Fairfield Circuitry’s The Unpleasant Surprise is an experimental fuzz and gate built around an unusually interactive circuit. Rather than aiming for a conventional fuzz sound, it uses the relationship between gain, compression, and gating to produce everything from saturated, sustaining fuzz to abrupt, sputtering textures. Made in Hull, Québec, The Unpleasant Surprise has remained one of Fairfield Circuitry’s offers a wide range of sounds from a relatively simple control layout.
The Volume control sets the overall output, and the Onset knob opens the gate and brings more of the fuzz and sustain into the sound. With Onset up, the fuzz is smooth, powerful, and unrestrained. As you back Onset off, the response becomes increasingly gated and abrupt. Notes break up and/or cut off according to your touch. Then, there are three toggle switches to add further variation: T (Tone) changes the high-frequency response, G (Gain) shifts the character and amount of saturation, and C (Crush) adds another layer of compression and aggressive clipping. Together, these controls move The Unpleasant Surprise from thick fuzz and distorted lead sounds to more compressed, splattery, and almost synth-y textures.
Despite its experimental nature, The Unpleasant Surprise is straightforward and user-friendly. The controls interact with each other, and small changes to Onset can have a significantly impact how the other settings come into play. As you explore, your picking dynamics are what drives the character of the sound. When the gate is set more aggressively, light picking can produce sputtering or choked notes, while harder attack pushes the circuit wide open and brings out more sustain.
The Unpleasant Surprise steps beyond the conventional fuzz box templates. This pedal reacts to the way it is played as much as to where the knobs are set. It can produce aggressive lead fuzz, compressed rhythm sounds, and heavily gated textures, but what's really fun is exploring the unpredictable territory between those sounds.