EarthQuaker Devices Hizumitas

Introduction: A Boris-Inspired Fuzz Experience

The EarthQuaker Devices Hizumitas is a fuzz pedal created in direct collaboration with Wata, guitarist of Boris. Priced at $194, it's positioned as a faithful recreation of Wata's main fuzz, the Japanese-made Elk BM Sustainar, but with a modern analog circuit and more tonal flexibility. Every detail, from the controls to the enclosure art, reflects the pedal's distinct identity rooted in doom, drone, and experimental soundscapes.

Construction and Features

The Hizumitas is housed in a hefty metal casing, weighing in at around 425 grams. It boasts truly robust build quality, with a bypass footswitch, bright status indicator, and three sturdy metal knobs for volume, tone, and sustain. The enclosure measures 120.65 by 63.5 by 57.15 millimeters, making it compact enough for any pedalboard but unmistakably solid on the floor.

The circuit is fully analog and relay-based for true bypass operation, meaning your signal path stays pure and unobstructed when the pedal's off. All audio connections are standard 6.35 mm jacks, and power is supplied via a 9V DC center-negative adapter (not included), drawing 10 mA. Aside from its sonic impact, the pedal's original graphic design, inspired by Boris's aesthetic, immediately grabs attention.

Tonal Range and Controls

At its heart, the Hizumitas offers a wide palette of distortion textures, all anchored in classic muff-style fuzz. However, its controls are more interactive and responsive than the typical muff clone. The volume knob provides huge amounts of gain, unity is reached before 10 o'clock, with everything past that delivering a fierce blast capable of overdriving an amplifier's input with ease. The sustain control ranges from tamely fuzzy to saturated drones that favor both single-note leads and pounding chords. The tone knob is especially versatile, shifting the voice from thick and bass-heavy to bright and biting with clarity maintained even at extreme settings.

User reports highlight that the tone knob works in reverse of classic logic, turning it clockwise adds low end and "doom," while counterclockwise settings produce a brighter, more focused fuzz. This makes it easy to dial in anything from sharp, piercing single-note runs to enveloping, massive walls of distortion.

Dynamic Response and Versatility

One of the Hizumitas's standout features is its sensitivity to different guitars and playing styles. Whether using instruments with single coils or humbuckers, users find that the pedal's gain structure and EQ respond to nuances in pickup output and technique. With the guitar's volume rolled down, the effect can clean up to a mild harmonic saturation, making subtle textures and "Santana's Black Magic Woman" style leads possible.
On the other side, maxing out sustain and gain yields the dense, droning character Boris fans expect, but the texture never devolves into muddiness, unless deliberately pushed in that direction using the tone control.

• Massive output headroom: The pedal's volume can push an amp hard, delivering even more sustain and drive if desired. "Set to destruction" above 10 o'clock is not an exaggeration.
• Sustain and feedback: At high settings, the Hizumitas excels at holding notes, building controlled feedback, and retaining string definition even in dense saturation, crucial for experimental or noise applications.
• Adjustable grit and clarity: The fuzz remains articulate, with a present midrange and defined attack especially on single strings. However, some users note that heavy sustain can soften pick attack and sometimes mute treble presence, particularly with humbuckers or darker amps.
• Bass and guitar compatibility: Many reviewers found the Hizumitas equally compelling with bass, noting its ability to keep low notes clear and massive without excessive muddiness, an important trait for players in heavy or drone genres.

Usability and Quirks

The Hizumitas has a reputation for being "idiot-proof", nearly any setting yields a usable sound, whether tight fuzz for rhythm or towering drones for lead. The tone and sustain knobs provide a genuinely broad sonic range, so players can easily match the pedal to various rigs and styles, from garage rock to post-rock feedback explorations.

Some practical observations from the field: the volume control is highly sensitive, a tiny twist can result in large jumps in output, so precision is needed when integrating the pedal into a board or live set. There is no included power supply, and the pedal does not ship with rubber feet.

In terms of build, the pedal is praised for its construction quality, but isolated complaints exist regarding quality control, such as damaged pots or cosmetic imperfections at delivery, though these are exceptions rather than the rule.

Sound Character: Beyond Standard Muff Fuzz

While the Hizumitas clearly channels the sonic legacy of 1970s triangle-box fuzz pedals, especially in the way it creates thick fuzz with octave overtones and deep sustain, most users regard it as surpassing standard muff clones. It provides more output, easier fine-tuning of tone, and a weightier sound that favors both band settings and solo performance. Even at extreme gain, individual notes do not get completely swallowed, and the pedal's heavy lows and "unique grit" set it apart for doom, drone, stoner, and experimental genres.

If you want the needle-pushing fuzz of Boris's classic records, capable of translating both huge rhythm work and wild textural leads into practical pedalboard reality, the Hizumitas is a top contender.

Verdict

The EarthQuaker Devices Hizumitas successfully delivers on its promise: a powerful, responsive, and flexible fuzz designed for heavy music and tonal exploration. With intuitive controls, enormous output, and a highly musical core voice, it stands out not only as a Boris homage but as a modern classic fuzz. If you seek a dynamic fuzz that can handle subtlety as well as overwhelming power, this should be high on your list. Build quality is solid, aesthetics are striking, and its musicality goes well beyond its inspiration.

• Pros: Immense output, broad tone control, Wata/Boris authenticity, robust construction
• Cons: No power supply included, extremely sensitive volume knob, occasional QC issues

The Hizumitas covers classic fuzz needs and then some, making it a compelling flagship for EarthQuaker Devices in the boutique fuzz landscape.