Effects Bay

This week’s Free Shirt Wednesday goes out to Black Cat Pedals. A few weeks ago I reached out to Black Cat Pedals to see if we could possibly do some things together in the future. I really like contacting builders and developing a great network for possible new reviews, promotions, etc. Anyways, that led to a shirt in the mail, and a new pedal business to research, so here we go.

Looks like Black Cat Pedals was originally founded in Texas by Fred Bonte in 1993.  He later discontinued production in 2007 and Black Cat has restructured, but using the same designs that Fred created. All their pedals feature high-quality components and PCBs and are hand-wired.

They have a pretty impressive list of Black Cat players – Eric Johnson, Billy F. Gibbons, Trey Anastasio, Scott Henderson, Steve Lukather, Michael Landau, etc. Not a bad list.. not bad at all!

They have four main pedals with number five (Vibe and Ring Modulator) coming out soon.

Bass Octave Fuzz
Super Fuzz
OD-1
OD-Fuzz

Here is a video by gearmanndude demo’ing a OD-1

If you want to learn more about Black Cat Pedals, please check out www.BlackCatPedals.com, join their page on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.

Now, if you want to be featured on Free Shirt Wednesday.. it’s really quite simple. Send me a shirt, if it’s music related (ie: guitar builder, band, pedal builder, guitar shop, recording studio, etc) I’ll dedicate a blog post about your biz, band, etc. I’ll take a photo with my aging, slightly pudgy mug and post it. Great simple, cheap form of advertising. Still interested? Then check this page for more info

Popularity: 4%

Incoming search terms for EffectsBay.com:

• black cat vibe pedal
• black cat ring modulator
• black cat vibe
• black cat effects
• jay mascis black cat pedals
• guitar pedal shirt
• black cat ring modulator musicians friend
• black cat guitar pedals ring modulator
• guitar pedal shirts
• pedal shirt

Man, I love these DunlopTV videos where they interview guitar techs. Love ‘em! This time it’s a follow up to the Mike Campbell interview, but with his guitar tech, Chinner Winstead. This video will show Mike’s amazing guitars, low wattage amps, pedals, etc. I thought the Vox guitar with onboard wah.. was pretty awesome!

You can read the original post here.

Popularity: 6%

Incoming search terms for EffectsBay.com:

• mike campbell gear
• mike campbell guitar
• mike campbell guitars
• mike campbell
• mike campbell guitar gear
• mike campbell effects pedals
• mike campbell pedal board
• whammy pedalboard line 6 dl4 mm4
• michael chavez pedalboard
• mike campbell effects

This morning I thought I’d go into auto wahs. Not sure why, but that’s where I ended up… the MXR M-188 Bass Auto Q Wah. Here we have a sweet auto wah for bass for insta-funk-tones. Unit has five knobbies – Range, Volume, Decay, Q, Blend and Rate. I sounds like you can get a wide variety of funk sounds with this unit. Here is the official description:

For adding character to your bass tones, check out the MXR Bass Auto Q. It’ll instantly funkify your riffs with authentic Crybaby wah and add a lush shimmer to sustained notes and chords. Turn the simplest rhythm and lead lines into complex textural effects, and take your music into uncharted territory. 5 knobs give you infinite control of the Bass Auto Q: Range controls the frequency floor of the effect; Q modulates the intensity of the wah by adjusting the bandwidth of the filter from a broad, subtle curve to a bright, sharp peak; Blend controls the mix between the wah and shimmer effects; Decay controls the transition between wah and shimmer; Rate controls the speed of the shimmer, from tremble to shriek; and Volume controls the overall effect volume. A rugged footswitch lets you bypass or engage the effect, and graphics glow in the dark to make this pedal easy-to-read on an dark stage. Housed in a virtually indestructible zinc box and powered by a single 9V battery or optional Dunlop ECB-003 AC adapter.

MXR M-188 Bass Auto Q Auto Wah Pedal Features:

* Authentic Crybaby Bass Wah tones and Q control
* Sensitivity circuit delivers effects at any volume
* Blendable LFO shimmer goes from tremble to shriek
* Fully adjustable transition from wah to LFO
* Indestructible, die-cast zinc housing

Here is another great video demo by jimdunlopusa:

You can pick up the MXR M-188 Bass Auto Q Auto Wah for $119.99 at Musician’s Friend.

Remember, if you like reading about these pedals and seeing videos reviews from others, please subscribe to the RSS feed and get notified via email when there are new postings!

Popularity: 10%

Incoming search terms for EffectsBay.com:

• bass auto wah
• mxr bass auto q
• auto wah bass
• MXR M188 Bass Auto Q
• MXR M188
• mxr m-188
• mxr auto q review
• mxr m 188 bass auto q
• mxr auto q
• MXR M188 Bass Auto Q Effect Pedal

I was psyched to see our friend’s Source Audio having their Soundblox multi-wave distortion pedal demo’d by gearmanndude. This is a pretty awesome sounding distortion box, that incredibly versatile. Check it out:

Popularity: 4%

Incoming search terms for EffectsBay.com:

• Multiwave Distortion
• source audio multiwave distortion review
• Source Audio Soundblox Multiwave Distortion review
• source audio Distortion pro
• multiwave distortion review
• source audio multiwave distortion pro
• Soundblox Pro Multiwave Distortion sale
• source audio multiwave @talkbass
• source audio multiwave distortion pro basschat
• animals as leaders bass distortion

Today’s pedal line is from Bennie Kendrick. If you have a pedal line (doesn’t have to be in a board) for your rig, please email me a photo, bio, description of pedals and routing to pedallineeffectsbaycom. Every Friday I’ll showcase a pedal line submission. Make sure you include any links to your band or music page.

My name is Bennie Kendrick.  I’m a worship pastor at a EastPoint Church in Midwest City, OK.  I also play guitar (and bass) for hire a few times a month, and do an occasional recording session.  I love collecting music gear, and have a wonderful wife who is also willing to help contribute to the collection on birthdays and other gift-giving occasions.  I have a ton of pedals, amp modelers, rack effects, and even a guitar synth, but I am submitting a pedal line for my only “complete” board; this is my new go-to setup for most gigs.

My pedal line is as follows:   TC Electronic Poly Tune —> EHX Little Big Muff Pi Fuzz —> EHX Small Stone Nano Phaser —> Fulltone Clyde Deluxe Wah —> MI Audio Boost N Buff —> Fulltone Full Drive 2 Mosfet Overdrive —> Fulltone GT-500 Distortion/Booster —> Pro Co Rat2 —> Pro Co Ltd Edition Reissue ’85 Whiteface RAT —> Bixonic Expandora 2000R Reissue —> Ernie Ball VP Jr Volume —> Voodoo Lab Tremolo —> Line 6 DL4 Delay —> EHX Holy Grail Plus Reverb. All powered by a couple of Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 pluses, which are located under the hinged riser.  As far as amps, I generally play through either a Blackheart BH5-112 or a Fender 65 Deluxe Reverb, depending on the size of the room.  My favorite electric guitar is probably my thin body, set-neck Fender Telecaster Special with dual Dimarzio Humbuckers (completely stock).  I have more expensive guitars, but I just love the sound of this one.

TC Electronic Poly Tune – Tuner that handles single or multiple string tuning.

EHX Little Big Muff Pi – Fuzz.  “Violin-like sustain and creamy tone”

EHX Small Stone Nano – Analog Phase Shifter with rate knob and color switch

Fulltone Clyde Deluxe Wah – Tri-mode Wah with 10 step variable input level control

MI Audio Boost N Buff – Ultra high input impedance buffer / volume booster

Fulltone Full Drive 2 Mosfet – Overdrive or Clean Boost.  Boost switch adds more gain and sustain

Fulltone GT-500 Distortion/Booster – Two-stage (or two-bank) Overdrive/Boost and Distortion

Pro Co Rat2 – OD/Distortion/Fuzz box.  What’s your preference?

Pro Co Ltd Edition Reissue ’85 Whiteface RAT – Reissue of the original RAT. Surprisingly different sounding than the Rat2.  I like them both.

Bixonic Expandora 2000R Reissue – Also an OD/Distortion/Fuzz box.  I played an original Expandora a few years back on another guitarist’s board and was super excited when Bixonic offered a reissue for a limited time.  The reissue put the internal dip switches on the outside of the box for easier access.

Ernie Ball VP Jr Volume – Smaller footprint than the standard EB volume pedal

Voodoo Lab Tremolo – Tube-amp-like tremolo

Line 6 DL4 DelayX – Delay modeler with three banks and tap tempo

EHX Holy Grail Plus Reverb – Reverb with four different model options

Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 plus – qty2 – Isolated power supply with toroidal transformer and switchable voltages

The board was built by a buddy of mine to fit inside a soft keyboard bag (61 key, I believe).  In the picture you may be able to see random screw holes in the board; that’s because I’ve swapped pedals around on that board more times than I want to think about.  That’s also the reason a few of the patch cables are too long (I soldered these myself, but most were for a totally different pedal arrangement).

Popularity: 4%

Incoming search terms for EffectsBay.com:

• bixonic expandora occasion
• kendrick gig rig amp
• x3 whammy
• bixonic expandora 2000r occasion
• expandora fuzzbox
• worship guitar rigs
• mc404 wah schematic
• kendrick effects
• kendrick pedals
• kendrik effects

Just saw Phil of FatToneGuitars.com tweet a cool two day sale for the TC Electronis Polytune Tuner. You’ll save $12 off of your purchase with the coupon code POLY12 at checkout! So you’ll be getting the tuner for $87! Not bad at all!

Click here for pick up the tuner!

Popularity: 11%

Incoming search terms for EffectsBay.com:

• TC Electronic Polytune for sale
• polytuner
• Used TC Electronics Polytune for sale
• peppermint fuzz for sale
• bbe sonic stomp layout
• sweet honey schematic
• tc electronic mini polytuner
• tc electronic polytune sale
• Peppermint Fuzz schematics
• tc electronics polytune for sale

I have to say, one of the coolest things about this site for me is meeting new people that are passionate about what they do. When I say this, I could be referring to players, builders, dealers, etc.  They’re all very passionate and passionate about things that I’m very interested in as well.

A couple of weeks ago Brian Porter from Porter Pickups contacted me… and I’m glad he did. Here is a guy that is passionate about building quality pickups and I was excited to check out his site. All sorts of good stuff there, from a blog to a forum, plenty of sound clips and descriptions of what he does. Also he’s located in a neighboring state of mine!

As you may already know, Brian has generously donated pickups to another official EffectsBay.com give away. If you don’t know about the Porter Pickups custom pickup give away, please check it out! For those of you that have already entered, but want to learn more about Porter Pickups, below are a couple of Porter Pickup demos courtesy of achrisisaac:

Here is a demo of the Hand Wound Classic Humbuckers – Gibson SG:

Here is demo of the Hand Wound Single Coils – Fender Telecaster:

If you get a chance, check out PorterPickups.com. They’re also on Twitter and Facebook. Follow them for more info via their newsletter.

Popularity: 2%

Incoming search terms for EffectsBay.com:

• porter pickups
• porter pickups review
• porter pickups reviews
• porter pickup reviews
• other porter pickups
• review porter humbucers

So I’ve been listening to Them Crooked Vultures, and was curious what Josh Homme has been riding with as far as gear lately. I’ve seen a few shots of pedals for his Queens of the Stoneage setup, but I wanted to see something new. I stumbled across a few pics and I’ll try to break a few the pedals down. If you see anything missing and know what it is.. please let me know. Likewise, if you see something wrong, let me know as well. These photos were originally posted by niceguyollie at the HC forums.

On pedalboard #1 shot, it looks like a old Morley Fuzz Wah, a newer Fulltone FatBoost FB-3, Fulltone Ultimate Octave, Electro-Harmonix Micro POG, Electro-Harmonix Multiplexer and older Dunlop Crybaby QZ-1 Q-Zone.

Pedalboard #2 we have Moog Moogerfooger MF-104Z Analog Delay, Moog Moogerfooger MF-101 Low Pass Envelope Filter, older Echodrive (w/o bypass switch), Boss RE-20 Space Echo Delay, Ernie Ball Volume Pedal and a old original Univox Super Fuzz – probably from the early 1970s. Not sure about the black box next to the super fuzz.

Lastly, Josh has a couple more pedals on top of his amp set up:

Looks like a older Fulltone FatBoost v-1 a Boss GE-7 Equalizer with a slight mid notch boost. I’ll include the shot of his amps.. thought those were interesting. Not sure, but I’m guessing he’s switching or adding a amp with the Fat Boost and mid boost for leads, etc.

Anyway.. thought it was pretty interesting! Hope you enjoyed the post!

Popularity: 71%

Incoming search terms for EffectsBay.com:

• josh homme pedalboard
• josh homme gear
• josh homme pedals
• josh homme
• josh homme effects
• josh homme amp
• them crooked vultures gear
• them crooked vultures pedalboard
• josh homme fuzz
• josh homme amps

Here is a cool video of Flea and Chad from the Red Hot Chili Peppers jamming out at Winter NAMM 2010! I was curious what this was all about, so I did some digging and it appears to be a quick demo of Flea’s bass line (Flea Basses). The particular bass Flea is playing is a Flea Bass Junior Bass, which is damn affordable at $399.00. Side note, didn’t know Will Ferrel could rip on drums like that.. heh.

Popularity: 4%

Incoming search terms for EffectsBay.com:

• flea pedalboard 2011
• flea bass effect pedals
• flea bass effects pedals
• flea bass pedalboard
• fleas pedalboard
• flea bass pedal
• flea effects pedals
• flea 2010 pedalboard
• flea bass effects 2011
• fleas bass effects

I was excited to see there was a new shirt submission last week, but even more excited to see a couple of CDs in there. This will be my first ‘band’ related Free Shirt Wednesday submission and I’m stoked!

With the shirt and discs there was a album press release for their “Movin On” album. I’ll quote a little…. “It’s a 10 track, 52 minute epic musical journey of songs about living the good life, fire, growing beards, girls, aliens loneliness, pirates, love and so much more.” Well, after reading that line… I’m already liking these guys.

Trippy Wicked is a 3 piece band from the UK in the heavier rock/stoner genre. Layered SG guitars and a vocal style reminiscent of Alice in Chains.

Dropping the disc, I immediately liked their opening track “Movin On”, but I also really dug the third track called “Fire”. After checking out their site, I see that they had a video for this, so I’ll include it here as well. If you’re liking Trippy Wicked, please buy their disc on their site.. or on Amazon

I also wanted to say “Thanks” to Chris for sending me the shirt and discs. Also, check out Trippy Wicked on the other various social networks…

Trippy Wicked on:
Twitter
Facebook
YouTube
MySpace

Now, if you want to be featured on Free Shirt Wednesday.. it’s really quite simple. Send me a shirt, if it’s music related (ie: guitar builder, band, pedal builder, guitar shop, recording studio, etc) I’ll dedicate a blog post about your biz, band, etc. I’ll take a photo with my aging, slightly pudgy mug and post it. Great simple, cheap form of advertising. Still interested? Then check this page for more info

Popularity: 3%

Incoming search terms for EffectsBay.com:

• trippy wicked guitar pedal