Sean Wright Traverse City, Michigan Co-owner of Lollygagger FX www.lollygaggerfx.com info@lollygaggerfx.com How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? I first started out as a frustrated drummer who would keep time like a broken clock….at least twice during the song I’d be in time. I think I was 16 when I started playing an instrument. A year later we moved into an apartment and that was...
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Ever the innovators, Robert and his crew at Keeley Electronics never cease to amaze us with the creations they continue to re-invent and release every year, and while today’s pedal is a little bit of an older model for them, it’s pretty damn brilliant nonetheless. The Caverns is a dual-function Delay and Reverb pedal in one, trapped in a super pedalboard-friendly enclosure and just oozing with tonal options. If...
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*SURPRISE SATURDAY REVIEW* We sure have had a fun time reviewing and demoing the lineup of pedals from our friends across the sea in Japan, Ninevolt Pedals, and today we’re going to take a look at another one of their classic effects. Now, if the name Fishing Is As Fun As Fuzz doesn’t make you smile a little bit, maybe you should rethink your life and how you can be happier. Inspired (apparently) by the completion of the...
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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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Where do we even start with a pedal like this? The Goatkeeper 3 has become a pedal of mystery and intrigue, not to mention hard to find and pretty expensive, too. Described as an analog tremolo sequencer, this big white whale is so much more, a giant tone machine just itching to be experimented with, and thanks to the folks at Lightfoot Labs, one that we get to indulge in for you today. The Goatkeeper is a pedal unlike most, utilizing...
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We recently reviewed an excellent overdrive pedal from our friends to the north, Canadian-based Ground Control Audio. They’re back at it again, this time with their newly released “discrete distortion”, the Locust. Pushing silicon amplification into loud and sluggish distortion territory, this pea green monster has a lot of power, and will put a smile on your amp’s face as soon as you plug it in. Volume, Gain...
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Where to even begin with today’s featured pedal? It’s kind of a fuzz, and a partial distortion, but it’s also a tone-shaper, ring mod, oscillator, cosmic sitar and more. A truly unique pedal in a sea of effects, the Frequency~LSD from Mountainking Electronics is guaranteed to make you laugh, cry for help, weep uncontrollably and jump for joy…all in the same half hour. Out is the overall volume control. Done....
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Chuck Garvey Cincinnati, OH moe. www.moe.org Ha Ha The Moose @chukg on Twitter moechukg on Instagram How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? I started playing instruments when I was young, just hammering stuff out by ear on acoustic guitar and piano, but started lessons for Tenor saxophone when i was in 5th grade. Played sax for 8-9 years and also started to play more acoustic and electric guitar...
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Big, fat, thick and tasty fuzz pedals are always welcome on our review table, and the Dark Horse from Rock Stock Pedals was one we were particularly excited about putting through the paces. Another pedal that is excellent on both guitar and bass, this simple but intricate effect is holding a lot of tonal range in only three knobs, and is an amp-exciter to say the least. Volume sets the overall output, and you won’t get lost in...
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New pedal companies always bring a smile to our face, as we can’t wait to see what exciting features, designs and sounds creative minds at work will produce. Sometimes we have to wait a while for said pedals to arrive, especially when they’re traveling all the way from Europe, but in most cases, it’s worth the wait, and today’s pedal is no exception. The Distortion General from Orion Effekte is a simple but...
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We’d been seeing the name Providence floating around the forums and gear pages, but until now hadn’t had the opportunity to test one out and see for ourselves what the hype was all about. Luckily, our good buddy Sean Williamson, who we interviewed a few weeks ago, is a Providence artist, and set up talks between the two of us to get some reviews rolling. Our first foray into their world is the mighty Heat Blaster HBL-4...
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Caton Sollenberger The Jauntee www.thejauntee.com www.thejauntee.net Find us on Facebook, Twitter, and beyond How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? I’ve been playing guitar for a while, since I was about 5 I think. My father always played in rock bands, and my mom is also a musician, so that was certainly a big push for me. At around 8 years old I started taking classical piano lessons...
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Personally, we love compressors on all our pedalboards, but not everyone feels the same way. Some players absolutely swear by them, other think they’re useless and won’t come within 5 miles of one. Today’s pedal happens to be a compressor, the Saffron Squeeze from the newly-revived Way Huge Electronics, and while it appears to be a simple stompbox at first glance, a closer look reveals more controls, more options and...
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Forrest Whitesides Function f(x) Elk Grove Village, IL www.function-fx.com We have five partners: Dave F., Brian, Dave B., Jerry, and Forrest. Three of us are just outside of Chicago, one guy is a breath away from Nashville, and one is in NJ about 50 miles west of NYC. (Forrest has provided the answers below) How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? I first started playing guitar in 1989. Just...
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Analog Delay. You love it, we love, almost anyone who listens to any music made in the last 3+ decades loves it (or they damn well should). Today’s featured pedal is one of the most recognizable and oft-used of these warm and modulated gems, due in part to its pronounced bright green solid enclosure. The M-118 Analog Delay from MXR is steeped in delay history, and with all the sounds you could want oozing out of every crack and...
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Around here, we get pretty excited whenever the crew over at Walrus Audio unleashes a new pedal release on the world, as we have reviewed just about all of their pedals, and they just keep getting better and better. This time around, they’ve gone to modulation town, with a wicked mash up of chorus and vibrato, but with some new options for ultimate tweakability and customization not seen too often in a pedal of this nature. From...
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Fuzz pedals just put a big smile on your face, don’t they? If not, you need to work on that, but for the rest of us, there are fuzzy gems like today’s featured pedal, the Supamodel MkIII Fuzz from DAG Pedals on the Island of Mallorca. Tall and slender, but beefy and tough just the same, this pedal exudes a tremendous amount of fuzz with ease, and will slip onto any pedalboard with ease as well. Three controls make up this...
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Rob Compa Guitarist for Dopapod Wayne, NJ www.dopapod.com www.facebook.com/dopapod 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 12, so if my math is correct that’s about 17 years, I think. My Dad always played guitar around the house, so that got me into it initially. Eventually, we played a little guitar in our music class in middle school, playing little riffs...
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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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When you picture a list of classic analog delay effects in your mind, today’s featured pedal is almost always going to pop up on that list. The DM-2 Analog Delay from Boss has a simple layout, but there is a massive analog beast of a delay hiding behind that off-pink exterior. Starting things off, Repeat Rate controls the repetition rate of the delayed effect. Echo adjusts the output level of the echo, which you can get to...
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Boost pedals have been appearing on pedalboards all over the place the last couple of years, but few look as awesome as the Strategy Boost from CopperSound Pedals. An op-amp based clean boost with simple controls and powerful sound, this is one boost that will get your audience talking, about both the pedal and the sound. Just looking at this pedal will put a smile on your face. Even if you’re not the biggest Strat fan,...
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Colt and the crew at Walrus Audio are continually popping up with new pedals that change the way you think about certain effects, and how to use them in your rig. Today’s featured pedal takes a classic effects and essentially turns it around, flips it upside down and magically creates a powerful phaser tool that’s sure to make your playing improve and your tone sparkle. The Vanguard Dual Phase is a series phaser, with 2...
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Well, since today just so happens to be my birthday (thank you, thank you), I thought I’d review a pedal that’s almost as old as I am…almost. Graphic Equalizer pedals tend to be easily dismissed by a lot of pedal people, but I’m here to reassure you that they have their place in any rig. This one in particular, the GE10, was made from 1985-1989, so it’s got a couple of miles on it, but don’t let...
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Sometimes, you want a fairly straight-forward, easy to manage fuzz, that just adds in enough power and oomph to your guitar tone to give it a little grit and gusto. Other times, you want a fuzz that is unpredictable, crazy, innovative and spectacular, one that opens up your mind and expands your musical library. Today’s pedal is most definitely the latter, a giant beautiful mess of blips, squawks and bleeps, complete with a...
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We’ve played almost all of the pedals that have been released by Spaceman Effects, and each one has been a real revelation to the pedal world, containing powerful, unique and rare tones found only hidden inside these precious few stomp boxes. Their latest release is another one-of-a-kind, as it offers true analog spring reverb in the form of a pedal! We’d like to proudly announce a wonderful addition to the Spaceman...
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As it turns out, there are some very interesting guitar pedals being made in Russia. I’m not sure what it is – maybe the cold, maybe the vodka, but the inventions coming out of the former USSR are something to behold. A prime example is today’s pedal, the Reverber Reverb from Beard Custom. Not your everyday reverb, this thing boasts some powerful options and gorgeous tones, sure to bring a smile to many faces the...
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We love seeing a new company burst onto the scene, fresh with new ideas and full of gusto about their new adventures, and today’s pedal comes to us from one such company. Ohm Made Electronics, located in Leavenworth, Washington, is a small company just getting off the ground, and their first production model is today’s featured pedal, the Fuzz Out! At first glance, this pedal looks really simple…and it is, to an...
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There are certain times in every effect freak’s life, when you sit down with a pedal, any type of pedal, really, and once you hit that bypass switch, your ears, eyes and fingers instantly perk up, and your brain sort of says “Whoa!”, maybe even with a little Keanu Reeves overtone. Now, while there are many, many brilliant pedals out there to explore, as we know, there are those rare gems that just have IT, whatever...
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Have you ever seen LOST? Were you on the edge of your seat, week after week, on Thursday nights for way too many years? If you didn’t watch this miraculous television phenomenon, well, you missed out, plain and simple. Plus, you won’t really understand the clever name, sweet graphics and subtle show inclusions that are present in today’s review pedal: the Dharma Drive from WychElm Effects. Graphically, the Dharma...
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Delay, delay, delay! We love it here at Pedal of the Day, and you probably do, too (and if you don’t, you should). With so many delay pedal options flooding the pedal marketplace these days, it’s fun discover a simple, low-time delay that does only a couple of things, but does them extremely well. In steps the Aqua-Puss™ MkII Analog Delay from Dunlop / Way Huge Electronics, and puts a big, fat, delay-induced smile right...
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When it comes to pedals, I love a good overdrive, a sweet analog delay and a big, fat wah, for sure, but when a company comes up with something that makes new, exciting and not-often-heard-before sound effects, those kinds of pedals make my ears start to smile. While octave pedals are not a NEW genre, per se, the Micro POG from Electro-Harmonix is a beast unto itself, a fresh and new take on a classic sound, with a couple of great...
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There are a lot of overdrive pedals out on the market at the moment, and there have been for years and years now. Hi-Gain, Transparent, Low-to-Mid, etc…there are many sub-categories of overdrives, too, and sometimes you have to play a LOT of them to figure out which sound is best suited for you as an individual, and your personal style of music. The Howlerr Classic from SFG Music Supply up north in Canada is an instantly smooth...
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I’ve always liked the sound of a cool flanger pedal ripping through an amp, mine or someone else’s, it doesn’t matter. That jet stream whoooosh and whirl, especially when mixed in with some nice overdrive, really puts a fat ole smile right on my face. I’m also a fan of TC Electronic’s TonePrint series, so I was excited to test out a pedal I hadn’t really heard too much about, the Vortex Flanger....
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The old tube tape echo machines are responsible for some of the greatest sounds ever put on tape, with works by artists such as Chet Atkins, Miles Davis, Eric Johnson, Randy Rhodes and Andy Summers, to name a few. The Magnetic Echo from Keeley Electronics aims to recreate those classic echo tones, and actually studied an old Echoplex EP-3 and a Roland RE-301 Space Echo to tap into the sounds of those 2 great machines. All housed in a...
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The pedals that are being created by Hartman are really tantalizing to the eyes (and, as it turns out, the ears as well). Today’s reviewed pedal is no exception to that rule: the Vintage Germanium Fuzz looks as old school and classic as they come, and the sounds are just the same, only using modern, reliable and excellent-quality parts to re-create the sounds of the past. Three knobs make for easy controlling of this fuzztastic...
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The reverb pedal you’ve been waiting for is now here (no, not the big blue one that has to do with the Sky) – the Descent Reverb from Walrus Audio. This is a complex reverb on steroids, allowing you to access a ton of different tones and modes, most with a stomp of your foot, for easy use and brilliant sound. Let’s get to it, we’ve got a lot of ground to cover. First off, it looks amazing coming out of the box...
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I should start by saying if you’re looking for a “Pajama Party Barbie Overdrive”, you my friend should keep looking. You’re not dealing with any ordinary cookie cutter Zendrive here. Don’t let her name fool you. This thing was forged in the fires of Mordor and doesn’t give a damn about noise ordinances. This baby’s pulse is pumping 1.21 jigawatts of pure uncensored sonic destruction through...
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The Quantum Time Modulator from our friends at Pigtronix is an extremely fun, fairly easy-to-use modulation pedal, with lots of possibilities and sonic exploration to be had. Not your typical chorus pedal, this guy doubles as a sort of Uni-Vibe as well, all with a simple, easily accessible toggle switch. The controls are pretty straightforward, but the ranges in both the Chorus and Vibrato modes are BIG, and will put a smile on your...
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The Philosopher’s Rock is a pretty unique and useful pedal to add to any guitarists’ arsenal. Acting mainly as a great compressor, it gives you great control over the amount of squish you have in your signal, while adding miles and miles of beautiful sustain to every note on the fretboard. Basically, this pedal is a simpler version of another Pigtronix classic, the Philosopher’s Tone. The Treble and Blend functions...
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What the hell is an Underdrive? That’s a good question, and I’m gonna try to answer it today. The Snowjob from Lotus Pedal Designs is a unique design, a dual-mode underdrive, as they call it, which simply means the pedal drives from the guitar, NOT driving the amp. Very cool and transparent, adding full body to your signal, as well as being able to get a good amount of crunch. The knobs are unique as well: the left is the...
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