Lay Down Your Soul

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

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Soul Taker

overdrive/distortion

Controls:

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

Specs:

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

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

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

The Sound We All Love

Tweed Overdrive

TO-1

• For Pros and Everyday Players Alike
• No Clone or Copy Here
• Hand Built with Top Notch Components
• Versatility to the Fullest
• User Friendly Layout
• True Bypass Circuit
• Heavy Duty Roadworthy Powder Coated Enclosure
• Power Supply Included (standard 9VDC)
• Works Well with Others

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If there's one type of overdriver I've always thought there was never enough of, it's got to be the tweed voiced overdrive pedal. Those of you with vintage tweed amp experience know that when it comes to rich'n'creamy overdrive it don't get better than a proper tweed amplifier. I'm proud to once again feature the awesome brand of Bules Pearl, this time with their TO-1 Tweed Overdrive. This pedal was one that proved quite useful right from the get-go. Having a handful of "British" voiced dirt boxes it was nice to bring in something with super smooth feel. Like many of my favorite dirt pedals the TO-1 sports a trio of controls, being Volume, Tone, and Drive. This pedal's simple layout assures you will be able to dial in quick and spot-on tones. Other than the normal run of classic tweed style tones, the TO-1 is also capable of much much more. Just like all the rest of Blues Pearl's designs, the Tweed Overdrive sports the highest quality parts and components. A pedal built to last and last, and give and give.

There were two things I was really curious to try once I got the Tweed Overdrive into my clutches. One was to run it through a non-tweed style amp, and the other to stack it up with an old tweed amp. I began this trip with a Les Paul and my modified 4x10 Hot Rod Deville, setting the amp as clean as the good lord would let me (which was plenty), with no reverb, and just a cable between the amp and the pedal. The TO-1 I set with it's volume at unity, tone matched to the amp's, and drive at around 15% hot. Most pedals at a low gain or drive setting won't do much, or just end up giving you an unusable sound. This champion of a box came through quite nicely at this low setting. I riffed around while in the lead pickup, dug into some dirty blues licks, and picked out some big'n'heavy chords. The pedal delivered beautifully, giving me a bright yet warm tone that made me want to rock out! Next I took the gain control just a hint higher, and pushed the volume to about 2'o'clock. Right there in all it's glory, blended in with the Deville's big'n'bright clean tone, was the Tweed Overdrive's silky smooth grit making the sound tasty and flavorful. The nice thing though was that the pedal would only reveal it's grit when I dug in hard enough. This gave me the ability to really knock out some cool sounding classic vibe'd rock tones. Next I moved up the drive to about 30% and rolled the drive knob up just a tad. Again I still had plenty of clean signal along with the pedal natural tube-like grit. And just like an old tweed amp the TO-1 was able to maintain the amp's tonal characteristics perfectly. Kicking out a perfect mellow rock rhythm tone I pulled out some of my favorite classic rock licks and drove away. The touch dynamics were at the right sensitivity and the tone was unbelievably balanced. This made everything I played come off even and in harmony, which also let the pedal's sound sit much nicer in a mix when I used live. For me this is one of the most important qualities in a pedal, for it to deliver great string articulation. yes of course it takes a great set of pickups and a rockin hand. But if you've ever played an old tweed amp you know that they just give that to you no matter what you play them with. Up until this point I was getting grade A tones that worked for a wide range of music styles. But it was the next tone I dialed in that really had me drooling at the mouth. What I did was set the amp a bit warmer, then countered it with a brighter pedal setting. I dialed the amp's treble close to 9'0'clock, mids just behind noon, bass at around 3'o'clock, with a hint of presence and a hint of reverb. I also warmed up my guitar's tone by shaving off some highs with the tone knob and switching into the bass pickup. The Tweed Overdrive I set with the gain at noon, the tone just past 4'o'clock, and the volume quite hot to help cook the amp's tubes some more. This gave the tone a smooth but biting edge that reminded me of something between Neil Young's tone and Clapton's woman sound. Overall this tone wasn't all that hot, more like a medium grit tone. Even though I was able to break the signal up something awful just by digging and grinding down on the strings. Full gain, tone in the middle, and volume at about 3'o'clock was another awesome tone that the Tweed Overdrive was able to deliver. Here the pedal gave me a killer universal dirt tone that helped me with all types of situations and styles. Throwing a clean booster in front of the TO-1 helped to take the tone into lead territory. Within the first few licks I played I noticed the Blues Pearl box stacked up beautifully with other pedals. Next came out the 57' Tweed Deluxe (thanks to my buddy Art). Before I plugged it into the 57 I first plugged the pedal into a 22 watt Blackface style amp. I began by comparing tones back and fourth. First I'd dial in some semi-clean tones, then some brittle/gritty stuff, then some creamy dirt, and last full blast. All throughout the comparison the pedal was able to hold it's own and deliver the same feeling in the sound. Before putting this badboy away I finally went ahead and plugged it into the 57 Tweed Deluxe. First I did with the Tweed amp what it does best... dialing it in hot! I grabbed my single Lollar P90 equipped Junior copy and went to work. The amp and guitar alone dished what was one of the most spectacular tones I'd ever heard. Slowly I began to introduce some of the TO-1's gain and volume into the mix, with the tone matched to the map. At low gain and volume settings the TO-1 worked as a killer quality booster. It was able to help me take the amp's tone even further which created a world of harmonically rich textures and overtones. At about half way up on the gain and volume unity the pedal began to take the amp into a strange lead fuzzy/overdrive type of distortion. I was quite surprised how the pedal didn't mess with the amp's root tone or color the character of the dirt itself. Then even more impressive was how well the signal mellowed out when rolling back the guitar's volume knob. With both pedal and amp cranked pretty high I wasn't able to get a fully clean sound, but enough sounds to let me work some real magic on the fly. I had in my hands a proper tweed tone whether I used the Tweed amp or Tweed pedal. I really got to give it up to Blues Pearl for doing their research and delivering a product that does what it says it's going to. This pedal is a great choice for those of you who have been hunting down a proper classic tweed tone, or those of you who have tweed amp's that you don't want to take on the road. This is only the beginning of our Blues Pearl trip too, we will looking into many more of their pedals and making sure to bring you guys the best possible info. Stay tuned for more!

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For more info on Blues Pearl go to www.bluespearlamps.com or click the direct link in our sidebar. Blues Pearl is also in the works of designing their own line of amplifiers which we promise to try and get our hands on. Look for more Blues Pearl features in the near future.

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Seeing Red

For so so long have I been trying to get my hands on these pedals. I can remember visiting the Heavy Electronics website telling myself "Wow! These have to be awesome boxes." In fact, Heavy Electronics was one of the first companies I contacted when I started the AWC weblog. Well, I am super duper stoked to say that Heavy Electronics have come through, and the pedals they sent for us to try out are absolutely mind blowing! These cats totally met and went beyond our expectations. The build quality, tone, versatility, and style that these pedals own make them some of the coolest I have ever tried. Analog War Cry will be spending some time looking into a handful of the Heavy Electronics stompboxes, and if we're lucky will be able to bring them all your way. Now a very special treat from us to you. Heavy Electronics.

Red Eyes

overdrive

• Handmade in Minneapolis, Mn by Musicans
• Lifetime Warrenty (barring obvious abuse)
• Upgrades, Repairs, and Mods Available for Life
• Voiced Openly for Guitars, Bass, or any other Instrument
• True Bypass Switching/Minimum Length Leads
• PCB Design. Printed and Populated by HE
• 1oz Copper1/16" Single Point Mounted PCB
• 24mm Large Size Pots for Maximum Reliability
• Flying Leads to all Pots and Jacks
• Neutrik or Switchcraft 1/4 inch Single Jacks
• Sealed Metal LED Housing w/ Flying Leads
• 9V 200mA Power for Maximum Compatibility
• Powder-Coated Diecast Aluminum Enclosure
• Custom Option Available (graphics, colors, etc..)
• Duel Quality Control Testing (Audio & Build)

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First impression

Straight out of the box I was able to get magic from this pedal. I didn't even pay any attention to the setting at first. I just grabbed a couple cables, a guitar, and plugged into an amp set sparkling clean. I plowed down onto a handful of big rock chords and there came thundering out of my amp a huge gritty rock tone. It didn't take more than 5 minutes for the Red Eyes to have me hooked at the gills. The Red Eyes comes equipped with controls for gain and level, and voicing/tone. I will also mention that this is the latest version of the Red Eyes, sporting the super cool octopus graphics and powder coat finish. The Red Eyes also has two extra LED's (the octopus eyes) which work the pedal's clipping and work as a clipping indicators. Strum softly and the LED's fade in softly then fade out. Start to dig in and the LED's shine bright and angry. I was actually quite taken by how responsive and accurate the LED's were, a great tool for dark and loud stages.

Looking straight into the eyes

Once it was apparent that this pedal was going to be nothing but good times, I went ahead and grabbed the closest guitar to me and got to steppin'. I plugged in, and wallah. All around good stuff for everyone. The first setup I tested the Red Eyes through ended up being a Jazzmaster and a 22 watt 65' Deluxe reissue. The snappy feel of the amp and vintage vibe of the pedal matched up like a hand and glove. I was so surprised by the huge sound I was able to get from the 22 watts of Fender amp. The first thing really that stood out and impressed me was the tube-like grit and transparent nature of the pedal's sound. The midrange bit down beautifully, while the lows and highs touched off with a clarity and warmth. The Deluxe's tasty tone ended up being the perfect canvas for painting on top of. The first setting of fooled around with was - voice switch to the far left, gain set to about 15%, and level control matching the amp's output. Once engaged the pedal blew out a crunchy tube light overdrive that complimented the amp's woolfy vintage vibe. Just behind my amp's clean root tone I could hear and feel the Red Eyes' gritty character breaking through and helping the signal shout out with style. The subtle aggression and attitude of the Red Eyes' tone made for a very nice riffin' blues tone . Next I added in some more of the pedal's gain and rolled the voicing up 10%. Here the pedal did something really interesting. By playing lightly I could draw out a nice balanced overdrive from the pedal, then by digging in just a little harder the overdrive would go from smooth to broken up. This tone worked great for accenting lead runs and playing off of vocals and chorus sections. With the amp a little louder I was also able to get more out of the pedal's tone all together. Very nice nice stuff. From here I began cranking the amp into a light natural overdrive then stacking the pedal's grit on top of it. With a medium dirt setting I noticed the Red Eyes would give me an unbelievable amount of dynamics and range. This was possible due to how well it blended with the amp's dirt and how well it responded to using guitar's volume and tone controls. To simply get back to square one all I had to do was roll back the guitar's volume about 25-30% and I was in. The tone control on my guitar was also quite nice for working it into the pedal's character. In fact, it responded so well to the guitar's tone that it was like having another control on board the pedal. While in this same amp setting I turned up the Red Eyes' gain even more, then slammed down on some tasty rockin' power chords. The signal broke up even more creating a smooth and wonderful 100% rock and roll tone. This was a fantastic guitar tone that worked for just about every application I put it through. Next I worked the pedal's gain control just passed noon, voicing switch far left, and level slightly hot to help push the amp's signal even further. Without the pedal engaged the Deluxe amp pushed a sweet'n'warm vintage rock tone. With the pedal's help it was an entirely different story. The Red Eyes took the amp and converted it into a howling, riffing, hard rock machine. I dug in with some heavy blues licks, complex chords, leads, bends, and double stops. It all sounded like golden goodness. After running a handful of great tones through the 22 watter and Jazzmaster, it was time to break out the big guy - the 100 watt Super Lead. Along with this amp I also broke out my recently upgraded semi-hollow Viking. I first dialed in the Super Lead to a medium snarly overdrive and pushed the Red Eyes head first into it. The Red Eyes was set pretty high, with it's gain close to max, voicing switch in the middle, and level a bit hot to help push the tubes even hotter. The combination of the amp's natural grit, pedal's overdrive, and amount of output going into the amp, all worked together to create a giant sounding epic rock tone. The tone had plenty of harmonic richness, dynamics, and great picking response. The sound the Red Eyes creates is definitely voiced more towards the classic rock, hard rock, blues, alternative, and punk. Even when introduced to a screaming overdriven sound, the Red Eyes is capable of maintaining the amp's warm lush tone, while adding to it and making it even bigger. I found the pedal to work beautifully stacked with both tube and solid state amps. This is nice for those of us who still have a little faith in the solid state amp market, I in fact still have a great sounding solid state amp that I use for clean tones. It doesn't matter whether you use this pedal for light grit tones, as a tool to help push a clean tones, to stack up with dirt tones, or to use as your main lead or rhythm tone, it will always come through and deliver proper sound. Heavy Electronics through the few pedals has shown me that they're all about one thing and one thing only - Killer Tone! I highly recommend you guys seek out some of these boxes and run them through their paces yourselves... you'll be glad you did.

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For more info on Heavy Electronics go to http://www.heavyelectronics.com/ or click the direct link o our sidebar. We will be going down the Heavy Electronics line so make sure to keep your eyes peeled for more killer tone madness. "Bow down to the tone..."

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The Purest of Pure

NOC3 FX

Pure Drive

• Volume: Controls overall output and loudness
• Clipping Switch: Sets the compression & overdrive voicings
• Gain: Sets the amount of drive, sustain, and harmonic content
• Clean: Mixes in undistorted signal to give you a wet/dry blend
• Bass: Sets the amount of roll-off for bass/low mid frequencies
• Treble: Sets overall level of frequencies above 2kHz
• Low (internal control): Cuts or boosts the bass below the guitar range
• High (internal control): Sets the amount of high treble roll-off in highest frequencies

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Now that there is a overdrive pedal, and overdrive isn't where this pedal stops. The Pure Drive sports a huge amount of control and range, and does it all in a small footprint package. Who could ask for more? The man behind this genius pedal and the NOC3 Effects outfit is the one and only Nick Colquitt. Nick's talent for putting together high quality great sounding pedals is one that I am absolutely envious of. NOC3 pedals are amongst some of the sweetest sounding pedals available today. The Pure Drive alone can take you anywhere from clean, semi-clean, light drive, overdrive, medium grit, and all out crunch. It's controls are all cleverly and skillfully laid out, all of them working fantastically with one another, and each one owning a huge range of selection. The features on the Pure Drive aren't for show or hype either. Once you begin blending and working knobs into one another you notice they all work as a single finely tuned unit, molding your signal into a powerhouse of grade A tone. The Pure Drive projects tube-like feel, rich sustain, smooth harmonic content, and can hit you with an unbelievable amount of output that will slam the front-end of any tube amp into a screaming drive. Another one of this pedal's positive's is it's ability to blend your clean signal in with it's dirty one. Then there's it's ability to run off of 18 volts, which gives an overall higher quality signal and gives you more headroom to play with. The Pure Drive can also run on a single 9V battery or standard 9V power supply, but for the best results I highly suggest you take it to it's fullest. The pedal sports a true bypass circuit for the least tone coloration and is housed in a rugged top notch enclosure. All in all this is a true beast of the overdrive world.

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"Let's see what's she's made of..."

The vibe I got from this pedal once I started plugging it in and messing around with it's controls was "Tube amp in a little box". There's something about the features and how they all work together that gives this pedal a true-to-heart tube tone. I began using the Pure Drive to introduce some dirt into my clean signal. The amp was a Twin Reverb, and the guitar a semi-hollow body with humbuckers. The amp I set pretty much straight up the middle, with just a little verb, bright switch off, and no vibrato. The Pure Drive's eq I set up to match the amp's, same with the output, clipping toggle switch in it's up position, and gain I started at about 15%. The result was a semi-clean, slightly gritty tone with just a hint of attitude and bite. The nice thing was that I was able to get a feeling as if the amp had been pushed naturally into a mellow crunch, but without actually getting any louder. The pedal's tone was also quite transparent which let my root tone shine through. Very very nice stuff. The pedal's tone responded nicely to my pick attack and only let out it's grit'n'grime when provoked by my hand. Raising the gain on the pedal did more of the same and gave me more of the same feel, only with a bit more hair and attitude in the signal. The combo of the buckers and Twin were a really nice match. I got a sweet balance of warm smooth drive mixed with great articulation and definition. Next I set the clipping switch to it's middle setting and let her fly. Here the pedal dished out the most output, giving me lots of natural grit, aggression, and dynamic range. The grit in this setting also responded beautifully to my pick attack, giving me grit whenever I pleased, and turning my tubes into crunch producing powerhouses. I was surprised just how far my picking was able to take me too. With the gain up about half way I was able to produce a smooth and really crunchy overdrive. Then by backing off on the picking the tone would mellow out and lighten the grit output. Nice for accenting, cutting out rhythm tracks, and doubling guitars. This toggle switch setting really sounded equally as good with the neck as it did with the bridge pickup. With the bridge pup the dirt acted much warmer, chewier, and looser. The neck pickup made the drive more aggressive, skinnier, and gave it more midrange honk. I do dig me a pedal that brings out the tone of my pickups. Here I started experimenting with the clean control slowly introducing my root signal into the overall sound. Blending my clean tone with the pedal's grit created some of the best overdrive tones I've ever gotten from a stompbox. The kind of overdrive that just rumbles and rumbles but isn't exactly at the distortion level, that good good stuff. I will say right now that if even for this feature alone, go out and get this pedal!!! I am a huge sucker for blending my clean and dirty signals. If you've never tried it stop reading and go try it now! Usually to get these type of tones I have to plug into two different amps or plug a dirt box into a parallel fx looper. The Pure Drive makes achieving this trick a cinch and truly maintains the amp's root signal. In all dirt levels I was able to add a bit more life and sparkle by introducing the pedal's clean knob into the mix. To beef up my dirt tone I had the pedal's bass and treble controls. With the treb rolled back to about 25% and bass up to about 75% I was able to get a huge/warm sound. My guitar's pickups pushed a thick and powerful grit through my speakers leaving me with one badass rock and roll tone. To get the signal to break up more and give me more compression I went to the down position on the toggle switch. Here the pedal squashed my dirt tone into singing, howling sustain perfect for leads and much much more. I threw some delay on top of this and was in lead guitar heaven. The Pure Drive squashed my signal into an awesome wall of screaming sustain. Here I switched guitars and tried the Pure drive through Strat single coils, Tele single coils, P90's, and even mini-buckers. With all pickup models I was able to dial in great sounding mean lead tones. I also tried the pedal through an overdriven British style amp and found that it sounded just as good if not better through an already dirty tone. Stacking the Pure Drive up with another dirt pedal or clean booster also seemed to bring out more of it's animal characteristics. The Pure Drive wasn't loud even in it's highest gain settings and most importantly worked with my playing and not against it. I've played dirt boxes that sound great when playing single notes and 5 chords, but once you start t introduce anything a bit more complex the signal just falls apart. This was not the case here. This is a pedal built for on thing and one thing only.... To give you great sounding dirt tones, with the bonus being having the ability to maintain your clean tone. Nick and his NOC3 Effects outfit has a truly knocked out a winner in the Pure Drive. I highly suggest you cats go out and check this one out.

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For more info on NOC3 Effects go to www.noc3effects.com There you will find more cool info, pics, and news on Nick's pedals. We will definitely try to continue bringing you more from this killer company so stay tuned.

Guitar's Best Friend

Spencer Amps

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

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Mystique

Overdrive w/Fuzz

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

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

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

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

The Heart of your Tone

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

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Valvette FX

Custom Drive

Features & Controls

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

* LED: on/off and battery status indicator

* Input & Output Jacks

* True Bypass Footswitch

* Gain: controls drive amount

* Volume: adjusts the effect output level

* Tone: controls drive circuit tone character

* Bright: extends high frequency range

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

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

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

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Guitars, Pickups, and Pedals oh my!!!

When I started Analog War Cry my goal was to hunt down as much unique and innovative gear as humanly possible. The last couple years have not only been extremely educational, but they have shown me a vast evolution in musical gear, instruments, and how we go about achieving our sounds. Many of the companies stepping up to the plate and taking it to the next level are smaller independent businesses, sometimes even one-man operations working out of their living rooms and garages. I would say I've been around long enough to know a great piece of gear when I see one. I have also been told I have quite a talented eye and ear for spotting out unique sounding gear. One of the companies in the last couple years that has been swimming in my ears and eyes is a small outfit by the name of Harden Engineering, run by the talented Bill Harden. Now, if you've heard of this badass little company you know the slick and hip work they do. This is one small company that has truly floored me and shown the brilliance of creativity that lives within the gear building world. Bill's talents take him to designing some of the most amazing guitars, pickups, and pedals to ever see light. Oh what I wouldn't do for one of Bill's super hip looking guitars! Until that day comes I will rock one of his awesome pedals.

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Harden Engineering

Chicago, IL
Builder: William Harden

The Swallow
Overdriver

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Something tells me this Bill Harden character sports a healthy collection of body ink (tattoos). At least this is what the Swallow Overdrive instantly reminded me of. I guess us tattoo sporting hounds just know our own. Anyhow, again I have been blessed with a simple and great sounding pedal design. For me it is always "The simpler - The better." This is one of those overdrive pedals that works great through both dirty and clean tones, can turn any amp into a rich'n'warm dirt machine, and a pedal that will add some hip flavor to any pedalboard. The Swallow's controls are quite simple, boost/level control, and on/off switch. The character in this pedal's overdrive goes from a crunchy, throaty howl, to an all-out jaw dropping grime. Incorporating your guitar's volume and tone controls are great tools to use with this pedal, and it also plays well with others. Bill constructed this pedal from top notch components and parts, with true bypass switching, and an art layout that is too cool for school. The Swallow is assembled 100% by hand here in the good ol' USA. In our little studio the Swallow has been an instant hit with many of the bands that come through to record. It has also been one of my personal favorite gigging tools.

I ran the Swallow through two of our favorites, my AC 15 clone, and a Twin Reverb. Luckily we were also able to run the Swallow through a couple of other amps which were on loan to us for a recording session. These amps being a Matchless DC-30, 65' Deluxe Reverb, and a sweet sounding Bogner Shiva courtesy of a famous musician buddy which I will not name. The plan was simple, we wanted to run the pedal through as many different tones as possible, through as many guitars as possible. We will share with ya'll some of our favorites. I'll start with the neck bucker custom built Tele and Twin Reverb blend. When it comes to Blackface style amps it's simple, I just flip the knobs to 7, with the verb at around 2-3. The Tele and amp created what you would imagine to be the sweetest and warmest damn clean tone you've ever heard. I started with the Swallow's Drive knob at it's lowest and moved up to full blast. At mellow Drive levels the pedal delivered a nice semi-clean/crispy tone. The pedal's grit responded to my pick attack beautifully and taking the tone into a fully clean tone was easily done by rolling back a hint of my guitar's volume knob. Taking the pedal into it's medium range grit was probably my most favorite. Playing the Tele through it's neck humbucker with the tone knob slightly rolled off did me wonders. The bright/sweet sound of the amp, thick character of the Seth Lover bucker, and kickass tone of the Swallow worked together to create some of the illest vintage dirt tones. With the bride pickup I got some great blues tones, and baddest alt-rock sounds. Another combo which stood out was the DC-30 and my single P90 equipped Junior copy. I ran the Matchless to a medium overdrive and rolled the Junior's tone knob close to zero. The aggressive tone of the P90, natural grit from the amp, and Swallow did wonders! Finding the pedal's sweet spot was damn easy. I simply strummed a handful of mean sounding 5 chords while my partner rolled the pedal's knob back and fourth. Through overdriven amps I found the pedal worked best with it's Drive set at about 75%. I was able to get the smoothest lead tones, and able to work some rhythm tones by shaving off a bit of the guitar's volume. One of the ultimate tones though was playing this baby through some low watt amps and duel humbucker guitars. I rocked the Swallow through a 15 watter, 7 watter, and 5 watter. Through all of these amps I got the most gigantic sounding rock tones. Cranking these amps and introducing the pedal's grit into the signal did things to the overdrive sound that The Who would be proud of. I also dug the sound that my partner's Jazzmaster created when he set both the pedal and amps to low crunch. He dug into the guitar's strings like a madman and pulled what were some insanely cool overdrive/distortion tones. I was reminded of a Television, Sonic Youth type tone. It was actually pretty dam impressive just how many tones this pedal was capable of being that it only sported one knob. I also found the Swallow to work really well with other pedals, such as clean boosters, overdrives, distortion, fuzz, etc... Setting the Swallow straight up the middle through the Deluxe Reverb then using a clean booster to further push the signal also sounded spectacular. With some dirt pedals you get a mild to wild hiss when introducing more Db's to the signal. This pedal I am happy to say plays well with others. Last was the Bogner Shiva, and oh baby what a sound that amp and this pedal created. Through the amp's Clean channel the pedal did it's magic and created more stunning grade A dirt tones. The size of the Swallow's tone through a 4x12, with the Shiva booming like a madman was pure freaking rock and roll. The Swallow didn't eat away any of the amp's sweet tone or kill it's EQ (sign of a high quality pedal). Rocking this pedal though the amp's Gain channel was also a real treat. I first dialed in the best sounding overdriven sound I could get from the amp, then blended in the pedal's sound. Again the pedal did not take anything away form the amp's sound, nor did it mask any of it's character. Instead it accented everything that made the amp sound wonderful. The lows were boomier, highs had more jangle, and mids more honk. This pedal proved capable of delivering a handful a great tones, was able to enhance root tones, and blended with many different guitars and pickups to create a just about any dirt tone needed. It is quite clear Bill Harden owns a talent like no other, I can only imagine what his guitars are capable of. If you're on the hunt for something different hit up Harden Engineering.

(Below a handful of different Swallow versions)

For more info on Harden Engineering go to www.hardenengineering.com Harden Engineering also builds custom guitars, custom pickups, and will work with you to create your dream tone machine. Stay tuned for more from this one of a kind company.

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Crazy Tube Circuits... What else is there to be said?

By now there must be a thousand and one boutique pedal companies doing their thing, with a thousand and one well on the way, and a thousand and one long and gone. As a player and true tone hound finding and separating the "gems" from the "so-so's" has not been easy. It takes a keen ear and heated passion to really know what can take your tone to the next level. When you take a technology as simple as analog pedal building sometimes hitting new ground can be tuff. This is not to say we don't see new and exciting tone tools, new ways to use our gear, and different spin-offs of old time favorites. This is why coming across something with some magic and mojo is always really special. The latest diamond find for me comes all the way from Athens, Greece. Introducing itself to the world as Crazy Tube Circuits, and bringing players everywhere something to be proud about. The man behind the plan here is none other than the talented Chris Ntaifotis. When I was first turned on to Chris's pedal line one thing came to mind... "Cool!". Even before plugging into these pedals I was taken by their hip, slick, and mysterious looks. But style isn't all these little boxes have to offer. Crazy Tube Circuits pedals sound insanely good, are built with top notch gear, and work in many different applications. During the next couple months we will be looking at some of Crazy Tube Circuits slickest designs. Analog War Cry will be plugging into these little beauties to see what makes them tick, and sharing it with you guys to make your tone glands water.

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Ziggy

overdrive

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I will tell you, the one pedal I am the most tuff on is definitely the overdrive pedal. My reason for this being my long time love for tube amp grit and grime. There are many many things pedals can do that amplifiers cannot do, but when it comes to overdrive this is something I have found amps do best. That being said there are also a handful of amazing dirt pedals out there that can create that tube amp grit thing beautifully, and for you clean tone junkies who rely on your stompboxes for your dirt (me) there can be no better pedal. Many of these stunning overdrive pedals seem to have popped up in the last decade or so, either following the blueprints of timeless classics or having something special of their own. The Ziggy overdrive sits somewhere in between these two classes, having a familiar tone structure that is easy to work with, while able to hand you fresh new flavors you can mold into your own. The Ziggy's controls consists of the magic 3-knob layout, being Volume/Gain/and Tone. It sports a true bypass switch, in & out jacks, an LED indicator, 9VDC power jack, really cool art, and an enclosure stuffed with high quality components. The Ziggy works great on it's own, with other pedals, and for many different types of music. You'll find getting an array of warm'n'silky vintage tones, modern tones, and everything in between.

I gotta say, finding a guitar and pickup that didn't sound good with this pedal with damn near impossible! Humbuckers sounded big'n'beefy, Strat single coils screamed with blues soul, P90's rang out like lovely banshees, and Tele pickups swung, sang, and banged! The first setup I plugged the Ziggy into was my modified Hot Rod Deville, and 60's build Strat. I set the amp straight up the middle getting a loud and spanking clean tone, and dialed it's reverb to about 2-3. I began with some mellow, warm, and subtle pedal settings. The Zigggy's volume I matched to the amp's, it's tone I rolled back to about 9'o'clock, and the gain I set to about 15%. This first pedal settings was lovely! I was able to maintain all of my amp's big beautiful clean tone with the ability to hammer in some super mild yet grunty grit when I wanted it to. How the Ziggy reacted to my picking dynamics so well was beyond me! I was able to get the same type of response my tube amps deliver, and able to get these breathy subtle dirt tones at lower volumes too. All I had to do to make the overall sound bite a bit harder was roll up the tone a bot more, and feed the amp a little more of the pedal's volume. From here I took the Ziggy's gain up to about 30%, rolled the tone to noon, and again matched the volume to the amp's. This dirty tone was equally as appealing only in a completely different light. Think SRV's stinging Texas blues tone. The dirt's character was tight, focused, and extremely tamable. It was one of those dirt tones you're able to control and shape with the movement of your fingers. The perfect sound for players who don't rely on many colors or effects, and who let their fingers do all the talking. Next I took the Gain up just passed noon, let the tone bite a bit harder by setting to 3'o'clock, and tapped in a bit more volume to help cook the amp's tubes a bit hotter. Now this tone was interesting. Depending on where I had my guitar's tone knob set took the tone into many different genres. I was still able to get a mean and aggressive blues tone, yet also able to get these great indie rock, alt rock, and awesome classic rock rhythm tones. While flying on some licks I heard something (a tone) that one doesn't come across too often. I rolled off the Deville's verb all the way, let it rip, and got one of the most lovely open and close blues tones I had ever heard. If you've ever heard Buddy Guy's frantic yet awesome and speedy guitar playing you know what kind of sound I'm talking about. Before switching amps and guitars I had to take the Ziggy's gain to 100%. I did this along with setting the tone back all the way, and pushing the volume up almost all the way. I got a knarly loud sound but wow what a epic thing it was. It was nice to finds the pedal's tone was still usable even with it rolled off to zero. Something else I noticed while taking the gain higher and higher was that I was still able to mold and control the dirt with my pick attack. Just like a big bad tube amp! My next session with the Ziggy consisted of an AC15 clone, a 1x12 cab, 2x10 cab, a semi-hollow body with buckers, and a P90 equipped Junior copy. First up to bat was the 1x12 cab and semi-hollow body with buckers. The root tone I set with this amp was completely different from the Deville's. With this amp I was able to set an already somewhat dirty tone, which when blended with the pedal created an entirely new flavor of grit. Now, some pedals are meant to do the dirt thing through a nice big clean tone. Some pedals work great through an already gritty amp sound. This pedal? I'll just say this; the combination of the amp's dirt and pedal's grit was spectacular! The Ziggy complimented the amp's natural grit to make things better all around. I got more undertones, overtones, harmonic richness, thick saturation, and gobs of controllable feedback. Working the guitar's volume in and out, and rolling off the tone control took the pedal's character into some pretty interesting places, almost like switching amps all together. Next I rolled up the amp as dirty as I could get it, with the amp's tone set very high, guitar's tone rolled and set in the neck pickup. The Ziggy's gain I also cranked, only leaving the volume and tone at noon. Trying to pin down and name tag this tone was not going to happen. This was one of those tones that was a thing all it's own. The pedal made my amp bite, scream, and strike at the walls. And this wasn't it, there was still more drive to be had. I was able to use the Ziggy's volume to further push the amp's tubes, add more grit, attitude, and able to set the sound's overall mood with the pedal's tone knob. Then I threw the Junior with it's single Lollar P90 into the mix and went even further into dirt tone heaven. It was like every pickup I threw at the pedal it handled with ease. If you've never pushed a great sounding P90 through a great sounding low watt tube amp you are missing out. If you have you know that sound and know how awesome it is. With the Ziggy thrown into the mix I was able to not only take this tone further, but able to produce more of what made it special. Slapping down on my guitar neck never sounded so good! Depending on how I picked I was able to get semi-clean tones, mellow grit, smooth overdrive, epic roars, and stinging leads. It was going to be impossible to get this pedal to sound bad. Crazy Tube Circuits has not only proven themselves with this one pedal but they have also firmly places themselves as one of the timeless classics to surely come. I these pedal gaining cult status and becoming one of those pedal companies we all drool over. When someone has they just have it and Crazy Tube Circuits has it! Anyone looking for a high quality sounding overdrive pedal will do themselves right by adding a Ziggy to their arsenal. I tell you one thing... never have I been so excited to put a pedal line through it's paces as I am now. Stay tunes for more, you'll be glad you did.

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For more info on Crazy Tube Circuits go to www.crazytubecircuits.com or click on the direct link in our sidebar. We will be keeping a close eye and bringing you more from this kickass company so please keep your eyes peeled. More to come soon!

Plug in and Play

The limits for what is possible with our stompbox units these days are damn near endless. The materials and technology to go forward has always been in the grasp of our hand. It is those few gear builders and imaginative fellows that take us forward on a daily basis. In the last couple years there have been many new, exciting, and useful tools for powering up our effects pedals. How we power our pedals is not only a matter of keeping our boxes performing smoothly, I mean yes at the end os the day that is what it is all about. But what if we didn't need to use batteries, or cables, or have to plug into anything other than our patch and guitar cables? Cave Passive Pedals has done this for us, while at the same time delivering a slick collection of effects pedals that will help you paint the town red, green, blue, black, and any other color you can think of.

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Mini Miff
overdrive/booster

* Passive electronic design (no batteries or power adapter needed)
* Two types of overdrive tones
* Boost capabilities
* True bypass
* Works great with guitar and bass
* No need to unplug from input jack to save on power
* Handmade in Australia
* Pedals shipped in handmade wooden box with microfibre cleaning cloth
* All pedals sport a real lifetime warranty

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Why someone hadn't thought of this sooner is absolutely baffling to me! Passive electronics are nothing new, and passive musical devices have been with us for quite some time. Some of our favorite effects come from this timeless technology. From my standpoint I think it's a great idea. Not only does it help with dealing with dead, low power batteries, or tangled wires from power adapters. But this also means no tossing those old batteries in the trash which helps the green movement. I'm no hippy but I do dig the idea of keeping out planet on the up and up for as long as humanly possible.

The Cave Passive Mini Miff pedal is a simple and very versatile effect unit. The pedal's layout consists of In/Out jacks, a true bypass switch, and a single knob which lets you choose from two types of ovedrive and a boost setting. The pedal comes in a beautiful, slick looking handmade trophy type wooden box. Inside the box the pedal is neatly tucked away along with a microfibre cleaning cloth for keeping your pedal neat and sweet. The Mini Miff sounds and works great with many different instruments including guitars, basses, keyboards, and lap steels. I found this pedal paired up beautifully with just about every pickup I threw at it, and was able to stack it up with a handful of my favorite drivers, fuzzes, distortions, and many other types of effects. Setting this pedal up for a good tone is as easy as plugging in and picking your setting with the 3 position rotary knob. The type of pickup, guitar, and amp does make a huge difference with this pedal, meaning it works with whatever you throw at it.

I stacked the Mini Miff up with single coils, humbuckers, and a P90 equipped Junior copy. The amps I dished out for this tone meal were my AC15 clone, modified Hot Rod Deville, and 100 watt Super Lead. I first plugged the Mini Miff into the low watt amp, playing it with the duel humbucker guitar, and setting the amp up to give me as much grit as possible. I must say, my little 15 watt amp really does sweet on it's own and rarely do I find pedals that can give it more of anything. Most pedals if they do give it more balls end up completely changing the character of the amp's tone. I set the Mini Miff to it's clean setting and let her rip. Right away I could feel much more thump, girth, and size in the tone's eq projection. As if the eq circuit got a jolt of energy straight to it's heart. Digging in and slamming down on my guitar's strings really let things become meatier and heavier. Not heavier as in a sharp jagged sound, it was more of what I already had which made this pedal quite a treat. Rolling back the guitar's volume worked pretty too, I found this a perfect way to get a nice dark jazz tone, or boomy blues tone. Next I throttled back the amp's gain and set it for more of a semi-clean tone. I set the amp's clean tone as flat as possible with a hint of brightness to it. The Mini Miff's clean boost again added more of the same, giving the clean tone more attitude and weight. This is great for those of you looking for a hint more from your amp's tone. Next I set the pedal to it's OD1 setting and rolled the amp back up to a gritty dirty tone. The amp on it's own produced a perfect rhythm tone good for blues, rock, classic rock, and rock all together. With the Mini Miff engaged I was able to get a hint of boost to the overdrive signal while able to get a bit of fuzz in the overall sound. This was great for c0nverting a good rhythm tone to a lead tone without having your sound go too crazy. Sometimes all we need to get our tone to climb into a lead tone is a little push. This first setting was perfect for this. The OD2 setting was a bit different, more like a traditional overdrive pedal which takes and drives your sound into that amp break-up thing. Overall I found the Mini Miff to stand up beautifully to the 15 watter's punchy, sweetened sound. Another set up that also stood for me was the Mini Miff through an overdriven Super Lead. Here I was able to get everything from big epic rock tones, stinging leads, throaty rhythm sounds, and darn right aggressive distortion tones. The sound from the 15 watt amp to the 100 watt was a lot different, but what was important was that the feel was all the same. I was still able to control and shape my notes in the exact manner as I did with the low watt amp. I found the Mini Miff didn't produce lots of noise when played through high gain settings which for me was a big big deal. Many pedal can ruin your hard worked tone with hiss and white noise, not with this pedal! I plugged in the P90 equipped Junior copy and rolled the amp's tone back down to a mellow subtle crunch. The combination of the amp's sound, the guitar's pickup, and the pedal gave me a sound that sliced right through the mix and let everything I played be heard perfectly. This is a wonderful pedal for those of us who play with more than one guitar player in a band. I also played the Mini Miff through a couple of my dirt pedals which also sounded damn good. The Mini Miff was able to get a handful more flavors from pedal's I thought had no more to give. With overdrivers I was able to get silky smooth distortion tones. Fuzz pedals I was able to turn into beasts! This led me to plug this pedal into my lap steel. I will tell you right now that this is down right one of the best pedals for dirty lap steel tones I have heard in a long time. The Mini Miff's natural boomy sound also made it perfect for plugging into bass guitars. Keyboards I was able to make much more aggressive which really helped for blending in with rock music. All of this was possible without ever needing to use a battery, plug into an adapter, daisy chain, or any other sort of power source. I never had to unplug from the Mini Miff's input jack, and got a strong and healthy signal the entire time I played it. Cave Passive Pedals has really impressed me with these stompboxes. I hope to get a shot at plugging into more of these bad boys so I can report back to ya'll. It really would be great if these caught on with you players and we started seeing them on more players pedalboards. The Cave Passive pedal line is up to about 20 pedals right now which means they must be doing something right. I encourage you guys to tap into these well made, awesome sounding effects pedals.

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For more info on Cave Passive Pedals go to www.cavepassivepedals.com.au There is a bunch of great info on the website. We will keep you guys up to date on more from this exciting and fresh company so keep your eyes peeled.