Funktified-Tripped Out-Psychedelic Goodness

It was a few years ago when I was first introduced to the Tremendous Trio (AC Booster/RC Booster/BB Preamp), this was how Xotic Effects first caught my attention. Once discovering this company I began to following it's work closely, trying out everything they releassed, and keeping tabs on all the great reviews that were being written. I soon noticed Xotic was on fire! Building one awesome pedal after the other, with each pedal being special in it's own way, and more and more players sticking these boxes on their boards. Next came the Robotalk, a envelope filter/arpeggiator that absolutely rocked and blew people away. Unlucky for me I didn't get a chance to grab one and it is now probably THE #1 pedal on my wishlist(hint hint friends at Xotic). The good news here is Xotic has a 2nd version of this pedal which is equally as cool and just as great sounding. I honestly thought there was no way to improve on the envelope filter of the first model... I was wrong. The Robotalk II has one-up'd the first version by stacking a second identical envelope filter channel which can be blended with the first. This thing has a spot-on classic vibe that will warm up, funk up, and excite any tone you throw at it. I thought this would be a great pedal to share with you guys and a perfect addition for anyone looking for a great sounding envelope filter.

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Robotalk II

Envelope Filter

CONTROLS

Channel A

Sensitivity: Determines how sensitive A-Ch envelope reacts

A-Ch Volume: Controls A-Ch volume

Decay: Determines length of decay, time of envelope, and start frequencies

Resonance: Controls the amount of envelope feedback for A-Ch

On/Off Switch: True bypass

Channel B

Sensitivity: Determines how sensitive B-Ch envelope reacts
B-Ch Volume: Controls B-Ch volume

Decay: Determines length of decay, time of envelope, and start frequencies

Resonance: Controls the amount of envelope feedback for B-Ch

A & B Channels

Direct Volume: Allows you to blend dry signal against effected sound.

Internal DIP Switches

4-Pole DIP Switch: Envelope frequencies

(for both A and B channels)

2-Pole DIP Switches: Input pad settings

(works to match to your pickups)

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This my friends is by far one of the most versatile envelope filter boxes I have ever plugged into and played. On this pedal you will find two identical envelope filter channels both rocking Sensitivity, Decay, Resonance, and Volume controls. In the middle the pedal sports an Direct Volume control which blends the pedal's overall effected signal into your root tone. The amount of flexibility that the Robotalk II possesses with these controls is mind blowing. I have always been a sucker for vintage envelope filters and have always tried to find new and interesting ways to use this effect. The Robotalk II produces warm'n'silky plushy vibes that feed your amp a unique collection of sounds that you will fall in love with. This pedal not only works great vintage tones but can also be used to tool new heights. This second version of the Robotalk is exactly why Xotic Effects has become and continues to be one of my favorite pedal companies.

The first thing I gotta say caught my attention about the new Robotalk was it's super hip super cool look. If you dig retro vibe'd funktified goodness - This is your thing. The next thing that caught my eye and ear was the very keen layout of controls and sounds those controls were capable of. To see exactly what this pedal could and would do I first ran it through a sparkling clean Fender Twin Reverb. I set most everything on the amp at noon and held off on the reverb output. I left the pedal in the setting it was in, strummed out some licks, and got some killer killer sounding auto-wah sounds. My hand was able to control the pedal's effect smoothly which let me project the exact vibe I wanted. A big big plus. Next I began dialing in the Robotalk 2's left channel (A) to a subtle, traditionally vintage voiced envelope filter sound. Then low and behold started flowing all of my favorite James Brown and Curtis Mayfield licks. The pedal's effect rose and fell beautifully, it was smooth and warm, and it was pleasing to the ear. For those of you who have played lots of envelope filters before you know they can be a bit on the sharp side. The Robotalk 2 is not of this breed. Instead this baby hands you a sound that works with your guitar's root tone and helps you mold what you're after. Slowly rolling in the sensitivity control back and fourth I noticed how sweet and how large the overall range was. I was able to take this pedal from extremely subtle pulsing sounds to all-out loud buck wild quaking madness. In every setting you dial this baby in it responds to your pick attack with precision and great tone. Manipulating this pedal to move how, when, and where I wanted it to go was easy as cake. A quick flick of the resonance and sensitivity and you got yourself a spicier much more aggressive sound. Then blending in overdrive signals with this baby is straight up rock and roll! I was really impressed at how well the Robotalk II worked with overdrive signals, from light grit to fuzzy sweetness. With a light smooth envelope filter setting and light crunchy drive, you can get some killer signature blues tones. Add a little more grit and you've got yourself a great classic or hard rock sound. Boost that signal and you're in super wild lead tone territory. Then taking it to the extreme like blending the pedal with some fuzz... Oh mama! The way this thing's effect bends, turns, screeches, and squirms when played through high fuzz is unbelievable. You get these crazy robotic sound effects that turn your guitar into a voice of it's own. One of the sweetest uses I found for this baby was definitely setting two envelope filter sounds and switching back and fourth from them. Having this ability in one pedal made for saving on pedalboard space and gave me a broader range of use live and in the studio. The real magic though starts when you begin to blend the two channels together. In one channel I had a warm vintage voiced envelope filter effect that gave some color to my root tone and made things overall interesting. The next channel I set a bit crazier. I set it with much more sensitivity and let it ring and stand out harder. Live I was able to go from one to the other for different tunes and what not. Then there was the third channel, the blending of both channels. This is where the Robotalk II separates itself from many other pedals of it's kind. Here the sky is the limit! If you've never heard what two envelope filters crashing into one another sound like you must grab one of these pedals. You can get from warping spaced out effects to swishing swirling unpredictable weirdness. The ability of using both channels independently or together really makes this a special and one-of-a-kind stompbox. Overall you'll end up with a world of great quality sound effects that work not only with guitar but also sound awesome through bass, keys, vocals, samples, etc... The Robotalk 2 has definitely been one of the most unique stompboxes to come through Analog War Cry. Get out there and try one!

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For more info on Xotic just click the direct link either on the sidebar or our header down below. You can also go to www.xotic.us or www.prosoundcommunications.com for more Xotic and other killer gear. We will be steadily putting more of these awesome pedals through their paces so make sure to keep them eyes peeled. See ya soon!

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Proceed with Caution

Every time I think I've seen it all come across a company like this, and absolutely blows my mind. As more and more time goes by and effects become a much more common and popular source of inspiration. We begin to find new ways to be heard. But coming up with those new ideas is only the beginning of it all. We still need the tools to get the job done. This is exactly the mission behind Tonebutcher's creative designs. Anyone who's been playing around with effects pedals long enough knows that creating some strange and beautiful sound, tone, or effect usually comes from some happy accident. Now we have a handful of pedals to help us along on this journey. Pedals to give us the spark needed to tap into our wild child. Tonebutcher baby.

Blood Brother

envelope filter

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Just look at this thing! Everything about this pedal screams coolness, madness, and 100% pedal addict. There are times when the looks of a pedal really don't do it justice, when it's just hype and god knows what else. This is not one of those pedals. Other than the footswitch you will not find one thing on this pedal that it has in common with other effects. The knobs, LED, battery compartments, enclosure, and most important it's sound, are all it's own. Believe you me, I have played and reviewed some pretty interesting envelope filters in my day, but this thing stands alone. The Blood Brother sports a toggle switch that flips from an auto wah setting to a strange arpeggiator effect. The left knob controls the auto wah setting, and is used for the effect's amount/attack. The right knob controls the arpeggiator setting and is used to dial in the speed that it travels in. Two 9V batteries power this sucker up and get it flying into outer space. Other than that you just plug in and go.

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:::Round 1:::

The Blood Brother from the second I plugged it in had me sold. I dug that it reacted to each kind of pickup in it's own special way, I dug how pronounced each effect was, and I really dug that it's actually two effects in one! I began with the pedal's control rolled off all the way and slowly worked my way up, first trough a clean tone. With the knob at low settings the envelope filter take a much harder punch to get it to open. This is nice for high output instruments or heavy handed cats. For guitar I found the BB started working it's magic right at around 15% wet. The sound was still not easily manipulated but did just enough to give you a huge yowling sound. I worked the knob up a little higher and began getting this thick, syrupy, envelope filter tone that seemed to seep out of my speakers. The sound didn't loose it's muster through reverb or delay pedals either. The first guitar I tried it through was my single P90 equipped Junior copy. Just like you'd expect from a nice sounding P90 the bite and aggression came through in the Blood Brother's sound. It was weird. The pedal's effect was really present, rich, and strong. Yet it didn't completely take over everything you blended it with. How Tonebutcher achieved this with a envelope filter is beyond me. At around 50% the auto wah effect really began to sing. This was an ideal setting for a universal envelope filter sound. I could easily control the effect with this setting and it sounded great with all types of styles. The key is to work your pick attack behind an effect like this. If you give too much you get too much. But if you give just enough you get just the right amount of mojo to create some cool sounds. I dig using envelope filter with a kickass fat sounding fuzz pedal. I like t run these style effect before my dirt pedals, but a cool trick for getting a mellow auto wah sound is to reverse the order. It makes your fuzz work through the effect giving you some interesting choices to play with. The Blood Brother definitely worked nicely in both applications. To a more intense effect from the pedal I took it from 75% and up. Here the pedal went way beyond the normal envelope filter, creating some wacky and out of this world effects that really sparked my imagination. Yet even in it's wilder settings I was quite surprised at how nice this pedal sounded, and it did this with very few controls. Many envelope filters give you sensitivity, decay, attack, and intensity controls. This can be helpful, but at times it can also be your downfall, at least it's been mine in the past. Once I start thinking too much about how to set up an effect it's all over. Then having tons of controls, buttons, and switches never helps the situation. This pedal with it's one control per channel does what it does and it does it beautifully. Even with the envelope filter opened full blast I was able to get sounds I could play with. I found higher settings worked best with neck pickups and bass guitars. Also playing the Blood Brother in it's auto wah mode, cranked all the way through a lap steel and delay sounded pretty damn cool. I think this is exactly the idea behind these peals, to hit with the traditional effects if needed, and be able to take you way past them for experimentation and freaking out. I dig it.

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:::Round 2:::

This was a setting that completely through me of guard. When I got the Blood Brother I wasn't even aware that it was capable of creating such sounds. Arpeggiators are something that I have been on the hunt for for quite some time. This is definitely a smart move on Tonebutcher's part. This is an effect that many cats are always on the move for, and Lord knows getting a decent sounding one is either not easy, expensive, or impossible. If only you knew the things I have had to do to get this type of effect. Let me share with you; First I take a phaser set at a medium speed and set very wet, next a square wave tremolo at the desired rate, and last a wah pedal to shift up and down on the frequency. Lots of work! This pedal makes all of that a cinch, and it gives you another entirely differently effect to play with too. What the Blood Brother does exactly in this setting is create a sequence of bleeps, bloops, and morphs, that fly out of the pedal in a smooth and creamy flavor. The right control sets the speed of the effect while your guitar triggers it. Oh, and guitar isn't the only instrument this effect works great with either, no no. Guitar is only the beginning. I found the Blood Brother's arpeggiator mode worked nicely through both clean and dirty amp tones, and it did it's thing a bit differently with different style pickups. I always dig a pedal that adapts to all pickups, this is why I always mention this. Some pedals you play them and they sound the same no matter what you play them through. Not cool. Through a nice and clean blackface type tone effect rolled out clearly, bubbly, and bouncy. Every little ooop, weeep, and ahhhp could be heard perfectly. Through overdriven tones the effects the effect pretty much came off the same way only it blended with the dirt to create a much more aggressive version of itself. This was how easy it was to get some use out of this pedal. I was able to get a sound I used in my band the day I got the pedal. I had been dreaming up this certain sound for months, trying different ways to get it (like I mentioned above it wasn't easy). One flick of the strings with the knob up at noon and I was home free! A slow/medium tempoed bouncing effect that jumped in and out with different flavors came speaking from the pedal. I had taken the pedal to band practice, and the second I struck the strings everyone looked at each other. I know that may sound cheesy but that's the way it went down my brothers and sisters. After that the experimenting just went wild and I was able to find endless ways to use the pedal. With delay I was able to create these skipping arpeggiated echoes that faded away like some fantasy sound. With fuzz the effect took on an entirely different vibe, sounding more like a robot coming to destroy the earth than a pedal. Throwing some reverb on this piece made things all spooky and gave me a haunting breathy sound that I'd never heard before. Then there was combining it with other envelope filter type pedals, tremolos, and phasers, to get some of theee most random special effects ever. Bass guitar is a beast with both of this pedal's settings, but in this setting I found it to be even more insane. Rhodes keyboards creating some magic with, lap steels, and even harp's. But the absolute best way to use this pedal was as a soundscape device. To add layers, accents, and highlights to my music. Hitting the strings only once every couple bars creating a trippy, psychedelic sound that grooved super duper hard. There really isn't all that much difficult about the effect it creates in this setting, it's actually quite the opposite. The mojo lies behind the tone and feel of the effect. Tonebutcher is on to a good thing with it's styled out, freakazoid stompboxes. I mean just imagine; extreme effects that you can actually use. Very cool if you ask me. These are pedals that are handmade here in good ol Cali, in Costa Mesa if I'm correct. And if you look on the Tonebutcher website you'll see a bunch more cool pedals just like the Blood Brother. This tells me these cats are imaginative, innovative, and insane!

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For more info on Tonebutcher go to www.tonebutcher.com or click the direct link on our sidebar. Make sure and mention Analog War Cry with any Tonebutcher order and they will wave shipping fees and provide you with a kickass Tonebutcher t-shirt. Look out for more info on both Tonebutcher and our Analog War Cry special.

TWA: a look into the future...

It has landed, the first creation from Totally Wycked Audio has landed, and if this doesn't take your head off I don't know what will. If you remember correctly we were in communication with Godlyke sometime in the beginning of TWA's venture into the creation of the LD-01 Little Dipper. They were keeping us informed, filled in, and up to date on all the happenings of this cool and sexy pedal. Well now it's here and I am speechless... Never have I come across something so cool and innovative. TWA has taken all the skill, knowledge, and experience they could muster, to create what will go down in history as one of the baddest stompboxes to hit planet earth. My good buddy Kevin at Godlyke said I would absolutely fall in love with this pedal and he was right, I'm in ahh. I'm so proud of these cats and cannot wait to see what else they come up with in the coming years. Raise your glasses, throw up your fists, and get ready to bow down to the teachings of Totally Wycked Audio. Now come on down and get some.

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Totally Wycked Audio

LD-01 Little Dipper

CONTROLS

Ascension: Controls the depth in the sweep of the pedal's filters. Similar to threshold in envelope filter.

Inclination: 4-way switch that determines the trigger timing of the two filters in relation to one another

Diffraction: At zero filtering effects are clean, as you add Diffration in it creates a fuzz effect.

Blend: This is an internal control that blends in clean instrument signal against effected signal.

Gate: This internal control acts as a threshold control that will gate noise in between notes.

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So what is the Little Dipper exactly? Well for those of you who missed class last time I will explain it one more time. The LD-01 is an envelope controlled vocal formant filter based around a classic 70's circuit. Which circuit exactly? You'll have to figure that one out on your own. Like other envelope filters the Little Dipper responds on playing dynamics, only it covers a wider range of frequencies and is much more organic sounding, similar to the human voice. This pedal lets you emulate everything from auto wahs and phase shifters, to talk boxes, traditional wahs, and fuzz tones. You'll be able to turn your guitar into vowel slobbering, goo-goo gaa-gaa-ing, funktified hammering, machine of this-that and the-other thing. It is the mocking bird of effects pedals and something you're sure to get much joy from. The Little Dipper is basically a whole new breed of pedal, a pedal built to add an entirely new world of colors to your tonal canvas. I wasn't 5 minutes into trying this pedal before I was calling every musician friend I knew asking them to come over and check it out for themselves. Everything TWA said this pedal could do is right on and then some.

The pedal is 100% US made, built with the highest quality components, and able to handle some serious stage time. The LD-01 sports true bypass, three rugged chrome knobs (Ascension/Inclination/Diffraction), two internal controls (Blend/Gate), 7 LED's (which are shaped like the "Little Dipper"), and can run on both a 9V battery or power supply. How's that for a work of art? When you do use batteries to power the LD-01 make sure you're using top quality and not generic brand 9 volts, this will assure you get the best performance from this unit. When using power supplies run it with adapters of 500 mA or higher, the Godlyke Power-All system is always a good alternative. Everything is housed in a heavy duty dark blue sparkle enclosure that blends with the pedal's LED design to look like a summer night star filled sky. I can imagine just how cool it must look in a gigging situation, hypnotizing and lighting up the darkness. The pedal also has 1/4" input and output jacks which are mounted to their own board to keep from damaging the main circuit board. The guts of this pedal expose highly skillful workmanship which tells me this pedal will last a very long time if not forever.

I wanted to hear the full and clean effect from the formant filter so I started with the Diffraction control rolled all the way off, I set the Inclination in the 2nd position, and rolled the Ascension up about a quarter of the way up. This setting produced a classic, warm'n'quacky auto-wah effect that worked beautifully with funk licks, and rhythm chucking. The filters dipped and rose smoothly with every little accent in the effect coming off clearly. My original sound was still strong and present which was a nice change from the many units that muddy things up. The reason the Little Dipper works so great with your natural tone is the cool little Blend pot that can be found on the inside of the chassis. You can funktify your sound to all hell and with the Blend knob work your clean tone back into the mix to balance things out, it's lovely. Next I rose the Ascension knob to about 50% and added in a bit of the Diffraction. This produced a more in-your-face kind of sound, perfect for cutting through a mix or for live gigging. One thing you'll notice about the LD-01 is how intact your lows stay, this makes gigging, band practice, and loud playing in general sound much better. A common problem with envelope filters is they tend to eat your bass, sharpen up your highs, and flatten out your mids. Non of that here my dear chaps, the control layout on this pedal keeps things amp friendly and makes sure you're able to dial in a sound you can use. One of the sounds I was dying to get out of this pedal was a talkbox effect, I have always dug what talkbox pedals sound like only I've never enjoyed having to set them up or how they function. Getting the Little Dipper to sound like a talkbox was much easier. To do this first find the spot in the Ascension control that works best with your picking dynamics, I found the 3rd position of the Inclination works best for this effect, and last add in the desired amount of fuzz with the Diffraction knob (the more Diffraction the more intense). The last ingredient is an overdrive or distortion pedal, this gives you the perfect amount of growl, howl, and robo-vowels. Then just control the talk with your picking dynamics and that's that. Another cool use I found from this pedal was the cocked wah effects it can produce, I actually did this by mistake by leaving the Ascension knob in place and strumming a chord while turning the 4 positions of the Inclination control. This made for some dynamite sounding lead tones. My distortion exploded with character and life. Played through a Super Lead with my favorite overdriver created some sounds to die for, sounds Hendrix would've rocked the hell out of. As I continued to flip through the controls I found yet another sound, a classic, mild phase effect. It isn't like a modern phaser with all the wild swishing and swooshing. The phase tones you can get from LD-01 are much mellower and user friendly. Depending on how you set the Ascension and Diffraction make a big difference on how this sound comes off. Last I put the Little Dipper through a bunch of different dirt boxes, I wanted to see how much grit I could push through it. Just like I expected the LD-01 is extremely pedal friendly, because it keeps your natural sound's eq nice and tight makes this pedal a dream to match up with dirt pedal. My favorite though, the absolute coolest sounds I was able to get from the Little Dipper, were the unexplainable, uncataloged, and yet to be named sounds. I was able to dish out more unique tones from this one pedal that I knew what to do with. It's cool that it's based off of a classic design and also holds it's own special design, this keeps things traditional and exciting all at the same time. Today's music needs a bit of a facelift, not entirely don't get me wrong, I'm as old school rock and roll as one gets. Having pedals like these though makes playing fun and keeps things fresh. Totally Wycked Audio has really given us a look into the future with the LD-01, and at the same time given birth to some extraordinary sounds. These cats own a talent that will surely bring forth some more unique musical tools, tools we can really use in these hard musical times we're living in. Until TWA comes up with their next masterpiece I will be trying to master the LD-01. I say you do the same and come join me in the stars.

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For more info on Totally Wycked Audio go to www.godlyke.com or click the direct banners located on our site. Make sure you stay tunes for more awesome gear from the cats at TWA and Godlyke. As long as they keep dishing them out we will be reporting to the masses, hell yes!!!

Godlyke releases the TWA Little Dipper

A few months back we mentioned Godlyke would be releasing their own effects pedals under the Totally Wicked Audio brand. That time has come, and what we'll soon have access to will surely quench your pedal junky needs. The first model to hit the streets will be the LD-01 Little Dipper/vocal formant filter, which will be shipping in late June. What exactly is a vocal formant filter you say? Hmmm, well I had a chance to play with one at NAMM last Winter. Imagine your auto wah/envelope filter, only much more expressive, organic sounding, with crystal clear tone, and human-like qualities. The Little Dipper also has the ability to hit the extreme and can create some knarly spaced-out sounds. This is all I can say from a quick demo of it, but that little bit of time spent with it showed me a revolution in envelope filters. Below is some more info on the TWA brand from our good friends at Godlyke. Keep your eyes peeled kids, Analog War Cry might just be demoing one here shortly.




Godlyke, Inc. is proud to announce the launch of our new line of boutique effect pedals, Totally Wicked Audio (TWA). Consisting of dedicated analog stompboxes, TWA line features unique and esoteric effect types that will help set the discerning player apart from the masses. All TWA models are 100% made in the USA using the highest quality components and offer all the features and construction quality expected from a high-end analog device.

The flagship model of the TWA brand, the LD-01 Little Dipper will be released during the 2nd quarter of 2009.

The Little Dipper is an envelope-controlled vocal formant filter based on a classic 70's circuit. It's dual filters react to playing dynamics, crreating peeks and notches that simulate the vowel sounds of human speech. The Little Dipper allows the user to emulate talk boxes, auto-wahs, filters, and phase shifters, as well as creating strikingly vocal wah-sounds. A built-in fuzz circuit emphasizes harmonics for a more dramatic effect while dry blend and noise-gate trim pots offer a full-frequency response with ultra-low noise operation.

The Little Dipper features a 16-gauge bent steel chassis with heavy-duty powder coating and eye-catching LED display. The Little Dipper also features mechanical true-bypass switching and comes with a three-year manufacturer's warranty.

-Godlyke Distribution, Inc.


For more info on Totally Wicked Audio products as well as other products distributed by Godlyke, go to www.godlyke.com or click the Godlyke logo in our links section. You can also reach them toll-free at 866-246-3595 (international dial 973-777-7477)

Welcome to the next level

WMD FatMan

envelope filter

Some of my favorite effects pedals have always been envelope filters, the unique shape of sounds they create is almost impossible to shy away from. It is one of the few effects that doesn't discriminate, can be used in just about every type of music, and will instantly make even the most bland guitar lick interesting. In this world we live in, this world of stompboxes, pedals, and effects, we have all seen some great envelope filters. Lots of them have become classics, collectibles, and a favorite weapon for the stage. The design of this wonderful effect has pretty much stayed intact throughout the years without much evolution to it's sound and tone. That is until now, there's a cat out there by the name of William Mathewson who's mind has taken this wonderful effect to whole new level. His design? The FatMan. The result? An extremely versatile envelope filter keeping true to the old school and capable of producing some of the new. It's times like these I'm glad I became a musician.

 FEATURES:

 *Fat & Warm Pure Analog Circuitry

 *12 Filter Frequency Ranges

 *Tweakable Filter Feedback

 *Lowpass & Bandpass Filter Modes

 *Reverse Sweep

 *Tweakable Attack Speed

 *Internal Gain Adjustment 

 *Key Input

 *Hand Wired True Bypass

 *Violet LED

 *Top Quality Components

 *Super Hard Epoxy Powder Finish

 *Standard 9V Power Jack

My God what an amazing pedal this has turned out to be, another killer find to add to the wonderful collection of discoveries I have made this year. Released a few years back I cannot believe I missed this one, no matter because this is one of those pedals that is way ahead of it's time. If you're a fan of the wah wah pedal and classic style envelope filters this pedal will be a real treat, it takes off where you'd imagine these designs were left off. Being that the FatMan is of pure analog circuitry you might imagine it must sound warm, round, and thick, which it does. But I must tell you I have never heard a more vocal sounding envelope filter in all my days, the shape of the effects it produces are almost human like, giving your sound an entire new platform to play on. William really went to town when he sat down to create this pedal's layout, you will notice how well each control works with one another and how simple it is to adjust it to your playing style. Like most traditional envelope filters the FatMan sports the basic controls needed for knocking it's sound, but where this pedal shines is in it's not so traditional controls. A Range knob lets you click in to 12 different frequencies making this pedal friendly to just about anything you plug into it. Set it 1-4 and you're living in way down low land, perfect for playing with bass and low notes. These settings X out the mids and highs which give you deep and round tones. In the 5-8 realm you dive into the more wah wah sounding effects, great for guitar work, licks, and quick playing. From 9-12 you're in treble city, this is perfect for really standing out in the mix. These settings really give you a plucky sound, a poppy compressed effect. With the Range knob alone you have access to more sounds than you'll know what to do with, but luckily for us the fun does not stop there. The FatMan has one very special feature that will blow your mind, it blew mine. The Key Input... where to start? Before I get into this control option let me just say that the FatMan also has the traditional control knobs like Attack, Threshold, Feedback, Sweep Up/Down, etc... Once you get the hang of things with this pedal and you dial in some favorite settings you'll be able to further manipulate them with the Key Input. This option let's you trigger the envelope filter effect with another device such as a drum machine, mic, keyboard, etc... I used the Key Input with another guitar which was a ton of fun, I set the Attack and Threshold to my liking, played my guitar while my buddy played the other guitar to shape and bring the effect in & out. What other devices must sound like through this is something I am very much looking forward to. The possibilities are endless with an effect like this, become bored and it's the end of your ride. But if you're like me and don't become easily turned off, a pedal like this will bring a lifetime of sound tweaking fun. William Mathewson's talents has brought into this wacky world of sounds some very interesting creations, take a little time to find out just how.... you won't be sorry you did.

For more info on WMD effects click the logo in our links. Also look for more WMD effects to come in later posts. Demos and videos coming soon.