Lay Down Your Soul

Sometime in the middle of last year while surfing the web for new and exciting gear outfits, I came across this keen little pedal company by the name of Penfar FX. Instantly I was drawn in by the magnificent looking stompboxes that flooded the Penfar website. To top it off not only were the pedals all lookers, but they were all also reasonably priced. I was instantly hooked, and even more so curious beyond belief. After a little research I'd discover a handful of great write-ups and video demos - this would only fuel my interest even further of course. This led me to contact Penfar FX's builder and creator Chad Leavitt. Chad was more than happy to work with me in having AWC feature some of his creations. The outcome? Read on.

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Soul Taker

overdrive/distortion

Controls:

• Invoke = Volume
• Body = Presence
• Agony = Tone
• Pain = Gain

Specs:

• 22AWG Handwired
• 1/4" Neutrik Jacks
• True Bypass Switching
• 16mm Alpha Potentiometers 
• 2.1mm (-) DC Power Jack
• Heavy-Duty Steel Knobs
• Hand Built in the USA

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This was by far one of THE coolest finds I made last year. From it's build quality to it's guts, and versatility to it's stunning tone - the Soul Taker is there to impress. Across the board you will find controls for volume (Invoke), presence (Body), tone (Agony), and gain (Gain). Together these four knobs along with it's brilliant circuit, make the Soul Taker capable of a handful of killer overdrive and distorted tones. As an overdrive pedal the Soul Taker is an honest to goodness no-frills grit pushing machine. You can land anywhere from splatty crunchy overdrives - to grime soaked woman tones. Entering it's distortion capabilities the Soul Taker can do everything from smooth big'n'bold rhythm tones - to sustain heavy lead tones. And it does this through any guitar or pickup you stack it up against. I'm sure many of you have had dirt boxes that sound great through one guitar, then you go and switch that axe out for something different only to find it's all down hill from there. You won't have that issue here, read on.

I began my demo of this pedal through my semi-hollow Hagstrom Viking. I figured the humbuckers would be a perfect place to start for pushing the pedal through it's paces. Amp of choice was a AC15 based head, first hooked up through a 1x12 cab, then through a 2x12. I started by setting up the 15 watter as clean as possible with it's tone at noon and bright switch to the off position. The Soul Taker I started also with it's tone (Agony) and presence (Body) controls at noon, it's gain (Pain) up to about 15%, and the volume (Invoke) matched to get along with the amp's output. Once engaged the pedal kicked out a mellow gritty overdrive tone which worked beautifully for all types of rhythm guitar tones. Something that stood out about the Soul Takers tone, which was quite nice, was it's ability to cut through without sounding harsh or honky. With the treble pickup the pedal's tone had a very forgiving brightness to it which made each string sparkle with attitude. In the rhythm pickup things got smoother and warmer. Getting back to the amp's clean tone was a cinch - just a bit of tapering from the guitar's volume control and I was good to go. In both pickup positions the pedal let the amp and guitar's natural tone shine through beautifully. Something I always look out for when playing a dirt box for the first time is the change in my amp's tone. I begin by setting the pedal to a low grit amount, move up from there, and listen listen listen. If a pedal can't pass the test at low dirt settings forget about them doing your root tone justice at high gain settings. The Soul Taker didn't add any extreme coloration or dullness. Leaving my amp the push fourth it's rockin' good tone. Next I began playing with the pedal's medium overdrive/low distortion settings. From really low to mid gain settings the Soul Taker holds it's own dishing out sweet sounding overdrive tones. Once you hit past the medium gain settings and on into the high settings - the Soul Taker begins it's venture into it's distortion tones. Set just right you can get these splendid overdrive/distortion hybrid dirt tones. Depending on where you have the pedal's tone control set the Soul Taker is capable of everything from classic woman tones to sharp aggressive rock tones. I began playing with the guitar's tone and volume controls which ended up producing some pretty interesting sounds. Some pedals you take your guitar's tone control back even a little and it's all down hill from there. Same goes when you start playing with your volume knob. The Soul Takers circuit was definitely built to get along with on-the-fly adjustments and fine-tuning of your overall tone. Next I cranked the pedal's gain up to full blast and got to picking. Here the pedal turned into a completely different animal. Harmonically charged overtones and undertones swam and flew all about, making leads, licks, and rocking riffs sound like magic. A hint of analog delay and I had me one of the most epic lead tones I'd ever gotten from a dirt pedal. At about this point the pedal had proven more than worthy of doing my guitar's handwound humbuckers justice. Time came to break out my 60's Strat build and put it's single coil pups to the test. And just as beautifully as it worked with the buckers - it did so as well with the single coils. I was able to get the same amount of versatility, feel, and overall smooth tone. With the Strat's pickups it was a bit more harsh though - perfect for alt-rock, punk, and everything in between. At low gain gettings with the presence and tone just behind noon I was able to get these amazing blues tones which were quite a surprise and quite a treat. I was able to riff and dig into chords with perfect string articulation and a great amount of dynamics. Then setting the amp to a slight grit itself things got even more aggressive and wild. I was able to pull these stinging fuzz/overdrive hybrid tones which my little 15 watter really loved pushing out. The combo of the amp's dirty goodness and Soul Takers crunch created something more than worth listening to. It was time to plug into something with more juice - and so then came the Super Lead. I disengaged the Soul Taker, set the amp to a loud slight grit, and began working in the pedal's dirty tone. Here I found the pedal's volume pedal worked quite nicely for taking the amp's natural grit to the next level. At the lowest possible gain setting with the volume blaring and the tone matched to the amp's - I was able to create something very special. If you've ever heard those slamming good old school Soundgarden Badmotorfinger tones you can imagine what was coming from my amp. With an upgraded Les Paul Studio things would only get better. By the time I was done with my first run of this pedal I had myself a squadron of rock tones. Things like putting a clean booster in front of or behind the Soul Taker also sounded good. And this is only the beginning of the Penfar FX rock and roll adventure - besides this pedal I've also had a chance to try a couple more, and all of them just as good as this one. But more on that soon to come. I say do yourselves a favor and try some of these pedals for your setups, absolutely no way to go wrong.

Guitar's Best Friend

Spencer Amps

That's right kids... I've hunted down another kickass effects pedal company. And his little outfit has really caught me by surprise. Spencer Amps is the brain child of one Bill Spencer, a passionate and experienced brother on a mission to build some of the best sounding and performing musical gadgets. Bill's outlook on the pedal game is aimed in one direction and one direction only...... to bring us tone hungry players as many original and interesting designs as possible. We're talking a cat that built his first fuzz box back in 76', a cat with numerous pedal and vacuum tube circuits under his belt, and a cat with 28 years experience in electronics, digital hardware design, patents, and repair. Throw in a musicians passion for tone and there you have it, Spencer Amps.

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Mystique

Overdrive w/Fuzz

• X-Mode Switch: Provides Xaggerated, Fuzz, and Normal
• Volume: Dishes out loads of output
• Tone: Enhances bass,treb, and mid frequencies
• Gain: Adds various types of characteristics to tone

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For me it was most definitely the X-Mode Switch that reeled me in and had me hooked. In the Normal mode alone I was pretty satisfied, but things just got even better when I tapped into both the Fuzz and Xaggerated modes. Another thing I dug about this pedal was that Bill was able to deliver an extremely versatile dirt box, while able to keep things familiar, and without going overboard on the controls. Many dirt pedals with the same types of capabilities will end up having twice as many controls, on twice the size enclosure. I was able to find usable tones in all modes, found it worked great through clean tones (huge plus!) as well as dirty ones, and the Mystique also played well with others. The simple handcrafted design of this pedal really comes though and it reminds you that there are still a few die hard boutique operations out there.

I don't even know where to begin, this pedal hit me with way more than I was ready for. I guess I'll start with my 4x10 Deville and 60's Strat build. Like many of you I'm sure know by now, I rarely push my Deville to overdriven levels. This means I must either A: have a pedal/pedals that will maintain my root tone, or B: a pedal/pedals that will enhance my root tone. The Mystique went way beyond any of these expectations. I first set the pedal to it's N setting (Normal). I matched the volume output to the amp's, rolled back on the lows just a tad to accent the amp's round sound, and started with the gain at around 15%. What I got was this; The Strat's booomy/spanking tone, amp's tight'n'warm sound, and Mystique's defined and rich vibe.... all in one sound! As I kept cranking the gain level up higher I noticed that the clarity and definition of my tone stayed intact, as if it were pushing out a hint of my clean signal along with the dirt. This my friends was be-a-u-ti-ful. I sometimes mix in a dirty signal through a parallel effects looper to achieve this same feel. It provides an enormous sounding tone that cannot be rivaled. Like playing through two amps. This was the type of sound the Mystique's N setting did for me. This effect would become more intense, and my overdrive would become more gritty when played through humbuckers. The break-up in my notes came and crumbled away with ease, never being too harsh and always working with my hands and fingers. Next I switched into the F mode (Fuzz). Something that really caught me off guard in this setting was the intensity and usable nature of the sound. The sound was howling mad at times, producing these huge throaty fuzz tones. But just like a well put together engine and exhaust of a killer muscle car it was tolerable and killer sounding. It also sounded great and adapted beautifully to my clean tone, and even better than that was this sound through a dirty tone. With the gain control set light while in the F I was able to produce these cool 50/50 distortion/fuzz tones. My favorite was definitely P90's, a slightly gritty amp tone, and a light pedal fuzz tone. Think of Tom Petty's Mary Jane guitar tone and you got the tone I'm talking about. It broke up beautifully, had plenty of splat, and lots clarity. To get a lead tone out of this tone all I did was push it with a clean booster or overdriver. Some pedals do not play nice with others.... this pedal does. In medium fuzz settings the pedal created fat'n'smooth fuzz tones that worked for both rhythm playing or lead lick work. Next it was time to switch amps, I wanted to see if this pedal worked good in small gig settings, studio levels, and bedroom levels. Cause as we all know, there are lots of pedals that can do either a solid quiet or loud tone, but rarely both. If there's one thing I hate it's not being able to reproduce my stage tones into the studio, or late at night when I'm writing and rocking out. For finding pedals that sound and work great with small amps are always a secret weapon and a gold find. The recruit for experimenting with some low level tones was a 15/7 watt head set to 7 watts, a 1x12 cab, and a Tele with a bucker in the neck. In light to medium fuzz settings the pedal and amp created these tight'n'focused fuzz/distortion tones that worked great for rhythm playing. Big, chunky, and full of body. Rolling off the guitar knob about half way brought about some tasty semi-clean tones, and once again pushing this tone with a booster provided me with some lead tones. I was stoked at how many sounds I was able to get from this one setting. At full blast the F setting did things that just plain scared me. The sound was somewhere between a super smooth distortion pedal and screaming vintage style fuzz box. Last was the X setting, where things got even wilder and cooler. This setting was kind of a mix of the other two. I was able to get some over the top overdrive/distortion tones, while able to also get lots of clarity, punch, and sparkle. In this setting the lows became much fuzzier, highs became more intense, and mids more pronounced. This setting sounded especially good when cranked up real loud. It pushed out this big meaty tone that ate up everything in it's way. A great setting for cutting through any mix. I also found the X setting sounded nice when stacked up with another dirty guitar, and when playing up in the higher frets of my guitar. Playing blues guitar with the tone at around 9'o'clock, gain at noon, and volume slightly pushing the tubes, created a tone to die for! It was tuff to pin-point whether I was hearing a modern or vintage tone through the X mode. It had the same characteristics of an brutal modern distortion tone, but also the forgiving nature of a vintage overdrive sound. The more I cranked the gain knob or used the volume to push the amp, the more the grit reacted like a vacuum tube. This meant it responded well to the guitar's volume, and was also a great candidate for clean boosters and other drive pedals. By the time I was done playing with this pedal I was dizzy with excitement, like being tone buzzed... if there is a such thing. Bill Spencer's mission to deliver a unique and usable dirt box is totally captured in the Mystique. At times I felt like I was playing some priceless 60's fuzz box. While other times I felt like I was tapping into something completely new. This is the magic behind Spencer Amp's pedals, the experience that Bill owns, and the visions he is skillfully able to bring to light. Get some!

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Make sure and check out the new Spencer Amps website at www.spenceramps.com Analog War Cry will be looking into more of these super cool pedals and sharing with ya'll our insight and feelings behind them. Stay tuned for more from Spencer Amps!

The Heart of your Tone

As long as there are builders like Johan Maertens around I believe I will always be excited about the stompbox world. Some cats take the pedals they come across and simply build their versions of them. Then there's the cats that take it a step further by taking the sounds that inspire them, those tones they've worked diligently to shape and mold from their favorite amps, then convert them into boxes for us to use. This is the main objective behind Valette FX and the wonderful pedals they produce. We can go onto any gear website and find a steady cluster of dirt pedals. At the end of the day, which of these pedals are the ones we end up bringing into our setups? This answer to this is easy. It is those few special designs that motivate and move us to create. Again this is where Johan ad his Valvette FX company come into play.

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Valvette FX

Custom Drive

Features & Controls

* Power: 9-18 VDC power jack or 9V battery

* LED: on/off and battery status indicator

* Input & Output Jacks

* True Bypass Footswitch

* Gain: controls drive amount

* Volume: adjusts the effect output level

* Tone: controls drive circuit tone character

* Bright: extends high frequency range

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Coming at us from the UK is another stellar creation of grit, grime, and soul. This black beauty had me sold within the first couple minutes I had it plugged in. I found the Custom Drive's control layout simple, familiar, and versatile. This pedal most definitely has a sound of it's own and is also capable of taking your tone into some of classic rock's most memorable overdrive sounds. The Custom Drive's gain control was capable of delivering anything from light gritty overdrives and distortions, to sustain soaked lead growls and squeals. This pedal's volume control has more than enough output to help your tubes sing with natural drive. The tone knob makes shaping a modern or classic dirt sound extremely easy. Like many of my personal favorite tube amps, the Custom Drive comes equipped with a bright switch for adding more sparkle and high-end definition to your tone. The Custom Drive sounded spectacular on it's own as well as with other boxes.

My gut told me that this pedal was going to sound great through whichever amp I threw it up against.... and I was right! It was quite clear from the beginning that it was going to be tuff to get a bad sound out of this pedal. I'll start with my AC15 clone and custom built Strat. As many of you way already know, getting a good sound out of a AC15, a decent axe, and guitar cable is not a hard thing to do. Using this as one of my starting points was an absolute blast! The Custom Drive was able to maintain my root tone's feel, while able to push and enhance everything that made the amp sound good. The end result was not just good, it was great. Starting with the amp in a hairy yet subtle overdrive tone really worked well when setting the Custom Drive to a mellow setting. I began with the pedal's tone knob at noon, volume at unity, gain at around 15%, and bright switch off. This worked beautifully for getting that little extra push that one needs from time to time. Something that really impressed me about this pedal was how well it adapted to each pickup setting. One might not think it but 5 different pickup configurations can be a lot. And I'm the type of player that likes to incorporate as many of them as possible. Next I pushed things slightly hotter by setting everything straight up the middle. Here I was able dial a killer universal dirt tone. The pedal responded really nicely to my guitar's volume and tone knobs, giving me enough ammo to gun down the blues, classic rock, hard rock, alt-rock, and everything in between. This is where the pedal's bright switch really came into play. I was able to roll off my guitar's tone knob to get warm and muddy dirt tones, and with the bright switch bring back a bit of the definition without affecting the targeted sound desired. Last I cranked the pedal's gain and volume to full blast. First starting with a medium gain setting and using the volume control to help push the amp. I really dug how the the Custom Drive's creamy analog feel sat inside the amp's warm tube tone, blending perfectly with the pedal's volume to help bring everything into an epic level. Then I began adding in more of the pedal's gain little by little. With every notch higher that I went I'd get a new level of sustain, dynamics, and harmonics. Giving the overdrive sweet undertones, overtones, and unpredictable accents. For those players who dig shaping and molding their distortion tones on the go this is the perfect pedal. When all was said and done it was the overdrive's character that really stood out to me. With some pedals you can crank them and can't hear what's there and what's not. Giving you a generic sound. None of that here! I also pushed the Custom Drive through my modified Hot Rod Deville, Twin, and my buddy's Super Lead. The end result with all these amps was same as the AC15's. Nothing but stunning, high quality, soul blooming tone. I found slamming the Custom Drive with clean boosters sounded awesome, as well as mixing it with fuzz boxes, modulation pedals, and a handful of other instruments. A couple other instruments I must share on were the lap steel, and playing slide guitar. Oh baby did I ever get that honking, rich, gooey, fat overdrive. I could literaly feel the Custom Drive's overdrive signal morph and change from note to note when sliding up and down the strings. The clarity and aggression was unbelievable. This is a great pedal for those of you looking for a single dirt box to do your work, as a pedal to help drive your amp even further, and as an overall killer gigging and recording tool. I found the Custom Drive pedal to be one of the most responsive and giving pedals I have every touched!

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For more info on Valvette FX go to www.valvette.co.uk You can bet Analog War Cry will be on the look out for more from this killer company. Please make sure to check out the site and hunt down some Custom Drive videos on our Youtube search engine at the bottom of our site. Stay tuned and keep on rocking!

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Love It or Love It

I think it's safe to say that when it comes to our guitar's root tone we can get a bit on the obsessive side. Tinkering and molding things until our heads are spinning, and always on the hunt to make things sounds better is something any "tone chaser" will always get stuck doing. But obsessive wouldn't exactly be the way I'd put it, I call it more of a passion and love for sound. Add that to a keen experience in pro audio engineering and you have a cat like Greg Williamson. Put that knowledge to work and you have the Greedtone Pedals. When I first came across this pedal I decided to do a bit of research on it, looking into who and how it was being used. Soon after this I came to discover that in the few years it's been around the Greedtone OD has already become a favorite of everyday players, professional musicians, and studio engineers. Becoming somewhat of an icon amongst the boutique pedal world. My dance with the Greedtone OD was able to provide me with some very very tasty blues and rock tones, mellow soulful country tones, and leaving my hands with the satisfaction of a solid well played session. It's easy to see why so many cats have fallen into the spell of this aluminum little beast. By ends day of my first meeting with the Greedtone OD I too was held firmly in it's clutches.

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The

Greedtone OD

* True Bypass
* Built-in Noise Reduction Circuitry
* 3-Color Duel LED's
* Duel Stomp Switches
* 100% Lead-Free Silver Solder
* Silver Mica Caps
* Built-in 9V DC Battery Back-Up Connection
* Locking 9V/AC Power Jack (twist-lock)
* Heavy Duty Die-Cast Aluminum Enclosure
* High Quality Pots
* Solid Chromed-Brass Knurled Knobs
* Hand-Wired Using Mogami Wire

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There is nothing more I love from a piece of gear than simplicity and good sound. This is why this little gem was an absolute blast to demo, and why it is definitely one of the most exciting overdrivers I have ever had the pleasure of rocking out to. The Greedtone OD not only sounds good, it also solves some of the key issues that come with many vintage and modern stompboxes. One being the hiss or white noise that comes from turning a unit up past a certain point. That noise can be a killer to your tone, ruin gigs, and make recording sessions a nightmare. I'll tell you from experience there is nothing worse than coming across an annoying amount of noise when trying to gig, practice, or lay down a track. Greg addressed this problem when designing the Greedtone OD by incorporating a built-in noise reduction circuit. An absolute killer idea, and one that has proven to work beautifully with the pedal's many luscious tones. The next issue is the most common problem all dirt pedals suffer from, that being the lack of low end character. What's the point of dialing in that mean thumping rock tone if it's only going to suffer once the drive pedal is engaged? Again the Greedtone OD comes through beautifully, handing over exactly what I put in, and keeping things right on the money. The best part of it all is that the Greedtone Overdrive is able to take care of these problems without any tone knobs, toggle switches, or any other extra controls. This puts less components between you and your signal keeping your root tone as fresh and crisp and possible. You get a Volume, Gain, an on/off switch, and a more/less switch. The pedal is hand built with high quality parts and components, with everything is housed in an enclosure that looks like it's ready for war.

For this pedal demo I took out two of my favorite amps, the 100 watt Super Lead, and mighty mighty Twin Reverb. Both of these are very very loud amps, and amps that can produce some extra noise when cranked and combined with the wrong gadgets. Right from the get-go the Greedtone OD proved to work beautifully and got along great with both of these amps. Along with these amps I also broke out my Junior copy, Les Paul, and 70's Strat build. I figured the Strat's single coils, Les Paul's buckers, and Junior's P90 pickup all made for a thorough spot-on pedal demo. I first set the Greedtone OD up with the Twin Reverb, through a spanking clean sound with lots of bass and shimmering highs. First guitar up to bat was the Junior. I matched the pedal's output to the amp's and set the gain very light. I slammed down on a handful of big rich chords and got a great boomy, thick'n'chunky P90 tone. Then I slapped down on the Greedtone OD and SLAM! A huge, organic, rich overdrive tone perfect for fat semi-clean greasy rock and rolling. The pedal was not only able to hand me a great sounding light/fluffy overdrive, it also held my tone together and kept things nice and tidy. The overall feel was tight and gritty, but with great note separation and definition. The combo of the clean and gritty tone created a tone perfect for riding your guitar's volume knob. I rolled up a bit more of the Greedtone's gain and held volume where it was. One thing I must point out is the smooth gain curve this pedal has. Some pedals you roll them from 4 to 8 and cannot tell any difference in the sound. With the Greedtone OD I was able to get exactly what I dialed in which made tuning things in a dream come true. The extra bit of gain I threw in added a hint more hair to the sound which worked great with my picking dynamics. I was able to dig in and get a rich grimy sound, then lay off and produce perfectly balanced clean notes. I wanted to see just how much output this pedal had on tap and how that would affect the sound of my amp. I cranked some of the volume and heard my amp's tubes cooking and roasting into a creamy, hard boiled overdrive. I was able to get even more grit flavors by blending in different settings from my guitar's tone and volume controls. The supreme quality components and intelligent build of this pedal kept the feel of my root's tone just where I had set it, and pushed into a great sounding, organic overdrive and distortion. Next guitar was the 70's Strat. I set the amp exactly the same and took the Greedtone OD back to a mellow semi-clean boost. The combination of the Strat's spanky tone and pedal's sweet'n'tasty dirt made for one splendid sounding blues tone. In fact I heard everything from country, classic rock, jazz, and soulfful R&B tones through that first setting. I was able to get a wide variety of sounds by switching into different pickup positions, with all of them sounding super duper fine. I dialed the pedal's gain up to about noon, slammed the volume to around 1'o'clock and let things fly. Again the jump in grit was solid, even, and natural sounding, with my picking attack adding to outcome of each dirt tone. Boy how I love any dirt pedal that works this great with single coil pickups! To get a more aggressive grit out of the pedal all I did was stomp the More switch. This took the existing tone to the next level by giving it more sting, more rumble, and more attitude. Using the More switch with high gain settings also worked great. I was still able to hear the character of my root tone coming through beautifully, with no unwanted noise or hiss. The More switch feature works wonders when wanting to hold down a simple rig setup with lots of variety. While plugged into the Strat I went ahead and switched into the Super Lead head and 4x12 cab. I left the setting where it was and hit some heavy blues licks. My lord what a mighty roar came screaming from the four 12's. Talk about classic rock heaven! Next I set the amp to a medium gritty overdrive and stacked the pedal's overdrive sound to it. The combination of both dirt tones blended to created a smooth, epic rock sound. I was able to sling about all my mellow rhythm playing then turn my guitar's volume up and hit lead guitar tones with no problem. Last but certainly not least I plugged in the Les Paul. All of the same clarity, definition, balance, dynamics, and epic feel I got from the single coils came out through the humbuckers only a lot thicker, creamier, and beefier. It didn't matter what I set the overdrive level to, the pedal was able to deliver a handful of amazing sounding dirt tones by rolling in and out on my volume control, and stepping in on the More switch. The amount of sustain I got from the humbuckers was insane! Even in the highest gain settings the Greedtone OD still held it's natural/organic vibe and never got sharp or square sounding. I stacked it up with clean boosters, modulation effects, and even other dirt pedals and never had a problem getting the sound I wanted. This is the ideal overdrive pedal for anyone wanting the most from a minimal amount of features. Cats who rely on their guitar's controls to dial in tones on the fly will love this pedal. Those of you looking for a secret weapon for your studio will have a blast dialing in and layering great sounding dirt tones. I give Greg two thumbs up for this little demon and pray he delivers unto us some more beasts. Make sure and check out his Myspace page, there are a bunch of cool devices you won't see on is website.

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For more info on Greedtone Pedals go to www.greedtone.com or www.myspace.com/greedtone if ever there comes another creation from Greg's killer Greedtone line you can be sure we will run our paws through it. Stay tuned for more!

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Top Finds of 2009 / Double Drive 3X

Tech 21 NYC. One of the heavyweights of our time and true innovators of the gear world. I will never forget the first time I had a chance to try the Tech 21 SansAmp. It was about 20 years ago while rocking out in a garage playing Metallica and Slayer covers. My friend had always used a SansAmp pedal as part of the massive sound he would get from his dingy little setup. It wasn't until I took a close look that I realized it wasn't just some ordinary distortion pedal. I took the SansAmp, plugged it in to my solid state Fender amp, then low and behold the heavens opened up. I couldn't believe I didn't have one of my own, and couldn't believe what sound was coming from my amp. Today Tech 21 continues their mission to create awesome product after awesome product. In the last few years alone Tech 21 has delivered some of the most spectacular gadgets to ever hit the gear scene, and I don't see them slowing down anytime soon. From their entire new line of guitar and bass pedals, to their amps, midi gear, cabs, and studio equipment. Tech 21 is on top of it, and taking it beyond.

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Tech 21

New York, NY

Creator: Andrew Barta

Years in the Game: 21

Double Drive 3X

Programmable Overdrive/Distortion

* 3 Channel, fully programmable OD/Dist

* Captures Class A and Class A/B amp tones

* 100% Analog

* Use channels in any combo for limitless tone variations

* Features active 3-band EQ

* Capable of up to 10db of boost

* Input: 1megOhm high impedance/Same as tube amps

* Output: kOhm low impedance

* Drives long cables without loss of signal integrity

* LED is highly efficient and low power consuming

* Power: Standard 9V battery or Tech 21 #DC2 power adapter

* Power Consumption: Approx. 5ma

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The Double Drive 3X can only be described in one way, and that is as an absolute monster of a tone machine. The build quality is top notch, it is extremely user friendly, and it sounds like a touch of amp heaven. After all, if there's one company that knows how to build a product that can get a great sound out of your amp it's Tech 21. Dialing in and programming your own sound with this pedal is as easy as turning the knobs to your liking, then if you really dig those settings you can keep them forever more. Ok so here's how the pedal works. The Double Drive 3X's controls from left to right are Drive A, Drive A/B, Bass, Mid, Treble, and Level. At the heart of this pedal you will find two different overdrive/distortion flavors, but there's more, a lot more! Along with the two different OD/Dist flavors that there are three footswitches which can be dialed in/programmed to your liking to give you three different custom tones from one pedal. The way you work the two different OD/Dist flavors is very easy. On the pedal you will find a Drive A which emulates Class A type amplifiers, and a Drive A/B which emulates Class A/B amps. Along with the Drive knobs there is also a traditional tone stack of Treble/Mids/Bass and a Level. Each knob's settting can be assigned to a footswitch by holding down the footswitch for a couple seconds. You can do this from switch to switch without worry of disturbing any of the different settings. The really cool thing about the Drive knobs is you can use them one at a time or blended to create a symphony of different dirt tones. Here's an example on how to run this badboy so you can get an idea: You can use the first footswitch with only Drive A to get a mild gritty rhythm tone. Then set the eq warm by rolling the Bass and Mids slightly higher than the Treble, and keep the Level knob at unity. Last hold down the switch and you're done with the first setting. Next move on to the second footswitch (middle switch) and use Drive A/B to get a more aggressive rhythm sound, something for chorus's and build ups. Take the eq stack and turn everything just part noon for a more biting tone, and set the Level a bit higher. Set it by holding down the switch again. Last you got your last footswitch and what will be the lead tone. Now you can take Drive A and Drive A/B to create an in your face, balls to the wall, screaming lead tone. Jump the Mids to a snarl, set the Treble at about 3'o'clock, Bass at noon, and Level knob to ride just above everything else. That's that, easy as pie. Here is another super awesome feature to this pedal. Once you have a tone programmed you can always get back to it by having the LED's guide your way. If you move a knob the LED assigned to that switch will start to blink. The further you get away from the programmed setting the slower the blinking gets, as you get closer to the programmed setting the blinking speeds up until you're back to your sound. If you decide you like what you changed simply hold down the switch and you have a new setting. You can do this with each knob all across the pedal.

We rocked the Double Drive 3X through two different amps and with two of our favorite guitars. I'll tell you, the first time I heard of this pedal I thought to myself, "It has to be too good to be true." Boy is it soooo good and soooo true. Both my partner and I were stunned and the capabilities of this pedal. The first week we had it we shot it out to one of our gigs and put it to the test....... It passed with flying colors. The first setup we used (which was the studio setup) was a Twin Reverb and Lady, my red custom Tele. Straight from the box it took no longer than a few minutes to dial in and program the exact tones I wanted. I went ahead and worked in a good universal grit tone, a strong OD/Dist rhythm tone, and a rockin lead sound. The first switch produced a beautifully warm and lush overdrive sound that worked great as an all around sound. The character and dynamics of the dirt were that of a slightly pushed tube amp. With all the crumbles and crunchy whispers. I banged out on some chords and the results were magnificent. Moving on to the next footswitch I dialed in a thicker and much dirtier overdrive sound. I took the Drive A/B to about noon, rolled the mids and bass past my amp's so that I'd get more accents in the notes. Left the Treble matched to the amp's, and rolled the Level up a bit to help push the amp's tubes a bit further into natural overdrive. Here I was able to knock out huge sounding, fat'n'creamy, hard rock tones. The articulation in the strings sounded wonderful, everything stayed string and defined, and it worked great when rolling off a bit of the guitar's volume knob. With the second switch setting I was able to actually get a few different sounds by manipulating the guitar's controls. Last but not least was the third switch and my howling lead tone. I started by setting the Drive A/B knob into a healthy mass of saturated grime, then pushed the Drive A knob through it to give it warmth and richness. In the end the lead was a perfect balance between overdrive and distortion. Again I was able to get back to more subtle drive tones by working the guitar's tone and volume knobs. I found the Double Drive 3X to work great with both of Lady's single coil and humbucker pickups. With the single coil pickup I got a great collection of blues, classic rock, and dirty country tones. The humbuckers obviously had more size to them, producing some hard classic rock, alternative, and even metal tones. Then there was all the in-between tones that were possible, an endless sea of grit and grime. The DD 3X is also a very touch responsive/sensitive effect pedal. You can take the attack of your pick and control how much rumble you want to come through. The next amp and guitar we used was the gear we rocked at the gig, a 15/7 watt amp and Junior copy. The settings I set up for the gig we played were pretty much the same only I did have to tweak them just a tad to compliment the room. Here's where this pedal's capabilities and magic came into play. Since I already had my settings programmed it was much easier to dial in the sound I needed. This makes for some quick and easy tone sculpting. In the live setup I was able to get a great subtle gritty tone, a n aggressive rhythm tone, and a scorching lead. I was able to keep every tone in check which helped with dynamics and level changes. The quality of the overdrive and distortion of the Double Drive 3X sounds brilliant, it sits in the mix nicely and works great with the other frequencies that jump around from other instruments. Tech 21 deserves an award for this stunning effect pedal and I hope to see more and more like these. The Double Drive 3X makes for the perfect gigging pedal, hands you a wide range of usable tones, and it's a great pedal for saving pedalboard space or cats that only use a few pedals on stage. Both professionals and everyday players can benefit from this stompbox. I am definitely going to stay in touch with the good people at Tech 21 and try to bring you guys some more unique, innovative, and great sounding tone tools. Keep your eyes peeled and stay tuned for more, I'm sure Tech 21 has some treats in store for 2010.

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For more info on Tech 21 NYC go to www.tech21nyc.com There is a huge collection of killer pedals on their site and for those of you who aren't aware Tech 21 has released a classic version of the original SansAmp. We'll be back!

Top Finds of 2009 / Blues Pearl Amp Co.

Coming across the Blues Pearl Amp Company was definitely one of Analog War Cry's gold finds of 2009. Blues Pearl originally made their stand back in the 1980's having a strong go at building some of the world's top-notch hand built custom amps and effects pedals. Today the new team at Blues Pearl is making sure they keep all of the products just as desirable as they were when founder Bob Hudson ran the company. It was Hudson's talented ear, keen insight, and reputation for building extreme designs that first put Blues Pearl on the map. Many guitar heavyweights such as Buddy Guy, Chris Duarte, James Burton, and Jeff Cook had become hip to the Blues Pearl vibe. We had a chance to put a pair of Blues Pearl stompboxes to the test and were floored by their transparency, organic feel, and wide range of sounds. This is straight up/no chaser professional quality gear that will undoubtedly up your game a few notches. Come along as we take a journey into some of Rock and Roll's most desirable tones. Rrrrrrrrring, rrrrrrrring! Class is in session kids, now take your seats!

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Blues Pearl Amp Co.

Kodak, TN

Blue Balls

Distortion Pedal

* Original Blues Pearl Design

* High Quality hand Selected Components

* Wide Range of Tones

* True Bypass Switching

* Heavy Duty Powder Coated Enclosure

* Power Supply Included

* User Friendly Design

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The Blue Balls distortion is a serious distortion for a serious player, period! The Blues Pearl stompboxes arrived on our doorstep and right from the get-go we were all very impressed. Before we even plugged the pedals we knew we were in for a real treat. You ever just come across a piece that does that to you, that you just know is going to rock? The Blues Pearl Blue Balls is just that type of pedal. It's design is spectacular, built for long adventures of road use, studio use, song writing, and band practices. The Blue Balls control layout consists of the magic three knob configuration, Level-Tone-Drive. This is a knob layout that has seen some of the world's most sought after guitar pedals, the Blue Balls definitely being in that elite group of gear. The pedal is housed in a hardcore powder coated enclosure which is capable of enduring a lifetime of use and abuse. It sports a 3PDT true bypass switch and is flooded with the highest quality components for the cleanest and most versatile collection of tones. The Blues Balls can be powered by a single 9V battery which is housed in an easy access battery tray, and also runs on 9VDC power adapter which Blues Pearl includes in the package, huge plus if you ask me. All this makes for one versatile and easy to use stompbox, but the most important feature of this pedal by far lies in it's original design. The Blue Balls is not a clone, copy, or crossbreed of anything else, it is straight up and down it's own balls to-the-wall distortion pedal.

We wasted no time getting to work with this pedal. Right from the beginning were capable of dialing in a world of monstrous rock tones. It seemed like the overdrive and distortion sounds just got better and better with every amp we plugged the Blue Balls into. This is a pedal that absolutely loves a sweet sounding tube amp, and is even capable of warming up and bringing some organic feel to solid state amplifiers. We found not one pickup design that didn't get along with this pedal, which is probably how it was designed to work and the reason for it's wide range of tones. We started our Blues Pearl adventure with our 15/7 watt tube amp and 2x12 cab, and worked our way up to higher wattage setups as we got further along. The guitar of choice for the 7 watt setting was a single Lollar P90 equipped Junior copy, a nice choice that left us with our jaws on the floor. We slapped the amp into a flat eq setting, and dialed it in semi-clean with the volume knob at around 7/8. The P90 when attacked with force produced a thick'n'natural tube grit that sounded beautiful for ringing out jangly, hairy chords. The amp and guitar's natural tone reminded me of a Tom Verlaine's (Television) rock tone. The Blue Balls was set with the Level just a hair above the amp's for some extra tube push, the Tone was rolled back to about 10'o'clock to warm things up, and Drive was just below 9'o'clock. Once engaged the pedal drove the semi-clean tone into a snarling gritty overdrive. Wide open chording, palm muted chugging, and single-note lead runs all sounded wonderful through this Blue Balls. Next I pushed both the Drive and Tone knobs to 12'o'clock and got a nice cross between a fat overdrive and mild distortion. This tone could easily cut through any mix making it a dream setting for when having to compete with another guitar or when stacking duel rhythm parts on a track. When rolling back the guitar's volume knob I found that the pedal acted like a tube, holding on to the sound's character but cleaning up a bit of the grit. This along with a slight drop of the guitar's tone knob was able to get me back to the first tone I had dialed in. This meant I could go between both tone structures in one setting. A nice little trick for those of us who use our guitar's volume knobs to tweak in guitar tones on the fly. Before switching into the 15 watt setting and swapping guitars I flipped the pedal's Drive knob just a hair before full blast, rolled the Tone knob up to 4'o'clock, and turned the Level knob up a few notches above the amp. I took the guitar's tone knob and rolled it back all the way, a great trick for when you dial in extreme high/treble tone settings on a pedal or amp. To give the sound a bit of drama I added in a taste of reverb. The sound that came out of that amp is hard to explain, it was more of a feeling, a force that hit my bones and landed in my gut. It was like the lovechild of a woman tone and plexi sound, absolute magic. The aggression in the distortion could easily be controlled with the touch of my fingers. The more I dug the more it howled, the less I gave the less it gave. Talk about a stompbox that works with and for you. Now we switched into the 15 watt setting and broke out the Strat. We started with some mild settings first dialing in the amp to a spanking clean sound. The pedal was set to give the single coils a nice beefy boost, pushing the tone into a higher level of clean and holding all the root tone's natural qualities. I was actually stoked to discover I could get semi-clean boost settings from the Blue Balls. We quickly jumped into some higher gain levels by boosting the pedal's Level and Drive knob. To keep the sharpness and edge of the sound in check we throttled back on the Tone knob just a hair. We were able to get these lightening wild blues and classic rock settings when pushing the pedal to it's limits. The fact this pedal can go from subtle semi-clean boost tones to all-out scorching lead tones makes this a very helpful tone tool. The absolute ultimate tone experience we were able to get from the Blue Balls was running it through a 100 watt Super Lead and Les Paul, Jimmy Page world all the way! I was stuck rocking out to the meanest rock distortion for a good hour or so, floating in total tone heaven. There are only a few guitar tones we come across in our time that will make us see the light. Combine the right guitar, right amp, and this pedal, and you have access to some of those unforgettable tones. We took the pedal as far a we could take it and still the Blue Balls held it's rich, tight, rumble'n'growl. Some distortion pedals work great only when you turn them loud, others only sound good at low to medium settings. The Blue Balls works amazingly through it's entire range. This is a pedal that works with your amp's natural sound, your playing style and pick attack, and wraps it all up in the end to create exactly what you need. There's nothing like the feeling one gets when discovering a bad to the bone distortion pedal. If you need versatile, great sounding, and tuff built distortion box that will last you a lifetime, this is the way to go. We had a chance to check out another of Blues Pearl's guitar pedals and I tell you it doesn't end here with the Blue Balls. We will be looking further into the world of Blues Pearl stompboxes and keep reporting back to ya'll so keep your eyes peeled. We have a article on another killer dirt pedal coming up in the next few weeks. In the meantime do some investigating of your own and discover for yourself how awesome these pedal really are. Dig it and dig it some more!

For more info on Blues Pearl stompboxes and amps go to www.bluespearlamps.com or click the direct link in our sidebar. We will be back with more from Blues Pearl in a bit, hang tight.

Take a Walk on the Wild Side

THE SAN DIEGO PEDAL CO.

San Diego, California

Builder/Designer: David Loo

Years in the Game: 5

Influence: The Dark Side of Man

I'd like to introduce you to the new kid on the block. New on the scene this company may be but that means nothing, this little outfit is producing some of the most innovative and awesome sounding pedals we've seen all year. David Loo the creator and man in charge of SD Pedal Company has one mission to accomplish... to bring the pedal world a refreshing and exciting collection of stompboxes. The first run of pedals from this company is based around the 7 Deadly Sins, a collection of unforgivably freakish, stunningly different stompboxes with some sounds only God could forgive. What better theme for a line of pedals, with today's world I say it's a perfect source of inspiration. David has already taken care of Wrath, Lust, and Envy, and will be knocking out the rest of the Sins in due time, just be patient and commit one sin at a time. With everything that came out of left field this year this is by far some of the best gear to hit our studio. I can only imagine what David will come up with next, and what will come once he's done with his 7 Deadly Sins collection. Like my man Lou Reed says, "Take a walk on the wild side."

wRaTH!

* Mosfet Overdrive

* Tight switch = creamy OD

* Loose switch for growling dist

* Bass Boost switch for single coil stack compensation

* Handmade w/quality components

* Individually biased and tesed

Wrath, the most brutal of all the sins. A rush of anger is an emotion that can drive any man to go from zero to 60 in a matter of seconds. Now it may not be the smartest of emotions to jump in to if you want to keep yourself out of trouble, but when it comes to your guitar's tone there's nothing better than being able to quickly go from subtle to all-out mayhem. The San Diego Pedal Co. Wrath overdrive/distortion is the perfect tool for driving your amp from Jekyll to Hyde, Ying to Yang, or Day to Night. The reason for the Wrath's wide range of tonal option is it's slick layout of controls. The knobs consist of a Volume-Mids-Treble-Drive, and toggle switches are Tight/Loose, and Bass Boost. The Wrath can be powered by 9V battery or 9VDC adapter. Finally the pedal is topped off with high quality parts/components, a bright red LED, an army ready enclosure, and sick art graphics. This combined with the pedal's tonal abilities makes this a very desirable stompbox.

We ran the Wrath through a few different guitars but the pickup setup the pedal absolutely dug the most were a duel humbucker combination. Through single coils the pedal worked fantastically and sounded great, but it was the character of a great set of buckers that were able to really pull the most out of this pedal. We set up the low wattage 15/7 watt head through a 2x12 cab, dialed it in for a semi-clean tone, and flipped it in the 15 watt option. The Wrath was set up straight up the middle except for the Drive knob which we set at a quarter of the way up, the Bass Boost off, and set in the Tight setting. This setting produced a sparkling, gritty, 50/50 tone, with lots of clarity and spank. This setting didn't take much to clean it up either, all I did was roll the volume knob back about 25%. When rolled down to a clean tone the pedal maintained all of the amp's warmth and brightness. I kicked the Drive knob up to 50% and this is where the pedal started showing me the beginning of it's attitude. This point in the Drive knob is where the pedal really starts to saturate, and where the tone starts going from overdrive to distortion. The way I always test tube-like characteristic in a pedal is by lightly palm muting whole chords, harmonics, bends, and double stops. These are always the little tricks that produce the most undertones and overtones. The Wrath sounded great through all these applications and definitely passed with flying colors. By snapping in the Loose and Bass Boost settings I was able to get an entire new sound out of the same knob settings. The two mini toggle switches are the real genius of this pedal, they have the ability to give the pedal a bunch of different pedal characters. With the Drive knob from 75-100% you get nothing but an all-out Rock to the Roll tone. I was able to dial in a perfect Angus Young distortion with the Treble rolled back to 9'o'clock, the Mids at 3'o'clock, Bass boost on, and Loose switch engaged. With the Drive all the way up you get a perfect combo of distortion rhythm and lead tones. With the Drive maxed you can also get a pretty mean classic heavy metal tone, just roll the Mids almost to zero and Treble almost 100%. The Wrath will dish out everything from Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and Motorhead metal sounds, very cool stuff. To drive the pedal into a more modern metal tone I threw a booster in front of it, this drove all of the pedals frequencies into a slammin' distortion of anger and fury. Last I brought the Drive knob back down to a minimum, set the EQ and volume to noon, and set the amp to 7 watts. Now this got us some wickedly compressed tones. Being able to crank the amp all the way into a healthy overdrive and pushing the Wrath through it really created some off-the-wall overdrive and distortion sounds. With a flip of my guitar's volume I was able to go from overdrive, to semi-clean, and all the way back into a sickening distortion. Overall the Wrath sounded great through a low watt amp.

Now it was time for some high gain fun. For this we broke out the Super Lead, of course, and set it pretty damn dirty. I bumped every knob on the amp as far as I could go without it sounding too extreme. I swapped guitars into a triple mini-humbucker guitar and reset the Wrath for a mild overdrive. I set the Volume just a tad above the amp's, Mids at about 2'o'clock, Treble at noon, Drive at 3'o'clock, Bass Boost engaged, and Loose switch on. With the amp already overdriven the pedal got us one of the most insane distortion tones we've ever heard. The sound was so freakin rich'n'creamy it made it hard to stop playing. I got so excited I actually threw the pedal into my gigging board to see how well it work with all my pedals. It worked great! The comp I use is always on and sometimes I get overdrive pedals that don't sound good through a bit of compression, this was not an issue with this pedal. The Wrath with a bit of compression through it gave the sound a more focused and clear sound, this made the overdrive and distortion that came out of it even more fantastic. Everything I fed through it or put after it sounded huge, especially my overdrive and clean boosters. A really awesome combination I discovered was running the compressor, a BB Preamp, and the Wrath all at the same time. Talk about rock and roll heaven. This gave us a tone with lots chug, ooompf, and mucho howl. A perfect tone for laying doen some mean rhythm guitar tracks with. One thing I had to do while I had this tone dialed in was snap the wah in to see how well it work it. The Wrath handled the wah beautifully, and I don't setup my wah in the traditional position in the chain, I actually use my wah last. When you use a wah last in an effects chain everything you put through it comes off extremely powerful. If your sound isn't on point it will show and show loudly. To get more great tones from the Wrath all I had to do was play with it's Drive knob and flip the toggle switches. Through the Super Lead we got everything from blues tones, heavy lead tones, classic rock tones, heavy metal sounds, and even some authentic Eddie Van Halen distortion. If you sit down with this pedal long enough you can get every dirt tone you'd ever need for a gig. In the end this is just a overdrive/distortion beast, there is literally no way to get a bad sound from this pedal. Each knob responds really well and the sweep of the drive is huge. The pedal being able to work great with your guitar's volume alone is enough to make this a keeper. Throw in everything else and a bit of imagination and you have one super hip stompbox. For a cat who's only been at it for about 5 years David is highly talented, but more important he has a great ear and is very imaginative. A good ear and creativity will get you far in this game. It's builders like these that always produce the most memorable gear, the most usable gear, and the gear you see in people's rigs. It's really cool David will be working all 7 Deadly Sins into effects pedals, it makes them a bit of a collectors edition and gives everyone who owns one of his pedals something to look forward to. We will be looking at more of these killer stompboxes and will be keeping track of San Diego Pedal Co's progress. As a matter of fact the Envy envelope fuzz pedal is now available for order and will ship asap. In the next few months David will also give light to the Greed pedal, which is a germanium transistor based fuzz pedal with a voltage starve option. We will welcome all of these bad to the bone pedals with open arms and make sure to report back to you to the fullest. Keep your eyes peeled these next few weeks for another of these amazing creations, and remember to support the artists of our scene. These are the cats giving us the ability to sound original. I proud to have such a killer pedal company here in Southern Cali. Check'em out!

For more info on San Diego Pedal Company go to www.sdpedals.com or click the direct link in our sidebar. We will be looking at another of these pedal in the near future so stay tuned. See ya then kids.

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Magic in a Box

Take a minute and look at this awesome logo from Greenhouse Effects... Anyone with this much creativity must have a talent for building great effects pedals. Once again I was so fortunate to come across such an awesome pedal company. I was doing some surfing on Youtube when I came across some Greenhouse Effects pedal demos. The videos were simple and straight to the point, but more important they sounded pretty damn good. I said to myself; "If these pedals sound this good through these videos they must sound amazing up close and personal". So my hunt began and I shot Greenhouse Effects an email. Later I would get an email from a cat named Roy, and he would inform me his little boutique company was stationed in Israel, that's right Israel! This just goes to show how far the pedal bug has really traveled. Like many of the great companies we feature on our site Greenhouse is also a one-man operation, ran by Roy, designed by Roy, and built by Roy. Turns out this Roy character is one of the most skilled mo-fo's we have ever come acorss. The pedal he ended up sending us? An overdriver. A simple 3 knob overdriver with a sound like no other. Now there are many many OD pedals available today, vintage ones, mass produced ones, boutique models, and rare out of this world designs. The only thing the Greenhouse OD pedal has in common with the list above is it's an overdriver. The Goldrive MkII brings 100% flavor, no-frills attitude, and a collection of splendid tones that'll turn your amp into a screaming box of magic tones. Try and get that from any old 3 knob overdrive pedal... Not gonna happen is it?

Greenhouse Effects

Goldrive

MkII

There are two kinds of pedals I can never have too many of, one being fuzz boxes, and the other being overdrivers. Having a collection of a great sounding overdrive pedals is like having a palette of endless colors, they are the tools I use to paint my songs with. Every now and then I come across an overdrive pedal that's capable of much more than one just one sound, a pedal able to sound-off in many different styles of voices, a pedal like the Greenhouse Effects Goldrive MkII. I won't lie, at first I thought to myself "Oh well, here we go again. Looks like another TS-808 clone..." Boy was I wrong. Not that the Goldrive MkII isn't capable of all the great tones of a vintage Tube Screamer, it's how much further this pedal was able to take my sound that had me impressed. With three knobs alone I was able to get clean boosts, semi-clean boosts, mild grit, smooth crunch, classic rockin overdrive, killer lead tones, and all-out saturated distortion. Looking at the Goldrive you'll find a Level knob, Gain knob, and Tone knob... the perfect recipe for dialing in magnificent guitar tones. There is no need for a manual here folks, if you can't figure out what these three knobs do you better go ahead and go back to stompbox kindergarden. The Goldrive MkII is true bypass, is built with nothing but the best components, is housed in a built to last enclosure, and comes with it's own beautiful velvet-like pouch with the Greenhouse Effects logo stamped on it. Simple and straight to the point, all tone and no filler.

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Strat and a '57 Twin

The night the Goldrive arrived at our studio one of my buddies had just gotten an insanely beautiful Fender '57 Twin Amp, he brought it over for us to rock and drool over, it was a reissue of course but damn was it gonna be a sweet match up for my Strat and the Goldrive MkII. My buddy was more than happy to break the amp's cherry with the Greenhouse Effects Goldrive MkII so we got to steppin. I set the amp just a hair before breakage, with the Presence to 7, Bass to 9, Treble to 4, volume between 6-7, and plugged into the Normal channel. I flipped the guitar's neck pickup and set the Golddrive to a slight boost setting. This sent the amp's tone into a perfect screaming blues tone! The '57 jumped, rumbled, and spit overdrive fire all through our tiny little studio. By just barely digging into the guitar's strings I could get the hairiest of notes, the more I dug the dirtier things got. Backing off on my pick attack landed me in a perfect blend of dirt'n'clean, and slamming down on chords broke the tone wide open into a rolling thunder of guitar tone. This showed me just how touch sensitive the Goldrive was. Slowly I rolled up the pedal's gain, matched the volume to the amp's, and left the tone right where it was. Again it gave me more harmonics, more size, and more attitude. Something my buddy pointed out was how intact the pedal's tone stayed. Some overdrive pedals get either too muddy or too icy as you turn their gain control up. The Goldrive MkII doesn't suffer from this problem, you can set the pedal's tone to either match or accent your amp's sound, once you've got it, you've got it. Before my friend left our place with his beautiful amp there was one last thing I had to try through the '57 Twin, a setting a famous singer songwriter once tipped me on. It goes like this; Set the amp's Treble, Bass, and Presence all the way up, the Volume at 8, and plug into the Bright channel. Take the guitar's tone knob and roll it back all the way, next place your favorite overdrive pedal in the mix (I threw the Goldrive in of course), and set the pedal's knobs straight up. I flipped the standby switch to On, positioned my favorite guitar chord, and let it fly.... All I have to say is OH-MY-GOD! I promise you have never heard a wilder classic rock tone in all your life. It was like a combination of a Neil Young and Brian May tone. By turning the pedal's tone up and down I was able to different shades of this massive sound, once I began turning the gain up it was all over. We had that '57 shaking like it had never shook before. My buddy was proud to have had his amp's virginity taken by the Greenhouse Effects Goldrive MkII.

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Humbuckers, Single Coils, P90's, Oh My!

One thing I really wanted to do with the Goldrive was run it through as many different guitars as possible. So my partner and I went ahead and pulled out all of our favorite guitars, our All-Star collection we call it, we felt this would give us the best insight on what this pedal was capable of. The first of the champs to put the Goldrive to the test was my Custom Tele, her name is Lady, and she alone can dish out some pretty awesome tones. I set Lady to her neck humbucker (untapped), and set the Goldrive MkII straight up the middle. The amp used was a 100 watt Super Lead with everything set up the middle and plugged into the top 1rst channel. Alone the amp pumped out a nice'n'thick semi-clean tone, once I added the pedal things would once again change... and change for the good. With the Goldrive engaged it pushed the Super Lead into perfect rock rhythm tone, think early Jimmy Page sound. I flipped back and fourth from the Rothwell CLK coil tap knob installed into my guitar and was able to take the pedal into milder, much softer overdrive tones. One thing I learned from the first demo with the '57 Twin was how touch sensitive the Goldrive can be. Combined with your playing and it's three knobs this is a pedal capable of much more than you might think. I switched down into the middle pickup position to see how it would respond to a humbucker/single coil mix, to be honest there are not many pedals that can work with this pickup combo. But the GD MkII surprised me again. Next I took the amp's level down and turned the pedal's volume up, without much gain the Goldrive was able to push the amp into a nice overdrive with the volume knob alone. I always like to see how much an overdrivers volume can do on it's own before I test it's gain control, this is a useful tip for when shopping for a OD pedal. It was time to take the amp into classic hard rock city. To do this I bumped the amp's bass to 8, middle also at 8, treble down to 4, presence at 7, and plugged into the second channel turned up to 8. I took the pedal and set the volume just a bit louder than the amp, took the tone to noon, and slammed the gain to about 90-95%. My buddy took out champ #2, his Les Paul Standard named Jimmy. Even before he struck a note you could hear the amp eeeeeeing and ooooooing wanting to just scream out to the rock gods. All it took was a few Zeppelin riffs to send me into a state of nirvana, I can say that amp was very very happy that day. As my friend played on I turned through the entire Goldrive's gain range and found no bad tones, every stage of it's gain knob has a usable, professional sound. Lead riffs sounded tight and clear, rhythms banged out warm and smooth, and clean notes rang out with ease, life, and character. There is no dead spots in this pedal like you might find in others, this is not a one trick pony, nor will it rob you of your root tone. Last I pulled out my Gibson Junior copy, a single Lollar P90 equipped guitar by the name of El Nino. A good overdrive pedal and good P90 is something that has always been a favorite of mine as a weapon for the studio. The P90 when driven the into the right amount of overdrive can sound huge. I was able to dial-in some of my favorite tones with the Goldrive and also landed in some sounds I thought weren't possible from old El Nino. I'll tell you something, Greenhouse Effects is not a company you'll find much info on, but then again that's why I'm here. Like I said before, there are a few Youtube videos which you can check out on our Analog War Cry Youtube search engine at the bottom of our site. Roy is in the middle of revamping his website and is also stripping his line and creating/building some new designs. I am happy to say that the Goldrive MkII will not be going anywhere, so you guys still have a chance at getting your hands on one of the rarest OD pedals I have ever come across. This will easily become one of those cool collector piece's our kids will hunt for when they begin to play music. I'm stoked I came across Greebhouse Effects and even happier to have the Goldrive in my arsenal.

The new Greenhouse Effects website will be found at www.gheffects.com In the meantime you can reach Roy at Goldrivepedal@gmail.com Make sure you let him know we sent you. Make sure and check out the Greenhouse Effects demos at www.youtube.com/user/royzic