In this way, it works more like
some of the boutique Muff
clones with midrange control
and front end boost. This
gives you a tighter, more fullfrequencied Muff tone. The
added mids of the Focus help
to balance out the scooped
nature of the Muff, but you
still get the classic Muff lows
and highs. And believe it or
not, it makes the Muff much
more touch sensitive and
interactive with your volume
knob—makes me want to
visit the online VFE Custom
Shop and arrange to have a
Focus and Fiery Red Horse
built in a single enclosure,
but I digress.
One of my favorite lead tones
of all time is acquired running
a “clean” Tube Screamer or
Fulltone Full-Drive II after
a Fuzz Face. It’s something
I learned from researching
the leads tones of Gary
Louris of the Jayhawks.
The resulting tone provides
the touch and dynamics of
a Fuzz Face but with the
cut of a Tube Screamer.
No more flubby lows. But
no matter what, there’s
always something about the
clipping of the overdrive
that changes the sweetness
of the fuzz. Because the
Focus doesn’t create any
clipping (distortion) of its
own, the timbre of the Fuzz
Face remains intact. The
Focus attenuates the lows,
highs and sweetens and it
emphasizes the juicy mids.
Even at unity gain, stepping
on the Focus brings your
guitar forward in the mix.
This might be my new
solution for switching
between rhythm and
leads tones—it’s pretty
much magic.
So yes, the Focus is awesome
paired with other pedals, but
it’s also great by itself driving
the front end of an amp. I
have a little 1965 Fender
Vibro Champ. It’s small and
quiet enough that I can crank
it up into overdrive without
rattling the walls. But with
a single eight-inch speaker,
the low frequencies can get
pretty sloppy pretty quickly.
In this setting, I was able
to use the Focus at unity
gain, to maintain the natural
overdrive character of the
amp while tightening and
attenuating the low end.
Suddenly, I was able to play
power chords and even full
chords without just turning
to mush.
WHAT WE LIKE
What more can you say
about the Focus? It’s a Swiss
Army boost. It’s a booster,
a cutter, and an all-around
tone sweetener. The only
downside is deciding where
on your board to place it and
how to use it, because there’s
an opportunity cost in every
location.
CONCERNS
The controls are slightly
confusing (if you don’t
read the manual). The Tight
control cuts bass as you
turn it counter-clockwise,
whereas the Smooth control
cuts highs as you turn it
clockwise. Likewise, Slope is
also probably a new concept
for most guitarists. In short,
a higher Slope setting equals
a sharper frequency roll-off.
Aside from a small learning
curve, we have no concerns
with the Focus.
ToneReport.com
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