Friday, October 8, 2010

Aqua Puss




The Aqua Puss delay. A pedal that sooooo many cats have been dying to see back on the front lines of rock & roll. And for good reason too. Go out and try to find yourself an original Aqua Puss and you'll quickly learn the task is near impossible to conquer. I myself only through absolute luck got to experience the magic of the original. I can remember how impressed I was by the pedal's overall tone and simplicity. So when I first heard Way Huge was gonna be rockin' this baby again I became weak in the knees and giddy like a little school girl. But then again I guess Way Huge pedals just do that to people... at least I hope they do. I will tell you from experience that the Aqua Puss mkII definitely does justice to it's original brother. But then again, with gadget giants such as Tripps and Dunlop teaming up together - What else could we expect but the best, right? I am yet to see a failure from this duo and highly doubt one will ever see light. Get out there and get your hands on the new Way Huge collection. Your tone will thank you for it.

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Aqua Puss MkII
Analog Delay



  • Delay: Deliciousness from 20ms to 300ms
  • Feedback: Sets Echo Repeats
  • Blend: Dry to Delayed
  • Toggle Switch: On/Off
  • LED: Bright Enough for Anything
  • Power: 9V Battery or Standard 9VDC Adapter
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If ever there was an effect that has been universally excepted and loved it is the delay pedal. Delay pedals no matter what quality or kind can always be a blast to play with, there is noooo denying that. So imagine what the top dogs are capable of, mmm mmm. Well, take a delay with grade A tone, add some mystery, a bit of legacy, and wallah! You have yourself the unmistakable and magical Aqua Puss. There just is no replacing the soothing psychedelia of a killer sounding echo box like the Aqua Puss. So far Way Huge has been right on the money with every single box they have reissued, and this baby is no different. At the price and quality that this new reissue comes in at it really can't be beat. It maintains the same tonal characteristics as the original and sports the same user friendly layout. With only Delay, Feedback, and Blend controls, you'll find yourself easily moving in and out of just about any delay sound you can imagine. I was able to pull extremely accurate vintage delay sounds from this pedal, and able to work it into just about every style of music and amp tone I could muster. I found the quality of the pedal's repeats to be top notch, it's look super hip, and it's overall build to be immaculately tasty. Dunlop and George Tripps really have something special going here and I hope there is no stop to it anytime soon.


With the Aqua Puss (like all the rest of the Way Huge pedals) I was able to just plug in and just go. The pedal's tone and layout really make finding the delay sound you're after a cinch. You'll notice right away how the analog delay sound that this baby seeps is just designed to adapt itself to any signal you stack it up with. This makes it a fantastic all around echo box choice for any type of player or producer. I began my little Aqua Puss experiment with a simple little amp... a Deluxe Reverb. The guitar was my hot-rodded Tele, and cable of choice the mighty Colassal Sweet Fat. I began with the amp set squeaky clean, normal channel, with mucho bass and mucho treble. What a gorgeous sound it was too. I then set the Aqua Puss to a short/light slapback delay and let things rip. Smacking down on some of my favorite country licks the pedal created a quick jabbing delay that beautifully mirrored my picking and playing. This setting also created a spectacular sounding reverb effect that made things sound quite interesting. With the Aqua Puss engaged and me riffing up and down the neck, I was taken into some of my favorite classic country records. Each note I played jumped into the next with great detail, lots of warmth, and an overall quality in sound that was fantazmic to my ears. One thing I must say is - Way Huge/Dunlop really hit a homer in finding a sweet balance between bright and warm when designing this pedal. This is probably what makes this version so close to the original. You can dig in or lay off and hear the pedal's repeats with great clarity and sweet articulation. Exactly what makes analog pedals such champions. I now Lengthened the delay time just a bit to help me create a bit more space. I ended up getting an even sweeter sounding reverb effect, something between a traditional spring and plate type verb. It gave me a sound all it's own that handed me all the benefits of verb but without the emptiness and loss in volume. This sound works beautifully for those looking to get more from their tone or anyone who's not too big a fan of reverb. Rolling up the repeats with the delay time set quick I was able to get this killer sounding trailing echo effect that swirled and bounced into itself creating absolute magic. Again my attention went straight to the pedal's overall tone and how well it worked no matter how many repeats were dialed in. Next I moved the delay to about 10'o'clock and dialed in a bit more feedback and blend. Here I found the delays worked great for chugging away at chord work and riffs. Here the delays jumped out with great definition, then smoothly tucked back to let the playing do it's thing. Only at the tail end of my riffs would I hear what the delay was doing, sort of like a subtle ducking effect. For those of you who like to leave your pedal on at all time this makes for perfect choice. Leaving the feedback as is, I then proceeded to crank the delay to full blast. Here I got the unmistakable U2 Edge sound that so many cats dig to play and copy. Only I noticed the Aqua Puss's sound to be much more user friendly and not as sharp. More like something you'd hear on a classic Floyd album. The movement of the trails is what really had me stuck on this pedal and what had me spaced out and playing tripped out runs for hours. The Aqua Puss produced this swimmy and organic vibe that flowed out to make it really damn unique and special. I could incorporate a hint of drive, a lot of drive, or a bunch of distortion and get killer results each time. With a nice amount of dirt the amp and pedal combined to give me a big'n'beefy rock tone that stacked up really nicely with other guitars. These medium delay settings also worked really good with keyboards and even vocals. Taking the pedal to noon on each control and cranking the Deluxe to full blast got me what ended up being one of the baddest sounding classic rock tones I'd ever heard. Something about the actual tone in the Aqua Puss made the amp's tone much more desirable. This is something that units like the Echoplex were known for doing. The combination of the amp and pedal created the perfect root tone on which to play whatever style I pleased. Even in longest delay setting the Aqua Puss's sound was still usable as an all around sound. The warmth and subtle nature of the pedal's delays give it legs for days. I was then itching to play this pedal through a proper heavy rock tone and so broke out the Super Lead. Along with this I also took out one of my favorite fuzz boxes which broke out an enormous sound! Taking the Marshall into ear splicing levels, then setting the pedal to a medium length delay created the true definition of Rock and Roll. Then by stomping on the fuzz box I was able to go even further. This provided me with a great lead tone which flew and swirled through the air like magic. I could simply reach down and manipulate the pedal's knobs to morph and oscillate into space aged madness. And just as easily I was able to get back to my root tone. I tell you - As a no frills delay box this is it baby. With the Aqua Puss set to quick short echoes I was able to get everything from blues and country, to jazz and funk. In medium settings I was able to hit every era of rock and roll period! And at long delay setting able to beam into the psychedelic and tripped out scene. A box this simple should bot be allowed to do so much. I am really curious to see what else Way Huge releases and if Tripps ends up doing some completely new designs? Hint hint.

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You can check out more info on Way Huge pedals at www.wayhuge.com or click the link in our sidebar. You can also check out some awesome demo videos on our Youtube search engine at the bottom of the site, just click Way Huge pedals and you're good to go. Be on the look out for our venture into the Dunlop and MXR realm coming at you very very soon.



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