Are you ready for a massive collection of wild'n'lovely, out of this world guitar tones? If you are read on, if not please turn away this is not for the weak. The name is WMD (a.k.a. William Mathewson Devices), and this little company has been responsible for knocking out some of the most unique, innovative, and impressive music gadgets to ever see light. I was breathless, literally breathless the first time I had a chance to try one of William's pedals. I had seen pedals before that had attempted the extreme side of things, but never anything like this. Inside each and every one of WMD's stompboxes you will discover a unique and twisted world of mind-boggling guitar tones, whether you like it or not. The range of sounds possible with Mathew's devices go from traditional to downright nonconforming. These are pedals that will take you into places you never knew were possible, pedals capable of waking one's creative side. The complex and artistic nature of the WMD stompboxes is one that will keep you busy for a long long time. Man oh man, I can only imagine what the inside of William Mathewson's mind must look like.
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William Mathewson Devices
Geiger Counter
Digital Destruction
FEATURES
* High Gain Modern Preamp
* Dramatic Tone Control with Disable Function
* Sample Rate from 260Hz to 58kHz
* 1 to 8 bit Depth with Mask Mode
* 252 Wave Table Modulator
* CV-In for Expressive Control
* Always Saves Settings
* Hand Wired / True Bypass
* Top Quality Components
* Super Hard Epoxy Powder Finish
* Standard 9V (-) Power Jack
* 4.5" x 3.5" Small Footprint
For control layout/functions go here
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Think bottomless sea of sonic assault, distortion mayhem, rich'n'creamy overdrives, and freakazoid shape-shifting sound effects and you have the WMD Geiger Counter. For those of you already familiar with this pedal you know that the possibilities are damn near endless. The Geiger Counter was designed to provide you with as many tones as you're willing to work out of it. The first time I plugged into this pedal I must have been stuck dialing in tones for an entire day! In other words you will not find yourself easily bored with this pedal. It is the Geiger Counter's design and control layout that gives it it's ability to perform like no other. The symphony of wild'n'lovely sounds starts with the Geiger Counter's high gain modern preamp and 8-bit computer. The preamp works by driving the 8-bit computer into a massive variety of boosts, overdrives, distortions, fuzz tones, and exotic in-betweens. The Geiger Counter comes stacked with Volume, Gain, Tone, Sample Rate, and Bit Depth controls. There is also a Wave Table/Push Mode knob, an Enable/Disable toggle switch for the Tone control, Bit/Mask toggle switch which works in conjunction with the Bit Depth control, and Wave Table screen which reads out your settings. Then there's a Key/CV Input jack (Expression In) which controls the pedal's Bit Depth, Sample Rate, or both at the same time. The Geiger Counter is wired for True Bypass, sports In and Put jacks, and runs off of a standard 9V (-) adapter. Now I have seen lots and lots of extreme stompboxes in my time but this easily stands a top of the bunch. What makes the Geiger Counter so special is not only can it create off-the-wall sound effects, it can always return to more traditional, subtle, and mellow guitar tones. This makes the Geiger Counter one of the most versatile guitar pedals to ever cross my path. To try and describe all the sounds we were able to get from this monster is impossible, so we'll share with ya'll some of our favorite.
We started out by plugging directly into the Geiger Counter alone through a clean amp tone. Guitar of choice was neck bucker equipped Tele, amp was a 4x10 Deville, and Geiger Counter set to a mild crunchy overdrive. I was actually surprised at the warm tube-like overdrive I able to get from the pedal, the first audio and video demos I checked out of the Geiger Counter were balls to the wall extreme. I was able to convert my Deville into a beautiful box of lush'n'creamy overdrive. Both the neck humbucker and lead Tele pickup sounded and worked beautifully with the pedal. The Geiger Counter's Tone knob really delivered a wide pallet aggressive and smooth tones. The Enable/Disable switch let me cut the Tone circuit entirely out of the sound which gave me the guitar's pure untampered signal, perfect for those of you who work your guitar's tone knob for shaping your tones. Next through the right mixture of Wave Table, Bit Depth, and Sample Rate settings I was able to get one of the meanest lead distortion tones. I flipped into the Tele's humbucker, set the pedal's Gain at around 50%, disabled the pedal's tone circuit, and used the pedal's Volume control to help push the amp a bit further. Before I forget let me just say this pedal has more than enough output to send your amp into a screaming drive or distortion. The end result was a modern style "brown sound" that worked nicely with both lead and rhythm work. Getting into the more extreme side of things I found was simple to do and even more simple to control. The Geiger Counter comes with a chart of it's 252 waveforms, this makes for a great starting point when dialing in your desired tones. From here it was just a matter of diving in and getting my feet wet. I found everything the Geiger Counter threw at me to be exciting and of great quality. I was able to get ring-mod sounds, octave fuzz tones, strange crackling wonders, and oddball hellfire effects. This of course is also only the beginning of what is possible with this pedal, when I say the possibilities are "damn near endless" I truly mean it. Those of us looking for new meadows to explore will absolutely benefit from the WMD Geiger Counter. The amount of control you're capable of holding down is unbelievable once you break out an expression pedal and plug into the CV Input. With an expression pedal you can pull off everything from explosion sound effects, spaceship sounds, wah effects, laser gun sounds, swells for endless amounts of tones, and so on and so fourth. I found to be one of the most versatile pedals to ever hit our studio, in fact this is easily one of the most versatile pedals I have ever come across PERIOD! The Geiger Counter was able to hand me classic and traditional rock tones, modern rock sounds, and some sounds all it's own. But the most impressive thing about this pedal is it's ability to create those sounds that live within our heads. Dream it up and the Geiger Counter will deliver. William's talent for creating gadgets that give us the ability to reach new heights is like no other, I am truly proud to have the chance to put his gear through it's paces. As long as WMD is around we will try our hardest to continue bringing you their gear. Dig it and stay tuned for more.
For more info on WMD go to www.wmdevices.com or click the WMD logo in our sidebar for direct access to their website. Please stay tunes for more from this awesome company. Peace!
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