Dragging themselves out of one of the most isolated capital cities in the world, The Scientists started as a pop punk band in the late 70's and by the early 80's had moved to Sydney and turned rock into sludge and sludge into grunge and grunge into .... well, you know the story there.
This new core guitar duo of Kim Salmon and Tony Thewlis laid down a bright versus dark, thin vs thick layer of fuzzy guitar influenced more by the Stooges than by the earlier pop sound.
Things slowed down and got dirty. This new sludgy sound became the scientists signature and songs like Swampland, We Had Love and This is my Happy Hour became the blueprint for what was to become known as Swamp Rock.
Kim was playing a custom made "offset" and provided the light through a Fender Twin. Tony was playing a Tele Thinline through a custom made "thick" fuzz and a Melos Fuzz for the "thin", again, into a Fender Twin.
This twin guitar sound would become a huge influence on bands from Seattle a few years later and would eventually take over the world.
The new Tym Murderess was designed in conjunction with Kim Salmon to replicate that twin fuzz sound that has become famous.
Plug your guitar into the Murderess and step on the LEADFOOT and you get the thin "60's" fuzz tone with controls for SOLID (volume), GOLD (tone) and HELL (gain). It's a buzzsaw fuzz that can be shaped with the GOLD control and wound up to squealing proportions with the HELL control.
Then, when the time is right, step on the SWAMP switch and bring the huge (HUGE) bottom end, thick, sludgy F U Z Z into action.
The circuit took a few prototypes to get what was in Kim's head onto a PCB but the hard work paid off. It's unlike any other of my fuzz pedals and is the first Tym fuzz I can't run on full, in either mode. This four high gain transistor circuit is wild compared to my other circuits I make and will self oscilate with everything getting close to max.
This fuzz is big with single coils but introduce her to P-90's or humbuckers and this girl takes off.
Artwork is by Kim Salmon himself and laid out by Joe Presedo who played guitar in the Scientists in London in the mid 80's.
I grew up listening to the Scientists in wonder of that guitar tone. It was so primeval and nasty. It didn't sound like other bands at the time but within a few years everyone started to sound like them. It's a huge honour to make this pedal for the Scientists. Get a Tele and a Twin and riff your way through the swamp.
The new Tym MURDERESS will be out in a few weeks. This is not a limited edition pedal but supply, as always, will be limited to what I can personally make by hand. Huge thanks to Kim and Tony for letting me be involved in this.
"When I was approached with the prospect of a signature pedal made by Tym Guitars it was, as they say, ‘a no brainer’.
Just having got back from a couple of Euro gigs with my old band The Scientists the mental image of our very own fuzz demon Tony Thewlis stomping and kicking round his two fuzz pedals on our song ‘Murderess in a Purple Dress’ flashed up!
‘Murderess’ has that ‘Search and Destroy’ step up in volume, that “I need to go to 11 right now” necessity that we all know only too well.
That necessity is the mother!
The ‘Murderess’ fuzz pedal is the invention!
The ‘Murderess’ is really two pedals in one - for those of us with no time for shoe-gazing!
I’ve been "playing ‘round" with the ‘Murderess’ for a bit now and I can confirm….
She’s a KILLER!"
Kim Salmon