Working below the seventh fret, you get the best results playing slower runs, which let the octave overtones bloom a bit. But the Bumble Buzz excels at generating bossy single-note riffs and leads. In fact, playing anything other than I-V power chords reduces the Bumble Buzz to a spitting, hiccupping mess. Like many octave fuzzes, the Bumble Buzz is less than ideal for chords.

(Not surprising, given White’s well-chronicled affinity for the current, full-sized NYC version of the Muff.) It’s louder than a Superfuzz at maximum output, and much of the extra thrust-particularly on the bass side-has the round muscularity of a Big Muff. The basic voice is a lot like a Univox Superfuzz in the first (unscooped) tone-switch position, though there’s a little less high-octave presence and a more corpulent lower-octave sound. The four-transistor Bumble Buzz may not have a varied voice, but it bellows with authority and an outsized presence. It also reflects Union Tube & Transistors commendable desire to building repairable stompboxes-a rare commodity in our disposable age. The wiring is tidy, and the board itself is affixed to the enclosure via the same assembly used to adhere the label to the front. Given the lack of knobs and switches, it’s little surprise to encounter a relatively spartan circuit inside. (It looks like a tube, a transistor, and a bee with a lightning bolt stinger.) The pedal has a clear visual kinship to Union Tube & Transistor’s other stomp boxes, most overtly in the laser-etched aluminum label, which looks lifted from the engine compartment of an old Studebaker. There are abundant visual puns just in the electrified bee logo. The bold neo-Art Deco graphics look killer. The Bumble Buzz is so visually arresting that you might not notice that the only functional component is the footswitch. It bellows with authority and an outsized presence. While the knob-free, on-or-off Bumble Buzz may not have widespread appeal, it’s a lovingly designed and executed heirloom that will blow the minds of those who get it and can imagine a place for it in their own music. It’s an octave fuzz built for Third Man by Vancouver, British Columbia’s Union Tube & Transistor, and it reflects the ethos that guides Third Man’s record business. Third Man has diversified a bit and now offer a stompbox called the Bumble Buzz. It’s a minimalist affair, mostly stocked with limited editions of records that strike White’s fancy. When you visit the Third Man shop in Nashville, you get the sense that Third Man remains a labor of love. Like most small label proprietors, he started the company to release records that big labels wouldn’t touch, whether it was a White Stripes live rarity, a 7' from blues primitivist Seasick Steve, or an LP from psych-pop trickster Kelly Stoltz. Jack White formed Third Man Records back at the turn of the 21Ĭentury.

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