The Uni-Vibe is an iconic effect, whether coming from Hendrix and Band of Gypsy’s “Machine Gun,” Robin Trower’s “Bridge of Sighs” or multiple tracks from “Dark Side of the Moon” from Pink Floyd, you’ve heard it before many times, and chances are you dig it. Today’s pedal seeks to re-create those iconic effects units of the past, with a couple new enhancements as well. The...
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Straight-up, no-frills, to-the-point effects pedals are becoming somewhat of a rarity in today’s crazy market, so we were pretty excited about today’s featured piece of gear, a simple-to-use and extremely easy to dial in fuzz pedal from across the way in Slovenia. The MindFuzz from Surfadelic Soundwaves has a bare minimum control section, but is absolutely jam-packed with tone, power and, of course, FUZZ. The little...
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A couple of years ago, a revolutionary delay pedal was unleashed on the market, changing the landscape of effects forever. The Nemesis from Source Audio remains one of the top delays around, even after a few years and a multitude of other have tried to top it. The crew at Source Audio, recognizing this accomplishment, decided to further their sonic adventure and crafted today’s featured pedal, one that’s sure to sit...
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Joey Lewis Buffalo, NY Funktional Flow www.funktionalflow.com facebook.com/FunktionalFlowMusic youtube.com/user/funktionalflowmusic/videos How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? From what I can remember, a man in our neighborhood growing up gave an acoustic guitar to my older brother Justin and he quickly lost interest in it. That’s when I swooped in and nabbed it lol. But it was ok...
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Dario Darnell/Youngr London/UK www.youngrmusic.com How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? I started when I was around 10/11 years old. My dad is also a musician, so it’s always been in the family. Then he forced me to have piano lessons and told me I’d thank him when I’m older! Now I’m thanking him that I’m Youngr (#dadjokes). He also gave me my middle name –...
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Johnny Balmer Location Chicago, IL Together, with my wife Victoria, we operate Alchemy Audio www.alchemy-audio.com How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? I’ve been playing electric guitar since I was 14. Victoria has played bass for a couple of years. Who have been some of your major musical influences, past or present? I was a metal kid in the 80’s. Therefore, when I started playing guitar, it...
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Michael Vickery Gilbert, Arizona Vick Audio VickAudio.com How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? I got a late start when it comes to guitar but I have been playing for almost 25 years. I started as a musician by taking piano lesson when I was a kid. I took lesson for about 4 years but it never really clicked with me. I think piano teacher have a tendency to try to make kids classic pianists...
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While we don’t often do many bass pedal reviews (sorry, guys), we’ve got a pedal today that guitarists AND fans of the low end will appreciate and marvel in. Based on the famed Akai Deep Impact SB-1 Bass Synth, the Future Impact I is also a bass synthesizer pedal, offering more options and parameter controls than the the Akai, but all the while staying true to the sounds it has become famous for creating. Ready to take a...
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Every now and again, we get an effect coming through our shop that defies all reason, logic and musicality, and those pedals usually come straight from Akron, Ohio. If you don’t know by now (all 3 of you), EarthQuaker Devices has been not just pushing, but destroying the sonic envelope for the last decade or so, crushing everyone and everything in its path to total oddity domination in the effects pedal world. Today’s...
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Marco Benevento Upstate New York Homepage Follow the Arrow When longtime jazz/jam favorite of ours, Marco Benevento, brought his band through town last week for a show at the Asheville Music Hall, he was kind enough to sit down and talk with us about music, touring, gear and more…here’s our chat, enjoy! [Pedal of the Day] First of all, where did you grow up? Do you still live in the same place? [Marco Benevento] I grew up...
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John Mark McMillan Nashville, TN www.johnmarkmcmillan.com How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? I’ve been trying to play music since I was in my late teens. One afternoon a good buddy of mine brought his guitar over to the house and could play all these REM, Weezer, Pearl Jam, and Nirvana songs form the radio. I wasn’t good at sports so I figured guitar would be a better way to impress girls....
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Michael Weavers Christchurch, New Zealand Flux Effects www.fluxeffects.com How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? I started playing guitar and drums when I was 15. We had a crappy nylon-string acoustic guitar with a cracked neck lying around which I began playing around with. I’d try to play U2 songs off the Joshua Tree album with the 3 chords I had learned. In my late teens I bought a...
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Michael Parker Seattle, WA – The People’s Republic of the USA I play guitar & keys in the band Pickwick www.pickwickmusic.com How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? I started playing guitar when I was in the 8th grade on a whim. I had a friend who was a drummer and needed some people to jam with. He recruited me basically because I was in the room and had nothing better to do. He...
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Kevin Wilson Guilford, Indiana Wilson Effects www.wilsoneffects.com How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? I started playing guitar in the 4th grade and dropped it for a while. I picked it back up when I was around 17 and have been playing ever since. I was an 80’s metal thrash kid so Metallica, Slayer all contributed to my willingness to pick it back up. Ultimately Pearl Jam became one of my...
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For those of us in the know, the pedals from Main.Ace.FX are pretty easy to spot, as they hold a consistent look and feel throughout the lineup created by James Granuzzo. As for their sound, that too is consistent, quality-wise, if not always surprising and creative. Today’s pedal, the Shell Shock Fuzz/Tremolo, is yet another in this impressive group of effects, a 2-in-1 that is chalk-full of sonic exploration and enhancement,...
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Mihali Savoulidis Vermont Twiddle twiddlemusic.com How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? I’ve been playing guitar since I was 14, but I really had just been playing in my bedroom and writing songs and working on my lead playing. I went to college to form a band and play all these songs I had written during high school, and the end result is Twiddle. I started really gigging out when I was 18,...
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Ben Bloom Seattle, WA Polyrhythmics www.polyrhythmics.com We had the honor of chatting with Ben in person when the Polyrythmics played here in Boise during Treefort Music Fest last month – here’s our conversation: [Pedal of the Day] Where are you guys from? [Ben Bloom] Seattle. I grew up in New York, but we all met and live in Seattle. I’ve been there since 2001. [POTD] What got you into music in the first place?...
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Johnny Hiland Nashville, TN http://www.johnnyhiland.net/ It is a sincere pleasure, and honor, to be doing this interview. I am a huge fan of Pedal of the Day, on Twitter, as I am truly a pedal nut. I just want everybody to know that you can find out anything you may want to know about me on my website, www.johnnyhiland.net. How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? I have been a musician now for...
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Scott Kannberg Merida, Yucatan, Mexico Spiral Stairs Preston School of Industry Pavement www.spiralstairsofficial.com/ pitchfork.com/artists/3389-preston-school-of-industry/ www.matadorrecords.com/pavement How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? 30 years or so… SM and I had a band in college, 1987 or so. Bag O Bones was the name. Instrumental jams. I bought a bass (red Ibanez roadster) at my...
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Tremolo has always been one of our favorite effects, and in recent years, pedal builders seem to be embracing them more and more as well. Today’s pedal from our friends over at EarthQuaker Devices is a tremolo on steroids, with a ton of options to choose from, and a million-and-one sounds to be created. The Night Wire™ is a harmonic tremolo (more on that in a minute), and one that really adds an entirely new level of sonic...
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Luke Miller Denver, CO Lotus www.lotusvibes.com Luke The Knife (DJ/Produce/Remix) soundcloud.com/luketheknife How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? I’ve been a professional musician for 12 years. I’ve been a musician for about 20 years. I took piano lessons as a kid, but I consider my true origin as a musician when I started teaching myself guitar freshman year of high school. That’s when my...
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Jesse Aycock (Tulsa, OK) www.jesseaycock.com / www.facebook.com/jesseaycockband Hard Working Americans (everywhere USA) www.thehardworkingamericans.com Paul Benjaman Band (Tulsa, OK) www.paulbenjamanband.com / www.facebook.com/paulbenjamanband Lauren Barth (Tulsa, OK) www.laurenbarth.com / www.facebook.com/laurenbarthmusic How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? I guess I’ve been a...
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Tape delay/echo units have produced some of the most unique and recognizable tones in music history, used by countless artists and studio producers for decades. However, the older, “classic” units are big and bulky, and are extremely prone to damage, lack of replacement parts and near impossible upkeep. Fortunately, we live in a golden age of effects pedals, and companies like Danelectro re-create these machines with...
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Joel Cummins Venice Beach, CA Umphrey’s McGee umphreys.com How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? I started playing piano at the age of 8 when my parents told me I had to pick an instrument and practice 30 minutes a day. Umphrey’s McGee started in late 1997 and we haven’t looked back since. I started with sight reading, mainly focused on classical music, but also did some ragtime, blues...
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Scott Hachey Denver, CO I play guitar and make faces with The Magic Beans: magicbeansmusic.com How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? I’ve been a gigging musician for almost 6 years now. Been playing music for over a decade now. Probably 15 years. Started on trumpet and moved on to guitar soon thereafter. Who have been some of your major musical influences, past or present? Growing up in...
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Andy Fuchs Fuchs Audio Technology/Plush FX Pedals Div. 407 Getty Ave Second Floor West Clifton NJ 07011 973-772- 4420 www.fuchsaudiotechnology.com/ How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? I started messing with a broken old Eminee plastic guitar I found in the basement of my families music store when I was about ten. I guess around 14 or 15 years old I’d been playing flute in the school band...
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Steve Sterlacci Westchester, New York Jessica Lynn jessicalynnmusic.org How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? So I was trying to play professional baseball until I was about 23. I had played in college on a scholarship and traveled the country going to try outs, but never got an opportunity that made sense. I had already played guitar by that time in a dance/Top 40 wedding band and my now...
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Joseph Morinelli Rochester, New York Joywave, The Meat Lovers Trio www.joywavemusic.com Twitter: @joywavemusic, @joeywave_ Instagram: @joywavemusic, @joeywave_ How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? I grew up with my father constantly playing records of legendary delta blues musicians. Robert Johnson, Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Elmore James, and so on. We would sit in our basement with our...
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Today’s guest review comes to us from Rob H. – you can find him on Instagram (@studio.rh), Twitter (@Rob_Hildreth) or on his website (Studio RH). Magnetic Effects are a London (UK) based boutique pedal manufacturer. All of the effects are designed and built by Christian Livingstone, who also happens to be the riff monster from NZ garage rockers The Datsuns. You only need to listen to his guitar work to realise this guy...
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So, today’s pedal takes us on an absolutely new adventure here at Pedal of the Day: MIDI. Not really knowing how it works or having ever really used it much (at least not a device this intense and powerful), we were a little intimidated when the MC6 MIDI Controller showed up on our doorstep. Luckily for us, the guys at Morningstar Engineering are super-nice, and over the course of several emails, we were able to dive in and do...
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Neil Fallon Silver Spring, MD Clutch http://www.pro-rock.com/ How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? I bought my first electric guitar around 1987. It was a shitty Cort strat. A very discouraging introduction. My “rig” was a Gorilla amp and a Boss DS-1. Strictly power chords and feedback for several years. I drove my parents nuts. Clutch formed in 1991. We knew each other in high...
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Jared Scharff SNL Band guitarist Pearl Lion instrumental project Creator of “Unnecessary Shredding” YouTube series www.soundcloud.com/IamPearlLion www.youtube.com/JaredScharff Instagram: @ScharffIsHere Twitter: @ScharffIsHere SnapChat: JaredScharff Facebook: JaredScharffOfficial Facebook: Pearl Lion How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? I’ve been in love with music since I was a kid and...
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If you’ve been to a concert, read a guitar magazine or had a jam session with anyone, there’s a good chance you’ve seen today’s featured pedal in one form or another. The DS-1 Distortion from Boss is one of the pedals that really made Boss famous, and has been used on more records and tours than any of us could ever count. Today’s model is a “vintage” one from the 80’s or 90’s,...
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Mike Gantzer Guitarist for Aqueous Buffalo, NY https://aqueousband.com/ https://www.facebook.com/aqueousband/ How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? Incidentally, when I first started playing music was in the 3rd grade with the standard issue recorder they give out to everyone, and i HATED it. haha I picked up trumpet for awhile, but I recall being sort of turned off with the rigidity of the...
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After recently reviewing the new and awesome DD-500, we figured it was time to round out the digital delay pedals offered up by Boss, and the only one we had left was today’s featured pedal, the DD-5 Digital Delay. Although we did review a version of this pedal before, it had been modded by JHS, so we’re gonna take a look at the stock pedal and see what it has to offer as it comes stock. The DD-5 is jam-packed with delay...
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I’d always heard good things about the TS10 Tube Screamer, and if Stevie Ray Vaughn and Mike McCready used it (and even John Mayer, too!), it had to be AOK in my book. Having reviewed and played many different iterations of the infamous Tube Screamer over the years, I had never had the opportunity to play one of these bad boys, and let me tell you, I was not disappointed. TS9 and TS808 comparisons aside, the TS10 has an ongoing...
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When it first came out, I thought the Palisades Overdrive from EarthQuaker Devices was one of the coolest drives I had come across in a while, although it was just a bit bigger than I needed at the time. Fast forward some months, and the team at EQD decide that there might be a need for a smaller version of this pedal, that sticks to the basics but still offers up some tonal options, too. They’ve done it again, folks: help me...
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I love it when pedals throw something wacky, funky or unexpected at you, to keep you on your toes, and use effects to expand the range of the music you produce. The gang over at Main.Ace.FX have done just that, and this happens to be one of their TAMER pedals. An excellent example of a simple overdrive/distortion/freak box, I present to you the One Shot. Utilizing not one but TWO Gain controls is where the fun begins with the One...
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Many times on a pedalboard, simplicity can be your closest friend. Take, for example, the Mockingbird 3-knob Delay pedal from Backwoods Music. One of the newest additions to their sonic lineup, the Mockingbird will give you a wide range of delay tones, lengths and sounds in a neat-and-tidy, compact, pedalboard-friendly package, without sacrificing any tone, clarity or build quality whatsoever. Mix, Feedback and Delay make up the basic...
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Anticipation is one of the funnest parts about getting new pedals in the mail to review, and sometimes, that anticipation is higher than other times. Case in point: I couldn’t wait to open the box for the brand new Interstellar Orbiter from EarthQuaker Devices when it arrived on my doorstep. I had heard a lot about it from the last NAMM show, and was super-excited to see what it could do, and run it through the paces to maximize...
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Rarely does a pedal completely take me by surprise, to where I’m dumbfounded, amazed and excited all at the same time. The cats over at Center Street Electronics have managed to confound me with their weird, awesome fuzz oscillator pedal, appropriately named God Hates Fuzz. An ordinary fuzz pedal this is not; an extremely fun piece of musical equipment, it is. Basically, all the controls MUST work together to make up this...
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The Wampler Euphoria (formerly the Ecstacy, but the good people at Bogner took exception) is an extremely versatile overdrive pedal that pushes well into distortion-pedal space before it’s done. Wampler promotes it as their “Dumble Box,” a description I think their marketing department should give another once over. The dark green metallic case sports four knob controls – Volume, Gain, Tone and Bass, which all...
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Chances are, you’ve seen the classic RAT or RAT2 Distortion pedal on a board somewhere in your lifetime. Perhaps you currently see one on your own board, as many of us do, or have an old classic version you pull out once in a while to really rock. As well known as the RAT pedals are to players around the world, the small black boxes are not the only story. Today we’re going to check out the newest member of the RAT...
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If there one thing i’m picky about, it is how my drive sounds. Some pedals add too much color, some are just too harsh…We all have that sound we like that’s pleasing to our ears. The Yellow Drive from T-Rex Effects makes sounds pleasing to mine. This is a two-in-one drive pedal with channel A and channel B. Both channels have their own Level, Gain and Tone controls, so you can tinker with the sound to your liking....
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Let’s face it: a true 60’s Shin-Ei Uni-Vibe is NOT a very viable monetary option for most of us guitarists, as they sell regularly for over $1200. Now, those who can afford them apparently love ’em, and we’ve all heard their sound on numerous classic recordings through the years. Names like Hendrix, Gilmour, Trower and Anastasio immediately spring to mind when mentioning this brilliant effect, and for many of...
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It seems as though Strymon has become an absolutely dominating force amongst guitarists and their pedalboards as of late, and there’s a reason. Besides making space-age looking, beautiful, intelligent pedals, they have created some of the coolest sounds you could want coming through your amp, and the Brigadier dBucket Delay is a prime example of their craftsmanship and skill. As soon as you plug this guy in, you can feel...
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The Pro Co Rat was first created in the late 70s, and then modified and mass produced in the early 80s. I imagine that anyone who bought one of these early models may well be using it today without any problems. These pedals are tougher than a cage fighter made of adamantium. Pro Co have introduced several varieties of the RAT over the decades, such as the Turbo Rat, and You Dirty Rat. I use a Turbo Rat, as I prefer the extra boost...
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The Echo Machine+ from Greyscale Devices is truly a one-of-a-kind echo/delay pedal, with a couple of unexpected and awesome additions that aren’t found very often on delay pedals, as far as I have seen, anyway. A nice, big, silver metal box houses an array of wires and circuits, all working in conjunction to form a unique, spacey, trippy, echo/delay sound that sure to add a whole new dimension of depth to your overall sound. TWO...
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I’ve used many, many tremolo pedals over the years, and while most of them do a pretty good job, there are a few I’ve found that really stand out. This is one of those pedals: the Tremolessence from Dr. Scientist. Everything you’d want in a tremolo sound, plus one cool added bonus. Six control knobs and 2 toggles might SEEM a bit much, but they all serve their purpose, and work collectively to create a wide-sweeping,...
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I was intrigued by the label of the Snapperhead, I’ve gotta tell you. The weird little monster with big eyes and British teeth really peaked my interest, and I knew I had to take this pedal for a ride. Not to mention I had heard about it via articles from Richard Fortus (Guns N’ Roses) and Nick Perri (who is an incredible guitar player if you haven’t checked him out yet!), who were a couple of great endorsers, so I...
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