Electro-Harmonix Flatiron Fuzz Classic Op-Amp Powered Fuzz/Distortion Reviews

I own many fuzz pedals & this is now my number one fuzz box! You can go from thick n' gritty to a smooth fuzz! Very versatile indeed. I like this better than the big muff, fuzz face & Park Fuzz Sound! The three pedals I just mention I absolutely love but the Flat Iron Fuzz takes the cake in my strong opinion! Don't let the low price tag fool you cause this pedal is the real deal! EHX hits another home run with this one!

Beats my other fuzz pedals with its tone and flexibility. I have to say it's better (and way cheaper) than my other fuzz's. You can tame the low end and run it wide open or back it off some and still get a good and predictable breakup and it cleans up pretty good with your guitar's volume knob.
I love it!

The knob controls are easy to use. It gives you lots of flexibility in sound. You can get a nice fat 60s foxy lady sound, grunge and anything in between. I love it!

This pedal resolved my dislike of the chassis for my Rat II and my issues with a clone-ish pedal. It just sounds great and records great. I am really happy I took a 3rd crack at getting that Rat tone on my board. I selfishly didn't want to write a review and keep this knowledge for myself. As a bit of a pedal snob this one seems wildly underrated.

I've tried a lot of dirt boxes over the years and always kept returning to the Rat. I'm switching permanently to the Flatiron. It's as much a distortion as it is a fuzz. Sounds great in lower tunings and also great on bass.
I don't normally write reviews but this pedal is a hidden gem and if you like the sound of a Rat or a Big Muff this sits nicely between the two. Sweet creamy lead tones too!

So apparently this is supposed to me more or less EHX's take on the Rat. While it definitely has Rat-like characteristics, to my ears, it's much more of a Rat meets a Big Muff. In my opinion, that's a wonderful thing but if you're looking for a Rat clone, this isn't it.

The lower distortion settings are surprisingly mellow and I found the pedal to be more touch sensitive than I was expecting, both of which were pleasant surprises. But of course, once you crank the distortion knob, it gets nasty in a hurry just like Rat or a Muff should. That all being said, if you want to stick a tube screamer-style drive in front of the Flatiron, it tightens up and focuses pretty nicely.

The filter (tone) knob is also pretty responsive which means the pedal will work just fine in front of both dark and bright amps and with a wide variety of guitars.

So basically, if you want a well-made, decently priced fuzz that can also do the Rat thing, look no further!

This is an always on pedal. Adds a great textured boost with the gain way down and a little volume.

A lot of reviews compared the EHX Flatiron Fuzz to a rat. Sorry, but this little fella is orange and I wouldn't know a rat if it jumped up and bit me! All I know is, after having owned several "fuzz" pedals over the years, this is the "fuzz" pedal I've always been looking for. I'd say it's livelier than a Big Muff, which, to my ears, is a big, clumsy slob (no offense). Even with the tone/filter set on the dark side, it retains note clarity. Add more treble, put the drive mid-way to get a heavy punch...keep going and it gets like a razor blade dragged over the rocks. Of course, you've got the volume knob to play with, too. Turn the volume way up and the drive way down and you've got a raw, ragged overdrive. Because my wife was home, I didn't try it with the volume and drive dimed....I can only imagine.

I have many EHX pedals and do love them all. I was looking for a good sounding, easy to dial in Fuzz for my son (22 years old) who is just getting into amps and pedals, he has been playing guitar for a good while now, but almost exclusively acoustic, or if electric, straight into the amp. Well, he is digging playing around with this pedal - giving him sound options he never considered before. The Flatiron is a solid, great sounding Fuzz - I have never been disappointed with an EHX product, nor with Sweetwater - they really do a great job!! Thank you to my sales engineer, Chris Barry, for helping me with this, and all my other purchases.

This is a wonderful edition to the electro harmonix line. The Flatiron fuzz is definitely RAT inspired. I "A/B'ed" this with my RAT 2 pedal ... And you certainly can get them to sound nearly identical. Very versatile distortion/fuzz unit. I have no complaints. And with such a kind price tag ... Get one! You will not regret it.

I use this pedal to grind and for heaviness when I"m playing rhythm. I use it for high gain "fuzz" leads when I solo. I really like the way it works with my tube amp.

I was shocked. I have a Rat pedal on my board and have used it exclusively along with a TS-9 and a Wampler Tumnus as a boost. This thing rocks. I was pleasantly surprised at the tones you can get out of this pedal...from a clean overdrive to outright fuzz. It truly replaces the Rat. If you don't have get one today you're missing out. This has to be one of the best pedals on the market.

Love this pedal. I was looking for for something along the lines of a RAT and this pedal not only gives that RAT sound but also lines up some new modern sound options and in a smaller more board-friendly box.

Love it! From mild overdrive to gnarly fuzz, and everything in-between!

More than I expected. This thing can growl and chainsaw like a Big Muff without the muddy lows (which I also love, but that's why I have the Big Muff ;) ) No notes get lost with this pedal. In fact, each note is prominent, up front, crisp and crunchy at the same time. IMO it excels with a P90 pickup. This pedal FINALLY gave my guitars the crunch, yet clarity that I've been looking for for decades for a bunch of songs, seriously. Up until now, too many notes got lost with a fuzz, an overdrive, or a distortion. Not with this Flatiron. SO glad I went for the purchase!

Well, english is not my native language so ; sorry about my caligraphy or redaction issues. Well, I got this thing. In the last 15 years I stop buying Ehx pedals. I"m almost in my 60"s , so yeah , I REALLY know EHX is not the same at all the same 70"s and 80"s marvelous company. Now ehx is a chinesse company. Almost all the pedals I had tested in the las 20 years just don"t do the work....exept for this little pedal. I have all the vintage incarnations of ProCo RAT. This thing is close, not better not worst. Just great!.

I pre-ordered the newly-released EHX Flatiron on a whim, as there had been no demo videos released at that time. The only information I had was that it was a RAT-style pedal, and based on that alone I decided to give it a go.

This thing is awesome! Tons of gain on tap, and the Filter control means you don't have to worry as much about losing your sound in the mix. I used it with the band and it sounded great, and even gave me some great resonant feedback when using it with my 335 Dot! Another great pedal from EHX!

I bought this pedal to add to the palette of gain with my OCD and Wampler Euphoria. This definitely adds another flavor, much higher gain than you can get out of the OCD. The distortion is warm and full as opposed the the thin and fizzy I got from a DS-1 with my setup. I keep the gain at 12-1 and it's clearly in distortion territory - neither OD nor fuzz. While it will get into those ranges at the further side of the gain knob, I think there are better pedals for that. All high gain pedals are noisy at some level and this one is about average in that regard. Filter (tone) knob works well to match the character of the tone to your guitar and amp. I haven't had a Rat on my board but this is just slightly warmer than the ones I've played or the Line6 Rat model on my m5. Overall, this pedal does exactly what I was looking for when I bought it. When a new pedal inspires me to play for hours, I know it's earned a place on my board. I don't see this one leaving for a long time.

I used the Flatiron fuzz to drive my amp a little harder. It can be dialed in to give you a variety of tones. I think it works well for that 1990's grunge tone. I sure it can be fine tuned for many styles of music. I highly recommend the Flatiron Fuzz it is a great pedal.

Normally, I don't write reviews. But after reading so many positive comments about this pedal, I felt sort of obligated to share my more negative experience.
Originally, I intended to buy a TC Electronic Magus Pro. But since they were out of stock at Sweetwater, I decided to take a shot on the Flat Iron Fuzz. I really wanted to like this pedal, but I just don't.
First, I don't like the filter control. Rather than adding or subtracting high end, it basically boosts or reduces output & clarity. Why do I want that!? Seriously, why do I want a "tone" control that reduces my distortion pedal's volume level while also making it sound muffled? The more you increase the filter control (counterclockwise), the more you have to crank up the volume & distortion in order to compensate.
This leads to my second issue with the Flat Iron Fuzz. I don't think it has enough gain. Particularly, if you try to use the filter control to reduce the highs & beef up the low end. Basically, you've got two choices: either dime the distortion if you choose to use the tone filter, or greatly reduce the amount of filter effect that you're using. This seriously diminishes the pedal's tonal versatility.
The one good thing that I can say about the Flat Iron Fuzz is that it has a nice lead tone. If that was the only thing I wanted to use the pedal for, then I'd probably keep it. But since it's not, I returned it to Sweetwater for a refund.