There is a breeze in front of the amps because it's just so loud. I don't think an aggressive breeze like that exists anywhere else on earth.
Well, I've made it seem like the members in Boris are somewhat dangerous, but they are just a band that plays loud. They get high praise from the media, open up for Nine Inch Nails overseas, and release albums on Third Man Records. So how do they achieve these milestones? I think that on top of the fact that their songs are phenomenal, they have a "good tone." They are super loud, and their tone is super great.
"Good tone" is something musicians always seek, but there is no standard.
So, why do I say Boris has a good tone? Because it's exploding. It's loud and distorted, but it doesn't torment me when I hear them perform. It's actually rather comfortable. I know you might say that's just my preference, but there are so many things going on in their sound simultaneously yet, it's not all over the place to me. It's like a finished puzzle made with small pieces. It feels like nothing sonically wrong stands out and, the sound from each amp and the drums add to the overall band sound. I think each member intentionally strives to make a unified sound, and that ability and skill are requirements for bands to be that good.
That mass of sound that I feel comfortable with is the distortion sound of guitarist and vocalist Wata. At first, I was thinking, "Does she get that dirt from her amp?" and "What does she use?" But in fact, the thing that makes that comfortable distortion sound is a vintage ELK Big Muff Sustainar (Not "Sustainer." It's "Sustainar."). It's the same pedal that EarthQuaker Devices used to design the Hizumitas.
※ Please do your research about the history of ELK BM Sustainar as I'm not supposed to get into it too much…
I love the Big Muff so much and not just the originals. I've played many descendants of that fuzz, and I've come to recognize a good Big Muff sound. Or perhaps I already had my standard for it before, and now, after playing about 40 different Big Muffs, I can confidently speak about it.
I think the standard of a good-sounding Big Muff would be "the bottom end that fills up when you palm mute" and "the mix ratio between fuzz and distortion." Of course, people have different preferences for "The mix ratio between fuzz and distortion," but my perfect ratio is "Fuzz 4: Distortion 6" (subjectively).
While having the playability and articulation of distortion, the tone has that sag and wildness that fuzz brings. That's the sound of "Fuzz 4: Distortion 6" (subjectively). To put it simply, that is the sound that lots of Big Muff Pi pedals from mid-1973 to 1974 have (what an easy-to-understand example!). But what about "Fuzz 6: Distortion 4?" Well, the trouble is that ratio is also good. The Big Muffs from 1975 to 1976 with the BC239C transistor would also be close to that texture (subjectively). It has a rather coarse fuzz sound but plays like a distortion pedal. By the way, something like "Fuzz 5:Distortion 5" or "Fuzz 7:Distortion 3" wouldn't be my favorite. The former would be the BMs from 1981 to 1984, the so-called "3rd Muff." The latter ratio would be the "47 Muff" from 1973 (subjectively). I've even seen a particular Big Muff from 1974 with a "Fuzz 1:Distortion 9" sound that sounded like a broken Boss DS-1 (subjectively).
So, I know you are wondering. What about the ELK Muff?
Wata’s ELK Big Muff Sustainer
The one Wata has been using is from somewhere around 1973 with a brazen, copyright-ignoring "Big Muff" logo in the middle of the stompbox (the "Big Muff" name would later disappear, replaced with "Super Fuzz Sustainar"). The ratio between the fuzz and distortion on this pedal would be…!?
"Fuzz 2.5: Distortion 7.5" Such a low fuzz ratio!!!
Yes. Wata's beloved ELK Muff is more like a distortion than a Big Muff type fuzz. But the bottom is full, and the aggression on the top end has that strong Big Muff feel. It has the bitting feel of distortion, and the bottom end is filled with fuzz that, like Boris's music, is super fat yet still cuts through a mix well with palm muting. Wata plays a Matamp GT-120 clean, so it delivers the fuzz tone as it is.
The Hizumitas properly recreates that "bottom end that fills up when you palm mute" and "Fuzz 2.5: Distortion 7.5". I've played some good Big Muff clones and some bad ones, and this one surprised me quite a lot. It's just impossible to make a 100% dead-on clone, but at least this can replace an original ELK with no problem for you. In fact, Wata has replaced her ELK Big Muff on her board with the Hizumitas.
If you could fine-tune every single pedal, you could easily nail the same tone. But what I mean by "fine-tune" is that you understand the sonic character of each pedal and can carefully select the right parts to change portions of the circuit. But when you produce a thousand pedals, it becomes difficult to do.
To employ people with the skill to tune that many pedals, acquiring the parts plus the added time to make them would all be reflected in the pedal price. Consequently, the pedals wouldn't sell.
But as a company that pulls big productions and produces thousands of pedals, EQD has achieved the clear goal of cloning Wata's beloved ELK Big Muff tone. That's amazing. The sound they've achieved is amazing. The fact that they came up with a circuit that can be produced on a large scale is amazing. And the fact that they have the fan base that can pull all that is amazing. They've stuck with their intention when they started EarthQuaker Devices and have become a success in a big country like America. And even with that success, they have the spirit to work with an alternative band from the Far East, and that attitude is wonderful. I don't see the pedals as just an instrument or a toy. I think of them as an autobiography of a pedal builder's way of life.
And I love seeing that.
And, if I don't see the pedal maker's way of life in their pedals or if that way of life is B.S. or dirty, that's just purely #$%& to me.
Yuichiro spent a decade working as the pedal expert for a major music store working with and gaining the trust of many prominent artists. In 2016, Yuichiro started his own company, and he has written articles for Guitar Magazine, The EFFECTOR, Bass Magazine, and other publications. He is a well-known pedal enthusiast and has been a guitar tech for bands including Boris. In 2018, he founded his guitar and pedal web store CULT based in Yokohama.
