Effects Bay

I haven’t had a chance to practice with my band for a few weeks. The holiday season is always a rough time to schedule practice. Seems like one of is always out of town, etc. That’s fine though, I set up my rig in the basement, start laying pedals and guitars out and the basement quickly changes to man-rock-cave. God awful tones, horrible licks and general ruckus happens shortly after. I like this time, it’s a way to work on some new licks for leads, maybe a new riff for a new song, truly a time of free experimentation.

I wanted to write this post, because I’m always surprised and worried/concerned when I work on new sounds/pedals in the basement. I always say “it sounds awesome in the basement, but how will it sound in reality”.  When I play in the basement, I always seem to gravitate to more low end in my tone, less mids. I’m by myself, no drums, no second guitar, no bass, and those factors need to be considered when playing ‘solo’.

As a few of you may notice, I just recently picked up the Analog Man Beano Boost, and I’ve also been playing with a new Creation Audio Labs  Holy Fire pedal and in the basement, these have been kicking my ass, but in reality, I have some pretty serious issues with the Beano Boost. I normally play with a Travis Bean guitar which are pretty responsive in the high end frequency, and the Beano Boost is generally a bright pedal (treble boost). Too much of a good thing?  Not sure, but the point of it working in the basement doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to work  higher volumes, additional instruments, etc. It’s always a crap shoot when it’s time to introduce the sound to the band, which can be exciting when it works, but a bummer when it doesn’t.

Curious.. do you have similar experiences? If so, or if not.. please comment below!

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Today I wanted to talk about the ZVex Super Hard On boost pedal. I just recently picked up the Analog Man Beano Boost, and I’ve been really digging the clean boost action, so I wanted to take a closer look at the ZVex Super Hard On (SHO). It’s very similar in the sense that it pushs your input signal to the ceiling which gives you a great natural break up (assuming you’re pushing a tube amp). This pedal is extremely simple with only one knob.

Here is the official pedal description:

The ZVex Super Hard On w/LED Boost Pedal is a boost pedal and more. Ignite your rig to get the best tone it’s capable of. The boost pedal is so transparent no one will be able to tell you’re using a pedal. Perfect for making the most of a classic amp and guitar, because it simply makes your guitar bigger and pushes the amp harder, causing natural overload. This sound can be the solution to the ‘disappearing guitar’ effect you get sometimes on stage when you stomp on your distortion and sound weaker. When cranked, it sounds much louder than a fuzz or distortion under stage conditions.

I found another great video by gearmandude showing what it can do:

You can pick up the ZVex Super Hard On for $239.00 at Fat Tone Guitars.

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!

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I have to say the worst part of this blog for me, is looking at all of these pedals that are available, listening to different sound clips and talking to all of you about gear. It’s like a crackhead, sampling and talking about crack. Not a good situation. Well, I probably shouldn’t compare it like that, but you know what the hell I’m talking about.

I like to play guitar, I like to fiddle with the knobs on my amp, throw different pedals in line to see what comes of it just like the next guy. As you’ve been probably figuring out, I’ve been interested in a few fuzz pedals.. keeping a eye on a few analog delays, but the item that blew my mind currently was the Analog Man Sun Lion pedal that I say on J. Mascis’ board. That led me to the Analog Man Sun Face, and finally to the Analog Man Beano Boost. The Sun Lion was a combination the Beano Boost and Sun Face and is no longer in production.

Here is the official pedal description:

The Analog Man Beano Boost Pedal is a boost pedal based on the 1960s British Dallas Rangemaster, which was needed at the time to give a treble boost to the dark British amps. This allowed them to get a sound more in tune with the time, as guitars were starting to become a loud, bold, lead instrument. This effect pedal is a type of BOOSTER, not really a distortion pedal nor a clean boost- it does modify your sound quite a bit. It excites certain frequencies and pushes your amp to allow it to create rich tube distortion. The pedal colors your tone, with a crunchy overdrive, boosting certain frequencies, and warming the tone with NOS germanium transistors. It does not have a lot of compression and sustain like most OD pedals, but a more raw, open sound. This pedal has three tone settings from the tone switch- Center is a treble boost, the same as the original Dallas Rangemaster. UP is a fuller-frequency mid range boost (MID setting). Down is a LOW range, also quite a full frequency sound. The Beano Boost is spectacular into an amp that is already cranked up pretty well. It will also work well into a clean amp, but you probably need to turn the volume on the pedal up, to make the tone thicker by hitting the amp harder and making it work more.

Of course, I had to look to my favorite demo channel which of course is gearmandude. I really feel like we’re into the same style of tone, so when I found the Beano Boost vs. Sun Lion Beano Boost I was all over it. I absolutely love the ‘low’ switch clicked and vol dimed. Love it.

Anyway, after the drool ceased, I reached into my wallet, pulled out a credit card, and headed over to Fat Tone Guitars where you can pick up the Analog Man Beano Boost for $175.00. I’ll be sure to get a review of this pedal after I run it threw the circuit a bit.

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

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