A Lesson in Splendid Tone

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Handsome, well built, simple, and great sounding - is how I would describe the Manifold Drive if I only had a few words to do so. Everything on this pedal (and I mean everything) is super freakin' sexy and right on target. From it's gun metal grey finish and hip simple artwork, to it's very cool LED and tiny toggle switch. Right from the start it was clear this was no ordinary dirt box. Sporting a duo of controls for gain and volume, and a switch which dishes out dark-bright-and flat signals - the Manifold Drive is capable of a huge variety of sounds. The volume control alone has enough output to send your signal into natural grinding'n'growling overdrives, but it is it's gain control that really delivers the magic when introducing it into your amp's tone. The 3-way toggle works like an EQ for fine tuning and further shaping your overall sound. This comes in handy when having to compensate high and low frequencies in certain venues and rooms. The pedal rocks true bypass circuitry for keeping your treasured amp tones in check and untampered. The Manifold Drive can run off of a 9V battery or (+) DC adapter. The pedal ships with a (-) adapter for those using daisy chain power supplies and the like. Last but not least, these babies are built on a high quality PCB's, for durable and consistent designs. 

I began my rundown of this pedal with a custom built Tele and 15 watt head with 1x12 cabinet. The guitar's tapable neck bucker and hand wound bridge pickup made for a wide variety of tasty tasty tones that the Manifold Drive would easily accent and bring to life. The amp was set to a sparkling clean tone, with it's EQ stack at noon and volume at about 30%. I started with the Manifold Drive's toggle switch in it's flat setting, it's volume matched to the amp's output, and the gain control up to about 10-15%. Here the pedal kicked out a mellow very natural sounding grit which brought out all of my amp's smooth and chiming tone. The subtle grit that the Manifold created was exactly that of a proper tube amp on the verge of breaking up. In the bridge pickup position I was able to easily control the pedal's overdrive and able to get a perfectly clean signal by easing up on my pick attack. With the Tele's neck bucker the Manifold pushed out a thicker and even smoother dirt tone. The overdrive was still quite mellow, only now by digging in and grinding down on my guitar's strings I was able to bring out more of the pedal's character. In both pickup positions the Manifold Drive worked exceptionally well at maintaining my amp's natural tone and guitar's feel. All very good good stuff for such a mellow gritty tone. While in this subtle overdrive setting I also played around with the pedal's toggle switch positions, first with the dark setting, then the bright. In the dark setting the highs from the amp became more forgiving and much lighter. This made everything warmer and gave the overall sound more bloom and boom. This setting would later work beautifully at shaving off some of my AC15's treble frequencies, making it easier dirty up and play loud. In the bright toggle setting the pedal dished out more ear candy tones. Setting the Manifold Drive bright added a crisp top-end which helped make every string punch and stand out more. This was perfect for getting the pedal's overdrive to cut through any mix. Next I set the Manifold Drive's gain at about 30%, with it's volume a bit louder, and it's toggle in the dark setting. Playing this pedal setting through a Les Paul, with the 15 watter set slightly hot, and a 2x12 cab in the mix - created one of the best rock rhythm tones I'd ever heard. The combination of the 15 watt head's natural dirt and pedal's super smooth grime made for one grade A golden rock tone. Here is where I really began hearing the difference between this pedal and the average ol' TS808 style pedal.. I was able to hear these subtle harmonics, overtones, and undertones when digging into the guitar's strings and working complex chords and riffs. I was also able to hear the Manifold's signature sound when bending and double stopping. It was something in the actual grit that became accented and much richer. Pushing the pedal's volume even higher helped to create some creamy woman tones and violin-like lead tones. This would become bigger and much more focused as I began adding in more of the pedal's gain control. I also rocked this pedal through my upgraded and customized Hot Rod Deville. This is an amp I use mostly for clean tones and for getting pure pedal dirt signals, The four 100 watt 10" speakers in this amp give it endless headroom and make it the perfect amp for hearing what a pedal is really capable of. Here I played with the Manifold Drive in it's medium to highest gain settings. I began with my amp in it's home run setting (which I won't share with you) and the pedal with it's controls at noon and switch in it's flat setting. Bypassed the amp produced a huge booming clean tone that let every string come across with massive clarity. Stepping on the pedal introduced a tight rumbling overdrive that hit my chest like a ton of bricks. I went from one guitar to the next, and each time the pedal worked it's magic. Cranked to the fullest the pedal also surprised me. I honestly thought with as much output as it's volume had that the sound would become muddy. But this was not the case. All the way form it's tiniest sound to it's biggest, the Manifold Drive came through beautifully. My last test with this pedal was to see if it would get along in a pedalboard situation. First I just plugged it in to see if there would be any excess noise - and there was none. Stacking this pedal up with clean boosters and putting it in front of other dirt boxes also sounded quite nice. I was able to take my pedals into new heights and create wild and tasteful tones. I also matched it up with some delays, reverbs, and other modulation pedals which really sounded off the hook. In the end there was no way to get a bad sound out of this pedal. Electronic wizards Wes Kuhnley and Peter Bregman sought out to create a collection of pedals that would express the sounds and tastes they most wanted to hear. With the Manifold Drive they not only accomplished their mission to design something unique - they also created something for us tone hounds, something we could appreciate and incorporate into our own world of tones. Get some and get your rock on!

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For more info on Field Effects/Resonant Electronic Design go to www.resonantelectronic.com There you will find more cool info on the Field Effects line and some sweet insight on the Resonant Electronic Design amp collection. Check back with us soon for another Field Effects feature - coming atcha very very soon.

The Sound Floating in Your Head

The one pedal that is floating around out there more than others is? You guessed it, the overdriver. Tons of cats spend numerous hours tweaking, modifying, and even cloning old favorites. To be honest most of the time it's hard to really separate these pedals from each other, I mean yes some are brighter, some darker, others full, and some thin. But when it comes to really making an impact and delivering something that stands out from all rest it can be difficult. Then there's the dreamers, the cats that walk around out there with that one sound in their head, that tone that is special to them for whatever reason. These end up being the pedals that become standards in the industry and timeless classics. My buddy Keith from Machine Head Pedals is one of these cats, taking stompboxes to the next level and bringing us tones we can incorporate into our signature sounds. A true tone artist.

Machine Head Pedals
72 Degrees

My dear friends I'd like to introduce you to the 72° overdrive pedal. It sports a Level, Drive, and Tone knob. Simple enough right? I will be completely honest with you all, when I first received the 72° I didn't think much of it. I had seen so many overdrivers that just didn't cut it, overdrivers that sounded like or exactly like so many of the pedals out there there today. Then I plugged it in, and it was like a breath of fresh air. The perfect amount of grit and compression. I then got the name of the pedal, 72°, the perfect temperature for any day. I had to hand it to Keith, for the first time in a long time here was an overdrive pedal that not only sounded like it's own but also delivered everything that makes the "greats" great. These are the most exciting kind of stompboxes, the ones that surprise and knock us on our asses. Cats that have been around long enough to workout great tones for themselves will absolutely dig this pedal. It sounds like a great tube amp that was taken and dialed in for sweet vintage rock tones. The first guitar we threw at this baby was my rhythm guitar players vintage Strat. The amp of choice of course was a Fender set to clean. I matched the 72° Degrees Level knob to the amp's volume, flipped the knob to noon, and set the Drive at zero. The outcome was a hint of clear, crisp, and defined overdrive, the kind of overdrive that you need to dig into to get it to really yelp. Slowly we added the Drive and this is where this baby really began to sing. When we pumped the Drive to full we started getting those killer old school fuzzy, compressed overdrive tones that make a player want to cry out in solos. Throttling back on the pedal's Tone knob made for some really sweet rhythm guitar tones, tones that would work perfectly for recording. This is a great pedal for pairing up with any single coil guitar. Next in line was my semi-hollowbody, a Hagstrom Viking with Skatterbrane humbuckers. I started out again at low Drive settings. The sound of the 72° through this guitar produced some of the best woman tones I have ever heard come from a stompbox. Awesome for both lead and chord work, Clapton would be proud. That's how I can tell a great overdrive pedal, when it brings into mind a killer player or awesome band. Like any great overdriver the 72° also works great with your guitar's volume and tone knob. Something I had to do while still plugged into the semi-hollowbody was set a booster pedal in front of the 72°, this is a test I like to do with overdrive pedals when playing through humbuckers. I like to see how far I can push it before things get annoying. But again surprisingly enough the tones stayed usable. The final test was playing the pedal though my Tele, a custom job I modded out throughout the last few months. This is the guitar I use for most everything, it sports a humbucker in the neck, single coil in the bridge, and a push/pull knob for a wider selection of tones. I wanted to work the pedal's Tone knob knob here so this is what we did. I began by recording some tracks with the Tone all the way down. Then I layered that track with the Tone set at noon, and last I recorded some lead work with the Tone at full blast. Beautiful! This is how I can always tell how well a overdrive pedal will work for live situations, because rooms change and you always want to be able to fit in a sound that will work for you, no matter where you need to set the pedal's tone. I'll tell you something, I have never played a pedal that takes so well to so many different guitars, stunning! Last I'll say this about the Machine Head Pedals. If you're looking for something with that great golden era rock sound, this is your stop. I believe Keith will certainly be one of those cats that will continue to knock out great pedals, it comes natural to him...you can hear it in his work.


For more info on Machine Head Pedals go to www.machineheadpedals.com or click the logo in our links. Stay tuned for next month when we'll be feature another of Keith's amazing pedals, we'll be interviewing this stompbox genius. Can you dig it!!!?