September 18,2010

In the 1960's, the Shin-ei Company of Japan began making a 6-transistor octave fuzz they called the "FY-6". The stabilized bias pre-amp, analog octave generator, and germanium clipping diodes combined to create a sound that was rich in harmonics, with just the right amount of 'bite' for rock music. Shin-ei sold the FY-6 under their own "Companion" brand, but the FY-6 quickly became popular as an OEM product. Within a few years the FY-6 was being rebadged and resold by at least a dozen distributors, including Apollo, Avora, Hohner, Honey Baby, Jax, JH Experience, LRE, Mana, Micatone, Rands, Shaftesbury, Teisco, and most famously, Univox. These distributors came up with an assortment of creative names for their rebadged FY-6 pedals, including "Master Fuzz Control", "Crying Baby", "Fuzz Master", "DuoFuzz", and (of course) "Super-Fuzz"¹.

Univox sold the rebadged FY-6 as the "Univox Super-Fuzz"¹ for several years. In the early 1970's they began manufacturing their own version of the FY-6. They made a few subtle changes to the circuit, and packaged it in the now famous aluminum casting with a treadle over the switch, and a rubber cover with the "Super-Fuzz"¹ name molded into it. Over the years, the name "Super-Fuzz"¹ has become synonymous with the many variations of the FY-6.

In April of 2008, Wattson Classic Electronics began manufacturing a reproduction of the legendary FY-6 circuit. Our circuit was a modified hybrid of the early Shin-ei design and the later Univox design. Naturally, we called our pedal the "Wattson Classic SuperFuzz"¹.

In July of 2009, we received notice from the legal counsel for Digital Music Inc. that our use of the "Superfuzz"¹ name was a violation of their trademark, which they had submitted for registration in August of 2008 (after we began production of our product). Being a very small company, we didn't have the cash to challenge their trademark registration, so we decided to change the name of our pedal. We considered a variety of different names, but none of them really conveyed what we were trying to do, which was to create a modern reproduction of a classic design. In the end, we simply changed the name to "Wattson Classic Fuzz".

In September of 2010, we introduced our second product, a reproduction of the Shin-ei FY-2. Now we had to figure out what to call it. Do we come up with our own catchy new name, perhaps "Uber Mega Fuzz"? We felt that would imply this was an original design, rather than a reproduction of a classic design. Do we simply call it the "Wattson FY-2"? That would imply that the "Classic Fuzz" was a "classic" reproduction and the "FY-2" was not. Do we call it the "Wattson Classic FY-2 Fuzz"? Well, that would lead to confusion between the FY-2 and our first product.

We finally decided to add the original Shin-ei model number to both of our products. Our first pedal is now the "Wattson Classic Fuzz FY-6", and the second is the "Wattson Classic Fuzz FY-2". We feel the new names say what we want to say about these products - they are made by Wattson Classic Electronics, they are part of our "Classic" line of reproductions, they are both fuzz effects, and the names pay appropriate tribute to the Shin-ei pedals on which they were designed. We may not use the entire name every time we refer to either product, but we'll always at least use the original Shin-ei model number "FY-6" or "FY-2" so you'll know which pedal we're talking about.

We've also changed the silkscreen on our original pedal to reflect the new name. We hope you like it as much as we do!

¹"Superfuzz" is a trademark of Digital Music Inc.