If you look closely at the tiny screen-printed text on the face of the Dophix Medici More Fuzz stompbox, you’ll see an inscription in Italian. It’s a quote by Lorenzo de' Medici that roughly translates to, As a Paisan, that quote takes on a whole new profound meaning when I consider how ironic that – centuries later – here I am reviewing a pedal named after the most prominent ruler of the Medici family who my ancestors (look at my surname) tried to assassinate (look up the Pazzi Conspiracy) during the Renaissance. The good news is that all is well (sorry about that, Lorenzo), and we can move forward and talk about this royally good Medici More Fuzz from Dophix, an Italian boutique pedal company based in Florence, Italy.
Every pedal in Dophix’s collection is handmade in the company’s Florence factory and named after inspirational figures from Florentine culture and Roman mythology, with the Medici More Fuzz having Donatello’s “Marzocco” lion screen-printed on the pedal’s face. What’s cool is the Medici has a clear acrylic panel sandwiched at the base of its diecast chassis with a circuit-board-mounted LED inside the enclosure that gleams a red halo around the bottom of the pedal when powered up. The pedal feels rock-solid with bulletproof construction and features dual footswitches for Fuzz Me-On and Even More Fuzz, with controls for Master (level), Fuzz, Tone on its left side; while More Level, More Fuzz and Blend (+/- clean signal) are found on its adjoining side.
The Medici is true bypass, features side-mounted 1⁄4-inch I/O jacks and can be powered by battery or via a center negative DC 9-volt power supply. While I can’t say the Medici falls under the category of a dual fuzz pedal, it’s best to think of it as an astoundingly great fuzz with the option of stacking “even more fuzz” on top of it – which is literally what the right side of the pedal does. The left side of the Medici governs your base fuzz tone with velvety-thick fuzziness and a hard-clipping sizzle that many fuzz connoisseurs will find appealing.
It’s not raucous, bottom-heavy or gloomy-sounding, but more of a bluesy-edged fuzz that’s pliable and warmly defined as you throttle your volume knob to add heft to single notes and chords. When soloing, simply engaging the “Even More Fuzz” footswitch brings on the heat; this is where the Medici sears with loads of fuzzy sustain and sharpened overtones that cut with a midrange slice. I find if you dial back the fuzz knobs on both sides, you get a solid combination of rhythm and lead tones to bounce between, where you won’t even consider adding any clean signal from the Blend knob altogether.
Call me partisan, but the Medici is one of those musically rich fuzzes that make me want to say ‘ciao!’ to my other ..
