Hang tight y’all content coming soon!

I’m still on the hunt for fab and fantastic gear to review and share with you guys. There are so many new companies since last I was up and running and Ive been trying to get a hold of as many as possible. If you guys have any suggestions shoot me an email. First few posts coming in the next couple weeks. Thanks for the patience and support.

Analog War Cry Returns

Hello my fellow gear junkies, pedal addicts, and guitar nuts. I am happy to announce that AWC is making it’s way back onto the scene with new and exciting features. There is so much amazing gear that has hit the streets the past few years, which we missed to review and demo. Fear not loyal readers, we will be trying our best to get our hands on it all, and with it bring you some top notch write-ups and our honest insights. Along with the our standard reviews we will also continue to bring you band/artist interviews along with their gear rundowns. I’m hoping to be able to bring you video demos and reviews through a new YouTube channel. I’m also interested in hearing some more from you guys, whether it be to turn me onto some killer piece of gear, for questions, and for any other reason y’all feel like writing in. I am currently working on write-ups for March/April and hope to be fully up and running by June. Thank you for your continued loyalty to our little site, it is much appreciated and much needed. Now go on and spread the word... cause AWC is back!!!

-Alfie C.

Fuzz Box Fiasco: Part #2. Fuzz 292 by. JDM Pedals

Analog War Cry

-presents-

Fuzz Box Fiasco

A collection of unique and superb stompboxes

• Builder - Joe Dochtermann 
• From - Berlin, Germany
• Years in the Game - 2 Years
• Pedal - Fuzz 292 - 2-knob version

For the second FBF feature I am proud to announce a small hand built company that I came across by mistake. It was through searching for some instruction vids for a nephew of mine that I discovered JDM Pedals. Through my experience in hunting down gear it is always in these situations that I am blown away and equally surprised at how much unknown gear is out there waiting to be discovered. JDM Pedals are hand built in Berlin, offering everything from their line of classic based circuits to completely custom builds modded to your liking to work with your root tone. The website also posts tips for building your own DIY projects, giving you some really cool tricks to push your builds to the max. Below is a simple 2-knob fuzz box that delivers some radical fuzz tones! It's perfect for those of you looking for a great go-to stompbox.

Fuzz 292 / 2-knob version

• True Bypass
• High Gain Silicon Design
• Also available in 3-knob
• Volume - control the output
• Tone - tame the fuzz
• 3-Way Switch - choose your flavor 

 
Would you look at what we have here? A super simple stellar sounding little fuzz box that I was so glad I came across! This proves that you don't always need some flashy website to have an amazing product. Good gear is good gear and Joe's pedals are exactly that. Guys I'm telling you right now before I get going on this review, if you get a chance grab one of these little boxes go for it - the price is right and they sound really amazing.

The Fuzz 292 is a killer little fuzz box that comes packed with a ton of tone and a wide range of choice.With it's two knobs and selector switch the 292 can cover what most pedals with double the controls do. It's volume knob has a great amount of output and sounds really sweet when pushed to the limit. The tone control works more as a way to warm up or create and all-out extreme cut-through anything fuzz sound. The pedal's golden feature for me is the selector switch - a 3-way switch that can turn the 292 into treble boosted fuzz, mellower warmer fuzz, or freak nasty high gain fuzz for those of you into the blurred out rock and roll thing. This pedal also comes in a 3 knob version which JDM will voice to your liking - for more info on that go to their website and check out their choices.

As a starting point for this review I began with a killer sounding Plexi and custom built Strat. I found myself having so much fun with this choice of amp and guitar that I found no reason to swap them out for any others. With Plexi style amps I always enjoy cranking them to a moderate overdrive tone when using them with a fuzz box of any kind, this gives you the best possible platform to stack any kind of fuzz or distortion tone. I started by setting the Fuzz 292 with it's volume pushed a little hot to give the fuzz effect a little more oomph, set the tone at noon, and set selector switch in it's treb boost setting. I clicked on this little pedal and "WOW'! The amp was screaming and squealing like a classic rock tone sent from some timewarp from the 60's. The richness and thickness of the fuzz's effect came through quite nicely. My chords blared and played with absolute clarity, the licks sliced with a sword like precision, and solos cut through insanely well. For those of you into the classic fuzz tones of yesterday this pedal is for you. Cranking the pedal's volume control I found the pedal was able to deliver more and more and not more of the same. You see the pedal doesn't come with a standard fuzz control, instead the 292 is set at it's max which gives you the ability to tame on the go, with either your own touch and dynamics or guitar's volume and tone controls. It still definitely gives you the ability to choose how much or how little fuzz you like. For those of you who like your fuzz a little warmer and not so bright the low setting on the selector switch is a nice choice. It gives your tone this really sweet sounding buzzy, beefy, and fluffy sound. This tone setting works great when you just want a nice little fuzz to noodle around with and don't want to get too extreme. Still though, slap down on your strings a little harder and you'll notice it's still capable of some really inetresting sounds. In all settings the pedal is capable of some pretty extreme fuzz tones, but this isn't more true than in it's high setting. The sweet spot for me in the high gain setting was bridge pickup, tone at about 25%, volume at about 75%, and my guitar's tone control rolled back a tiny bit. This created that beehive hardcore buzzing fuzz effect that is so much fun to play along with. My chords exploded in a saturated explosion of creamy fuzz and my single note fuzz licks became much bigger than they actually were. It was all very exciting. I honestly thought at first that there wouldn't be much controlling the overall fuzz without the pedal lacking a fuzz control, but this was not the case. It gave me just as much control over the fuzz and I found it was really nice to have it all at the controls of my guitar. Making the sound a more personal thing and giving my playing dynamics a true chance to shine.

For a 2-knob fuzz box this pedal is quite amazing. It's the design of this pedal that I believe Joe got just right that gives it it's ability to rock so hard. I had a chance to plug this little box in along with a handful of other boxes - from modulation pedals to overdrivers, and all in all it was very user friendly. For my taste I found the Fuzz 292 worked best through some natural tube driven overdrive, didn't matter the amount of watts on the amp or how big and bad. Playing the 292 through a 5 watt amp was just as satisfying as it was playing it through the Plex. This tells you what? It simply tells you we got a contender here.

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For more info on JDM Pedals go to www.joedocmusic.com

Fuzz Box Fiasco: Part #1. OctaFUZZ by. Fuzz Puppy

Analog War Cry

-presents-

Fuzz Box Fiasco

A collection of unique and superb stompboxes

• Builder - Tim Weghorst
• From - Bradenton, Florida
• Years in Game - 2 Years
• Pedal - OctaFuzz

And so it begins... another killer collection of what we think are some of the best fuzz pedals out there right now. The years have gone by and the originals and favorites of times past still make their permanent home on many of our pedalboards and rigs. It wasn't until I began this site that I realized there was so much more out there, not to take anything away from the amazing fuzz pedals that have been delivering decade after decade. I decided to hunt down the scene for something new - and low and behold what I'd discover was an entire community of one-man operations, small indie companies, and startups that were building higher quality, longer lasting, and insanely great sounding stompboxes. I've tested a ton of pedals throughout the years, not all have made it on the site, but for those that have I truly believe they are the cream of the crop. The underdog deserves his day in sun from time to time, and today we let him have.

Something completely new for you guys, or at least it was new to me up until a few weeks ago. I present to you guys and welcome FuzzPuppy! A small handbuilt stompbox company run by the one and only Tim Weghorst - a cat with a passion for great tone, a love for music, and a proper background in electronics engineering (what more could you ask for?). Put it all together and wallah! FuzzPuppy is born. So far so good, and what makes this little pedal outfit even cooler is not only do they create killer sounding pedals, but with every pedal you buy they help a dog charity in need. Pretty freakin' cool if you ask me. Who doesn't dig that? Effects pedals and helping pups! I'm sure I'll be bringing you guys some more features from FuzzPuppy, for now...

The OctaFuzz / fuzz - octave fuzz

• True Bypass
• Built with vintage germanium clipping diodes
• Super cool octagonal enclosure
• Compatible w/standard center (-) power supply
• 9V battery not included
• Current consumption 20ma.
• FuzzPuppy will donate 5$ to dog charity w/purchase
• Free shipping

Having taken a long hiatus from the blog I thought I'd get back and have trouble finding new and interesting companies to sink my teeth into. So far that has not been the case, take this little number The Octafuzz - a two part fuzz box that gives you a mean grinding fuzz and a grilling octave fuzz in it's second position. It's design is quite pleasing to the eye, from the odd shaped enclosure, hip artwork, and bright colored layout. It isn't all some gimmick though let me assure you. The pedal kicks out some of the most fuzz friendly tones I'm yet to come across.

I took the pedal and ran it through my number one guitar - my Tele w/humbucker in the neck, I also rocked it with a Strat for some classic rock gorgeousness. Amps of choice were a small 5 watt tube amp and my 4x10 tricked out Deville. I began by plugging into the larger amp and setting the root tone at it's cleanest and most sparkling. My mission was to see what the pedal could do to a completely crisp signal. Some fuzz pedals don't deliver on this avenue and work best when played through overdriven tones, which is fantastic, but I always tend to discover that the fuzz boxes that deliver proper fuzz tones on their own are always the most user friendly to an overall signal. Just as expected the Octafuzz pasted the test and delivered a killer sounding warm yet crunchy fuzz tone that converted the amps clean tone into something all it's own. If you've read my reviews you'll notice I really love using fuzz boxes though verb and compression. I've created a sound I like to call "The Screaming Banshee", which is really brutal sounding when matched up with the right fuzz pedal. I ran the Octafuzz's regular fuzz setting through my invention and was very happy with the outcome. I also had a blast playing it's octave fuzz setting through my signal, but where this fuzz sounded best was through an already overdriven tone. I tried a few different things, ovedriving the amp itself, overdrive pedal in front of the OcaFUZZ, and cranking the low watt amp to it's most. All of these sounded warrior crazy cool through both the pedals flavors! I quickly discovered for my liking the best setup was the 5 watter, the Tele, and a bit of verb along with this pedal. I was able to push out big fat single note fuzz licks as well as some of the most groolish grinding fuzz chords known to man. My fingers felt they did their job with simplicity as they flew along the strings bending and grabbing onto chord to lick. Jamming along with some buddies I noticed the pedal didn't drown out any of the bass or drums, and cut through the mix just where it needed to be heard. It's a simple choice this pedal, it delivers not only on one but two fronts and does it damn well.


With fuzz boxes you always need to be careful of two main things. The fuzz sound drowning out everything the more you crank it, and the inability to dial in a decent high-low mix. These are two problems that many people don't notice until they bring their pedals home and turn them up full blast. The Octafuzz sounded and performed beautifully both in it's lowest and highest levels. I didn't matter if it was stacked up against a Les Paul or Strat, vintage or modern amp, or stompbox overdrive or natural. The OctaFUZZ does the trick with absolute ease. I am looking forward to hearing what a Fuzz Puppy overdrive pedal can do, let's hope one comes in soon!

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For more info on Fuzz Puppy go to the link here http://fuzzpuppy.com/ 

Let'em Chime

 

If for some reason you haven't gotten hip to the Mod Kits DIY pedals and amps, I'm happy to be the one who brings you this very cool like no other little company. Perhaps you've been living under a rock? No matter you know now... consider yourself in the cool kids circle. Mod Kits DIY is a fantastic outfit that offers some of the greatest DIY projects available today. For you cats looking to dive into the do-it-yourself arena, Mod Kits has everything from simple to medium difficulty overdrive, distortion, and fuzz box kits - for you kids with a bit more experience looking to up your game there's also octave fuzz pedals, modulation, and time based effects - Then for you experienced builders that have been at it for a while they even have some really cool tube driven pedals, amp kits, and verb tanks. All in all it's a great stop for hunting down your next special tone. Build them, mod them, paint them as you like, and show them off to the world in your next session, gig, or pedalboard setup. Not to mention they make stellar gifts for those buddies and husbands of yours that geek out at the Analog War Cry level. 

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THE SUSPENDED CHIME

Chorus - Chorus/Delay

• Blend Knob
• Selector Switch
• LED Indicator
• Standard 9v (-) Power Jack
• In - Out Jacks
• On - Off Footswitch
• Heavy Duty Predrilled Enclosure

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The simplicity and user friendliness of the Suspended Chime was straight forward and easy to maneuver. Along with the footswitch on board the pedal comes with two controls - a selector switch that flips from chorus to chorusing delay, and a blend knob that adds or cuts the intensity of the chorusing effect in both settings. The delay effect is set at 190 milliseconds which works great with an array of different playing styles and sound effects. I found the pedal sounded pretty amazing on it's own through both clean and overdriven amp tones, and also had a good time throwing some other pedals into the mix to achieve some of my favorite effects. I plugged the pedal into a couple different amps and guitars, setting the pedal in it's mellowest to most intense settings. 

My self built custom Strat type guitar was first in line. I plugged it into the normal channel of my buddy's 65' Deluxe, set both treble and bass at 7, and worked my way up to full blast on the volume control. I wanted to hear the Suspended Chime through a crisp and clear a tone ass possible, to get an idea of how it affected the overall sound. With the lone chorus setting I was able to dial in everything from hauntingly subtle chorus effects to some crazy cool intense mind whirling chorusing. The sweet spots for me were just outside of noon on the blend knob, from about 10'0'clock to 1. Surprisingly enough the chorus sound was quite warm and very lush to the touch, especially when manipulating my guitar's tone controls and switching into the neck pickups. I picked away and some of my favorite songs and riffs, finding myself warped into the psychedelia of classic rock and grunge songs past. My chord play sounded beautiful! With just a hint of effect the Suspended Chime gave the guitar a hidden shimmer that bloomed just enough to tickle my ear's curiosity. For more of a Leslie effect I set the blend from about 70-100%. I'm a huge fan of volume pedal swells, both with chorus and delay, it gives me some interesting nuances and gives off some great whispering, strange, and tripped out sound effects. This pedal was perfect for experimenting with these types of techniques. Backing off on the guitar's tone, kicking the amp's treble up almost full blast, and keeping the bass at 7 gave me the perfect overall tone to play with. Pushing the amp's tubes into a mild grind also worked well with the pedal's chorusing effects. I'm usually not a big fan of overdrive and chorus but it was hard to ignore that this pedal delivered pretty damn beautifully. 

The real magic began once I flipped that little selector switch though. In came the Suspended Chime's delay and it was time to plug in the neck bucker Tele. Something I gotta point out is the quality of this pedal's delay effect. I was really impressed at how crisp and clear, yet warm and lush the delay was. I had a blast just rolling the chorus back and just playing around with the pedal's delay capabilities. Now remember, it is fixed at 190ms but you will be surprised at how much spunk you can get out of this setting. I cranked the Deluxe well into it's overdriven state and spanked away at the guitar neck, holding notes and bending others into my will. The delay delivered and broke in a voodoo like quality that was something really special to listen too. You'd be blown away what a hint of great sounding overdrive, a bit of chorus, and some proper delay will get you! For the ultimate and most exaggerated effects I brought in one of my favorite fuzz pedals. I pushed the overdriven tone into a squealing buzzing growl, clicking in the Suspended Chime's for a badass spaced out rock assault which had my friend jealous he didn't have the guitar in his hands. Again I really dug the delay of this pedal with just a hint of chorus. I'm a sucker for holding a note as long as I can, bending it into bird like squawks, and listening to the sounds distort in collections of rude harmonics. I guess you can tell I had some fun with this little darling, and this is only the tip of the iceberg of what is possible when finding a cool pedal like this.

I'm always excited whenever Mod Kits send us anything from their DIY arsenal. It gives me the opportunity to up my building and soldering skills, schools me further into the world of stompboxes, and in the end hands me something I've built with my own two hands that I can customize any way I see fit. The Suspended Chime I will admit gave me a few head scratching moments, but only because I'd been rusty on my soldering and all around pedal building patience. Once I powered through it though and reached the light at the end of the tunnel, I was granted the gift of something worth writing home about.

For more info on The Suspended Chime and the rest of the MOD Kits DIY collection go to www.modkitsdiy.com Look out for more from our MOD Kits friends in the near future.

Live & Direct: A new AWC installment of gear adventures live from the stage.

  Live & Direct

Coming this year new to the site the AWC crew and family will be taking the gear that gets submitted and we will be taking it out on live gigs, recording sessions, and other adventures. This will give us and you guys another view as to what it is the fantastic pedals and other gear that comes in is capable of. We will be shooting photography of our ventures out on the city, video, and getting insight from the players and audience. I will also be taping new a podcast show where I will be discussing the gigs and giving our thoughts on all angles. Please continue writing in with your suggestions on gear to check out, companies to look out for, an for those of you new builders out there please get in touch with us so we can get our hands on your builds. 

Live & Direct will also keep our ears open to any artist willing to demo our gear in their sessions, recordings, and gigs. Los Angeles is jammed packed with venue after killer venue, stone cold rocking local and traveling bands, and full of word of mouth speakeasy hole in the wall hangouts all ready to showcase their vibes and talents. Email me directly for more info on how to work with us on this grand new adventure!

-Alfie

Coming Soon: Fine Tuning and Revamping AWC

To everyone who has supported the site throughout the years,

First let me take the time to say thank you so much for keeping the blog alive while I was on hiatus. It has been a real blast getting to know so many different gear companies throughout the world, and having a chance to try the gear that comes in is the cherry on top! AWC was a simple idea I had years ago when writing quick experiences of my gear adventures while writing on another social media site. A few readers and followers of that blog suggested I start a proper blog and so the Analog War Cry site was born! I've had some suggestions and constructive criticisms that I've taken into account and will be using to make the site even better. Look out the next couple months for changes to both the writing and look of the blog. I also have a bunch of new companies jumping on board which I'll be offering discounts for purchases on their pedals/gear. Audio bytes and podcasts will be making an appearance, as well as video demos get giveaways, artist features, and other fun stompbox features. Be on the lookout and keep on digging into the material.

-Alfie

Calling all cars, calling all cars! It's Radio Havana.

Back in the saddle with another fantastic build from the good people at Heavy Electronics. I tried for quite some time to get in contact with this very busy cool company, and when I finally did connect with them they were kind enough to shoot out a handful of their awesome pedals. We did a write-up on the Red Eyes overdrive which got some great feedback from our loyal and hungry readers. Today I bring you this fine gem from HE, a strange little noise maker that creates some interesting and guitar healthy sounds. More good news is I'll be reviewing a bunch of the Heavy Electronics line-up the next couple weeks. Stay tuned for more from Heavy Electronics... but for now I bring you the Radio Havana!

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Radio Havana

• Hand-made in Minneapolis Mn.
• Lifetime Warranty (Barring Abuse)
• Voiced Openly for Guitar & Bass
• True Bypass Switching 
• Single Point Mounted PCB  
• 24mm Diameter Pots
• Flying Leads to Pots and Jacks
• Neutrik 1/4 inch Signal Jacks
• Customer-Service Ready to Help  
• Dual Quality-Control Testing
• Hand Signed and Numbered   

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 I come across many many different breeds of stompboxes. From the simplest to the most complex, from subtle to the downright extreme. When I first heard of the Radio Havana by Heavy Electronics I was not only curious beyond belief, but a little bit confused as to what the pedal actually did. It is marketed as a lo-fi gritty effect pedal that creates the awesome and strange sounds of old school transistor radios. When it arrived I was like a kid at Christmas time, unboxing it with complete excitement! I quickly learned just how simple this pedal was to use with it's three controls on board, and how much diversity it had. The Level knob works to simply control the pedal's master volume, The Gain knob controls the input amount helping you dial in the amount of grit it produces, and last is the extremely cool Decay knob which introduces a clipping effect the breaks up the overdrive and distortion signal into a collection of really cool tones. My early experiments with the Radio Havana started with a clean tone created by a 4x10 Deville and Tele w/humbucker in the neck. I started with the Decay knob down at it's lowest level and turned on the pedal to see what it could deliver in it's mellower settings. In it's low Decay settings the pedal created some really awesome subtle yet punchy overdrive tones that works perfect for creating those vintage rock treble boost overdrive tones. I guess the pickup has a lot to do with how this pedal works, which is why I used a guitar with both single coil and bucker type pickups. Strangely enough tho the pedal did it's magic through both pickups with absolute ease. The higher I'd push the gain knob the more sweet gritty magic the pedal would create. Honestly with the Radio Havana's level and gain controls alone it was able to create some stellar sounds, enough to keep me satisfied at least, and that's saying a lot. Then I began to introduce the pedal's Decay control slowly into the mix and something even more magical began to happen. Wouldn't you know it they actually created pedal capable of mimicking the break-up and sawdust sounds of an old transistor radio. It's kind of hard to explain if you've never heard an old radio like this, but the best I can describe it is by comparing it to some of the bit crush effect pedals that are out there today, only not as extreme and much more friendly to an overall mix and live setting. As you introduce the pedals Decay control you begin to hear your signal well... decay. It begins to split up and break up in an attractive way that helps your tone achieve something original and memorable. In it's highest settings the effect really begins to disintegrate much quicker making your overall sound something all it's own. I strummed about playing some of my favorite chords jams and was able to hear them in a completely new light. Where I really found my sweet spot tho was while adding the Radio Havana into my already naturally overdriven amp's tone, with the pedal set in a medium setting, the gain at about noon and decay just passed the middle. Noodling around and plucking notes also created some interesting sound effects. If you're into the experimental side of things the Radio Havana will tickle your curiosities in all the right places.

A few days into my playing with this pedal I also decided to use it in a jam session with another guitar player, bass player, and drummer... no singer tho. I wanted to see if the Radio Havana played well with others, meaning other players and other pedals. Pay attention now. Once having had an idea of what I could do with this pedal and what settings I liked, I began to also experiment with other effects in the chain. For me it was a reverb pedal pushing a little bit of effect played through my 5 watt cloned amp, and last a clean booster to help get me an extra amount of overall level. Through this little chain of effects I was able to create a simple to use simple to dial in effect that made for some of the best psychedelic guitar tones I've ever created. The first thing I'll speak on is the reaction of the other ears in the room. The collection of musicians instantly dug on how pronounced and who well the signal cut through the overall mix. You wouldn't think a pedal of this kind would do that but having it being built with top notch materials, by hand, and with a life time warranty should assure you this ain't no toy. The drummer addressed how clear my signal was and the bass player dug that I didn't cut into his low end tone. The night's jam went on and on with myself enjoying my new little box more and more with every stroke of a chord. Which is why this pedal rocks so much! The more you use it the more ways you find it works in just about every situation. At one point I was even able to mimic some pretty intense fuzz tones by playing it through my amp fully overdriven. The sound was absolute beast!

A pedal this simple and amazing needs not much of an introduction, it is something you need to experience on your own. I play lots of different types of music and have jammed with some really heavyweights as far as the world of music goes. This along with my awesome little blog her have afforded me the ability to come across some really kickass gear. The Radio Havana is most definitely one that will remain on the top list. This pedal is special in the sense that it creates really amazing low-fi gritty guitar effects, while at the same time if given the attention able to give you much more. Give yourself something to write home about and peep out the Radio Havana!

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For more info on the Radio Havana or the rest of the Heavy Electronics line-up go to www.heavyelectronics.com 

Hello, his name is FELIX!

Gear of this quality is always a blessing to come across, especially when one is an acoustic guitar player. Years and years of trial and error have tuned me to the do's and don't of playing acoustic instruments live on stage. While there are many amazing mic preamps out there designed to give you great microphone sounds both in and out of the studio - And rack mount gadgets, pedals, and amps for building just about every sound imaginable for your electric instrument needs. The same does not fly when speaking on acoustical platforms. When out hunting for great sounding gear that is truly built for your acoustic needs the pickings can be slim. As a acoustic guitar player and mainly singer/song writer the past decade I have personally had trouble finding great sounding and simple to use preamps to gig with live. What if all we acoustic playing cats could get something in a pedal format that doesn't act like just any other pedal, but instead like a proper pro level piece of gear? Thanks to the minds at Grace Design the game has just changed and this answer has been made clear. May I introduce you to FELIX - the best buddy your acoustic tone will ever have.

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 The FELIX

2-Channel Acoustic Preamplifier 

Features/Controls (Top Panel)

• Gain Controls (ch 1 & 2)
• Signal/Clip LED Indicator (ch 1 & 2)
• High Pass Filter / Notch Filter (ch 1 & 2)
• Low Frequency Shelving Cut and Boost (ch 1 & 2)
• Parametric Midrange Cut and Boost (ch 1 & 2)
• Parametric Midrange Frequency Select (ch 1 & 2)
• Parametric Midrange Q Factor (ch 1 & 2)
• High Frequency Shelving Cut and Boost (ch 1 & 2)
• Boost Level (Global)
•  Mix Control
• A/B Footswitch
• Boost Footswitch
• Amp/Tuner/Headphones - Output Level
• Mute/Tune - Footswitch

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Features/Controls (Back Panel)

•  Universal 100-240VAC Power Input
• Ground Lift Switch
• DI Output (ch 1 & 2)
• DI Output Source Select (ch 1 & 2)
• DI Output Line/Mic Level Select (ch 1 & 2)
• External Footswitch Input
• Amp Out
• Tuner Out
• Effects Insert
• Amp Source Select Switch
• Ch 1 Input Mic/Line Switch
• Ch 1 Mic Input
• Line Inputs (ch 1 & 2)
• Input Impedance Select (ch 1 & 2)

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Features/Controls (Side Panel)

• Dip Switch Location Diagram
• Ch 1 48V Phantom Power
• Phase Reverse (ch 1 & 2)
• DIP Switch Controls
• 1/8 Mini Headphone Jack

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Just looking at this masterpiece of a pedal can be intimidating. I found myself stunned at the shear beauty of the FELIX! Honestly I had no idea what to expect at first, and once I made up my mind to just plug in and go, the picture of what this little baby was capable of was very clear. Anyone with a little know how and bit of patience will quickly find themselves mastering the very unique and superbly beneficial qualities of this pedal. I chose to run the FELIX through it's paces in a couple different scenarios - One being out in a live setting where was able to hear what the pedal was capable of from an audience standpoint - Also from a studio arena where I was able to really dig in and fiddle around with every knob, button, and switch. I also plugged in for some recording sessions but more on that later. As I mentioned before, a little noodling around with the FELIX and you find yourself in acoustic tone heaven. Let's get into just how this pedal was able to bring us sheer tonal heaven.

First I tried the Felix at home both through my little studio setup and monitors, then later had it tested in a live on stage. My go-to acoustic guitar is my Alvarez DY-38, an amazing under rated acoustic that has always delivered in more ways than one. On board my guitar has an LR Baggs I-Beam saddle pickup and at the moment I'm using a DiMarzio DP-136 Super Natural soundhole pickup. I also ran the pedal without the soundhole pickup and switched it for a couple different microphones. I began with one channel at a time to get myself too overwhelmed with the pedal. Learning one section of the pedal at a time is how I recommend anyone should learn what the Felix can offer and is capable of. I began with channel one carefully adjusting my gain control. The clip led was really helpful with letting me find my sweet spot. Next I dove into the amazing eq system onboard. With the cut and boost features for both the high and low, I was able to get a quick and great sounding foundation for where I was to take the overall tone. I found both these controls capable of delivering many different types of sounds, but most important able to shape the natural tone of my guitar where it needed to and sounded best. I then began fiddling with the mid controls of the pedal, and this is where I found so much magic! Having a high quality parametric midrange section I could control at my fingertips was like something out of a fairy tale. I had the option to cut or boost my basic midrange tone, then with the find which midrange frequency worked best with my pickup and guitar through the pedal's frequency select switch, and last dial in my high mids with the Q factor control. You might be saying to yourselves right now, "Wow, all that, really?" Yes all that control and it didn't end there. I moved on to the next channel where I was able to dial in an entirely different and equally as stunning sound for my acoustic. The feature works great for many reasons. 1. To simply have a different tone for your guitar, which gives you access to another sound at the stomp of a switch. This came in handy when I layered some guitar recordings. 2. It's great for when you have more than one guitar with you on stage and each one needs it's own special attention. And 3. If you're an experimental cat like myself, can set the second channel with effects to switch in and out of for your guitar. All in all very cool stuff. The quality of a couple quick recordings is what keeps coming into mind, I couldn't write enough good things about how easy it was for me to get my guitar sounding top notch. I've played with so many different pedals, rack equipment, plugins, mics, preamps, etc... And this little pedal was by far the easiest and quickest way to achieve high quality tone all in a compact stompbox format. Genius if you ask me! And still it isn't over yet, the pedal still delivered in many more ways. Another great feature the Felix delivers on is it's ability to blend channels A & B for an ultimate supermondo "who's your daddy?" acoustic sound. Here is where I began messing with my soundhole pickup and B3 microphone. Having landed on a tone I was happy with in channel 1 for my saddle pickup, I know focused the 2nd channel into shaping something for the soundhole pickup to deliver on. Here I once again discovered how useful the highpass filter feature came in handy. For those for those of you who play with or have played with soundhole pickups you know how much of a nightmare dialing in and cutting out certain frequencies can be. My DiMarzio is great, don't get me wrong. But on certain stages, when playing with certain instruments, sometimes it can start acting funny. The amazingly kickass quality of this pedal's preamps and it's insanely cool eq system made my little soundhhole pickup sound like a million bucks. When blended with the first channel I got out of my guitar a sound so huge and beautiful I was blown back into disbelief. Setting the pedal from A/B mode, to Mix Mode, and so on was super easy too. With the dip switches on the side on the Felix I was able to move back and fourth without any confusion. For some more flavor I finally ended my man handling of this pedal by running the 2nd channel through a Studio Projects B3 mic and a SM-81 Sure mic. Both mics sounded great. The pedal is extremely user friendly and played well with every piece of gear I through at it. I was able to get crisp'n'clean acoustic tones great for that shiny bright guitar sound - boomy punchy acoustic tones for some more country, blues, and folk sounds - and some really impressive in your face chunky'n'fat tones for completely rocking my butt off. Recorded it sounded killer, mixed with other instruments you can really hear where this pedal/preamp separates itself from the rest. It gave me a wide range of options to play with and sounded fantastic through every guitar I've plugged into it.

 My next encounter with the Felix was through listening to it's beauty from the standpoint of the audience. I was able to accompany my friend and his band to their sound check which gave me an idea of how easy and quickly a good tone is attainable live on stage. The venue itself had a decent sized room and my buddy had a proper sized band behind him. The band consisted of electric guitar, bass guitar, drums, keys, and acoustic guitar. I played in a band of this exact makeup back some years ago and always had such a bitch of a time finding simple ways to achieve really good onstage sound for my acoustic guitar. At the sound check I could very easily hear just how high quality the preamps in this pedal were. The guitar used was a D-15 series Martin dreadnought with a LR Baggs pickup system. My partner also used the second channel to blend in a SM-57 microphone for the ultimate sound. With the pickup system alone we were able to dial in a really good acoustic sound - the Felix's high quality preamp and EQ system made it pretty easy to quickly find a great overall root tone. The capabilities of the pedal's EQ system is unlike anything I've ever seen before on a piece of gear this compact. On stage my buddy Steve was quick to dial in an impressive sound that stayed with him for the entire night. Song after song I enjoyed hearing the clarity the Felix was able to push, and amazed at how loud the guitar was capable of rising without feedback or unwanted frequencies. Here is where we tested out the boost option, which was so cool and so necessary! How many times have you been playing a gig when you suddenly realize your band is going into a 5 minute exit jam? Both Steve and I were impressed from the beginning of the sound check to the end of the gig.

Anyone who has gigged as an acoustic guitar player or has had acoustic guitars in their band knows the trouble of dialing in a great tone. Either the house/club/venue you're playing just doesn't have proper preamps, the sound guy isn't very friendly, your acoustics pickups won't play nicely, and the list goes on an on. With an electric guitar you simply plug in and play, and if any adjustments need to made you just reach back at your amp and tweak away. Same with guitar pedals. With the Felix I was able to get the simplicity of a stompbox and the quality of a professional piece of equipment. This is what makes the Felix such a kickass piece of gear. The only other thing I can say about listening to the Felix live from a stage is that it kicked major ass. I could definitely hear the difference and my buddy was absolutely sold. Not only did the rest of my friends band agree that they were able to hear their acoustic guitar more clearly, but the it made the sound guy's job easier which had him singing the pedal's praises as well. Since having the Felix I have played around with putting it through bass guitars, stand-up bass guitars, keyboards, and have played around with using it to mic up different instruments. It doesn't fail to deliver in any area so far and I doubt it ever will. It's a no brainer with this baby. I'm yet to see anything like it on the market and nothing like it has every come into the blog's hands. I give you guys at Grave Design two thumbs up for sure. Keep on rocking the crazy cool gear and please keep on letting us at AWC run it through it's paces.

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For more info on the Felix or Grace Designs go to www.gracedesign.com

Xotic Effects New Limited Edition Pedals

New - Limited Edition RC Booster Scott Henderson Model!

Contact your nearest Xotic dealer to order: 

http://store.xotic.us/dealers/  

Xotic Effects announces the release of the new Limited Edition RC Booster Scott Henderson model.  This package will be limited to only 1,500 chrome and 1,500 copper pieces worldwide! 

Designed in conjunction with jazz fusion and blues guitarist Scott Henderson, the RC Booster will come with a free download card of Scott's new CD "Vibe Station" and certificate of authenticity along with special packaging.
 

PRICING:

Same as a regular RC Booster

 

SHIPPING:

Chrome editions will ship on 11/20 and Copper editions will ship in December to Xotic dealers all over the world.

SPECS: 

• Channel 1 Gain, Channel 2 Gain, Treble, Bass and Volume configuration
• True Bypass Switching
• Can be powered with Battery or 9/18 volts power adapter
• Gain 1 or 2 footswitch, Bypass footswitch
• Compact chrome or copper case
• LED Indicators

News and Updates. Oct 2015

New from CE Distribution 
ApexTM Tube MatchingTM

 

CE Distribution is pleased to announce Apex Tube Matching - a new proprietary state-of-the-art power tube matching system. ApexTM Tube Matching is performed entirely in-house on our brand new custom-built tube matching system using our custom-designed software testing and matching methodology. What this means is we are not matching your tubes on inferior matching hardware or using outdated equipment. Rather, we are using state-of-the-art equipment designed and built to our specifications using our years of experience in the music industry. Our systems are highly robust and extremely accurate, measuring current and voltage to provide the best possible matching for our tubes. These systems are a result of many, many years of experience and an incredible amount of planning, design, prototyping and testing, resulting in the best tube matching available in the entire industry. We know you'll find our tube matching exceeds your expectations in every way! Power tubes are electrically matched so each tube will have the same amount of “idle” plate current and amplification characteristics when plugged into an amplifier. This is done so the tubes can work together in your amp giving you optimal sound quality and tube longevity. Matched tubes also receive extra quality checks to reduce the possibility of getting a faulty power tube that may have slipped by the manufacturer. ApexTM Matched Tubes are a product of CE Distribution, LLC and are available exclusively through CE Distribution and its authorized retailers. For more detailed information, please visit.

www.apexmatching.com  

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New From MOD tm Kits DIY

The Suspended Chime

Chorus/Chorus-Delay

  

The Suspended Chime pedal kit is the first multiprocessor kit offered by MOD tm Kits DIY. The Suspended Chime has two effects in one pedal - chorus and chorus/delay. 

The Suspended Chime features a blend knob which allows you to go from subtle to lush chorus effect in either setup. Using the selector switch, you can add a 190 millisecond delay to the chorus introducing special depth to your tone. Varying the dry/wet mix can fatten your rhythms or produce a shimmering 12-string sound. The Suspended Chime kit comes equipped with an LED indicator and industry standard 9 volt center negative power jack.

MOD tm Kits and Assemblies are designed to give novice and experienced musicians the opportunity to build or modify their own amps, effects pedals and guitars. All kits come with easy to follow instructions and use pint to point wiring. All effect oedaks abd amplifiers come with a pre-drilled enclosure and all necessary parts are included. All you need to provide are hand tools, a soldering iron and solder. The effect pedal operates on a 9V battery for longer lasting option. A 9V adapter can be purchased separately.

For  a complete listing of kits available and sound samples from MOD tm Kits DIY go to the link below.

www.modkitsdiy.com

Who Said Fuzzing Wasn't Easy?

Vintage FX is one of the first pedal companies I got friendly with when I first started my blog. It quickly became a favorite and I even served on their artist roster back when I was still gigging religiously. Dave Archer has a passion for building these little boxes that rivals anyone in the scene. I mean anyone who's down to work with The Warlocks (Heavy Deavy Skull Fuzz) is way too cool for school! Below is his take on the very popular and super hip Mosrite Fuzzrite, a pedal that dates back to the psychedelic days of the 60's. I've used this pedal on my boards for heavy gigs and every time it's turned heads and popped cherries. When plugging into a fuzz box it's got to be serious biz and even more serious fuzz... this pedal meets those qualifications with flying colors.

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Fuzzriot

FEATURES

• Machined aluminum knobs
• Sturdy 1590BB style enclosure
• Super bright LED indication
• True bypass - 3PDT switch
• Third stage added for increased volume/sustain
• Silicon/Germanium hybrid
• 9vdc Standard style adapter jack
• Based of the Mosrite Fuzzrite of the 60's

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There's nothing like a simple great sounding fuzz pedal. One without complex or odd controls, simple to use, and delivers when it counts the most. The Fuzzriot is probably one the easiest plug-in-and-go fuzz pedals I've ever encountered. It's as easy as grabbing your favorite guitar and finding the amount of grit'n'grime you want, dial in the tone, and match levels to your jam session or show. I was fortunate to have had the chance to gig with this pedal a number of times and used it in some recording sessions as well. My go-to guitar is and always has been my Tele with neck humbucker, but the Fuzzriot really sounded amazing through Strat's, Les Paul's, and P90 style guitars! Going through the controls you'll notice it's pretty freaking easy to figure this pedal. The Volume knob regulates the amount of output you want from the overall sound of the pedal. The Tone knob is actually really special! Sometimes fuzz boxes can slightly color your tone both in the bright and low areas, sometimes this is wanted and sometimes not. The tone control on this pedal gets you right where you need to be without stealing the tone you've worked so hard to get, but it can send you off into new adventures with just a twist of the knob, matching or making your tone something different. The Depth knob is superbly killer. Dave created this pedal as a germanium/silicon hybrid, meaning the fuzz effect is tight and blurty as hell. I enjoyed using this pedal in low depth levels already in some sort of mild overdrive. This gave me the perfect rhythm guitar sound for kickass rock and roll tones. It sounds great in a band setting pushing the bass player's sound and doesn't cut through the vocals or drowns out the drums. In higher fuzz levels this pedal can hijack a room and send jam sessions and gigs into a spiral of psychedelic bliss. There's a sustain you get from this pedal that seems top last forever, blend it in the right and you got something really epic. Higher fuzz levels can be easily manipulated and can be bent to create the strangest undertones, screeches, and howls. It's all good! Grab your favorite guitar and amp, plug in and play, enjoy and create. God bless this silver little box. 

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For more info on the Fuzzriot and Vintage FX go to www.vintagefx.com or just click the banner!

 

The Brooklyn Stompbox Exhibit

FOR MORE CLICK THE PIC!!!

The Green Forrest Comp - Making the world a better place

There's a reason why the Mad Professor has been around so long. I imagine some long white haired old man sitting behind a collection of giant fluorescent tubes and lightening, creating taboo music devices for the masses. With every new invention he'd hoop, jump, and click his heels as if to have lost his mind. Then presto! The perfect pedal. And it's that easy my dear readers.

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Forrest Green Compressor

Specs/Controls

* Supply Voltage Range: 9 to 18VDC 
* Current Consumption @ 9VDC: 14ma
* Input Inpedance: 1 M Ohm's
* Output Impedance: 20K Ohm's
* True Bypass: Max input -10dBV Ohm's - Hardwired true bypass

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* Level: Comp Mode controls overall level and can be used as booster. Sustain Mode controls sustain

* Compr: Sets the amount of compression and sustain

* Tone: Used to fine-tune compressed sound with great transparency

* Comp/Sustain Switch: Comp Mode standard compressor - Sustain Mode attack sustained for great dynamics

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So any compressor addict is gonna know the origins of the magnificent pedal, but for those of you a little newer to the game the Forrest Green Compressor is the cousin of the super popular and limited numbered BJFE Pine Green Comp. Like the it's kin the FGC is very transparent and packs the ability to deliver insanely cool dynamics. You can get boost capabilities with this pedal but where it really shines is in it's compression talents. I got to put this pedal through a few of my favorite amps and guitars, the outcome was short of perfection!

By far the best combo was a my modded Fender Deville and Tele with neck humbucker. I'm a big fan of the spanky Tele sound and this pedal was able to take it to another level. Most compressors will drain your sound of dynamic and feel, which makes your playing suffer. The FGC beautifully kept my dynamics intact while at the same time tightening and creating blooming chords. Another area this pedal thrives in is in it's ability to keep your original tone transparent and true to the core. A lot of compressors tend to eat away at your tone when cranking them up or blending them with certain amps tones and other pedals. I have a sound I've created called The Screaming Banshee which consists of a great compressor and a few others pedals I won't give up,. The Forrest Green Compressor gets along in that situation like gold. Guitars players forget how much they an actually get out of a great compressor, and this why I always try and push my buddies into experimenting with as many combinations as possible. You find a good comp to throw on your board and the results are like having a new pedalboard, capable of new heights. Then we come to the boost capabilities of this pedal. By cranking the Level knob the FGC will hand you close to 100% untainted boosts, and it does this without very little noise even at really high levels. Finally there's my favorite feature, the Compression/Sustain Switch. This little buddy of a switch kicks the pedal into two different modes; In Comp mode the pedal dishes out high ration levels. This lets you smash your notes into the pavement, creating really amazing tones and sounds! The sustain in this setting also thrives helping you get the most out of any note or chord. In Sustain mode the pedal creates more subtle compression effects which work great for just about any situation. Overall the pedal just does a great job, like all Mad Professor pedals they sound nice and play well with others. Do yourself a favor and go out and try this little gem!

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For more info on Mad Professor go to the links below or just click the banner on the site.

www.mpamp.com