Piggy FX

There are cool pedals and then there are Coooool pedals, PiggyFX is most definitely one of the hippest effects pedal companies we have ever come across. The design of the enclosures are unlike anything we've ever seen before, from the graphics on down to the knobs these are some great looking stompboxes. Now I know what counts is what's inside a pedal, what it sounds like, and how it delivers. Well the sound of these pedals are just as killer as their looks. There is a quality in the tone of these pedals like a final mixed track of a record, great balance in eq and amazing overall richness. Run my children and go be a part of the PiggyFX revolution!

PiggyFX

Brown Pig

There's a sound that has been lingering in and out of rock and roll ever since the birth of the distortion. That sound is known as the "Brown Sound" and it is hands down one of the most recognizable guitar sounds you will ever hear. Think Eddie Van Halen and you have a perfect definition of what a Brown Sound is. The sound is like a the perfect explosion of EQ, grit, and under/overtones. For years many of us gear and tone junkies had it ruff achieving this sound, unless we had the right combo of guitar, amp, and pickups it was outright impossible to dial-in this tone. Not all of us know how to hot-rod or want to go digging around in our amps. Those days are over and there are much easier ways to get our favorite tones. One of the reasons for this is are pedals like the PiggyFX Brown Pig, a pedal dedicated to delivering a spot-on rich and chewy Brown Sound. The Brown Pig isn't just a one trick pony either, no sir. This is a pedal with an ability to produce and handful a great rock, blues, and even metal tones. I was in absolute shock when I was able to get an Adam Jones (Tool) distortion sound out of this pedal, tight, focused, and meatier than all hell. In just about every setting this pedal sounds great and at just about every level can you get a usable tone. This is most definitely not your basic three knob pedal, the Brown Pig is an entirely new monster with some tones of it's own. The control layout is simple and extremely responsive to your every touch, every twist of a knob reacts like a great tube amp. Before we get into some of the tones we were able to get from the Brown Pig let's talk looks, you all know I am a sucker for a great looking pedal. The pedal's design is nothing too extreme or fancy, it is the way it was designed that makes it so freakin cool. There is a great gold plaque like top that sits on the pedal's enclosure which gives it a military, built to last look. The knobs are chromed out and heavy duty, ready for some serious gigging and stomping. A high quality true bypass switch will make sure your Pig delivers the best possible tone night after night and gig after gig. The control layout goes like so, Level/Tone/Drive, in the left hand corner is a mini toggle switch for flipping in some extra definition and crunch. The Level knob on this pedal is very powerful, it can dish out a great boost and has enough output to push any amp into a great sounding overdrive. The Tone control on this pedal is very special and one of my favorite things about this stompbox. Unlike many overdrive pedals the Brown Pig doesn't blanket your sound, you can roll in the bass without sounding muddy and boost the highs without things getting shrill or sharp. This makes matching the pedal to your pickups and amp very very easy. The Drive knob is also something that will more than satisfy your tone bug, you can get everything from smooth mild overdrive to screaming metal tones. You can also get a great blues rock tone by rolling up the tone all the way, setting the drive at about 9'o'clock, rolling back your guitar's tone knob all the way, and rolling back on your guitar's volume about a quarter. We got a great Stevie Ray sound which I thought was a rarity for this pedal. Last is the secret weapon and what makes this pedal so versatile, the mini Toggle Switch. By flipping it up or down you can get just about every distortion and overdrive sound you would ever want to use, it is just beautiful. In one position the Toggle Switch will give you a darker, browner, heavy rock sound. This is great for dialing in all your favorite classic rock bands guitar sounds. Think Halen, Deep Purple, Zeppelin, The Who, you get the picture. In the position the distortion becomes brighter and much more focused, perfect for great modern rock tones. Think Tool, Rage Against the Machine, NIN, Alice in Chains, and so on. The Brown Pig also plays well with others, meaning it sounds great stacked up with clean boosters, and other effects. We were able to get a perfect Eddie Van Halen sound by adding some phaser, a little delay, and a boost of the amp's mids. I was stuck playing Van Halen riffs for about a good hour and a half. Adding a clean booster in front of this pedal really isn't necessary, there is so much gain on tap it is just crazy. If the rest of the PiggyFX line is as awesome as the Brown Pig I easily see these pedals becoming all-time favorites and collectors. There is nothing better than a pedal that inspires you to play, makes you want to pick up your guitar, and want to write a tune. These are the pedals that always last, end up on our pedalboards, and become our go-to boxes in the studio. The Brown Pig may easily be the best "Brown Sound in a Box" we have ever come across. If you're on the hunt for a great go-to sound or need a pedal that can produce an array a great distortion tones, the Brown Pig will do you great. Whether you use it to layer guitar tracks, dial-in your key tone, use it for leads, rhythm, or keep it in the background as your secret weapon. One thing is for certain, you sound will not go unnoticed through this killer pedal.

For more info on PiggyFX or to check out some video demos go to www.piggyfx.com Also make sure to stay tunes for more to come from this awesome pedal company. We are excited to continue reporting on these pedals and we hope to see you cats playing them. Stay true and rock

with style!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A Champion of the Stompbox World

I'd like to introduce to you one serious effects pedal company. The name is Balkan, and they are all business and 100% great tone. In the world of stompboxes the one pedal besides the fuzz you will most certainly come across and probably own a few of in your lifetime is the ever popular overdriver. There are many new champions out there and even some classics that are holding on strong, but every once and a while comes an OD pedal that sounds so killer that it pushes us to move on. I am certainly one of those players with an open mind and on the quest to hunt down as many usable tones as possible. It is our knowhow and collection if great sounds that gives us our signature voice, and in the world of music this is everything. The Balkan team consists of the mighty Richard Gibson and Sam Thomson, together they run and build the Balkan Pedal line. With their tons of playing experience and keen ear for tone they are creating what has turned out to be some real winners. Balkan Pedals has made their mission to design and deliver unto the music playing world the best possible stompboxes man can build. I say keep them coming and let the good times roll!

Balkan Driver

(duel mode overdrive)

*Duel Drive Mode Switch: Toggles between Vintage & Modern modes.

*Gain Knob: Controls overall drive/clean boost - full overdrive.

*Volume Knob: Balkan Driver overall volume.

*High Quality Footswitch: Switches between effect and bypass. True bypass.

*Power: Balkan Driver can run off 9V center neg 2.1mm adapter or 9V battery.

*Enclosure and Finish: Built to last.

*Hand Built/Hand Wired: Point to point wiring built to order one at a time.

We come across many many overdrive pedals here at Analog War Cry, pedals we are more than happy to put through their paces. When you play and demo as many pedals as I do you get to recognize certain qualities and characteristics within each one. They are like the many barks of the dog, all of them similar but every single one of them their own thing. This is something the average player probably won't catch, but sit with your collection of pedals long enough and you'll hear what I'm talking about. Ask any seasoned player or studio rat and he will tell you the same, it becomes a passion. Well in this here Balkan Driver there lives a sound like no other, a sound that'll drive you to want to play, play, and play your guitar. The Balkan Driver was designed by the talented Rich Gibson. Rich took his experience from many years of playing guitar and dialing in amps to create a pedal that would produce a spot-on quality tone. Something you'll notice right away which is something I absolutely dig is the simplicity in it's design. A gain knob, volume knob, mode switch, and footswitch. Beautiful!!! I was stoked at just how easy it was to dial-in a great sounding tone. The Balkan Driver works in many ways but where it really stood out to me was in it's ability to take your already existing dirty tone and enhancing it into a rich, full tone explosion. Played through a completely clean setting the Balkan driver can also do some magic, everything from clean boosts, crunchy rhythms, and all-out drive settings. It was through some mild overdrive that this really shined. The quality of the overdrive in this pedal is very organic and natural sounding, by which I mean it has a great tube feel to it. It responds like tubes too, your picking dynamics bounce with the hit of your hand. Lay off on your hand and the drive will settle down, the more you dig into the strings and the higher you play on the neck the more grit it gives you. There is a small test I perform with overdrive pedals, I take the gain knob and crank it, volume set med-low. Then I will play with my fingers, two strings at a time, this is how you get those great harmonics and odd tones. Harmonics and richness is something that a overdrive pedal always needs to have in order for it to make the cut. These are the pedals we use in our gigs, sessions, and recordings. Playing the Balkan Driver through a low wattage amp is where I really heard it's character. I took an overdriven 57' Tweed Deluxe reissue, stacked the pedal in from of it, and heaven came singing through the amp. I will say straight up that my favorite tone in rock and roll history is definitely the sound Neil Young gets through his Les Paul (Old Black), and his 57' amps. I have never gotten closer to that tone than I did with the Balkan Driver, and I wasn't even using a Les Paul, I was playing a Tele with a humbucker in the neck. This is one of those pedals that works for one thing and one thing only, to enhance and push your sound further into itself. To get the best possible sound out of this pedal I say plug it in to a decent tube amp and good guitar. Good pedals always sound their best when teamed up with good gear. The final test was plugging the Balkan Driver into my modified 4x10 Deville, this is my main gigging amp and the most versatile. I started by cranking the amp into a very mild grit and set all my levels at about noon, reverb off to get the best possible dry tone. Setting the mode switch in the vintage position produced some open, punchy, and smoother overdrive tones. The kind of overdrive that is perfect for rhythm guitar tones, licks, and layering guitar tracks. This works great for you cats into classic rock, garage rock and blues. To get a hairier sound out of it I simply put a clean booster before it and used it to push the Balkan into a perfect lead vintage rock tone. Everything from Hendrix, Stevie Ray, Clapton, and Page came screaming out of my amp. Switching into the modern mode gave me some more great all out rock sounds which worked perfectly for just about every type of rock genre. The modern setting definitely had more balls to it, more bass, more highs, more mids, and more great growl. The pedal's overdrive stayed crisp and clear throughout the entire gain range, even in it's highest settings your notes stay intact and not muddy. To mellow out the amount of overdrive the pedal puts out simply roll back on your guitar's volume and that's that, this is perfect for adjusting levels on the fly. When all was said and done we were left with a great sounding, killer playing overdrive pedal. The Balkan Driver will most likely be making some appearances on my band's recording sessions, and will be used to gig with. Rich recently shot me an email letting me know there is now a fuzz pedal in his line, I am quite stoked to check it out. I am confident that everything Balkan Pedals puts out will sound great, they're part of the few really special gear companies that make it their life to build great products. If you go to their website you will find nothing fancy, when you look at their pedals it's the same thing. They let the pedals do all the talking and boy do they sound good. I said it once and I'll say it again, keep them coming!

For more info on Balkan Pedals go to www.balkanpedals.com or click the Balkan logo in our links. Make sure to check back for the review of the Balkan Flame fuzz pedal, we should have it shortly. So go on and support these cats, you'll be happy you did.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Sweet Sound of Verb

I like reverb, you like reverb, we all like reverb! It is amazing what a little bit of verb will do for your sound, it's like the secret ingredient in a special sauce. Only luckily for us reverb is no secret, you can find it in just about any amplifier out there. What do you do when your amp doesn't have reverb though? Hmmm, let's see. Well there are many many pedals out there that will do the job and do it well. T-Rex is known for producing some of the best sounding pedals the gear scene has had the pleasure of playing. The T-Rex line consists of everything from boosters, overdrivers, distortion boxes, compressors, modulation pedals, delays, power supplies, switchers, and of course reverb pedals. In fact they are responsible for one of the best reverb pedals to ever hit the streets, the Room-Mate tube based reverb pedal. Just recently T-Rex added another verb pedal to their line, it is part of their Tonebug Series. The Tonebug Reverb pedal. A simple yet effective reverb pedal with a huge sound and sweet surf mojo.

T-Rex Tonebug

Reverb

Talk about retro cool style, man oh man that is one sweet looking pedal. The first pics I saw of these pedals had me drooling for them, something about their look just said "The James Dean of guitar pedals". A few months back T-Rex unleashed these little sweeties, which are now known as their Tonebug Series. A collection of simple, no frills, great sounding pedals. The pedals are meant to work with anyone making it easy to get the sound you want. When I discovered that there was to be a reverb pedal in the line I was stoked! An affordable, killer sounding reverb pedal with a hip new look?! You can't beat that. You guys don't know how many times I have walked into a shop looking for a reverb pedal only to shortly after walk out disappointed. Reverb is a tricky effect, it is one of the few effects that can work great at both mellow and extreme settings. If you don't design this pedal the right way though your tone will suffer and suffer madly. The Tonebug Reverb's layout is not complicated and is very easy to work. The controls go like so, the Decay knob controls the amount of tail or whisper I like to call it. The Decay control works great for when you have to match it to a new surrounding, club, studio, room, etc... The Depth knob controls the amount of effect you want from the pedal. With this knob you can pull out an endless collection of reverb tones from the Tonebug reverb. The Modern/Spring toggle switch let's you pick the flavor or style of verb you want from the pedal. If your thing is a sharp clear verb set it to Modern. If you like a more classic vintage style verb set it to Spring. Last is it's on/off switch. Simple enough with a sound you can stand up against any spring reverb unit. The pedal is very easy to dial in and works great for bringing any dull, flat sound to life. This pedal made possible to get the sound I wanted at the snap of my fingers, it has never been so easy to get a great usable reverb sound. A little verb goes a long way like they always say. This pedal not only works great to liven up your sound but is small and sleek enough to save on some much needed pedalboard space. I actually tried this pedal through my amp's effects loop and it sounded great. So if you're really desperate for some pedal space you can always do that. What makes this pedal such a hit and so hit is it's two modes, the Modern/Spring toggle switch. These two modes combined with the the pedal's two knobs can deliver an army of different verb tones. From extreme hall settings to subtle room tones. In the Modern mode the reverb becomes more defined and in your face, great for space rock and abstract sound effects. You can also get some mellow verb sounds in the Modern mode by laying off on the Decay and Depth knob. There is a sound I discovered while recording a sessions a few years ago, I call it the Screaming Banshee tone. It is a combination of some off-the-wall compression, a nice chunky fuzz, and a crisp bright reverb. I was able to attain this sound with the Tonebug Reverb, and was amazed just how spot-on I was able to dial it in. The fun doesn't end there, there are a handful of cool things you can do with a modern style reverb. Add in one part long delay with short repeat, a bit of modulation (vibe or chorus will do fine), and some extreme decay on the reverb. The end result is a really cool haunting echo perfect for picking out chords of all sorts. If your thing is more on the vintage vibe side of things the Tonebug Reverb can also meet your needs. Here is I believe T-Rex really outdid themselves with this pedal. The quality of the verb in this little pedal's Spring setting is out of this world! I sat and ran a few amps with reverb, then compared it to the pedal. When I blind tested the amp's reverb and pedal for my partner they could not tell the difference. Strap on a Strat, Jaguar, or Jazzmaster and you're on surfside heaven baby all the way! The Spring mode produces a warm yet clean defined reverb that sounds great at both high and subtle settings. If you're missing a bit of swing in your tone this set the pedal to just shy on nine'o'clock on both knobs and you got yourself a little fresh jive in your sound. Once my main overdrive tone is dialed in I like to the set the sound of my reverb, roll it back all the way off, and slowly turn it up until I get that just barely there sound. This is one way to be careful when playing reverb pedals in clubs, all clubs have some sort of natural delay and reverb in their rooms. Dial in too much verb from your pedal and your sound is ghost my friend. Having that decay knob on the Tonebug Reverb really comes in handy at times like these. I have been playing guitar for a long long time and to have access to a reverb pedal like this that makes it so simple to use is a huge plus. The music playing world has been waiting for a simple and effective reverb unit like this. Beginners and seasoned cats alike will dig this pedal. Whether you're looking for a slight verb or all out spooky sound, this pedal will deliver and do it with style.

For more info on T-Rex Engineering products go to www.t-rex-effects.com You can also click the T-rex logo in our links for direct access their website. We are proud to be a supporter of T-Rex's awesome products and we'll continue bringing more as long as they keep producing it. Let's hope it never ends. Can I get an Amen!!!?

It starts with the letter T

Sonic Box, definitely not just a cool name. This outfit specializes in building a fantastic line of great sounding custom effects pedals. If you're looking to up your game and throw a little class into your setup this is most certainly the way to go. I will admit it is tuff to come across something special these days, with all the pedal companies out there it is hard to know who sports great sound and who is just looks. Luckily for us Sonic Box has both, exceptionally well built stompboxes with simple artwork that gets the message across sharply, and a sound quality that will shake your tone nerve to the roots. Like most of my favorite pedal companies Sonic Box is run by one man, Dmitry. The attention to detail and quality of these pedals have had us hungry for more, we cannot wait to hear what the rest of Dmitry's pedals sound like. For now we have a take on an old favorite, read on and enjoy.

Sonic Box

Custom Effects Pedals

T Boost

pure Germanium boost

Just look at this beauty of a stompbox, killer look, killer artwork, and sound to match. In the world of stompboxes there are many different kinds of pedals. Some focus on looks, building pedals with numerous buttons, giddy artwork, and blinking lights. Some pay no mind to looks and build simple looking boxes that run all muscle under the hood. Then every once and a while there is that beautiful in-between, those pedals that give a bit of both in a perfectly balanced package. When I first got the T Boost I couldn't stop just staring at it, the airbrushed graphics just jumped out from the enclosure, a real piece of art. Then I plugged it in and everything fell into place like a wonderful song. The T Boost is a Germanium booster based on the ever so famous Dallas Rangemaster. If you're reading this article and follow this blog chances are you know or have come across a Rangemaster yourself. Treble boosters are effects pedals that have a very distinctive sound, the treble booster is a pedal that has worked wonders for so many guitar players helping to create some of the most memorable tones in rock and roll history. It was the heavyweight guitarists of England that first popularized this simple and effective guitar pedal. It was cats like Eric Clapton, Brian May, Tony Iommi, Marc Bolan, Ritchie Blackmore, and Rory Gallagher (who is not English but Irish) who first brought some attention to the treble booster. These guitar giants would make their tones famous with this killer stompbox, knocking out some of the most memorable licks to ever fly out of a guitar amp. Throughout the years many different people copied, tried t copy, and took their own spin of this style pedal. I take my hat off to Sonic Box for one the best sounding treble boosters to ever land in our streets, studios, and pedalboards. So what separates this treble booster from the many that are out there today? What is it that makes this pedal so special? I will tell you what, let's take a look shall we? First let's start with the T Boost's looks, you cannot deny that is one sexy looking stompbox. There is nothing better than a pedal that not only sounds great but looks super hip. Everyone digs great looking gear no matter who you are. There is just something about cool looking gear that appeals to everyone. Next is the pedal's heart, the NOC OC75 Germanium transistor that gives it it's musical nirvana and magic. The first treble boosters used these exact and similar transistors. This is how the T Boost is capable of producing great sounding classic rock tones, woman tones if you will. Some cats hear "treble booster" and they think right away the pedal must boost the high tones of your sound. Errrr, wrong! You don't know how many cats I have ran into that have shined on this pedal before even trying it. The way a treble booster works is the higher the frequency or sound you put into it, the more DB's of great saturated boost you get. It works perfectly with your picking dynamics balancing the way you want your notes to ring out. It is amazing how tight the T Boost keeps lows and how great it sounds at both low and loud levels. Some of the newer treble boosters I have played sound great at low levels, it's when you turn things up that your eq goes to hell. The old school Rangemaster treble boosters did not have a switch, it was either on or off. The Sonicbox T Boost does sport a switch, sports a Range knob which works as a frequency control, and a Boost switch which is what gives you your level of grit, boost, and grime. You will be surprised just how many different tones you can get with these two controls. First we tested the pedal at high levels, bumping our English style amp into a slight overdrive and letting the T Boost take it further into tonal heaven. The sound was like an explosion of harmonics and tone, like it's always on the verge of going into a feedback frenzy but staying just outside of it to give you that special tone that works great with everything. This is a "more you put into it more you get" style pedal, by which I mean the harder you strum or strike your chords the dirtier your sound becomes. I'm a huge fan of the rhythm playing styles of Tom Petty and Neil Young, the way strike their chords to produce some dirty strings and some clean is freakin awesome! With the T Boost I'm able to have that kind of control over my playing and also get a great dirty tone when wanted, it is absolutely beautiful. You set the knobs to work with your picking style so you get the best possible sound out of your amp. Another sweet characteristic about the T Boost is it's ability to clean up by simply rolling off on your guitar's volume knob. This is one of the few pedals I have played that didn't rob me of my spice once rolling back the guitar's volume. The reason for this is because this is what it's built for, this is how a great treble works. This was also how I was able to get all my semi-clean tones, dirty rhythm tones, and lead tones. I set my main semi-clean tone with the amp alone, used the pedal to push me into my leads and overdrives, then used the guitar's volume to dial in everything in between. For a pedal with only two knobs it is extremely versatile. If you want an absolutely clean tone all you have to do is shut it off, a definite upgrade from the originals. If you think about it the concept of the treble booster is quite old school, it is one of the first devices used to achieve dirty gritty tones. Later pedals like the TS808 would come through for us, then distortion boxes like the DS-1, the Rat, and so on and so on. There are stompboxes that work to shape one particular sound, pedals that do many things, and pedals that can handle a few different areas. One really cool thing about the T Boost is it's ability to hand you different flavors by playing it through different pickups. After running the T Boost through some high gain settings we backed off a bit and played it through a completely clean Fender tone. Once engaged the T Boost added to the crisp, rich, and bright tones of the amp while keeping the lows tight and mids balanced. Through a Strat the sound stayed clean for the most part, dishing out hints hairy goodness. This sound works perfectly for music such as funk, blues, classic rock, and even jazz. I was blown away when I plugged my semi-hollow body and heard those thumpy, deep, and round jazz tones. The quality in the boost really enhances the spank, full frequency, and signature sound of the Stratocaster. Next I threw a clean booster in front of the T Boost, this pushed the pedal into an even richer fuller sound. Stacking it with another Germanium based stompbox really created some interesting and usable sounds. Just like one does with two Tubescreamers, or any other pedal. The more we pushed into the T Boost the meatier the drive got, rock and roll all the way. Next was playing the pedal through "Lady", my custom Tele, humbucker in the neck, single coil bridge, and push/pull Rothwell CLK knob for shaping different tones out if the bucker. When it comes to putting pedals through their paces there is no better guitar for the job than Lady. The T Boost passed with flying colors delivering some fantastic sounding clean, overdrive, and fuzz tones. You can really hear the characteristics of the Germanium transistor go to work, it fills the room with a sound Clapton would be proud of. As I moved up the neck and hit the higher frets I could hear the transistor do it's magic, it cut through the air like samurai blade. I love that Sonic Box stayed true to the vintage treble boosters of our day and at the same time added some much needed improvements. These old faithful little boxes that have made so many hits for us will always have a place in our rigs. As long as rock stays true there will be a need for pedals like the Sonic Box T Boost. Like I always say, "Let'em hear you scream!!!"

For more info on Sonic Box go to www.sonicbox.eu There are a handful of really cool pedals for you to check out there, we are stoked to try them all! Stay tuned for more info on Sonic Box to come in the near future. Oh yeah!!!!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

News and Updates

November

2009

Come one come all open your ears and open your minds to another month of unique, innovative, and off-the-hook gear. I am stoked to say that Analog War Cry is in the process of building our own official website, what this means is much much more for all you gear junkies. We will be featuring our video demos, audio demos, podcasts, band interviews, guitar shop tours, lots of the same, and much much more. Our new website will make it fun and much easier for you guys to get around and check stuff out. We plan on launching the site by early Feb 2010. As for this month we have some killer stompbox reviews, a few amazing pickup builders, a great band for you guys to check out, and a few surprises. We will also be announcing the winner of the T-Rex Tonebug Overdrive pedal and plan to work out another contest or giveaway soon. With the pedal boom getting in it's second wind we are seeing a bunch of new companies, some old ones offering cool new gear, and lots of cats upping their game. One such industry that has seem lots of movement is the guitar building scene, my lord how many new guitar brands have sprouted up in the last year or so. With a lot of these new gear companies it appears that the retro and vintage look is the name of the game. If you look closely you will discover a bunch of really hip small boutique guitar companies with some interesting and classic designs. Lots of what was popular a few months back seems to have lost it's mojo, like the insane 20 knob 20 switch pedals that do everything but wipe your ass. Let's face it, when it comes down to gear it's all about what works best and makes it easiest for us, a lot of the time that means going back to our roots. This is not to say there hasn't been some interesting gadgets out there, just saying that everyone seems to be focusing on the old school style designs. I've gone from playing a 3 pedal setup, to a nine pedal setup, to 12 pedals, to 10, and now I'm at about 5 stompboxes. When you find a good overdrive pedal to work all your dirty tones, from semi-clean/rhythm/drive/and lead tones this can save you lots of pedalboard space. You'll be surprised what a great sounding OD pedal and a clean booster can do for you, at the right settings you can even dial in some killer fuzz tones. Having a wide variety of pedals and effects if you're a studio and session cat is great thing, but when it comes to gigging too many pedals can make things difficult. Besides, who in the crowd is gonna be able to tell the difference between one overdrive to the next? You wouldn't believe how many different overdrivers I have gigged with before, just silly I tell you. So if there's one piece of advice I can give you it's to carefully choose the gear you gig with and leave the arsenal for the studio. This is going to be one hell of a month, I have taken it upon myself to get out there and do some serious hunting. This last month was probably the highest number of pedals and gear I have ever tested. So we will try and keep it as exciting as possible for you guys and make sure to deliver some unknown and interesting gear. Sit back, get your fix, and plan your next move.

Recording vocals for the Blackgrass Sessions

2008

------------------------------------------------------------------------

The One Knob Wonder

The clean booster, probably the most important stompbox behind the overdrive pedal. There are many out there and yet it seems like it's still the one pedal that is hard to pin down onto your pedalboard. When we're hunting for a clean booster we look for something that won't hide and blemish our key tone. This is the one pedal that needs to be on point or else everything after it will be affected, from your tone on down to your dirt boxes. Lizard Leg Effects is a name I have been hearing for a couple years now and a brand that seems to have sparked up some interest amongst the gear loving community. Lizard Leg Effects is the brain child of Steve Miller, he designs all the pedals, his wife Brandi handles the artwork, and their son John helps out around the shop making sure we get our pedals. It was time for AWC to get their hands on one of these pedals, put it to the test and report the outcome to the masses.

Lizard Leg Effects

Flying Dragon

* 9-18v DC Operation or 9v Battery Powered w/heavy duty ABS battery snaps

* Gold Plated Molex Battery Connections

* True Bypass

* 100% Noiseless Designs with Star Grounding

* Vishay/Sprague Orange Drop Caps

* 1% Vishay/Dale Metal Film Resistors

* Switchcraft or Neutrik Jacks

* Mil Spec'd Wire used exclusively

* Standard LED - UV Purple/other LED colors available

* Reverse Polarity Protection

* 4 Different Knobs to choose from

* 18-8 Stainless Steel Enclosure Screws

* Custom Labeled for each player

* 2 Year Guarantee

* Custom Configurations Available

* Hand Built in the USA

Now that is a list of features that screams quality, class, and customer service. These are pedals that are part of that elite group gear companies building us tone junkies the awesome gear we love so much. I have never been so entertained by such a simple pedal. One really cool thing that stood out to me was how these pedals are shipped. Other than the box it comes in you also get a velvet pouch to keep your pedal from scratches and dings, and to top it off you also get a little toy dragon, collect them all!!! The graphics are killer and the finish is just stunning, you can feel the quality in your hands. The Flying Dragon can be powered in a number of different ways, 1. By a 9v DC adapter, 2. By a 18v DC adapter, or 3. A good old 9v battery. Being that you have the 18 volt option gives you insanely good quality and headroom, which I think is a great idea for a clean booster. The sweeter you can keep your boosted tone the better your overall sound will fly out of your amp. It was time to plug the Dragon into our 15 watt little gem. We started with some clean tones and low volumes to see just how much the pedal could push the signal. Set the pedal's knob to about noon for unity gain, from noon on down the tone stayed perfectly intact and added that little bit of grunt that works great for blues and classic rock. Through single coil pickups it delivered a slight but powerful grit, definitely enough to solo with once engaged. Played through buckers the pedal handed over everything from a subtle dirt to an massive hairy drive. We pushed our 15 watt amp into a tone we have never been able to get out of it, it was beautiful! Lots of boosters once you max them out they tend to blanket your tone and start either jumping the EQ or stealing your root sound. This is honestly one of the only clean boosters I have ever played that kept my sound intact from the lowest to the highest settings. Even when using it to lower your tone it did it's job stunningly. We also plugged it into my modified 4x10 Deville, don't mean to brag but probably the best sounding Deville on the planet. I worked so hard to get the sound I wanted from this amp, from having the EQ reworked, making the volume roll easier, swapping out the speakers, and some other secrets I won't share just yet. I have always been a huge fan of 4x10 setups, I like the sound they produce much more than 4x12 any day. This was the true test, to see if the Flying Dragon could keep my sound pure and intact. I set it at noon/unity gain to see if it would change my root tone. It passed with flying colors, the tone stayed just as I set it. Next I rolled up the knob slowly listening along the way and boosting it until I maxed it out. From around 3'o'clock down you start to hear a sweet and rich natural overdrive, my amp loved and ate it up. It seemed to bring my pickups to life, every little touch was heard perfectly and all my licks clean and transparent. Next I set up my rhythm tone, my absolute baby. This is the sound I have worked the hardest to get, you all know what goes into dialing in a great dirty tone. I set the Flying Dragon just passed noon and got the greatest Neil Young tone I have ever heard come singing from my amp. You know that sound, that gritty, chunky sound Neil plays that sports that hint of clean in it. It was lovely! Every setting I dialed in and all the pedals I stacked up against it sounded great. This is easily one of the best pedals I have had the pleasure of playing this year. This isn't the only way to use a clean booster no sir. Stack it up with a single overdrive pedal and you can hit up to four different tones, let me explain. To keep things simple I pulled out a TS808 style pedal, set the Flying Dragon first then the overdrive. Here is a great way to save on pedalboard space. Tone number one is your root tone, unaffected, no pedals, no nothing. The next tone is your boosted root signal, slap on the Flying Dragon and you have your exact tone only louder. Next slap off the Dragon while stepping on your overdrive at the same time (not as hard at it seems). Last throw on your booster and you have a killer tone for soloing, and if you're a cat that rides his guitar's volume knob you can even get even more sounds. I was very very impressed with how well the Flying Dragon worked with other pedals, especially overdrive, distortion, and fuzz boxes. The boosted signal really brings other pedals to life and adds the perfect amount of harmonics and juice. A few days after having this pedal I had to write Steve to let him know how killer his pedal was, I haven't been impressed like this my a clean booster in a long long time. The work Steve put into this pedal can really be heard and felt from your amp. Other than using with guitars we also plugged it into some keyboards, bass guitars, lap steels (which worked wonders), some oscillators, and used it to boost weak overall weak signals from odd little toy instruments we have laying around and other cool gadgets. This simple design kept us busy for quite a while, a true keeper. I can only imagine what the rest of Steve line sounds like, he has definitely mastered the art of boosting signals.

For more info on Lizard Leg Effects and the rest of the line check out their website at www.lizardlegeffects.com Look for more to come from this killer company!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

A Sound Worth a Thousand Words

One thing I'm extremely greatful for and have been blessed with is the ability to play music and the gift of picking up many different instruments, I play nine instruments to be exact. It all started with the violin when I just a pup, years later I would discover the discovered the guitar, the bass came next, drums followed, then the piano/keys, the harp snuck in, I hit the sax, a handful of different percussion instruments, and the most recent instruments to enter my life has been the lap steel. Learning how to play the lap steel actually came pretty naturally, not that I'm some pro but I can definitely hold my own and lay down some pretty cool stuff. This is one instrument I highly suggest you try and learn, especially for you studio rat cats. The lap steel produces some great soundscapes, layers up your tracks something beautiful, and is a blast to play. With all the killer effects and devices out there the possibilities are endless. I decided a few months ago that it was time to hunt down a decent sounding and playing lap steel, the one in our studio just wasn't cutting it anymore. I came across the Joe Morrel Lap Steels while surfing the web and let me just tell you, these are some serious sounding, affordable, and great playing lap steels. I went with one of their Pro Model 6-String models... The outcome has been a whole new world of sonic possibilities. Check it out.

Joe Morrell

MJMP-6N JM

Pro Model 6 String Lap Steel

When I think of a great sounding song there are a certain set of instruments that must be in the mix, a guitar, bass, drums, keys, and of course vocals. I like to call these the fab-5, the fundamentals of a great sounding track. These instruments are all fine and dandy have worked and will always continue to work for as long as good rock is around, but lately it seems more and more cats have been into learning and playing more unique, old style, and off-the-wall instruments. I must say it feels great when I go out to see a band play and notice that someone in the band is playing something outside of the fab-5. The lap steel isn't necessarily anything new to the music world, in fact it has been around since the late 1800's. This wonderful instrument has been providing beautiful tones for blues, rock, funk, country, and lots more styles of music for many many years. I have been blessed and am extremely greatful for the gift of playing music and the number of different instruments I can play. I'm at number nine right now and looking to throw in a tenth instrument by the end of the year. The newest to join the family has been the lap steel, a beautiful and simple instrument full of soul and sound. We have had the same old busted lap steel laying around the studio for quite some time now, something was telling us it was time to step up our game. When we finally did decide to up our game we went ahead and did some research, I am big on doing my homework and like to see what the masses have to say about gear before I go ahead and try it. Then I remembered someone had mentioed Joe Morrell lap steels while working a session. We landed on the Morrell Music website and were very very impressed with their line of killer lap steels. Their website is very informative and provides you with a handful of great demo videos. We went with the JM Pro Model 6 String Lap Steel, an absolute beast of a tone machine. The Morrell lap steel is made of a skillfully crafted maple body which gives it a rich and defined tone, you can literally feel the sound come flowing through your bones. Holding these instruments in your hand will let you know right off the bat they are quality all the way. There is a full 3 octave range fretboard for an endless run of licks, sounds, and experimental fun. The 3 octave fretboard will hand everything from low'n'chunky bluesy licks to high'n'screaming banshee madness. It sports a slotted peghead which gives it a classic look, and individual tuners that stay in tune and perform wonderfully. One tone knob and one volume knob control a single Kent Armstrong Hot Rail pickup, a single coil sized humbucking pickup with lots of balls and lots of heart. These pickups are perfect for this lap steel if you ask me, the range of tones you can get from this one pickup is amazing. They deliver every kind of tone from clean'n'crisp, dirty'n'gritty, and even some extreme high gain stuff. The 6 String Pro Model JM lap steel is hand crafted in east Tennessee, the "birthplace of country music". Straight from the box these badboys are ready to play, they are armed with a set of Joe Morrell JMLS-G Lap steel strings which really do it justice. The strings sounded perfect and really work great for us G tuning freaks. First up to bat was running the Morrell lap steel through a low watt amp, our little 15/7 watt head was perfect (we'll let you in on exactly what 15/7 watt amp we used in a later review). The tone and feel of the lap steel for some reason always sounds so damn good to me through low wattage amps. I hooked up a few of my favorite pedals and let her rip. At low volumes every little slide and lick comes through with ease and complete clarity, something about the maple used and design of this lap steel really brings out a sweet milky tone. As we cranked the amp things only got better, the notes flew out like violin-like chants. We added in the almighty Janglebox 2 for a bit of compression and boost, this leveled everything and accented the notes exactly as I wanted. It really is surprising just how responsive this Morrell lap steel is, for the price you can not beat this. Next up to bat was a blackface type amp with some vibrato goodness, the holy grail of all amps the '65 Twin. Being that the pickup could handle some higher gain levels worked perfectly with this amp. This is where this lap steel really stepped it up and impressed me. I have played many lap steels through loud amps and most of the time things for some reason always get too muddy or grimy. The 6 String Pro Model JM handled this amp with complete clarity and class. Every push and pass of the slide howled through the amp with strength and fullness. We couldn't truly say we had put this instrument through it's paces until we played it through what kind of guitar?.... Any guesses? That's right a Telecaster. My custom bucker in the neck Tele was perfect for the job. There is something about playing a great sounding lap steel through a Tele that just sounds freakin amazing! It's like they were made for each other. Now I'm gonna share a trick I learned from one of my old school musician buddy's with you. I have a friend who once told me to try the lap steel through a bass amp, mids cranked, lows and highs at noon, through a TS808 style pedal, and clean booster. We just happened to have all these things available right in the studio. One word..... WOW!!! You have to try this out, I promise you have never heard such a chunky, rich, and defined sound come from a lap steel. We were all stoked to have discovered these Joe Morrell lap steel and are really looking forward to seeing what their 8 string models have to offer. If you're looking for a great place to start and want something that will deliver some awesome playability and sound this is the way to go. The price is right, the quality is right, and the people are super cool. There a few other models you can choose from, different colors, and vibes. This Morrell lap steel has been the key to some of the killer sounds we've been getting for our band. Jump in and see what you can get.

For more info in these killer lap steels, demos, and much more go to www.morrellmusic.com We will be looking into reviewing some more of their models so please stay tunes for more cool gear from Morrell Music. Go on and dig it!!!