Mike Hranica Chicago, IL The Devil Wears Prada God Alone www.tdwpband.com www.godaloneband.com How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? I’ve been playing guitar for about twelve years now – whether that comes with the “musician” label, I’m not sure. Who have been some of your major musical influences, past or present? Rowland S. Howard, Duane Denison, Steve Albini What drew you to using...
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Chris Michetti Raq www.facebook.com/raqmusic/ Conspirator www.conspiratorband.com/ Michetti michetti.bandcamp.com/ How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? Around thirty years. Was obsessed with drums as a youngster, progressed from there. Who have been some of your major musical influences, past or present? Anyone who plays the guitar incredibly… SRV, Van Halen, Jeff Beck, Trey Anastasio, Chet...
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For those of you who don’t already know, we’re crazy Star Wars fans here at Pedal of the Day, so when the chance arose to check out a pedal with an semi-iconic robot plastered on its enclosure, we knew we’d be in for a treat, regardless of how it sounded. Fortunately, it didn’t disappoint in the sonic category, either, making it a definite Win-Win for us, and really for anyone who plays this pedal, if they like...
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Today’s guest review comes to us from Daniel N. – find him on Instagram (@danielguitarist) and say hi! The .45 Caliber by J.Rockett Audio Designs is one beast of an OD pedal. It is based on a 1962 plexus and strives to get that AC/DC sound (Malcom and Angus). It does that sound very well and also has many other tones that are extremely useful. It can be a great low gain pedal, perfect for neck pickups. It can just easily...
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A few weeks ago, we got to review one of the coolest and most effective rehouse pedal projects we’ve ever come across: the DD-20 Rehouse by Chesapeake Effects. As it turns out, they not only do rad rehousings, but they make a pretty mean overdrive pedal as well. Let’s check out the Flagship Overdrive, shall we? Based around the popular Marshall Blues Breaker circuit, the Flagship adds in a couple key elements to make it...
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Jason Boland Oklahoma Jason Boland and the Stragglers http://www.thestragglers.com/ How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? I’m 41 now. I started banging around on a guitar around 7th grade, writing songs senior year, and playing out at 21. The band and I started in September of 1998 and released our first album in January of 2000. I figured if Ralph Macchio could cut heads with...
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Neal Casal nealcasal.com Chris Robinson Brotherhood www.chrisrobinsonbrotherhood.com Hard Working Americans www.thehardworkingamericans.com Circles Around The Sun Skiffle Players (with Cass McCombs) Phil Lesh And Friends Gospelbeach How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? I started playing guitar in 1981. I was obsessed with the Rolling Stones and the bands I saw in the Gimme Shelter film....
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Celestial Effects 22 Kane Industrial Drive Hudson, MA 01749 800-343-4492 sales@celestialeffects.com www.celestialeffects.com How long have you guys been musicians? How did you each get into it in the first place? Dom: Thanks to my dad, who loved music but never played an instrument, my formal musical education came from playing trumpet and coronet from 3rd grade through high school. In high school I played in the concert band, wind...
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Andy Green Andy Green Pedals We are located in Hollywood Florida about a mile from the beach. www.andygreenpedals.com How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? I grew up in New York City around all the vintage guitar stores and legendary shops on 48th St. Ken Parker had his shop there and Mike Mathews had Electro Harmonics in the 70’s right there. I got a job in a vintage shop in 1981 and have been...
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What can you say about Greer Amps? Nick and the gang just keep putting out incredible pedal ofter pedal (among other things), consistently topping their previous endeavor somehow. Today’s pedal continues on where their famed Southland Overdrive left off, bumping up that great tone into the realm of a true high-gain overdrive/distortion pedal, but keeping with the same smoothness and crispiness that their pedals are all known...
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The Airis Effects Savage Drive is one of the most underrated overdrive pedals out there, the design that is put on it automatically makes you think, ok this is another “metal pedal” when sure it is used a lot for metal, but it is a very versatile pedal! Do not let the graphic fool you. I use this pedal for metal as that is just the genre I play, I can play other genres on it but since I play metal mostly I will base my...
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As far as unique pedals are concerned, a small company called Like My Pedals has been coming up with some great gear as of late, mixing colorful enclosure/control knob combinations with tasty circuits and rad tones. Their no-name, no-graphics approach to pedal building is unique as well, but in a mysterious way makes them that much more recognizable, somehow. Today’s pedal from LMP was one I had to name myself, and I honored it...
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I want to just say right up front that this pedal from Keeley Electronics oozes quality. It just pours out of it. It’s solid, well bit and the finish is flawless. Very understated and clean looking. You can tell right away that it’s not an imported piece of tin. Built solid and to last.The simple gold stripe with the 1962 off to the side is a very classy way to say it’s what’s on the inside that counts. Now the...
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And we’re off with the first installment of “Fly Boys Week” here at Pedal of the Day! For the next 5 days, we’ll be taking a look at the Fly Boys series of pedals from Totally Wycked Audio, and seeing how these mini pedals can help to shape your tone while saving lots of space, too. The first pedal in this series has big sound for a small pedal: the FB-01 Distortion. While the controls are not vast by any means...
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Most guitarists at some point or another want to sound like they’re playing a big, fat, Marshall stack, even if they don’t own one and won’t have the means to for quite some time. With all the overdrive pedals out on the market today, it can be tricky finding the precise one for you and your style, as there are a TON of options to choose from. However, if you really want that classic rock and roll sound, but your amp...
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I review a LOT of overdrive pedals. A LOT. While the majority of them sound awesome, once in a while I will plug one in and it blows me away right from the get-go, one that I immediately say to myself, “You have to find room for this on one of your pedalboards NOW.” One of these pedals is the Sucker Punch Distortion from Greer Amps, so let’s check it out! As soon as you unleash this thing onto your favorite amp of...
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The famous “Bluesbreaker” amplifier made by Marshall in 1962 is one of the most sought-after guitar sounds on the planet, one of those tones that players are always searching for. Sometimes, a pedal comes along that really nails a certain sound, and a tone from a certain era of guitar stardom. The Mad Hatter Overdrive from Pedal Monsters seeks to re-create that illustrious Eric Clapton tone, and does a pretty damn good...
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Designed by guitarist Paul Crowther of Split Enz back in 1976, the venerable Crowther Hotcake OD/Distortion pedal is all about crunch. Airy, satisfying crunch, like a warm basket of tortilla chips. Hand built in New Zealand, the Hotcake delivers that classic rock rhythm sound in spades, and produces a great old-school lead tone that will make it your first grab. According the builder, the Hotcake is different from most ODs in that it...
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From the very beginning of their production in 1965 out of the Marshall factory, there’s a group of amps that have been and are still some of the most coveted on the planet: the Plexis. Countless amp and pedal builders have tried time and time again to capture that sound once more, most being fairly successful, but never truly getting it “just right.” Well, the wait may just be over, as we examine the Plexi-Drive...
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The Lumpy’s Tone Shop 7 Series Lemon Drop Overdrive is a fantastic but unusual overdrive. It’s great for what it does but it’s not for everyone. There are so many overdrives out there; it’s very difficult to figure out the difference between each, let alone which to choose. Broadly speaking, the most popular categories of overdrives are (there are definitely other categories but I’ll keep it simple):...
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It’s no secret that Analog.man chief Mike Piera has an ear for tone. His famous King of Tone overdrive can be found on a laundry list of star guitarist pedalboards, and his company builds top-quality offerings in most categories of effect types. I have been particularly drawn to his fuzz pedals; in fact, all of the fuzz on my board bears the Analog.man brand (Astrotone, Dark Peppermint, and Sunbender). Each of the pedals excels at a...
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The JHS Morning Glory is a discreet/transparent overdrive based off of the legendary Marshall Bluesbreaker circuit but with 2x more headroom and gain. This pedal, which some consider to be the one that brought JHS into the mainstream gear spotlight, is a transparent light to medium overdrive that brings life to any rig. With only three knobs for volume, gain, and tone and a bright cut switch, this simple pedal packs a lot of options...
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Based on the 1960’s classic Dan Armstrong Orange Squeeze Compressor, the Analogman Juicer has built a reputation as one of the best compressors on the market today. This little orange box features one knob for overall volume and a bias trim pot inside to adjust the compression. About 8db of gain is available with the factory bias setting. This pedal comes with NOS N25457 transistors, germanium diodes, and JRC45582 On-Amp Chip....
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One-offs. Custom graphics. Scratch-N-Dent. One-of-a-kind pedals have a special quality about them that regular pedals just don’t, whether it’s a rehousing of an old pedal, a personal message or graphic, a banged-up enclosure…or a 2-in-1. This particular custom pedal comes to us from our friends Pepper Pedals in Atlanta, GA, and is a combo of their awesome Chipotle Distortion and Jalapeño Overdrive. Look out for this...
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This pedal has intrigued me (and many others, I’m sure) for quite some time, and when I had an opportunity to pick one up, I didn’t hesitate for one minute. Only about 130 or so of these little gems were made, and JHS seems pretty adamant that there will NEVER be another run of them, so it’s a rare find, to say the least. While they have their fair share of dual switch pedals, the State Line is unique in that one...
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The Prince Of Tone (POT) is a tube screamer style overdrive “half” of Analogman’s King Of Tone pedal (The King has 2 of these pedals in one housing). The Prince has 3 knobs (Volume, Tone, Drive), an external 3-way toggle switch to switch gain modes (Boost, Overdrive, Distortion), and it has internal DIP switches (D1 = Lo-Mid lift to enhance the tone of the lower strings, and D2 = Turbo switch for more compression and...
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I wasn’t sure what to think about the Joyo Ultimate Drive when I purchased it. I was new to Joyo and was wondering if a 40 dollar pedal would be a do or a don’t. My expectations were exceeded when I ran it through a telecaster into a Marshall. Amazing overdrive sounds and incredible transparency. At an extremely low gain setting, it’s a very Klon, Soul Food feel. As you turn up the gain, you get some of the best...
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As I’ve said before, I love 2-In-1 pedals, especially overdrives, and the Sweet Tea from JHS Pedals is no exception. 2 sides of independent tone, each holding it’s own solo, and an amazing sound-producer when melted together at the same time. Marshall tones, classic screamer tones and more erupt from this stompbox, let’s give it a look! On the right side, we’ve got the JHS-808, based on a classic design, but...
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Classic Marshall amp tone is revered by many guitar players, and it should be, because it sounds incredible. However, the majority of us don’t have an extra $2000 laying around to blow on an early ’80s JCM800 (or whatever your particular flavor happens to be), so we need something in pedal from that will help transform whatever amp we are currently using into a pseudo-Marshall. The folks at Catalinbread have come up with a...
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The Thunderbird from Keisman Pedals is an awesome 2-in-1, combining their Velvet Drive and Earl Bird pedals into one modestly-sized enclosure, and providing the user with a nice array of sounds and tones to beef up a guitar’s signal. The Early Bird side gets things started by providing a nice clean boost to your signal, with all the levels around noon. A light-medium drive, the right side of the Thunderbird produces a warm,...
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The Angry Charlie Channel Drive is a simple pedal from JHS Pedals, with a very classic and boutique performance. It has 4 knobs, volume, drive, tone, and presence. The tone and presence knobs work in reverse like filter on Proco Rat. Before i bought this one, I sold my Suhr Riot because I’m looking for more classic Marshally tones like EVH. By watching some review on Youtube and read some articles, I decided JHS Angry Charlie...
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The Boss DS-1 has been a staple pedal on many boards since its release in 1978. Now, the stock pedal sounds good, and will give you some nice distortion tones, but the Ultra Mod from Robert Keeley Electronics makes it sound like an absolute dream. Described as “Marshall-Amp Tone-In-A-Box”, this mod includes the special “Seeing Eye LED” and switch, to go from Ultra to Seeing Eye mode with just a flick. Lower...
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Before we get ahead of ourselves, let me just brief you on all things ‘vibey’. The Uni-Vibe as used by Hendrix (listen to ‘Machine Gun’), Robin Trower, Stevie Ray and a host of other guitarists is at its heart, a phaser pedal. It uses a different approach than your basic phase 90 type pedal to get its sound such as transistors instead of op-amps and a lamp and LDR’s (light dependant resistors) to control...
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(8/8/14) Guitars: PRS Custom 24 SE w/ Seymour Duncan TB-4 JB Trembucker (bridge) & SH-2N Jazz Humbucker (neck) “The Trooper” Fender Standard Telecaster w/ Seymour Duncan STL-1b Broadcaster Lead (bridge) & STR-1 Broadcaster Rhythm (neck) Alvarez AD60SC Dreadnought Acoustic-Electric Amps: Ampeg GVT 15-H All-Tube Amp Head > Dr. Z 1×12 Cabinet (loaded with a Celestion Vintage 30) Orange Micro Terror 20W...
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