Fuzzrocious BDPG

This is the Fuzzrocious Broke Dick Peanut Gallery. Pictured is the later version of that pedal with a four knob layout. Actually, the pedal in the picture is the last one that has been built. There has been a re-run after Fuzzrocious retired the pedal and although I missed the time window for the order by a week, Ryan of Fuzzrocious let me in. These are somewhat hard to find. I wanted a second one with the four knob layout, but all I could find so far was one with three knobs. If you have a four knob one, let me know.

Fuzzrocious is somewhat opaque in the description of the pedal:

The Broke Dick Peanut Gallery (BDPG) is a preamp based upon an out of production preamp with an updated, more useful tone stack, JFET selection, and post circuit volume boost. It can do low gain, high gain, clanky tones, doomy gloom, and everything in between. Run this after your other pedals to breathe new life into your tone.
(source: https://fuzzrociouspedals.com/?product=bdpg )

In the earlier versions, the knobs were Gain, Volume, Tone. However, they were better described as
Pre-Gain, Post-Gain and Tone. The later versions have another Volume, this one not not impacting the tone, only the output volume. On my three knob BDPG, it’s quite the balancing act, having both gains just right while maintaining something approaching unity on the output – while I can adjust whatever I like on the later version – and then simply compensate with the volume knob.

So what is that thing exactly? I guess this pedal tries to defy being put in a category, with some success.
I would most likely call it a dirty preamp. The BDPG does not do clean, not really.
Experimenting around led me to two particular use cases. Both, for want of a better word, add weight.
On my main gigging board, I run the BDPG as a preamp that lets me switch from a rather modern sound with sparkly top end to an oldschool sound, reminding a bit of those records done with a B-15.
The tone stack is a tilt one that does pretty shrill at one end and pretty muffled at the other, but it feels like there is more happening than a simple “boost bass, reduce treble or vice versa” here.
Also, a little goes a long way here. If you want to play staccato bass, something like the bass line in Dawn Penn’s “No No No”, the BDPG can add so much to that quality, those short notes gain substance and both the notes and the pauses between pop out more. Also, there’s that slightly fuzzy edge around the notes that sounds a little bit too dirty when you play solo, but really shines in a mix.

The other application is to run another dirt pedal into the BDPG. Use something that gets you a slightly starved tone and let the BDPG sear off the very top end and add a healthy amount of booty to it. In that regard, it’s really a pedal that should have a fixed spot on any board for a stoner/doom/sludge bassist. Use a drive with enough low end heft to it and the BDPG will transform it into something else – something at least equally good.
I’ve had great results with fuzz pedals, overdrives and distortions.

I can’t really say why these things have not caught on in the bassist community, but I urge you to pick one up, should you find it.