GEAR
GEAR SPOTLIGHT
SPOTLIGHT
CAROLINE
GUITAR
COMPANY
SHIGEHARU
REVIEW BY PHILLIP DODGE
STREET PRICE $199.99
There’s two points that I
should be upfront about
with this review: One: I’m
pretty much a Caroline
Guitar Company fanboy;
both the Météore and
Kilobyte have each earned
forever homes with me.
Two: I’m not a fan of op-
amp and IC fuzzes. I’ve
tried, but they always
sound hard, harsh, and
grainy to my ears. I like
my fuzzes soft and pliable.
So in short, I had no idea
what to expect from the
Shigeharu.
Oh yeah, I forgot to
mention, today we’re
digging into the new
Shigeharu fuzz from
Caroline Guitar Company.
54
GEAR SPOTLIGHT //
The Shigeharu is all
about twos. It features
two parallel and distinct
fuzz circuits and is built
around the cascading gain
of op-amp and transistor
goodness. The first fuzz
(we’ll call it the base tone
because it’s always on)
is a full-frequency affair
with solid low end, punchy
mids, and present highs.
This fuzz is governed by
controls for Drive, Tone,
and Body. The Body
and Tone controls are
interactive and allow for a
diverse array of tones from
deep and bright to middy
and everything in between.
The Drive control runs
from heavy to heavier. This
Caroline Guitar Company Shigeharu
is not a polite fuzz and you
won’t be rolling off your
volume knob for “Hendrix
cleans.” It’s mean, it’s
modern, and somehow it’s
always musical. In other
words, you can dial in a
wide range of sounds.
The second fuzz is a fierce,
upper-octave affair. Its
volume is controlled by
the little trimpot in the
center of the pedal and
it’s engaged via the Havoc
switch. There’s also a slide
switch inside the pedal
that can allow you to make
the second fuzz always
active (it’s a pretty great
sounding fuzz so you might
want to do this). And when
you do this, rather than