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Proxima - Twilight Pulse Audioworks

Apr 19, 2023

The Proxima by Twilight Pulse Audioworks is a phenomenal MOSFET fuzz and overdrive.

I knew Kit from TPA was a talented builder, given that I was fortunate enough to demo his Konstante drive. But the Proxima is a whole new level of awesome.

When I started recording for the demo track above, I noticed that the character of the breakup was kind of two-sided. On the lower gain settings, it felt like a preampy overdrive. And at some point of the gain range, it evolves into a ripping fuzz. It’s also very dynamic and does that character change when you turn down your guitar’s volume.

It was only after I recorded a little and talked to Kit again that I found out that this is intentional and actually the whole philosophy behind the name and design of the pedal 🤯

The clipping diodes start to affect the sound only at higher gain settings. On the low gain side, you only hear the MOSFET gain stage overdriving.

I recorded the main guitar track on the bridge pickup. But let me tell you, it’s also very lovely with a neck pickup and the guitar volume rolled off. Just a wonderful, articulate drive. That sound just didn’t fit the more “energetic” track in the demo.

Here is a little backstory write-up from Kit:

Named after Proxima B, an earth-sized exoplanet which orbits around Earth’s closest star, the Proxima Centauri.

While Proxima B orbits around the habitable zone, there is one problem. The planet is tidally locked, and that results in one side of the planet being permanently dark and the other side being permanently bright, so, it is, in theory, not likely habitable. On top of that, Proxima B also orbits around a highly active star that blasts out intense radiation that could strip the exoplanet’s atmosphere apart with every orbit, which presents a huge obstacle for life to exist.

So why did I name this pedal after it? Well, it is because I feel this pedal bare the same contradictory elements of what we have known so far about the Proxima B and I was really intrigued with this astrological find around the time I was developing the pedal :)

The Proxima seems like a mild overdrive at a glance, but don’t be fooled by its simple design, is a drive pedal that excels in both low-gain breakups and full-blown fuzz. Two extremes in one, much like the Proxima B. A hot and cold exoplanet; a overdrive and a fuzz.

Bonus point: The Proxima is also freaking great on bass. You’re hearing it on the bass track in the demo. It’s one of those bass overdrives that just work without much post-processing. I just added a touch of compression and EQ.

I highly recommend snagging up a Proxima. Kit used some very hard to find, hand-selected components. So there is a good chance that the Proxima will be a limited run.

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