Music Thing: The Metasonix Butt Probe

Each week Tom Whitwell of Music Thing highlights the best of the new music gear that's coming out, as well as noteworthy vintage equipment:

Metasonix is a little company run by vacuum tube guru Eric Barbour. They build expensive, esoteric and surprisingly funny music gear from arcane vintage electronic components. Eric's latest invention is the Butt Probe. Basically, it's a fuzz box, in the way that Lamborghini Murciélago is basically a car.

Unlike the Lambo, the Butt Probe comes with knobs marked 'Fist', 'Ream' and 'Screw', which control the three '4BN6 Beam Modulator' vacuum tubes, which were designed to be used in cheap TV sets. Eric has repurposed them to create "a vast range of NAUSEATING tonal effects not obtainable with any of the existing effect pedals on the market."

You can even integrate the Butt Probe into a modular synth setup, using other modules or a sequencer to control the filter. How does it sound? Really, really messed up. The insulting and easily distracted product page (sample quote: "Ann Coulter is up your butt! Al Franken is up your butt! Can't you feel them wriggling around in ther? It's NASTY! ") provides a series of helpful audio examples of the Butt Probe converting anything into a series of rhythmic, squawking bleeps.
All this doesn't come cheap - the retail price for the limited run of 100 units is $549, but at least you know you it won't be used on the new Kelly Clarkson single.