Effects Bay

Today, I thought I would like to talk about the Voodoo Lab Proctavia pedal. Here we have a fuzz/octave pedal that pumps out some quality *classic* tone. What really got me interested was the video by voodoolabvid which featured Tim Pierce playing the pedal back in 1997. Good stuff..

But first, here are the details of the pedal:

Voodoo Lab’s Proctavia is a fuzz/octave pedal that re-creates the unique sound heard on classic tracks like “Purple Haze.” Proctavia is an exact replica of Tycobrahe Sound Company’s Octavia pedal which creates a note an octave higher than the original. The sound of the Octavia effect can also be heard on numerous tracks by Jeff Beck, John Mayer, and Michael Landau.

Known for an aggressive, stringy sting, the original Octavia is prized by vintage stompbox collectors everywhere. Proctavia replicates the exact sound of the original and incorporates the same types of transistors, germanium diodes, and transformer-coupled output stage in its circuitry.

Voodoo Lab Proctavia Pedal Features:

* Classic fuzz/octave tones
* True bypass switching with LED
* Hand built in the U.S.A.
* Five-year warranty

You can pick up the Voodoo Lab Proctavia Pedal for $129.00 at Musician’s Friend.

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Popularity: 3%

Feelin’ a bit cranky this morning. Cure.. watch fuzz videos.  So today, I got sucked into the Devi Ever Disaster Fuzz. This is a pretty nasty fuzz, and has a oscillation toggle, which gives it a growly synth sound. We know that Devi Ever makes some great and crazy sound effects. If you’re looking to get some weirdness, meaness, and/or craziness, then Devi Ever might be your ticket.

Here is the official description of the Devi Ever Disaster Fuzz:

One of the most of the radical sounding pedals created by Devi Ever the Disaster Fuzz Guitar Effects Pedal doesn’t like you. In truth, he wishes you’d just stomp hard on his face and put him out of his misery. Of course, the Disaster Fuzz is made of shamrocks and stern stuff, so there’s no way he’s ever going to be destroyed. He will destroy your guitar tone though. In ways that you never dreamed possible. Turn on the oscillation, you will be greeted by an endless synth drone of melancholy. Turn off the oscillation and enjoy the sweet fuzz without the whining.

Devi Ever Disaster Fuzz Guitar Effects Pedal Features:

* Volume Knob Adds Lots Of Gain
* Control Knob Changes Fuzz Texture And Intensity, Oscillation Intensity And Pitch When In Oscillation Mode.
* Flip Switch Toggles The Oscillation On Or Off.
* True Bypass
* MXR Sized Enclosure
* Boutique Quality Components
* Incredibly Low Ma Draw
* Silicon Transistor Based
* 9 Volt, 2.1 Mm, Negative Tip Power Jack
* 9 Volt Battery Snap Inside (Unscrew the back plate)

Here is the demo video by devieverfx:

You can pick up the Devi Ever Disaster Fuzz for $97.50 at Musician’s Friend.

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Popularity: 4%

So there has been some been some ‘buzz’ about the Way Huge Electronics Aqua-Puss MkII Analog delay. This is another Way Huge reissue. It offers 20ms to 300ms of delay. Has a very simple interface, which includes delay, feedback and blend.  I like the simplicity.

Here is the official description of the pedal:

The Way Huge Electronics Aqua-Puss MkII Analog Delay pedal offers bold analog and tape delay echo. Over the years, the Way Huge Aqua-Puss received tremendous praise for its outstanding tone, but because of its scarcity, the cost of finding a used pedal went soaring. Once you hear this reissue, you will know exactly what all the fuss was about.

One twist of the Aqua-Puss pedal’s Delay knob takes you from a tight 20ms delay to a cavernous 300ms. The Feedback control regulates delay duration and intensity. But watch out. Extreme settings can send the Aqua-Puss MkII into self-oscillating psycho-freak-out mode. Meanwhile the Blend knob lets you set a balance between dry and delayed signal—from mild to wild. The Aqua-Puss MkII delivers all the spooky mystery of vintage analog delay and tape-based echo, with none of the hassle of creaky, ancient gear. This reissued pedal features delay, feedback and blend knobs, just like the original.

Professional guitarists across the globe have long revered the amazing tone the Aqua=Puss delay puts out. From Oasis’ Noel Gallagher to John Mayer, this pedal has been a staple to their unique guitar tones. It delivers a warm, vintage analog delay that is truly sublime and rich. Now it returns to make a glorious appearance in your pedal board, offered at a price that any tone junkie can enjoy.

Way Huge Electronics Aqua-Puss MkII Analog Delay Guitar Effects Pedal Features:

* True Bypass
* Delay Knob: 20ms to 300ms of delay
* Feedback
* Blend knob

I found another interesting video by premierguitar. This is another NAMM 2010 demo, where Premiere Guitar visits the Dunlop/Way Huge booth. They chat with Jeorge Tripps (creator of Way Huge) and has a small demo with Uli Jon Roth from the Scorpions.

You can pick up the Way Huge Electronics Aqua-Puss MkII Analog delay for $149.99 at Musician’s Friend.

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Popularity: 4%

The following is a guest post review of the Electro-Harmonix Holy Stain by Lee Chavez. If you are interested in guest posting, please contact me!

In the world of multi-FX processors, you have to really look high and low to find the ones that are worth buying. Electro Harmonix’s “Holy Stain” pedal is a multi-FX processor, and is a quality one at that.

When it comes to multi-FX processors, a few things probably come into the minds of several guitarist. “It’s too confusing! Too many buttons, and the manual is no help! It sounds poor, and unreliable!”.

Not the Holy Stain. Six knobs, two buttons, and runs only off of a 9V adapter (included), makes this pedal very simple, and versatile.

From left to right, the knobs are in the fallowing order: MIX – AMOUNT – VOLUME – TONE – COLOR – DIRT. Lets break them down, to explain what each one does.

MIX – is the volume of the effect.
AMOUNT - is the amount of the effect (like the feedback on a delay pedal. The amount.)
VOLUME - sets the overall volume for the pedal, when engaged.
TONE - Plain and simple. The tone of when the pedal is engaged.
COLOR - There are three types of color to give your tone. Bright, Dark, and Warm. I personally keep mine on Warm, but switch things up occasionally.
DIRT - Yes, this multi-FX has distortions in it as well! Not to add another stereo type to the multi-FX name, but this pedal has three different types of “dirt” on board. Clean, Fuzz, and Drive. Now I’m not to big on the distortions, but we’ll get to those in a little while.

Moving on to sound quality, the “Holy Stain” is a small, compact power house of great FX. No cheesy, bad, lame effects will be found here. The four effects being “Room Reverb, Hall Reverb, Pitch Shifter, Tremolo”, they are all useful, and sound great.

Focusing on the “Room Reverb” effect, I don’t really use this one too often. I prefer the big sound of the “Hall Reverb”, but for what it’s worth (and keeping in mind the settings this pedal lives in), it is a nice reverb. Natural sounding and authentic.

The “Hall Reverb” is my second favorite effect in this pedal, but I use it the most. It, mixed with my Boss DD-3, is the back bone to my rig’s tone. I won’t give away my sweet settings, but I will say this is one of the best reverbs I have heard, and I love it. I would buy this pedal, for the reverb alone (so the holy grail, from EHX!).

The “Pitch Shifter” is a cool effect, and is the reason this pedal features an out put for an expression pedal, to use as a whammy on a budget. I don’t use this effect for that, I use it to make a harmonizing sound, and make for some sick leads! This is for sure, the coolest effect in the pedal, and my personal favorite! This almost makes the pedal!

The “Tremolo” is a bit odd, but in a good way. It sounds almost like there is some kind of flange, when on the right setting. I don’t use this a whole lot, but when I do it comes in handy. From the most suddle trem, to the most intense and obvious trem, it works great personally (being an instrumental guitarist).

Now I will admit this pedal isn’t perfect. But when I started running it in the FX loop of my amp head, it was so much better. The distortion of the amp messed with the effects and drowned them out and made them sound nasty. But in the FX loop, it became a beast! I can say I found the secret to the “Holy Stain”!

After that, we have the “dirt” section to look at. In front if the amp, the distortions are unlike any other multi-FX systems. Their usable! In the FX loop, at least in my amp, forget it. It sends the signal sky high, and squeals. If I need the “dirt”, I will use it in front of the amp (I REALLY liked the fuzz more the the drive!).

(Check out the the video below, to hear this pedal in action)

With all of that being said, that wraps up this review, and is the many reasons, why the Electro Harmonix “Holy Stain” is one pedal, you not only need to check out, but need to have on your board!

I’m Lee Chavez, and thanks for reading this review, and keep visiting and spreading the word of Effects Bay (they rock!)

Thanks!

You can pick up the Electro-Harmonix XO Holy Stain Guitar Multi Effects Pedal for $118.50 at  Musician’s Friend.

Please check out Lee Chavez at Twitter, YouTube and MySpace.

Popularity: 4%

I’ve been liking these new delays that EHX has been putting out (Memory Toy, Memory Boy, etc), and they just recently released the Deluxe Memory Boy Delay. This pedal is quite powerful and versatile, and really takes the Memory Boy to the next level.  So what’s different in the Deluxe Memory Boy? First off, you have additional controls. There is Gain, Rate and Delay that are not found in the vanilla boy. You also have tap tempo ability, with tap division settings. Both pedals have the expression pedal input, but the deluxe has expression mode, allowing you to apply the expression pedal to Rate, Depth, Feedback or Delay. The Deluxe also has a built in effects loop.

Here is the official description of the pedal:

The Electro-Harmonix Memory Boy is a smooth analog delay that takes its heritage from the 1970s Memory Man and the legendary Deluxe Memory Man. The Memory Boy uses the Deluxe Memory Man as a base, expanding upon it with additional modulation features and an optional expression pedal input for external control over delay time or modulation rate.

Memory Boy features a 550ms delay time, allowing you to explore limitless textures. A three-way toggle switch lets you add in vibrato or chorus, or control the delay time with an external expression pedal.

Since the early 1970’s, Electro-Harmonix has been designing analog delays featured on some of the greatest recordings and used by iconic musicians throughout the world. From the original Memory Man guitar pedal to the Deluxe Memory Man, still available today, EHX delay pedals are desired instruments for the organic tones that deliver textures that define quality.

Electro-Harmonix Memory Boy Delay Guitar Effects Pedal Features:

* All analog delay with Feedback
* Up to 550ms delay time
* Selectable Chorus or Vibrato modulations rates
* Choose between triangle or square modulation waveforms
* Expression pedal control of delay time or modulation rate (expression pedal extends the range of modulation rate)
* True Bypass

I found this great video by EHX demoing this pedal:

You can pick up the Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Boy Delay for $179.25 at Musician’s Friend.

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Popularity: 5%

I know I’ve talked about the MXR Carbon Copy Analog delay in the past, and I’ll probably talk about it again in the future. There is no denying that this pedal is showing up on many of the Pedal Line Friday submissions, and there is a good reason why. It’s a great pedal for the price!

While on YouTube this morning, I found another interesting video showing what the MXR Carbon Copy can do. This particular video is by guitarworld and thoroughly goes through it’s features so I had to post this.

As you can see this pedal is a nice delay. I actually own one of the older vintage green MXR analog delays from the 80s and this seems to be a large improvement over that (improved by longer delay, mod switch and cleaner signal).

You can pick up the MXR M169 Carbon Copy Analog Delay pedal for $149.99 at Musician’s Friend.

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Popularity: 5%

A few months ago, StageTrix contacted me and asked if I would be interested to do a review of a piece of gear they’re selling. Since it’s guitar related.. I said “hells ya”. A couple of weeks ago I received nice little package in the mail which contained two items. A single Pedal Riser and a Pedal Fastener.

I like simple things and I love simple ideas that can address the complex, and this product definitely does. The concept is extremely easy to grasp. If you have a flat pedal board, with two rows it can be a pain to *work* that back row and it’s often easy to hit the knobs on the front row in the process. With the Pedal Riser, you can address two things. The first is raising the back row up so the pedals are elevated. Secondly, there are cable routing channels below the riser to help tidy things up.

When it comes to pedals or pedal accessories, I always have to look at construction. Since you’re potentially pounding on this, it needs to be strong. The individual Pedal Riser is built using 18 gauge steel, so it’s not going to collapse on you.

Pedals are mounted to the Pedal Riser via velcro. You can purchase the Pedal Fasteners which is a adhesive velcro pad you would affix to the pedal and then the pedal would stick to the riser. As you can see, the riser is sized to fit common sized ’single’ pedals. But if you’re like me, I have a Line 6 DL 4 in the rear, you would add two risers and you’d be good to go.

Here is StageTrix’s official video on the Pedal Riser:

Pedal Risers can be found at a few online stores and at a various locations across the US. Click here to find where you can buy a Pedal Riser near you.

Popularity: 8%

So after looking at some of the responses from yesterday’s community question regarding compressor pedals, I noticed that the Pigtronix Philosopher’s Tone Compressor/Sustainer was mentioned a couple of times. I’ve heard of this pedal, but I wanted to take a closer look. At first glance, it seems like a versatile pedal allowing for sustain, treble boost/cut and diode clipping distortion. Pretty interesting!

Here is the official description of the compressor:

The Philosopher’s Tone Compressor/Sustainer is an ideal front end to any guitar player’s pedalboard. It can also serve as the perfect companion to the Pigtronix Mothership Guitar Synthesizer or any other pitch-tracking musical equipment, delivering more accurate tracking and increased note duration. As a bonus, the Grit control mixes a layer of smooth, diode-clipping distortion into the effect.

Unlike the many compressor clones and their variations that have become so popular in the past 10 years, the Pigtronix Philosopher’s Tone is not based on a CA3080 chip. The result is more sustain and less noise. The dynamic range, touch sensitivity, overall transparency, and outright sustain of the Philosopher’s Tone is unparalleled in the crowded world of compressor pedals.

Pigtronix Philospher’s Tone Compressor/Sustainer Guitar Effects Pedal Features:

* Adjustable threshold and ratio controls
* Blend control for parallel compression
* Smooth, diode-clipping distortion
* Treble boost/cut
* Ultracompact design
* Circuit design by Howard Davis
* Pigtronix 15VDC adapter included
* True bypass

I found a couple of great videos. This first one is by premiereguitar at the 2009 Winter NAMM

This next one is by gearwire, and also from the 2009 Winter NAMM show:

You can pick up the Pigtronix Philospher’s Tone Compressor/Sustainer for $169.00 at Musican’s Friend.

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Popularity: 4%

I’ve talked to a few people in the past about the MXR Dyna Comp pedal, but this morning I came across a demo of the MXR ‘76 Vintage Dyna Comp pedal, where MXR built it to specs (including the CA3080 Integrated circuit). I think it’s cool that they’re reissuing these older style pedals (like the ‘74 vintage phase 90 aka script 90).

Here is the official description of the pedal:

In the quest for ultimate tone, a compressor is an indispensable ally. And the MXR Dyna Comp that was produced in 1976 has long been regarded as the ultimate stomp box compressor. There’s something inherently musical in the way it “tightens up” a guitar signal, raising the volume of quiet notes and leveling off peaks to create rich, full bodied sustain. From country twangers to metal monsters, guitarists have long relied on the MXR Dyna Comp to make their riffs stand tall in any live or studio mix. Now the MXR Custom Shop brings back that highly sought-after sound with the ‘76 Vintage Dyna Comp. Meticulously researched and superbly crafted, it features the exact same circuitry used in the original 1976 Dyna Comp, identical in its component layout, silkscreen and handmade wire harness. The key component is the old school CA3080 “metal can” integrated circuit (IC), which yields quieter operation, greater transparency and increased dynamic range. These ICs have been out of production since the ‘80s, but MXR has tracked down a stash of them—enough to produce a limited run of these little red boxes of compression bliss. With supplies limited, the MXR ‘76 Vintage Dyna Comp is destined to quickly become as ultra collectible as its noble ancestor.

Here is a demo by jimdunlopusa:

According to their site, this pedal is only available via their Custom Shop, but you can purchase the MXR ‘76 Vintage Dyna Comp pedal at Amazon for a $175.00 (which includes FREE shipping).

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Popularity: 5%

Hello Everyone!

I received my Devi Ever LP in the mail. I know many of you are familiar with Devi Ever. I have fallen in love with these pedals. I discovered Devi Ever whilst looking for noise pedals and interesting pedals to add to my rig.

You can look up www.deviever.com to read the full description about the LP. I thought I would give you my own take:

The Devi Ever LP is an overdrive with a broken record skipping effect. It’s skipping effect is pretty random, but it gets more intense when you mess with the “control” knob. Then again, this pedal only has two knobs: volume and control.

Most of the demos on DeviEver’s YouTube seem to be done direct, with no amp. This is a problem to me because I know direct-in recording is completely different compared to speakers. I kind of bought this one out of faith, but I was not disappointed

The thing you notice right away is the overdrive. It’s a very unique sounding overdrive. I haven’t really heard it before, so I cannot compare it to anything. If anyone can, by all means, comment! It’s not too fuzzy, but it’s not one-dimensional like so many other overdrives I’ve heard before. It has a unique body… almost like it relies on texture to make it’s point.

However, if you are like me, and you turn your controls all the way up before striking a single note, you would have noticed the skipping first. The effect really is like that of a broken record. I’ve also noticed that along with the control knob, the skipping effect is very touch-sensitive. I lightly picked a few chords without hearing anything, but as soon as I layed into an open chord, you immediately hear skipping and glitches thrown into the mix. It’s delicious.

Devi Ever recommends you play around with it until you find a setting you like. I personally have found every setting wonderful.

Writing this review has finally given me the perfect analogy of the Devi Ever LP–and quite possibly ever Devi Ever pedal ever made: these pedals are the equivalent of putting potato chips in sandwiches. Sure, you have your meat (or meatless patties), tomatoes, lettuce, pickles, and condiments, but ever now and then you want to throw in some real contrast when it comes to texture. The crunch of the potato chip perfectly compliments everything. The LP is a pedal of overdrive texture and texture by way of a skipping signal.

I have included a modest video demo, but a search on YouTube can yield Devi Ever’s demo as well.

I love it, and you should too

Kevin Ian Common recently used a power drill for sound contrast and paid for it in blood. He plays guitar and sings in The Common Men, a Post-Punk trio from Northern California. They are on Facebook and Twitter, but you can find them @ www.myspace.com/thecommonmen for all updated information and sound files.

You can pick up the Devi Ever LP at Tone Factor for $97.50

Popularity: 5%