Effects Bay

The first thing that catches my eye about Lotus Pedal Designs is their simplicity. It’s about what’s in the box, not what’s on the outside. With the exception of one pedal (Desire Boost) all of their pedals are single sized plain enclosures, and the pedals are named after the color of the knobs. No labels on the pedals with the exception of the Lotus name. I dig it!

This is what he says about keeping it simple:

I design Lotus Pedals to be simple, because I want to keep your focus on playing guitar, not fiddling with your gear. Turn the knobs, find a tone that suits your style, and play. It’s as easy as that.

We received the “Red“, a dark overdrive that uses the TS-808 Tube Screamer chip. Very simple pedal – Drive and Gain are the controls. It’s basically similar to a Tube Screamer but you’re able to get some really great low gain fuzz tones as well.

Here is the official description of the Lotus Pedal Designs Red Overdrive:

A dark, dirty overdrive pedal that uses the same chip as the original TS-808 Tube Screamer. Deep, rich tones with more gain than you’ll ever need. This pedal will make your solos hotter than a urinary tract infection.

For this demo I again enlisted the help from my good friend Jimmy Rolle. He’s playing his Gibson Les Paul Custom Shop Elegant into a Germino Lead 55 through a Marshall 4×12 cabinet. Everything is mic’d with a Shure SM57 and Fathead Ribbon Mics. There is nothing between the guitar and the amp besides the Lotus Red Overdrive.

You can listen to the high quality MP3 clip via SoundCloud

The Lotus Pedal Designs Red Overdrive is available directly from their site for $199.95. It’s a great sounding overdrive!

Popularity: 2%

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CONTEST IS CLOSED

I’m pretty excited about this give away. About a month ago we did a demo of the GOD BOX Tesla Fuzz. The response to that demo has been great! I know the response to this give away will be just as awesome. If you want read/watch/listen to the demo go here – “GOD BOX Tesla Fuzz Demo”

In a nut shell, the GOD BOX Tesla Fuzz is a hybrid germanium / silicon circuit (NOS germanium paired with high quality silicon transistor). It’s a great sounding fuzz for sure. Something a little different on the board.. and something that can rip. This pedal normally retails for $219, so this is your chance to pick it up for free. If you’re dying to get one (and if you read this post after the give away is closed, you can contact Brandon at Elevation Boutiques to pick up your very own.)

Okay, how do you win GOD BOX Tesla Fuzz? Read below:

I’m going to select one random entry on February 6th. I will email that random entry asking for the answer to the question listed below. They will have 24 hours to respond with the answer. If the 24 hours passes and I don’t hear from that finalist, I will select a new random entry and repeat the process until I receive confirmation from the winner.  This is open to everyone. Yes, that means international! Also, one entry per person.  Please read that last sentence again… “one” “entry” “per” “person”.

The submission form will be open until February 6th (Monday) 12PM MST.

On top of that, I’m going to sweeten the deal. If you ‘LIKE’ EffectsBay on Facebook and you’re selected as the winner, I’ll throw in a extra prize – PRIZE 1 OR PRIZE 2 OR PRIZE 3. If you’re the winner (and like EffectsBay), you get to pick one of the bonus prizes.

So, it’s pretty much a no-brainer to like Effectsbay on Facebook! Just click ‘like’ below or visit the EffectsBay Facebook page here.

So the question is…. “What’s the next piece of gear you are going to buy in 2012?”

Please help promote this give away by Re-Tweeting and sharing on Facebook! Keeping these give aways successful is the key to more give aways. Everyone likes free stuff right?

Popularity: 11%

Things are hectic around here. My son is having his 11th birthday party and scrambling to get things all dialed in. Time sure flies. Pretty crazy. In the midst of the craziness, I came across this interesting video of a person playing a Fender ’66 Reissue Jaguar into a Zvex Lo-Fi Loop Junky and playing a lead on top of that with a ZVex Fuzz Factory and using a Ebow. I thought it was pretty cool. It fit my mood today perfectly.

This video was posted by PanaceaTheCure:

Enjoy!

Popularity: 3%

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I’ve brought up the EHX Bass Blogger in the past. It’s an interesting dirt box for bass guitar. One thing this pedal needs is a really good demo, unfortunately there isn’t much out there, but I came across a decent one by 13th Street Guitars. First let’s talk about what the Bass Blogger is all about.

Here is the official description for the Electro-Harmonix Bass Blogger:

The Electro-Hamonix Bass Blogger’s ultra-subtle distortion creates the perfect dialog with your drummer. Dial in your ideal fuzz with the effect pedal’s no-fuss, three-knob design and fuzz/drive selector switch. Dry/effect outputs.

* Volume, tone, drive controls
* Fuzz/drive toggle
* Dry out
* Effect out

Here is the video demo posted by 13thStreetGuitars:

The Electro-Harmonix Bass Blogger is available for $74.10 at Amazon.com

Popularity: 4%

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A few weeks ago, Brandon from Elevation Boutiques contacted me letting me know of a new company called GOD BOX and wanted to get a pedal over here for a demo. Of course that’s always a great idea. Next thing you know the GOD BOX Tesla Fuzz arrived. First thing that struck me was the Wardenclyffe Tower (aka Tesla Tower) on the face. Very cool graphic and I have to admit, I’m a big Tesla fan.

Okay, back to the pedal. GOD BOX refers to this as the Tesla Edition God Complex Fuzz Series. I’m not sure if they’re planning to issue different versions of this pedal, I’ll let you know once I get more details. The GOD BOX Tesla Fuzz is a hybrid germanium and silicon circuit (inside there is a vintage NOS germanium transistor paired with a high quality silicon transistor).

There are 5 basic controls for the Tesla Fuzz:

INPUT – Input controls the input signal, but it also stabilizes the circuit. “Offering subtle shades of fuzz”
TONE – The tone knob is a 6 way rotary switch (I like this) which gives you set tonal options from a bump in the midrange and almost no lows to full range thunder. The #6 position is an “homage to the classic FF”
DRIVE – Controls the drive level
OUTPUT – Controls the output signal level
NPD – Toggle switch to control the NPD (Narcissistic Personality Disorder). This drops in distortion diodes which slightly compresses the signal.

For this demo, I again asked my good friend Jimmy Rolle to see what the GOD BOX Tesla Fuzz was all about. This time, he’s not using his Les Paul and went with the Standard American Fender Stratocaster. Guitar is still going into a Germino Lead 55 through a Marshall 4×12 cabinet. Everything was mic’d up with a Shure SM57 and a Fathead Ribbon Mic. Nothing between the guitar and amp besides the GOD BOX Tesla Fuzz.

This first video goes through the various tone settings with Tone, Drive, Input and Output

You can listen to the high quality MP3 clip via SoundCloud

We included a second video to focus on the NPD tonal changes.

You can listen to the high quality MP3 clip via SoundCloud

As you can see and hear, this is a great sounding fuzz with a lot of tonal variety. If you’re interested in picking up a GOD BOX Tesla Fuzz, you should contact Brandon at Elevation Boutiques (the exclusive dealer of GOD BOX) and he’ll hook you up (Looks like it’s available for $219). If you want to learn more about GOD BOX, please check out their Facebook page. Their website is currently being developed, but the GOD BOX Facebook page is a great way to see what they’re working on!

Popularity: 5%

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This is an interesting deal. It’s for the Seymour Duncan SFX-02 Tweak Fuzz. This pedal lists for $149.00, and I’ve always seen it available for $99.95 everywhere, but recently the price has been slashed to $39.99 at Amazon. com. I’m not sure if the pedal has been discontinued or not, if you know, please let me know by commenting below. This is definitely a great fuzz for that price.

Here is the official description of the Seymour Duncan SFX-02 Tweak Fuzz:

The Seymour Duncan Tweak Fuzz? is a most unique fuzz pedal that incorporates a six position “Tweak” switch to voice your fuzz tone the way that you want it. The basic tone will be familiar to players who remember the rich, lush, vintage fuzz tones used at the big ’60s pop festivals. But with the addition of the Tweak switch, you can create a myriad of totally unique fuzz tones making this one of the most versatile pedals for electric guitar and bass.   Tweak Control Engages one of six pre-set EQ resonances that give an overall “flavor” to the Tweak Fuzz, rolling off the bottom end and influencing the behavior of the gain control. Each of the six frequencies was chosen and voiced to enhance rich harmonies and bring out the most flattering qualities of your guitar or bass.   Gain Control Controls the amount of square wave clipping distortion. It can go from mildly distorted to all-out fuzz fury.   Volume Control Sets the overall volume to the optimum level. Whether you want to set it to match the bypassed signal or whether you want a big boost when you engage your Tweak Fuzz?: it’s your decision.   True Bypass Removes the circuit from your guitar’s signal chain, allowing your guitar’s signal pass through the Tweak Fuzz? without affecting your tone or gain.   Versatile The Tweak feature allows you to voice the box to your tone preference. Works with guitar or bass.

I also found this video by willievega demonstrating the fuzz:

Again, you can pick up the Seymour Duncan SFX-02 Tweak Fuzz for only $39.99 at Amazon.com. That’s a great price!

Popularity: 3%

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I had a great opportunity to send some questions over to Joshua of FXdoctor. For those of you that aren’t familiar with FXdoctor, it’s a shop out of Boston, MA building, customizing and repairing pedals and amplifiers since 2001.  Taking a look at their website and blog I was immediately impressed with the look of the pedals. From super clean/pro to crazy and off the wall. Their range of effects is broad as well – from volume to fuzz to overdrive to oscillation noise makers.

When initially hitting their site, I noticed their kickstarter campaign. I’ve seen a few companies do this to start development on prototype units, etc., but this is a little different.. and it really caught my eye. Their kickstarter campaign is to do a US tour of major cities to demo their product line. I think this is a great way to get out there and get noticed by musicians as well as various dealers.

Here is a great video explaining the campaign as well as a demo of the Super 8 Bit Fuzz and Scalpel Volume.

So I emailed Joshua a few questions about FXdoctor, and this is what he had to say:

- What got you into working on pedals?
When I was about 12 years old my first guitar cable broke and my natural curiosity got the best of me. My father told me it was as simple as resoldering the connector and my obsession with modifying my gear spread from there.

- At what point did you decide to work on your own line of pedals?
Probably around 2000 or 2001 I decided to make a switchable treble/clean boost for my Sovtek MIG100H. It had this awful red, white, and blue paint scheme which was terrible but the pedal sounded awesome.

- What pedal is your hot seller?
The hot seller for pedals has always been the Scalpel and the Super 8-Bit Fuzz. For modifications the Phase 90 mods and Whammy true bypassing has been incredibly popular this year.

- I see that you do pedal re-housing. Do you find a lot of people requesting this?
Rehousings are a funny thing; the labor costs more than most of the pedals are worth but some people are so attached to the tone that they’ll pay to have it last forever. It’s been very popular over the years and has always been one of my favorite aspects of my job.

- What’s the story on your oscillation pedals?
While working on new pedals sometimes I like to entertain myself with designing circuits to make strange noises for use in mixing and post-production. Some of the more abitious musicians even work them into their live sets.

- Loved the Tetris inspired enclosures. Are you going to continue to do those?
Man, what a pain!  My dream is to make my entire pedalboard and rehouse everything into tetris shaped pedals. Unfortunately the cost is high and the time to assemble is outrageous.  I originally made them as a challenge to myself but unless they are requested I won’t be stocking them in the future.

-How are the individual squares secured on each pedal?
I sanded down the sloped edges so they were flush, used epoxy to keep it level, and screwed everything together.

- How is the 8Bit Fuzz Kickstarter campaign going?
It’s going great! I’ve had so many people email me just to give input and help me find places to visit. We’ve hit the $1000 goal and more importantly made a lot of great contacts and friends.

- What inspired you to design the 8Bit Fuzz?
I’ve always been a fan of vintage gaming consoles and especially the soundtracks. Contra and Ducktales were probably my two favorites!

- Are you working on any new designs?
We always have new designs in the works. We just finished our latest revision of our Preamp pedal (3-band EQ with gain and volume controls) and a Super Bass Bit fuzz to compliment the Super 8-Bit Fuzz.

- How does the future for FXDoctor looking? Staying busy? Staying inspired?
Things have been going well. We’re working on making our pedals in larger quantities while looking better and costing less. So yes we’ve been very busy! Hopefully, our tour of the US will be a source of inspiration.

As you can see FXdoctor is doing some great things, be sure to check them out at their website and like them on Facebook when you get a chance!

Popularity: 3%

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While I’m still on the Albini/Shellac kick and after receiving a few emails about his setup, I have to talk about the Interfax Harmonic Percolator. Albini uses this pedal for the crazy moments during the songs. As well as a moment where he was screaming into the guitar and generating microphonic output from the pickups.

The original Interfax Harmonic Percolators were created by Ed Giese of Interfax Electron in the 1970s, and I believe in Wisconsin somewhere. The original Harmonic Percolators are extremely hard to come by now-a-days, and there are a few reproductions, including the Pussy fuzz (by Mr. Bill from Guitar Works, Ltd), the Barge Concepts BP-1 (which I’m not a big fan of) and the Chuck Collins Harmonic Percolator Clone which is available now and is apparently the closest thing to the real deal out there.

The difficulty of reproducing the circuit of the original are… Ed Giese potted the original pedals. Basically gooped them so it’s hard to see the original values. I even heard that the the values were ‘sanded’ off the components when they were soldered. But tracing the paths can give you a glimpse of resistance and capacitance of some of the components. Additionally some of the transistors are some of the hard-to-find variety today. Regardless, you can find some schematics out there on the web, and definitely the components are can be found. The Chuck Collins version even matches the original enclosure and controls as the original.

Here is the official description by Chuck Collins:

The Harmonic Percolator is a distortion pedal that was made in Milwaukee Wisconsin in the 1970′s. It used a silicon NPN transistor and a germanium PNP transistor in a design that passes even order harmonics while suppressing odd order harmonics. These even order harmonics are more pleasing to the ear than odd order harmonics. This is the original circuit, not someone’s interpretation of it. The left slider is the input gain or distortion control and the right one is the Balance control. The input is on the left and the output is to the right when looking down on it. This is opposite pedals of today but in its time this made sense. Left to Right – the same way you read. This EXACT handmade duplicate of the original 1970′s pedal employs the same obsolete number Germanium transistor and same number Silicon transistor. (Op Amps were never used in Percolators) The silicon transistor was potted in the originals to discourage people from reading the number on it! Also used are the exact same number obsolete Germanium diodes. (They are NOT the common 1N34 or 1N60) Same type capacitors also are used. Mylar-Silver Mica, Tantalum, and Ceramic. The slider controls are the same as in the original. These New Old Stock parts have the original packing slip dated February 19, 1968! Three original pedals were dismantled to help create this duplicate. One Percolator was totally dismantled, all its parts removed and measured. (Thanks John D. Greg K. Rusty B. @ Rockhaus Guitars and Jay T. for trusting your pedals to me!). I am sure it was unsettling for the one original Percolator owner to have his pedal dismantled, the transistor removed AND heated up to about 150 degrees to loosen the wax holding the metal ring obscuring the part number. There are no hidden parts, no mis-labeled components, nothing unusual beyond the circuit itself!

Here are a couple of video clips worth watching on the subject. I know I’ve posted the full GearWire version in the past. Here is a clip where Albini goes into detail as to what the Harmonic Percolator is doing:

This clip is also originally from GearWire by compares the original Interfax Harmonic Percolator with the Barge Concepts BP-1 which sounds BAD, but you get to hear the original Interfax.

If you’re thinking about getting a Interfax Harmonic Percolator, your best bet might be with the Chuck Collins version, which is available at Amazon for $225

Popularity: 3%

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CONTEST IS CLOSED

Some pedals I hate giving away. This pedal is one of those pedals. Today, I’m announcing the Flickinger Tone Boxes Angry Sparrow give away, and man, I wish didn’t have to go. It would fit nicely on my pedal board. This is a great sounding fuzz pedal falling in the vintage/classic fuzz tone, which is very versatile and very musical.

Richard of Flickinger Tone Boxes was extremely generous to offer this pedal as a give away after we reviewed it. You can listen/read/view the full demo of this pedal here – “Flickinger Tone Boxes – Angry Sparrow Demo“. This will definitely be a great pedal (valued at $200) for a lucky EffectsBay.com reader. When you get a chance, please check out their site for other pedals. They’re definitely making some great pedals!

I’m going to select one random entry on October 27th (Thursday) . I will email that random entry asking for the answer to the question listed below. They will have 24 hours to respond with the answer. If the 24 hours passes, I will select a new random entry and repeat the process until I receive confirmation from the winner.  This is open to everyone. Yes, that means international! Also, one entry per person.  Please read that last sentence again… “one” “entry” “per” “person”. And when I say ‘everyone’, I mean anyone older than 18 (sorry minors).

The submission form will be open until October 27th (Thursday) 12PM MST.

First, this is not a requirement, but you should ‘like’ EffectsBay on Facebook. It’s good way to keep in touch with new give aways and posts. Also, please consider joining the official EffectsBay.com mailing list.

So the question is…. “What is the furthest you had to travel to see a band? What what was the band and distance you traveled?“

Popularity: 8%

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A while back I got a email from Julian of Marrs Pedals (Vancouver, BC) talking about his fuzz pedal called the Fuzz Light Year. I thought it would be cool to send a few question his way to see what inspired the pedal, etc. But first let’s talk about the Fuzz Light Year real quick.

Here is the official description of the Marrs Pedals – Fuzz Light Year:

A germanium / silicon fuzz with some serious girth. If you’re looking to add some width to your sound, this is the pedal. It goes from velcro fuzz all the way up to distortion – And sounds fantastic on both guitar and bass. Includes the De-voltaire in the circuit. $200. Comes with 9V power supply. Customizable depending on how much bass you want.

In the original email to me he gave me a link to a demo of the pedal.

Here is our question/answer session:

- What did you want to achieve with the Fuzz Light Year?
I wanted to create an effect that is worthy of being someones main tone pedal – the one that you leave on all the time.  I also wanted it to be functional in a live setting. I value a pedal that you can use your feet to change the settings with, and small knobs in small boxes don’t cut it in that department. I essentially tried to juggle all the complaints that my musician friends and I had about most pedals and put the solutions into a box. It was a lot of fun.

- Why should musicians be interested in the Fuzz Light Year?
I believe overdrive/fuzz pedals are the cornerstone of any players tone when it comes to stompboxes. The Fuzz Light Year has a distinct sound that stands out from other fuzz type pedals. I built it to sound HUGE by adding generous amounts of low end. It allows any musician to expand their sonic pallet and reach new ground, mostly in the lower mids area of the spectrum. It has also proven to be very functional and can be used on a variety of different sources. It sounds particularly good through low end instruments. A friend recently ran a Bassoon through it – and it sounded amazing! I’m hoping to have the video clip posted on my website soon.

- What about fuzz pedals inspire you?
Fuzz pedals bring attitude to music. They, like all effects, add an extra dimension to your playing. I couldn’t even guess how many songs I’ve written over the years that are a direct result of going through a overdrive/fuzz.

- What’s the price point on the Fuzz Light Year?
$200.

- How do I buy one?
Send an e-mail to marrspedalsgmailcom I accept Paypal or Interact E-mail Transfer.

- How long have you been working on your pedals?
I’ve been messing around with pedals and fixing my own gear for as long as I can remember.  I’ve always been big into DIY ethics.

- How long has Marrs Pedals been in existence?
Marrs Pedals is very fresh, I started going public with it around the start of September. The Fuzz Light Year is the first pedal under the name.

- What other pedals are you currently developing?
I’m working on a unique delay right now and a tremolo pedal. I’m hoping to have both done within the next 3 to 4 months.

- What is planned for the future of Marrs Pedals?
Designing and building. I’m working on getting my name out there as much as possible and expanding my pedal roster.

- Any musicians we might know playing Marrs Pedals?
Unfortunately, no big names yet.  But, it’s still pretty early in the game!

If you get a chance, check out the website, and if you’re looking for a unique fuzz, this might be just what you’re needing.

Popularity: 4%

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