Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Fuzz Week/Part #7: Fender Blender Reissue

-Analog War Cry-
presents

Fuzz Week
A collection of unique and superb fuzz boxes

Part#7.
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We said we'd give you one killer fuzz box for everyday of the week and we did it. I am very proud to bring to you what many thought would never surface again, Fender's Fender Blender. This is a pedal that needs no introduction, if you've ever had a chance to dig into one you know what I'm talking about. Like many of you I'm sure were I was also a tad skeptical of the reissue. Well, sometimes pedals are taken and improved, and not always just because they're not the original (vintage) doesn't mean it won't rock. I had a chance to A/B a vintage Blender with a reissue, and in the end there wasn't much of a difference. The small differences I did hear were actually welcomed. Sometimes a pedal comes along that doesn't necessarily belong to any one music era or sound, it just sounds good period. Well here is a chance for all you pedal hounds to truly get a taste at a timeless classic, a fuzz box that will deliver forever more.




#7.
Fender
Scottsdale, Arizona
Builder/Designer: Fender
Years in the Game: Many
Pedal: Fender Blender




The Fender Blender is unlike any other fuzz pedal out there, from the second you plug into one you notice there's something unique about it's sound. There have been some pretty interesting fuzz boxes ever since effects pedals landed on our laps, but ever has there been anything like this. This is a pedal that definitely produces a sound that's worth writing home about, and a pedal that will inspire you to take your sound into a whole new world. Lots of the more extreme fuzz pedals that have hot the scene in the last few years have been cool, only thing is that most of them are a pain to use or too wild to actually use in any live situation. The Fender Blender sits somewhere between both these levels, it can take you into the wild side and still maintain it's organic feel. The pedal is easy to use, sounds awesome in every setting, and it's design is one of the hippest I have ever seen. There is no mistaking this pedal from any other out there, everything about it screams Fender. From it's super cool F logo vintage style knobs, one of a kind enclosure with black amp-like tolex, and Fender Blender signature sound. I love that Fender held onto to the pedals original design. What separates this version from the original Fender Blender is it's extra Tone Boost switch and Tone knob. If you ask me I think it was a great move, it gives you the ability to dial-in a whole bunch more usable sounds and still hits the mark of the original. That is the most important thing about creating a reissue if you ask me, it has to be able to sound like the original and go beyond it at the same time. The pedal's layout goes like so... On the left you'll find your On/Off switch and on the left your Tone switch. Volume knob controls the pedal's output, Sustain knob dials in the amount of fuzz, Tone knob shapes the character of the pedal's tone, and Blend knob controls the octave effect. This makes for a wide range of overdrive, fuzz, and octavia tones. We lined up an army of guitars and went to town, and everything we threw at it sounded killer. First up to bat was a Strat played through a slightly dirtied amp tone (which is the best setting to play this pedal through). Instantly we were able to get those kickass 90's Billy Corgan sounds, you know the ones I mean, that tone that sounds like your amp is about to explode. The body, rumble, and size in the sound of this pedal is unbelievable. We were able to play killer single note runs and with the amount of sustain you can get out of this pedal you can hold onto any note for as long as you want, it's beautiful. Having the option of a tone knob and switch really helped out when it came to matching the pedal to the guitar and amp we used. This meant we were able to get the signature Fender Blender tone without having to sacrifice the character of our guitar's tone. This is why this version works so great with so many different guitars, pedals, and amps. Through low wattage amps it gave us the perfect fuzz tone for recording, and stacked up with the world of pedals we put in front of it only made things more interesting. You'll find this pedal sounds great through tremolos, vibes, and chorus pedals. It doesn't eat or bury the effect like many fuzz pedals can tend to do. Another little secret weapon to this new version is it can also produce some sweet light to medium tube-like overdrive tones. You'll be surprised when your amp starts singing classic tweed tones, just sit with it a while and listen as the tones roll in. The best way to get these sounds was by playing the pedal through single coils, laying back on the guitar's tone knob, setting the Sustain between 2-4, and setting everything else at about noon. This worked great for blues, rock, and garage rock. It reminded me of a early Sonic Youth and Television tone, that gritty, natural amp break-up that can only be achieved from a sweet tube amp. A very nice quality indeed. Next we played the Blender through a Les Paul and an set the amp a bit lighter to match the output of the humbuckers. It was time to go to town with the pedal's Blend knob. If you ask most players will tell you fuzz sounds best through single coil guitars, not me. I'm big on mixing humbuckers with fuzz pedals, you can really get some killer note control when playing a good fuzz box through a nice set of buckers. Played at higher fuzz settings really created some wild and interesting sounds, much wilder than the original could ever do. If you dig that 60's psychedelic buzzy rock sound you will love this pedal. We tuned down our guitar and had a blast playing our favorite Black Sabbath tunes. A perfect pedal for you stoner/doom rockers. With the volume fully open the pedal creates a fat and warm fuzz tone that stays smooth and shapes your tone in all the right places. Lowering the guitar's volume gave off some awesome rhythm tones, even when playing complex and quick licks. With every turn of the Blend knob you get more and more manipulation of the octave effect, you'll find the sweetest spots from the middle of the neck on down. This is where that 60's Townshend tone, Hendrix sound, and lead Gilmore tone can all be attained. Just dial in the right amount of tone and blend and you're in baby! Even the most obsessive of vintage pedal freaks will appreciate the quality and range of sounds this pedal produces. Whether your thing is traditional classic rock fuzz or wild off-the-wall fuzz madness this pedal will deliver, and do it with originality and character. I was able to get everything from cranked up tube amp tones and mild'n'smooth fuzz to screeching lead tones and octavia goodness. Let the Fender Blender stampede through your amplifier and give your guitar an entire knew face to shout with.



For more info on Fender products go to www.fender.com or click the Fender logo in our links. When it comes to keeping it real no one does it better baby. Stay tuned for more features on the Fender reissue pedal line.

Fuzz Week/Part #6: Solid Gold FX Formula 69

-Analog War Cry-
presents

Fuzz Week
A collection of unique and superb fuzz boxes

Part#6.
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It's always a pleasure whenever I get to introduce to you guys a new or company that's unknown to you. With the pedal boom of the last few years we saw many underground builders, boutique companies, and one-man operations. I won't say that it's been easy to separate the innovative and flavorful from the dull and boring. Yet sometimes you come across a product that is so appealing and sounds so good that it makes choosing a simple pleasure. One of these pedal companies that I've discovered this year that has really had an impact on me and influenced my sound is Solid Gold FX. They have a wide range of effects, the few I've heard sound great, and they all look killer. What more can you ask for? For this we of course chose one of their fuzz pedals, the Formula 69. This is a fuzz pedal that is part of that special species of fuzz box, it's sound creates a wall of killer tones. Let's dive in shall we?




#6.
SolidGold FX
Montreal, Canada
Builder/Designer: Greg Djerrahian
Years in the Game: 10
Pedal: Formula 69





In the world of effects pedals there is one pedal that tickles my tone bone more than others, the fuzz pedal. Fuzz boxes live in their own realm, they have the qualities of distortion, hints of overdrive, and an attitude all their own. The Formula 69 definitely delivered all that a great fuzz box should and at the same time owns some characteristics of it's own. Like any great modern fuzz box it is important that it's design stems from timeless classic, like the all-time favorite Fuzz Face. This is a pedal that many of today's player's will absolutely dig. I've mentioned before that even though vintage pedals sound great they always tend to fall short in one area or the next. The great thing about this is that it left lots of room for improvement. Old school germanium fuzz boxes from back in the day are always a risky pick, you never know if you're getting a good one. Greg of Solid Gold FX made sure he built a fuzz that would work with many guitars, amps, and effects...and he did a hell of a job too. The Formula 69 instantly caught my attention with it's smooth, transparent, and rich tone. What makes this pedal so killer is it's gain matched Si transistors, external bias control, awesome pick attack response, 2-way tone switch, and wide variety of tones. We started with some low but growly type fuzz sounds, with the tone toggle switch set in it's classic mode this was a cinch. I found this setting to work great with both humbucker and single coil equipped guitars. But what I found to sound the best, at least best to my ears was playing the Formula 69 through a Junior style single P90 guitar. It complimented the mid range punch of the pickups and gave it some tonal balance by adding some tight lows and spot-on highs. You would not believe just how well this pedal responds to the guitar's volume knob, and if your picking is dead on you don't even need to lower the volume knob to get semi clean tones. Just work the grit by how soft or how harsh you strum the strings. I've played through many overdrive pedals that can do this but to have a fuzz box that reacts this way is awesome. Next we set the fuzz knob at about 75%, matched the output to our amp, and kept the tone knob to classic. Instead of the fuzz effect getting out of control (which is how most vintage fuzz pedals react) it became thicker, grittier, and maintained it's smooth character. By putting a clean booster in front of it this setting was able to give us every tone needed for both live and studio situations. To get a more cutting and sharp sounds all we had to do was flip the toggle switch to it's bass reduction mode. As we swapped guitars and got to the Strat I noticed just how authentic it's Fuzz Face sounds were, there's nothing like some good dirty, grimy, single coil fuzz tones. Once we dialed in the Jimi tone we had to plug in the vibe and wah wah pedal. I had my rhythm guitar player writing down the settings of every pedal we used, it was off the hook how many badass sounds we were able to get. The sonic boundaries this pedal jumps in and out of are more than enough to satisfy the sickest of pedal junkies. One thing I had to do while we were demoing this pedal was plug it into our little 15 watt head. The outcome was a collection of some of the most dynamic, inspiring, and most useful sounds ever to come out from that amp. Our studio now has whole new arsenal of awesome sounding fuzz tones. Last we blew every knob to max and plugged back into the high wattage amplifier, the streets below the studio definitely heard us that day. One word... smooth. Even in it's highest fuzz settings the Formula 69 held it's smooth sound, I was highly impressed. Sustain sounds like absolute fuzz heaven in your fingertips, solos howl like banshees, and chords sound huge. To get even more grit our of this pedal we set the amp with some low/med drive, getting a killer tone was as easy as setting everything to noon. Usually I find myself fiddling with an amp's tone stack to get the sound I want, not with this puppy. Because the 69 is so transparent and it's tone so well balanced, it makes it easy to work with just about any tone setting. This means that all pickups will sound good through this pedal, any amp, many many pedals, and any guitar you throw at it. Solid Gold FX has easily become one of Analog War Cry's gem finds and a company we will be keeping our eyes on for a long time. If you're thing is traditional and classic fuzz tones with modern capabilities this is the pedal for you, it is damn near impossible to go wring with the Formula 69. Keep it golden baby!

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For more info on Solid Gold FX go to www.solidgoldfx.com Also stay posted for more features from this killer company.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Fuzz Week/Part #5: Tortuga Effects Sasquatch

-Analog War Cry-
presents

Fuzz Week
A collection of unique and superb fuzz boxes

Part#5.
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Ever since these pedals landed on the scene I have been nothing but curious to see what they're all about. Something about them, the look, the style, the art, and the vibe all had me hooked before I even had a chance to plug into one. When someone pays this much attention to detail you know it's going to translate into every area of the design, and this could not be truer of the Tortuga Effects pedal line. All the great things about vintage and modern rock tones come screaming from these intelligently designed pedals. Your guitars will love for it, your amps will find themselves speaking new languages, and your overall sound will come together in a symphony of splendid ear torture. For those of you looking for an effect pedal that sports class, looks, killer tone, and originality look no further.


#5.
Tortuga Effects
Renton, Washington
Builder: Matt Johnson

Years in the Game: ?
Pedal: Sasquatch Ger Fuzz




Oh how I love these pedals! If only you guys knew how long I had been hunting down someone or somewhere that had these awesome stompboxes. In the end it was Tortuga that hooked me up with the chance to put them through their paces. The reason for such unique and innovative pedals? The mind of Matt Johnson. Being that he runs this one-man operations gives him the freedom and space to create whatever the hell he wants, and why not? He's damn good at it. A lot of the creativity and experience for building pedals came before Matt even began building. Having worked in the guitar shop environment gave him the chance to listen to what players really wanted out of their stompboxes. It's these cats that always end up building us the best and most user friendly products. Having an open-mind and open ear has definitely given Matt the ability to create some super hip pedals. The pedal AWC chose to feature here? The Sasquatch Germanium Fuzz of course, and what a fuzz it is. The name says it all, mysterious, legendary, wild, and hairy. The birth of the Sasquatch is rooted in the infamous Arbiter Fuzz Face circuit, picking up where the vintage design left off. If you're a fan of the Fuzz Face this pedal will sit right at home with you, it has all the sounds of the vintage model and many many more that will keep you busy for a long long time. It not only sounds amazing through guitar but it rips when played through bass as well. This is one of the most powerful fuzz boxes I have ever plugged into, it had my amp shaking and thumping in a way I have never seen and heard. It's controls go as follows... Find Him switch: on/off switch, Make Him Mad switch: switches into the pedal's more extreme mode, works with Anger knob, Howl knob: controls the volume and output of the pedal, Growl knob: sets the amount of fuzz/effect, Hungry/Full toggle switch: switches between a fatter and thinner fuzz tone, Anger knob: sets the amount of freak-out fuzz/effect the pedal dishes out, works with Make Him Mad switch. It definitely shows how much work Matt put into the design of this pedal, the controls all work great together, and the sounds are all fantastic. We first started with some traditional, vintage, Fuzz Face era tones. To get these sounds was easy, simply set the Sasquatch to Full on the toggle switch and go to town with the Growl until you find a classic tone you dig most. It is very very easy to get authentic classic rock fuzz tones from this pedal, from the Growl's lowest to it's highest levels. I can only imagine what a cat like Jimi would have done if he had a Sasquatch in his pedal arsenal. We tested this pedal through a clean tone only, using a Fender Hot Rod Deville 4x10 with all the controls set to noon. Getting a good sound out of this pedal is as easy as plugging it in, matching the volume to your amp, and setting in as little or as much fuzz as you want. Tube amp and good guitar definitely adds to the killer sound and size of this pedal. Adding different effects like vibe, wah, and phaser also work great through this pedal, definitely plays well with others. Set in it's mid fuzz settings is where I think this pedal shines the most, as least for me. It gives a solid, smooth, yet broken-up growly fuzz that works great with guitar chords and is perfect for layering your overdrive guitar tracks. We did some stereo rhythm guitar tracks with one side played through a tube amp's natural distortion and the other side through the Sasquatch. The outcome was one of the richest, biggest sounds we have ever produced in the studio. An awesome pedal for lugging around to gigs. I mean think about it, with this one fuzz box you can dial-in every fuzz tone you need and sound killer doing it. The pedal maintains all your clean tone's eq and punch without eating away from the sounds' body and character. As we began to pump more fuzz out of the pedal we noticed one thing which was a surprise to all of us, the ability to control how much noise and madness you want from the pedal. We all know how old school fuzz pedals can tend to be a bit noisy, if you're good at controlling your guitar you can use the noise to shape some pretty interesting sounds, if not you're stuck with with one sound. With the Sasquatch you have all the control you need. Want just a hint of screeching? Not a problem. Want the whole darn circus? You got that too, all at your fingertips. It really is amazing just how many ground this pedal can cover, this is where this fuzz pedal separates itself from many others, and why Matt is quickly becoming one of the stompbox world's most recognized builders. Every guitar we threw at the Sasquatch sounded awesome, Strat, Les Paul, semi-hollow body, P90's, Tele, you name it. This is not just a great pedal for gigging, this is a true magical tool for the studio.

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For more info on Tortuga Effects go to www.tortugaeffects.com or click the logo in our links. Go on and dare to sound different, get your hands on these and change the sound of music.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Welcome back to the Golden Era

A Taste of the Original...


What is it about vintage guitars that makes them sound so great? Was there some magic in the wood back then, or was it that cats just payed more attention to detail? Vintage guitars are heard on all our favorite records and used by the heavyweight players of the world. There are a few things that make a vintage guitar a vintage guitar. Their age, their build, and their components (which means pots, pickups, hardware, etc...). Their tone sings like no other and the feel of one in your hands is instant gratification. We seek them out with a passion like no other, hoping that we find a gem. There are many greats out there and all of them capable of sounding like a dream. But there is one guitar in particular that has always been able to get the job done and do it with authority, the Straocaster. If you look at a vintage Strat's pickups and hardware you'll notice there is something special about them, the sound they both help produce is like no other, and the build quality is stunning. The possibility to have your guitar sounding like an authentic classic is possible once again, and without having to spend an arm or a leg. I have two words for you...Raw Vintage. An amazing new company that is bringing us vintage tone hounds some outstanding pickups, saddles, and tremolo springs. Sometimes it's the little things that make the biggest difference, in this case it couldn't be truer. Get with it, Raw Vintage!


RVS-112 (11.2mm/o.441 inch pitch "Fender USA" type)
RVS-108 (10.8mm/0.425 inch pitch "Gotoh Japan" type)

There's nothing like owning a killer playing, killer sounding vintage guitar. Now imagine your hardware starts to give out, parts become old, and hardware begins to brake. There aren't many parts that can replace an authentic set of 50's saddles, that is until now. Raw Vintage has taken on the job to painstakingly go through every detail and analyze 50's vintage saddle to provide us with a product that not only looks the part but sounds and is built like the original. Yeah you can go out and get yourself a set of $20 saddles, I promise you one thing, you will pay the price in lack of definition, poor string articulation, and unbalanced note separation. The problem with most stock and budget guitar saddles is the materials that are used, like nickel plated copper, pot/zinc, and cheap molded steel. Poor quality in material leads to possible breakage and loss of core tone. It's much to valuable to give up any of that sweet vintage tone your guitar produces, your ears and vibe will tell the difference. Whether you're looking to replace a set on an old guitar, looking to build a vintage spec guitar, or just need a great set of saddles for your guitar, these Vintage Raw saddles will deliver spot-on classic, brilliant tone. If you want your guitar to sing with the voice it was given treat it right and go raw!

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RVTS-1 (5-pc set)
Wire Diameter: 1.3mm
Overall Diameter: 8.86
Nickel Plated

That's right, Raw Vintage even makes tremolo springs. If you've ever played a Strat with a tremolo system you know how important it is to have a good set of springs. Now you can have an amazing set. Just like an old set of saddles, vintage springs can also tend to give you problems. Old school springs were made ok, but to be honest that wasn't an area most companies were paying attention to. One great thing about vintage tremolo springs was that they did/do sound great, only they weren't built to last. Play your guitar long enough and you'll begin to notice your tremolo just won't respond like it once did. It's something that's bound to happen, wear on your springs can cause flimsy bends and weak intonation. You might not think springs make that much of a difference, but ask any seasoned player and they'll tell you different. What you want is to be able to replace these parts without having to give up your root sound, give your trem a little more strength and more flexibilty at the same time. The tension of the spring is very important and the key to having a great functioning tremolo. Raw Vintage not only researched the build quality of vintage springs but also improved them to perform better while able to maintain a classic sound. After swapping in both the set of Raw Vintage saddles and springs into my partner's guitar, we noticed right away the difference in sustain and response. The notes appear to jump out and hold on a bit longer, almost as if the perfect amount of compression was being added. The lows became rounder and boomier, and mids became thicker. This was simply one of the easiest mods I have ever done to a guitar, quick and instant difference. If you're looking for a easy and quick way to get your guitar up to par, try the Raw Vintage gear. Your guitar will love you for it!!!


For more info on Raw Vintage products go to www.rawvintage.com/eng/ or click the Raw Vintage logo in our links. Also look for the Raw Vintage pickup review next month, you're in for a real treat! Rock on kids.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Fuzz Week/Part #4: Way Huge Swollen Pickle

Fuzz Week
A collection of unique and superb fuzz boxes
part#4

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Oh how stoked was I when I heard that Way Huge Pedals were making a comeback, definitely the most exciting thing to hit the stompbox world in a good long while. As a serious tone connoisseur and pedal junky, having Way Huge back in the mix meant that once again we would have access to the interpretation of tone as seen through the mind of George Tripps. Would these pedals be able to influence and grab a hold of players like they once did? Hell Yes! Not only do these pedals still own their unique vibe but they've managed to keep their signature sound and feel. Any fan of the boutique pedal world must go out and try these pedals, as someone who makes it a point to try out as many pedals as possible I highly suggest it. I invite you into the world of Way Huge, and what better pedal to start with here than the Swollen Pickle mkII.





#4.

Way Huge Electronics
Benicia, California
Builder/Designer: George Tripps
Years in the Game: Plenty
Pedal: Swollen Pickle





This killer reissue wasn't in my presence longer than 5 minutes before I made up my mind to add it to my gigging pedalboard. The range of sounds this fuzz box is capable of just blew my mind and all sounded killer, absolutely ridiculous. All of the controls works well with one another and each one sounds great in just about any setting. Yet there's more to this pedal, something beyond it's look and sound that makes it super freakin cool, like a cult film and it's cult following. From the packaging these pedal's come in to their layout of controls these are not your every day stompboxes, even the enclosures are super cool. I am sure you all know the Way huge line very well, chances are you may have come across a few in your time, if you're lucky. If you didn't get a chance to rock out to some of the first run these will have you more than satisfied. This new and improved version of the Swollen Pickle sports a layout of controls that makes it one of the most versatile stompboxes we have ever come across. Just when you think you've reached all it can do you remember there are also internal controls. Let's start with the outside first shall we? Sustain knob: With this badboy you can dial in as much (and I mean as much) smooth and off-the-wall grit or fuzz you want. Starting from it's lowest settings gets you some tasty natural break-up sounds, from Rolling Stones grit and Clapton woman tones. It's crazy just how much further this knob will actually take you. Getting into higher Sustain settings is Black Sabbath and Queens of the Stone Age land. The effect somehow maintains all it's great sounding gritty overdrive while delivering a massive onslaught of fuzz, it's beautiful. Filter knob: This amazing control isn't the norm tone/eq control, no sir. Rolling back the Filter produces some really cool low-fi sounds, this perfect for layering tracks or coming off as dirty and mean as you want. Roll this puppy up and you get more in your face, open fuzz tones. Twist a few of the other knobs and the possibilities are endless. Loudness knob: This here controls the amount of volume you want slamming into your amp, believe me you won't need much, unless you want to kill your pets and your neighbors all at the same time. The next couple knobs are new to the Swollen Pickle, but oh am I glad they're there. Crunch knob: This knob does exactly what it says it does, controls the squash and compression of your sound. This knob will have some affect on your volume depending on where you have it, it can also produce some killer trumpet-like sounds in the right spot. Scoop knob: Works to control the mids in the fuzz tone. Again the possibilities are endless. I found this working best for me right at noon, but turn it left and right and it's like day and night, very cool. You get enough? No? Good cause there's more. Flip the Swollen Pickle over, unscrew the feet and WAHLAH! Inside it's guts you'll find a few controls that will help you fine-tune and match the sound to whichever amp/guitar you might have. Voice control: This works to set the overall intensity of the external Scoop knob, great for dialing in the perfect mid tone. Last but not least, Clip control: This flips between two different sets of clipping diodes. Your choice of smooth'n'creamy or raw'n'wicked. Like having two completely different fuzz boxes in one. I have no idea how the hell Tripps did this, but he managed to up himself by giving us more out of the Swollen Pickle. Everything I threw at this pedal sounded great, Tele, Strat, hollowbody, and Junior. All the sounds coming off well defined, balanced, rich, and powerful. If I had to pick a favorite fuzz box for the year I might just have to go with the Swollen Pickle. Never has a fuzz box made it to my board so quickly and never has a fuzz box done so much for so many different instruments. My favorite setting by far, which pulled off a sound somewhere between a woman tone and Fuzz Face. Sustain at two O clock, Filter just behind eleven O clock, Crunch a hair past noon, Scoop at ten O clock, Voice at stock setting, and Clip in the smooth mode. Last I roll back my guitar's one knob 50% and I'm there baby. That's how this monster sits in board and I don't see myself changing a damn thing for a long long. I have been hunting for this sound for a long time, to able to knock it out with just one box is stunning. Don't get me wrong, it's beautiful when we can mix and combine our pedals with one another, when it helps us. When we have to work to combine a few pedals a different story. The key is to have tools in our arsenal that will take us to where we're trying to get, gear that will enhance our core tone, and motivate us to play what's floating around in our heads. Plugging into the Swollen Pickle unleashed so many of the riffs I have been wanting to release from my hands. You know how it goes, you write a riff or a lick, then when you go and play it you notice something's just not there. Now how good does it feel when we come across those sounds that work best with our playing? Freakin awesome! As a cat who is big-time into fuzz boxes and vintage pedals this mkII version of the Swollen Pickle has me floored. In some cases I've seen that reissues don't always stack up to the original's, this is not one of those cases. I'll tell you something, at first I thought this pedal was going to be a difficult to operate, but once I got in and got my hands dirty my ears led me to all the right places. One amazing tone monster.


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For more info on Way Huge Electronics go to www.wayhuge.com or click the logo in our links. Also look out for the rest of the Way Huge line reviews here on Analog War Cry and a feature with George Tripps next month. Do the damn thing do it!

Monday, September 14, 2009

News/Updates

Seppuku FX:

My good buddy Ryhs at Seppuku Fx has just informed me that he will be offering a limited line of hand painted effects pedals. If you have had a chance to check out his pedals you now how off-the-wall and amazing they sound. Now you got a chance at getting a cool hand painted one-off version of one of the killer Seppuku FX models. The hand painting will be done by Parking Wars, check it out very cool stuff. There is also a new pedal recently added to the line, the Octave Drone. The Octave Drone is an all analog octave fuzz pedal and knowing Ryhs it should dish out some interesting sounds. We will be reviewing this pedal in the near future so keep your eyes peeled. Stop by and visit the Seppuku FX website and make sure you let'em know I sent you.

Hand Painted By. Parking Wars

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Octave Drone

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www.seppukufx.com

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Way Huge Pedal Collection on Ebay:

For those of you who dig collecting old school pedals these are the mother of all mother freaking cool stompboxes.  Here's your chance at getting the entire original vintage Way Huge collection in one shot. The auction for the 10 Way Huge pedals will start at $4500, this might seem like a lot for pedals but to be honest I have seen these go for much more. Way Huge is definitely the originator of boutique mixed with hip style, believe me, if I had the means I would jump in on the auction. For those of you participating I wish you luck and if you end up grabbing them please shoot me an email. We're gonna try and find the buyer of these badass pedals for some info on them. Analog War Cry will also be reviewing the entire new Way Huge line and interviewing George Tripps. Make sure to tune in for that.

Vintage Way Huge Collection on Ebay
click on the picture to visit auction
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Gearmandude Pedals:

The man the myth from the awesome Youtube effect pedal demos has his own line of pedals, and there is a new one on the horizon. The pedal is called the Lothar, an all out super hip exploding overdrive. Meaning it has some overdrive and fuzz characteristics. You can check out the video on this pedal and hit up GMD for one of these killer pedals. They go for $107 for you cats here in the states and run $130 for you brothers elsewhere. Can you dig it! Also be on the look out for the GMD Luther Drive review to come shortly. 



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Analogman:

The super hip new Analogman ARDX20 Duel Analog Delay is available and in stock! Now we all know these are pedals that need no introduction of any kind, Analogman has proven time and time again that his heart is in this pedal thing and because of that he knocks out great sounding pedals. Both Ohbayashi San of Analogman Japan and Analogmike himself went into the design of this amazing analog delay pedal. The pedal is hand wired, features duel selectable setting of delay time, feedback, and level. The ARDX20 sports an effects loop for modulation and expression pedal jack for delay time manipulation. Get out and grab one!

ARDX20 Duel Analog Delay
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www.buyanalogman.com

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Rothwell Audio Products:

My good buddy Andrew from Rothwell Audio has been one very busy bee. Not only does he also have a very cool new pedal out but he's also began to really blow up. You might remember our Rothwell features of the Rothwell Switchblade distortion pedal and Rothwell CLK (cool little knob). Now these amazing pedals can be found in many more places. Let's start with the new pedal first. The new Rothwell pedal is a compressor known as the Love Squeeze, if I know Andrew this thing is going to sound killer. You can visit his website for more info. There are also a handful of great new videos on Youtube of Rothwell pedal demos, for those of you who haven't had a chance to check one out here's your chance to get an idea of what they sound like. Rothwell has also picked up a ton of great new dealers to carry these amazing pedals, there will will more to come in the near future. Be on the look out for the Love Squeeze review to come in the near future. Below you will links to all this info, dig it!

Love Squeeze Compressor

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New Dealer List:

Guitar, Amp & Keyboard Centre in Brighton  http://www.guitarampkeyboard.com/
Cranes in Cardiff and Swansea  http://www.cranesmusicstore.com/
Red Dog Music in Edinburgh  http://www.reddogmusic.co.uk/
Hartnoll Guitars in Plymouth  http://www.hartnollguitars.co.uk/
 
and there are some new international dealers, too.
Pro Guitar Shop in USA (thanks for the youtube videos)  http://www.proguitarshop.com/ 
Panmusic in Spain (again, thanks for the youtube videos)  http://www.panmusic.net/ 
Old Kate Studio in Greece http://www.oldkate.gr/ 
Tone Freaks in Korea  http://www.tonefreaksdistrict.com/

Type in "Rothwell Pedals" into our Youtube video search and watch all the videos here on Analog War Cry. Youtube player found at the bottom of our site.



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Thursday, September 10, 2009

Gear Giveaway #2/T-Rex Tone Bug Pedal


Tone Bug Overdrive/Gear Giveaway


Italic
Can you dig it? We have a very cool T-Rex Tone Bug pedal for one for one of our lucky subscribers. All you need to do qualify is type in your email address into the subscribe box to the right and that's that. You'll get a shot at winning a cool pedal and have access to Analog War Cry updates and news. We will be picking someone at random Oct 10th and announcing it shortly after.


T-REX TONEBUG OVERDRIVE
In there beginning there was overdrive...
Not distortion, certainly not fuzz, but overdrive - that almost miraculously warm, saturated sound of one vintage tube amp pushing the next one just a little too hard. It's what the blues are made of, and it's what created rock and roll. In fact, it's the first foundation of just about every style of guitar playing out there. And now it's yours in the Tone Bug Overdrive.
- T.Rex Engineering










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Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Gear Giveaway #1 Winner Announcement

First I'd like to thank everyone for following our little site and everyone who signed up for a chance to win our first gear giveaway. Remember to keep stopping by and keep spreading the word, we will be doing gear giveaways every few months and selecting some really cool gear for ya'll. Now to get to the winner....drum roll please!

:::Winner:::
Adrien Fortunato
of Calgary, Canada



Eastwood Guitars

Airline Vintage Voiced
Single Coil Pickups

"Have you ever wondered what makes those old AIRLINE guitars sound so wicked? How can a Humbucker sound like that? Well, it can't. The original VALCO pickups were SINGLE COIL, not Humbuckers. They looked like a Humbucker, but that is where the similarity ends. The VALCO pickups were found in all AIRLINE®, SUPRO and National Guitars in the late fifties and early sixties. We dissected the originals and have now re-created that famous tone in a new SINGLE COIL design that is housed in a Humbucker format. These are made specifically to replace your Humbuckers and give you that oh-so-nasty growl that is familiar from the likes of Jack White, Hound Dog Taylor, J.B. Hutto and Jimmy Reed."

-Eastwood Guitars

Fuzz Week/Part #3: Fridgebuzzz LOTRF

-Analog War Cry-
presents

Fuzz Week
A collection of unique and superb fuzz boxes
part#3
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Back in the 60's there were many fuzz pedals hitting the music scene, many of them making their way onto albums and stages, and lots of them made famous by our golden era heroes. There was one fuzz box in particular though that had everyone going bananas and was known for creating some unique and memorable tones. The name of that pedal? The Shin-Ei Fuzz. It was used by many of the rock bands of that time and was featured on a ton of our favorite tunes. Try to go out and find one today, you'll quickly notice they're not cheap and don't just hang around on every music shop corner. Fridgebuzzz Electronics has taken care of this problem, not only has this pedal made it's way back into our lives, but it's improved and capable of many more signature rock tones.



#3.
Fridgbuzzz
Brooklyn, New York
Builder/Designer: Paul Rothman
Years in the Game: 2
Pedal: Land of the Rising Fuzzz


* Handmade in the USA
* Beyond original design
* Each pedal is hand screened and numbered
* Extreme to vintage voiced fuzz tones
* Designed to work great with many instruments
* Custom builds also available upon request





I am a huge fan of many of the classic fuzz pedals that put fuzz boxes on map. But I'm also not so keen of a handful, some that most people would say sound amazing. The thing with fuzz pedals from back in their early days is that because they were so new to the scene, it meant there was lots of room for improvement. It was like playing russian roulette, you never knew if you were gonna get a bad one or a golden one. Some cats have taken care of this problem and at the same time injected some ideas of their own. Paul Rothman went right ahead and did just that, and not with a pedal that already sounded s0-s0 which would have been cool, but with a pedal that already sounded amazing which is even better. He took some of the ideas from the all mighty Shin-Ei Fuzz Pedal to design and transformed a true modern classic of his own. The name of Paul's killer pedal is The Land of the Rising Fuzzz (get it?). A pedal who's sound definitely belongs in it's own class, as time goes by I definitely see this fuzz box becoming a collector's piece. From it's skin to it's guts this pedal screams class and quality all the way. Diecast aluminum enclosure, rugged powder-coat finish, true bypass switching, hand screened enamel graphics, switchcraft jacks, poly-film capacitors, double sided/solder masked pcb...you get the picture. Last but not least, a collection of unique tones and sounds that will keep you busy for a long long time. I've mentioned before that time and time again many builders get the whole fuzz effect idea wrong, wrong wrong wrong! Not to say that the whole idea of the fuzz pedal hasn't grown, I believe there is definitely a group of fuzz pedals out there that have evolved into some great new flavors, and there are those few that have kept it traditional and in the vintage era. It's just that many cats have taken advantage of the hype and mystery that surrounds fuzz pedals, and out of it has come some strrraaaannge pedals. A good fuzz box needs to either keep it real or take it to the next level. The Fridgebuzzz LOTRF takes it into both arenas, the old school and the new. An intelligently designed layout of controls is why this pedal is so versatile, this along with some vintage appointments makes for one swell stompbox. The controls on the pedal are Volume, Tone, Fuzz, and a mini toggle that flips from Mode 1 to Mode 2. The Volume knob controls the it's overall volume, it can be set to match your guitars level or go beyond it to help push your amp into further saturation. The Tone knob works as a high frequency roll-off which is great for taming the fuzz's growl and bite. I was able to play the pedal through a bunch of different guitars and match the pedal's tone to each of the pickup's characteristics. The Fuzz control is actually really special, depending at what kind of instrument or frequency you throw at it will effect how it responds. This makes for mucho many fun sounds. In Mode 1 the pedal dishes out it's most dissonant and sharpest tones, coming closer to the original design. Mode 2 is the mellower and smoothest of the two modes, and it's in this mode that you can really shape some signature sounds for yourself. In Mode 1 we got some great synth-fuzz sounds, sounds that worked great for adding some off-the-wall character to your tone. Direct into a clean tone the pedal completely rearranges your signal into a rich'n'thick fuzz facelift. What was really impressive was just how transparent and well balanced each tone was. Even in it's most extreme settings the pedal worked great with both chords and lead work. The sound explodes and compresses in a way that many fuzz pedals don't, creating that killer muted trumpet-like fuzz sound really well, almost as if it's being pushed by wind instead of electricity. When you back off on your strumming you get these great short, sputtery, and sythn-like sounds. The more you dig in the more you hear the effect open up. This works great for going from verses to hooks, without the need to roll back the guitar's volume knob. As we were putting it through it's paces we noticed it sounded really great for those 60's psychedelic single note runs, if this is your scene this pedal delivers spot-on. We through a bit of compression and a ton of reverb behind this tone and got some of the trippiest sounds to ever come out of a fuzz box.My favorite thing about this pedal is playing it through a wah. Some pedals can sound thin and harsh when played through wah pedals, not this baby. To make things really interesting we set a treble booster in front of it, not only did it take to the booster well but it flew into a whole new feel and sound, like shooting it with steroids. Then we got to the bass guitar, oh yes mama. Bass players I say this to you. "Stop Looking, your dream fuzz pedal is here!" And it didn't end there. Keyboards of all kinds also sound great through this pedal. For a cat like I who lives in the studio setting this is a perfect pedal, which makes this a real desirable stompbox. I don't only play guitar, in fact I'm up to instrument number 8, and working on the 9th. This has become one of the most useful and player friendly pedals to ever land on my doorstep. Like the original Shin-Ei the Land of the Rising Fuzz is also a pedal of it's own category. The difference? You won't have to worry about getting a bad sounding pedal, while at the same time having access to all the original's tones and then some. There are a few bands that come to mind when I think of this pedal... The Rolling Stones, Dead Meadow, Black Mountain, The Ventures, Sleep, The Kinks, The Melvins, Kyuss, and The Electric Prunes, to name a few. Whether you're thing is psychedelic rock, classic rock, or experimental rock, this baby will do you fine. Get a taste of fuzz box history and make some history of your own. Can you dig it?


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For more info on Fridgebuzzz Electronics you can go to www.fridgebuzzz.com I highly suggest you stop by the site check out some sound bytes and catch up on what happening with them. Look for more info on Fridgebuzzz Electronics to come in the near future.

Monday, September 7, 2009

Dillion Guitars...For those who don't know



As our first guitar feature am I proud to introduce to you Dillion Guitars. While doing some session work a few months ago I ran across a cat who had himself a few of these guitars. Whenever I come across any guitar in the studio I always know it's gonna something special, they have to be, these are the guitars we use to lay down the tracks that become our precious songs. It wasn't until I got close to the guitar that I noticed it wasn't an actual Gold Top Les Paul. If you're like me and most of you are, lord knows we can't just go out and buy a 57 Gold Top anytime we'd like. The guitar was the Dillion DL-600GT, it had a set of P90's, had an immaculate finish, and played like a dream. There are a lot of people out there building their own versions of old time favorites. Most of the time they're either too expensive, or lack the quality and can't cut it as a player's guitar. The Dillion Guitar line is something special though. Here are a handful of great guitars that play amazingly, look stunning, and sport quality where it counts. I highly suggest you look into it for yourself and experience what is a fantastic guitar company.




Dillion Guitars
DLJ58 TV Yellow
* Solid Alder Body
* Vintage Style Headstock w/Pearl Logo
* Grover (18:1) USA Gears
* Graphite Nut
* Wilkinson Wraparound Bridge
* 22 Fret American Maple Set Neck
* D'Addario Strings (10-46)
* Bound Rosewood Fingerboard
* Hand Polished 22mm Frets
* Vintage Voiced P90
* 1 Master Vol/ 1 Master Tone

12" Radius - 1.695 Nut Width - 24.75 Scale



When all is said and done there is nothing better than adding a new guitar to your setup. You bring it home, lay it down and polish it before putting it through it's first paces. The feel of a new guitar in your hands is absolute heaven, a feeling that those on the outside can never experience or understand. To us musicians these are the tonal weapons we use to speak to the world, the tools needed to finish our work, and the joy that lives within our hearts. I never get more excited than when I'm in the presence of a killer new guitar. The Dillion DLJ58 delivered these feelings and then some. You guys don't know how excited I was when I discovered someone was making great quality vintage style guitars for killer prices. We all know how great a vintage guitar can be, if you own one you know how precious they are, and how much you're willing to do to make sure they don't get damaged or ruined. I have been on the hunt for a Junior style guitar now for as long as I can remember, ever since I first started playing to be exact. Every time I've had a run-in with a vintage guitar I've said to myself "There's no way I will ever gig with this guitar. What if I drop it, or worse?" I'm in a place where I'm playing gigs, and lots of sessions. For me it is key that I have a guitar I can lug around, a guitar I can really dig in to, the DLJ58 is the perfect workhorse for any situation. These guitars are the perfect players guitars, and they perform on a stunning level. The many many different sounds I was able to get out of this simple guitar floored me. When you look at it the DLJ58 seems like a one-trick pony, boy was I wrong. In your hands you feel the build quality, the necks are solid, bodies shaped and finished to perfection, and hardware is quality all the way. The only place I would change anything in this guitar is the pickup, but then again who doesn't want to go out and seek out their own tone. I don't say this to take away anything from the stock pickup the guitar comes with, there's absolutely nothing wrong with it. In fact I did some recording with it when the guitar first got here and it delivered beautifully. When I spoke with John from Dillion Guitars I mentioned this to him and his answer was that he'd figured most cats would want to go ahead and swap out the pickup so that didn't bother him at all. That being said I'm sure most players will be right at home with the stock pickup and leave it as it is. Straight out of the box the DLJ58 felt and played great, the setup was better than some of the high-end guitars I have owned in my time. This is always a great sign of attention to detail. I went through the guitar from head to toe, becoming more and more impressed as I dug deeper. The headstock sports a classy looking pearl Dillion logo and holds a set of USA Grover 18:1 ratio gear tuners. This adds to the classic look and feel of this guitar and keeps the vibe genuine. The neck is made of rock hard American maple and is accompanied by a bound rosewood fretboard. You can definitely feel the build quality in these necks, they're big'n'beefy in the right places and don't cramp your hand when playing for long periods of time. The old school Juniors were made of mahogany, Dillion uses alder which to my ears compliments the P90 pickup it comes with very nicely. The shaping and finish are flawless, and the overall build is balanced very well. Another thing I really dug about this guitar that the originals don't have is the Wilkinson wraparound bridge, which is built for better intonation and tuning stability. If you've ever played a Led Paul Junior you know how much of a pain in the ass it can be to keep in tune, problem solved with these badboys. The tortoise pickguard is the icing on the cake, giving this guitar a super slick look. The electronics I believe are made in Korea, where these guitars are hand built. I'll tell you something too, I am very impressed with the job they have done with these guitars. This is the second Korean guitar I have owed this year that has performed beautifully. It really seems like Korea has began to up their game, right on for Korean made instruments! The guitar comes with one master tone and one master volume. What more can you ask for? If you've played around with your guitar's knobs as much as I have, you learn how to shape many many different tones with just a tone and volume. Which brings us to the sounds this guitar is capable of dishing out. Before I get started I just want to I was quite surprised, I really didn't think it would perform as well as it ended up doing. It was a real treat. The stock pickup played through a Princeton was straight out rock and roll town baby! All that great P90 honk and growl just oozes out of the DLJ58, a killer vintage tone monster. We found the guitar sounded really sweet with a bit of roll back from the tone knob and all of the amp's knobs full blast. I honestly have to say I haven't seen/heard a better rhythm guitar workhorse in a long long time. Everything from blues to indie rock, and jazz to classic rock tones is possible with this guitar. We spent an entire evening plugging the DLJ58 into stompboxes and only got more and more tonal options with every box. It amazes me that this simple, one pickup guitar can do so much, and change it's voice so well to fit any type of music. We also plugged it into some higher wattage amps and the outcome was shiny, sparkling, clean tones. Here is where the alder body really makes a difference. Alder tends to me more of a brighter and defined sounding wood. When you have a pickup like a P90 which at times can come across a bit scooped, an alder body levels it out beautifully. Being that John has been in the guitar business for a long time I'm sure he had this in mind when he designed the DLJ58 like so. Because it hits you with a lovely combo of top-end and lows, it makes this a great guitar for fuzz boxes. You ever play a fuzzbox at a shop then take it home only to realize it's a bit too harsh? I have. Let me tell you something. You all know I'm a sucker for a good fuzz pedal, which means I have many many of them. Which also means I put this guitar through just about every single one of them. The end result....? Go out and try it for yourself, you'll be greatly surprised. This is more than just a great sounding guitar, it is a looker, and gives you a bit of guitar history at a fraction of the price. I may one day go out and find myself a genuine Junior, maybe after I've recorded a handful of records and have finished touring the world. But for now I will play rock and roll, and I will always make sure I have the right tools for the job. I'm stoked to have this stunning Dillion guitar as part of the family.


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For more info on Dillion USA Guitars go to www.dillionguitars.com
Look for more to come fro our new friends at Dillion Guitars. Rock on!

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Fuzz Week/Part #2: Faceplant Fuzz

-Analog War Cry-
presents

Fuzz Week
A collection of unique and superb fuzz boxes
part#2

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Our next find was another that came from left field and a pedal that just blew us away when we got around to plugging into it. You ever come across a stompbox you just know is going to sound amazing before you plug it in? The Deaf Audio Faceplant Fuzz is one of these pedals.

#2.
Deaf Audio
Hamer, Norway
Builder/Designer: Magnus Nordbye
Years in the Game: 4
Pedal: Faceplant Fuzz

* Handcrafted in Norway
* Built high quality components
* Works great w/both guitar and bass
* Internal Gain/Fuzz trimpot
* Fuzz for those who dig Overdrive







From East Norway we bring you the tasty and ruggedly stunning Faceplant Fuzz. This here is one of those pedals one cannot help but fall in love with, it is simple, sounds great in all settings, and looks killer. The Faceplant Fuzz comes from the wonderful one-man operation known as Deaf Audio. The master mind behind this operation? Magnus Nordbye, a talented and passionate tone hound with a love for building high quality, classic sounding pedals. The Faceplant is a simple pedal rocking only two knobs, one for Level, and one for Gain. Together these controls mesh to whip up a special blend of overdrive and fuzz. But there's a hidden third tone shaping weapon living in the guts of this pedal. A small trimpot inside this pedal controls the Fuzz/Gain, increase the voltage for cleaner tones and roll it back for dirty dirty goodness. Being able to roam in both the drive and fuzz arenas gives this pedal the ability live in it's own special class of fuzz sounds. Like all great stompboxes this pedal too has a sweetspot, and you find it you'll never want to change the settings, it is that good! I was able to find it at with the trimpot at about 40%, the gain just past noon, level set to match my amp, and my guitar's tone knob rolled back half way. The outcome is a wonderful gritty'n'smooth fuzz tone with a taste of overdrive spank, absolute heaven. Played with a single coil guitar through an amp set completely clean gives you some of the best blues rock tones you will ever hear. Just set your lead tone with the pedal's gain knob and internal internal tripot, then roll back your guitar's volume and watch it lay back into a perfect rhythm tone. Because this pedal carries the overdrive gene it is possible for the fuzz to stay transparent and defined. Even when set at high levels your chords stay intact and clearly heard. The Faceplant Fuzz lets your pickup's voice shine through without getting too harsh and lost in too much effect. I think this is what Magnus had in mind when he designed the Faceplant, a wide range fuzz box with the characteristics of a great sounding overdrive pedal. Just genius if you ask me. And this is only the lighter side of this baby, it can also most definitely spark up some mean sounding fuzz madness. We wanted to see how the pedal would react with all it's controls set at 100% through the Strat. I through in a booster in from of it just to make things a little crazy. The outcome? Hendrix city all the way. A ton of great sounding controllable sustain, like a screaming banshee flying out of my amp. We were getting such awesome tones with just the single coil guitar that we almost forgot to demo it through the Les Paul and double humbucker Hagstrom. Like most fuzz pedals when played through humbuckers the sound gets fatter and richer. This is true of the Faceplant only it was also able to retail it's top-end and harmonic clarity. At low fuzz settings you get a nice chunk of spanky fuzz at the beginning of each chord and lick, the more you dig in the more dramatic the fizzle and sputter is in front of your playing. This is great for you cats who like to play with lots of accents in your playing, where the fuzz hangs on just long enough for the next chord to be heard. I noticed how responsive the gain knob really was when I got to more extreme fuzz settings. I had to plug it in to a bass to see just how well it would do with low tones. Some fuzz pedals fall apart, sound dull, farty, and lose all definition when played through bass guitars. Something in the way Magnus set up the overall tone of this makes it so that it handles a wide range of tones. We got some really cool Queens of the Stone Age bass tones with this pedal. But the real treat, the absolutely real special thing about this pedal, that maybe Magnus himself doesn't realize... Is how perfect this pedal is for slide guitar and lap steel. I consider myself a decent slide player, and my partner can dish up some pretty tasty lap steel work. It makes this pedal something special and something all you slide players and lap steel cats must have. Finally there's the insanely cool artwork that these pedals are blessed with. I have no idea how Magnus does this or if this is something he came up with himself. Nontheless they look freakin awesome. You ever see a pedal you just know is going to sound amazing before you even play it? This is it my friends, the Deaf Audio Faceplant Fuzz. The last thing I can say about this pedal is that I was honored to have come across it and proud to have it in my arsenal of tone shaping weapons.

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For more info on Deaf Audio you can go to www.deafaudio.com Look for more info on Deaf Audio pedals to come in the near future. If you keep on rockin you might as well keep on rollin.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Fuzz Week/ Part #1: The OxFuzz

-Analog War Cry-
presents

Fuzz Week
A collection of unique and superb fuzz boxes

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Part#1.


Here we go kids, a killer week of some of the baddest of the bad, and illest of the ill fuzz pedals. All of them will be a bit different and all of them capable of dishing out some insanely cool fuzz tones. We had a blast seeking out and rocking out to these amazing sounding pedals. We chose what we think will be a solid 7 days of fuzz tone madness, and some great stompboxes for you to go out and try.



#1.
OxFuzz FX
Toronto, Canada
Builder/Designer: Ken Baluke
Years in the Game: 1
Pedal: OxFuzz

* Handcrafted in the USA
* Built w/your choice of Ger or Sil transistors
* Made w/high quality components and parts
* Works w/both guitar and bass
* Bright blue LED for dark settings
* Meticulously tested for serious fuzz tone






Like all the great pedals I ever come across the OxFuzz also fell into my hands by chance. While do some surfing on the web was how I discovered this rare and great sounding gem. The OxFuzz is a small, simple pedal, with two controls, a switch and that's that.
Now with all the ridiculous multi-effects and ten knob pedals available today you might be thinking this pedal ain't much. I will sat this, the OxFuzz does the one thing it was designed to do and it does quite well. Which is always better than a pedal that does fifty things you'll never be able to use. The OxFuzz sound lives within the vintage and classic rock realm, staying true to the likes of the 60's and 70's psychedelic rock era. It also has a modern touch to it and sports a flavor of it's own which makes this fuzz box a design of it's own. From the second the OxFuzz pedal arrived I noticed there was something about it that really attracted me to it, and this was before I even plugged it in. At first I couldn't quite put my finger on it, and then it hit me, the black box, wild neon blue LED, and off-white chickenhead knobs. I don't know if Ken planned this layout or if it was by chance, either way it worked out great and looks super slick. I first plugged the pedal into a clean Fender amp with all it's knobs set at noon, no reverb, and volume at about 4. I set the OxFuzz controls straight up and hit a chord. A warm, lush, velcro-like fuzz tone came shouting out of the amplifier. The kind of fuzz you need to keep pushing with picking and strumming or it trickles away in eerie pops and crackles. Cats back in the day got this kind of sound by shredding and ripping up their amp's speakers. It reminded me of that fuzz/synth sound that cats like Kyuss, Dead Meadow, and Comets on Fire use in their songs. If you dig that mind heavy, slowly grinding rock sound this is the perfect pedal for the job. As I added more of the effect knob I could hear the fuzz getting much smoother, more saturated, and even tighter. This was a lovely surprise, instead of the fuzz getting out of control and untameable, it became more defined while at the same time able to hold onto it's wild characteristics. Next we matched it up to a handful of different effects, delay, wah wah, tremolo, and phaser. Sometimes fuzz pedals can act funny when combined with certain modulation pedals. They can get thin, lose their body, and become lifeless. The OxFuzz sounded great through all the pedals I matched it up with. My favorite was using it through my wah and phaser, the outcome was a psychedelic trip of swirls, squeaks, and flying fuzz goodness. Of course me having a good wah pedal helps matters, but having a killer quality fuzz is just as important and necessary when playing through a wah with fuzz. Next I through in some slow timed delay and rolled back on my guitar's tone knob, I got some of the trippiest acid rock sounds. I was stuck in a trance for a good while playing old rock licks and swelling in the delay through a volume pedal. Then it was phaser time, something I was afraid to do. I can ever ever get lucky enough to get a good phased out fuzz tones. It's always the same thing, either it kills the fuzz in half, or the phase effect becomes too strong and overpowering. All it took to get some killer phased/fuzz tones with this pedal was laying off on the guitar's tone knob and keeping the phaser in check through the Depth knob. Ahh yes, good ol space rock madness. Now I saved the best for last, where this pedal really shines and separates itself from the rest. I always like to push fuzz pedals as far as I can, put them through tons of gain, and get as much out of them as humanly possible. How do I do this? Simple. with boosters and amp distortion settings. First we switched guitars, a vintage Strat played through a Marshall dirty rhythm tone. Oh the overtones and undertones we were able to get from this pedal, absolute harmonic richness and creamy everlasting sustain. The number of awesome tones we were able to get from just a dirty amp and the OxFuzz were unbelievable. This is because the pedal responds so well to the guitars volume knob, it makes it possible to get all those cool inbetween bluesy dirt tones. A wonderful pedal for those of you gigging a ton and those looking to get as many sounds possible from small setups. One tone that really stood out from riding the volume knob was an almost clean/honking fuzz tone, very strange but so damn good for playing slow blues with. What I did was set the pedal at noon, set the amp's Treble-Bass-Mids-and Pres to about 75%, and roll the volume back to about 50%. As I played softly I was able to maintain my clean signal, as I began to dig in and play harder I noticed the fuzz would creep in at the front of each note. All my chords rang through with great top end sparkle and lead licks accented with a hint of OxFuzz goodness. This is something I'm able to do with good overdrive and distortion pedals, being able to get it from a fuzz box made this a real special tone. There's not much else I can say about this little demon, it's works great with many guitars and amps, dishes out a ton of killer sounds, and is the perfect size pedal for gigging or lugging around to the studio. Ken makes these to order, builds them with the best quality parts, and uses rare Sil and Ger transistors. The outcome is a must have for any tone arsenal. Ken is also working on a new treble booster type pedal called the OxDrive and a bass version of the OxFuzz. Go on and get you one, you know you want it.

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For more info on OxFuzz FX's go to www.myspace.com/oxfuzz or click the OxFuzz logo in our links. You can also contact Ken direct at kenofotis@hotmail.com Stay tunes, we might just have some more fun from OxFuzz FX's.