Effects Bay

The following is a guest post review of the Mojo Hand Analogue Filter 442  by Bobby Morelli. If you are interested in guest posting, please contact me!

Want to add some cool textures, funky flavor, or auto-wah goodness to your sonic palette?  Well, the Mojo Hand Analogue Filter 442 could be what you’re looking for!

This handwired, true-bypass envelope filter is based on the out-of-production DOD 440 Envelope Filter which was made popular by Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead fame.  In addition to true bypass switching the pedal features an LED indicator and controls for “level” and “range.”  The pedal is able to run off a nine volt battery or standard “Boss style” adapter. While the only two controls are “level” and “range,” they take a little getting used to.  The “level” knob controls the frequency of the filter and the “range” knob controls the sensitivity of the filter.  Basically a stronger pick attack will produce a wider frequency sweep; go less aggressive with your picking hand and the filter becomes more subtle.  The trick is finding the right balance between the “level” and the “range.”

Once dialed in I found the pedal to have a very unique tone, and while it won’t replace a wah pedal it certainly can cop that sort of vibe. Small changes in the controls’ settings can yield very dramatic changes in feel and tone of the pedal, and I view that as a good thing.  From a highly sensitive filter with a biting tone, to a broad range filter with an eerie warble, it’s all there!

I’m using the pedal to add more dimension and a different texture to my tone; something that’s outside of the usual suspects of a phaser, flanger, or chorus.  The pedal seems to be more expressive and have more “cut” when used with cleaner amp settings.  Heavier distortion tones seem make the effect less noticeable.  This doesn’t detract from the pedal and could have to do with having it after my drive pedal in my signal chain.  And while I’m using the pedal in an indie-rock setting I’m sure it would be equally at home in a funk band. If you’re looking for something beyond your usual modulation effects and something that doesn’t break the bank I highly suggest taking a look at the Mojo Hand Analogue Filter 442!

Mojo Hand Analogue Filter 442 – MSRP $149

Pros: Unique tone, small footprint, plenty of tonal options
Cons: Tricky to dial in at first
Others to consider: Electro Harmonix Nano Doctor Q, DOD FX25B, Mutron III Plus

For this review I ran the Mojo Hand Analogue Filter 442 into a Dr. Z MAZ Jr 2×12 Non-reverb loaded with Celestion G12H30 speakers, and for guitars I used an early 90s Les Paul Standard, 1952 Reissue Telecaster, Rickenbacker 360, and Vintage Hot Rod Stratocaster.

About the author:
Bobby Morelli is the lead guitarist in the Tampa, FL based rock band Drew Street Mary.  He’s a tone whore and spends time worrying about gear when he should be practicing.
Web site – www.drewstreetmary.com
Twitter – @drewstreetmary

Popularity: 4%

The following is a guest post review of the Digitech Hardwire CM-2 Tube Overdrive Pedal by Andrew Elmore. If you are interested in guest posting, please contact me!

A while back i bought a Sony PSP from a friend for the strange price of $65 and a box of Pop Tarts. I am completely serious. I used it about five times and then it sat in my closet collecting dust for several months. On a completely unrelated subject I have recently discovered the Digitech Hardwire CM-2 Tube Overdrive and have fallen in love with it. (Long story short, a dude on craigslist was selling one for $70 and I traded that PSP for it instead. Success.)

I played with it at my local music store and wasn’t super impressed (it was plugged into a Marshall MG15DFX… What could I expect?) but the reviews on the internet were so crazily positive! And the youtube demos made it sound great! What was the deal?!

I ended up trading that PSP (You thought that random intro sentence was completely pointless didn’t you?) for The Hardwire Tube Overdrive on craigslist and took it home and was blown away. It took awhile to find a good spot for it, but i ended up putting it before my other OD pedals and it just sounded beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.

You got your basic Level, Low, High, and Gain controls here, as well as a standard bypass switch. There is, however, another mysterious little mini-toggle for either Classic or Modified. Classic sounds very very reminiscent of a TS9 (but with 2 band EQ of course)but the Modified setting is where this pedal really shines. A Gain/Presence boost along with a mid-range boost and a bit more compression give it that TS9DX “Hot Mode” sound but with more creamy, glorious sustain. Beautiful.

Try as I might, I could not get a bad sound out of this pedal! Contrary to popular belief, this is not just a glorified Digitech Bad Monkey. It’s a whole ‘nother animal. The CM-2 uses higher voltage operation than any pedal I’ve ever heard of, allowing for amazing headroom so you won’t overload this pedal with any pregain stages or active pickups. Like it’s namesake, it’s hardwired true bypass and won’t affect your tone when off. One of the features I’m glad for in the Hardwire series is an overall use of much better parts. The knobs are solid and well, different. (Play with one, you’ll get what I mean.) The bypass switch is an overall better quality than the standard digitech pedal (I’m comparing this to my Hot Head.) and this thing could survive a freaking nuclear holocaust. It’s even olive drab which makes it extra hardcore! It comes with a Glow In The Dark sticker for the stomp switch so it’s easy to see on a dark stage (very helpful!) and a seperate, all velcro backplate
to replace the standard rubber one. Bright blue blind-you-for-days LED and a sick, sick tone. This pedal is the definition of sexy.

It was once said on TGP somewhere: “If it ain’t hand-painted, it ain’t worth playin’.” I guarantee if you shoot this out with hand made boutique overdrives it will still blow their overinflated pricetags out their butts. Long story short, this thing sounds PHENOMENAL and is a flat hundred bucks new! Don’t take my word for it. Go play one. This has become my main overdrive pedal for lead AND rhythm! My SD-1 and BD-2 are essentially just gain boosts now!

Anyway yeah. Digitech Hardwire CM-2 Tube Overdrive, You succeed on all levels of awesome.

About the author:

I’m a christian guitarist with a bad bad case of “Pedal Acquisition Syndrome” I’ve been playing for about 6 years. My current set up is as follows:
Ibanez AX-S 42 > Dunlop Standard Crybaby GCB-95 > Boss AC-3 Acoustic Simulator > Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive > Digitech Hot Head Distortion > Danelectro Tuna Melt Tremolo > Digitech RP50 Processor (Piece of crap, only used as a tuner) > Boss DD-7 Digital Delay > Fender FM212R
You can follow Andrew on Twitter (@AndrewElmore)

You can pick up the Digitech Hardwire CM-2 Tube Overdrive pedal for $99.95 at Musician’s Friend!

Popularity: 10%

The following is a guest post review of the PH-3 Phase Shifter by George DesRoches. If you are interested in guest posting, please contact me!

So, I had 130 bucks to spend around Christmas time, and sat in Guitar Center for nearly an hour trying to decide if and what I would buy with it. Eventually, being the BOSS whore that I am, I relented and purchased their PH-3 Phase Shifter, and so far I’m glad with my choice. This green monster is packed full of snazzy sweeping tones and amazing phasing effects that can colour and fill any tone.

The pedal has 4 basic phaser settings: 4 step (vintage sounding), 8 step (balanced/standard sound), 10 step (deep phaser), and 12 step (two 6 step phases in consecutive order) phasing, which means that you can have a quick, shallow modulation all the way to a deep, pulsating swoosh and swell in your tone without much tweaking. In addition, there are also a fall and rise phase setting, which are particularly exciting. Each create a perpetual downwards or upwards sweep respectively, which can make a clean guitar sound etheral or a distorted guitar sound like a power-saw. This creates an almost metallic flanger tone, which is perfect for experimental or metal tones. Another added feature is the step-filter, which runs the guitar sound through random phase stages at a steady pace. At a slow rate, the step filter sounds like a slicer effect, while at faster speeds it sounds like a vibrato or tremelo. For a normally straight-forward area of modulation, this pedal manages to give you almost every aspect of it’s trademark sound, as well as giving you elements you cannot find anywhere else.

The PH-3, like all Boss stompboxes, are built like a tank with a near indestructable metal chassis, and can be powered by either 9v battery or DC adapter. You can control the rate of the phase by either using the knob on the main panel, a tap tempo (via the main pedal or an FS-5U footswitch extension), or an EV-5 expression pedal. You can also adjust the depth of the phasel, which shows how wide of a phase effect you have. You can also increase the strength of the phase by using the resonance knob, though if the resonance is too strong, it can somewhat distort the output signal. Besides that, however, this pedal is great, worth the price, and something I suggest to be on every guitarist’s pedalboard.

About the author:
George DesRoches

My gear: Fender HSS Stratocaster (soon to be HSH within the next week or so), Dunlop Dimebag Darrel Cry Baby From Hell, BOSS MD-2 MegaDistortion, DS-1 Distortion, TR-2 Tremelo, CH-1 SUPERChorus, and DD-20 Giga Delay, with a Raven RG200 amp and a Line 6 Spider III 15 watt when needed.

Check out my band, T.R.B., at
http://www.teearebee.co.nr
http://www.myspace.com/teearebee
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/The-Random-Band/110510314252?ref=ts
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=67927983941&ref=tsm
http://twitter.com/therandomband

You can follow George on Twitter (@TeeAreBee)

You can pick up the Boss PH-3 Phase Shifter for $95.95 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: 9%

The following is a guest post review of the Line 6 M13 Stompbox Modeler by Jake (@jarjarjakes) . If you are interested in guest posting, please contact me!

Over the years I’ve played through and experimented with numerous multi effects units, and all of them had left me with a same dull tones and the feeling of hitting a “tonal block”. That is, whereby I felt I was simply recycling sounds – making use of the same old tones over and over, and finding it increasingly hard to develop new ideas and sounds. The Line 6 M13 is, so far, the only unit I have used that offers only what I need – no gimmicks. The fantastically simple interface of this unit what I believe makes it great onstage and in your bedroom.

The unit is well built and feels very sturdy, however as with most equipment; if you are gigging, I’d recommend a pedalboard for protection. The unit is supplied with a transformer (thankfully not one of the ghastly on plug/take up two spaces type!) and an effects manual. The manual goes through the different effects units that each of the models on the M13 have been styled on. Connections on this unit are easy, but also very flexible.

We have a number of routing options with this unit. We can feed it a stereo or mono signal, it will happily output mono signals to a stereo amp setup. There is also the option to connect two expression pedals, which can be used for controlling any factor on any of the effects units (e.g. gain, mix, decay time, pitch etc.). Perhaps my favourite routing option with this device is the ability to use other effects devices. I own a number of pedals I am very fond of, and can easily integrate these into my M13 setup. The FX loop allows you to insert pedals into the M13s signal path. Selection of where this signal path sits within the M13s unit can be varied using the setup menu.

The best thing about the M13? It does not use numbered presets – instead it acts like a virtual pedalboard. You can save upto 12 “pedalboards” in the unit, each scene can save 12 “pedals”, 4 of which can be used at the same time – confused? In simple terms, you can use upto 4 devices at the same time, and switch others in and out as you wish. Its like having 12 different pedalboards, each with 12 pedals on – but only 4 can be used at the same time.

Check out this video by mick3b1g – A fantastic demo of the looper function and the tonal qualities of this unit!

All of the effects units in the M13 have been modelled on real units – as the user guide shows. The quality of these effects is next to none. Anyone who has used the DL4, MM4, DM4, and FM4 will know. The M13 contains all of these effects units, and more (over 100 effects infact!) Particularly outstanding are the delay and reverb models, which model a variety of famous classical sounds, and some lesser known sounds. Overall, the quality is fantastic – but don’t just take my word for it; check out the samples on the Line 6 website at http://line6.com/m13/sounds02.html.

Also worth a look is this video from jasongellis.

Aside from a great selection of effects units, the M13 gives you a fantastic looper pedal – with up to 28 seconds of looping, perfect for creating rhythms and samples for you to jam along with. Also included in the setup is a tuner, which, thanks to the bright displays, is easy to use onstage, and provides dependable, silent tuning.

So, how does the M13 sound? To me, great. I really cannot fault the quality of the sounds – nor the flexibility that it offers. Every time I use this unit I find myself discovering new sounds, creating new tones and most importantly, enjoying playing : JW09

About the author:
Jake, Student, Live Sound Engineer, Runner, Guitarist etc. – Feel free to follow me on twitter @jarjarjakes.

You can purchase the Line 6 M13 Stompbox Modeler Guitar Multi Effects Pedal for $499.99 at Musician’s Friend.

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!

Popularity: 12%

The following is a guest post review of the Dunlop DB-01 Dimebag Crybaby From Hell by George DesRoches. If you are interested in guest posting, please contact me!

The Dimebag Darrel signature wah, the “Crybaby From Hell”, is, in my opinion, one of the most versatile wah-wah pedals on the market today. Because I don’t exactly know the terminology for wah, i’m gonna keep it as simple as possible: the wah has just enough “W” and plenty of “AH”, which is great for metal guitarist, rock guitarist, etc. People of varying genres use this pedal because of its range and it’s amazingly customizable tone, including people like Buckethead, Prince, Jeff Hanneman of Slayer, Dave Navarro (Jane’s Addiction, Red Hot Chili Peppers), Dave Mustaine, The guitarists of both Saliva and The Darkness, Dave Keunig of The Killers, Jade Puget of AFI, and many other metal, punk, and pop guitarist (including Ashley Simpson’s guitarist. suprising, huh?).

This wah has several basic features, as well as several that make it, if not unique, then desireable. It has three small knobs: The Variable Q adjustment knob, which adjusts the shape of the filter peak (or, in simpler terms, it makes the “AH” sharper sounding or duller sounding). The lower the setting, the less “vocal” sounding the wah is, so it’s duller and alot more subtle than the piercing, scream-like “AH!” sound u get when it’s turned up. The second knob is a Volume Knob, which controls how loud the guitar signal is when the boost circuit in the wah is activated (more on that later). The last small knob is a Fine Tuning adjustment knob, which “controls the range” of the “AH”, or high end, of the sweep (according to the manual). Basically, the higher the range, the brighter the sound, as apposed to a darker sound if the range is smaller. In essence, it’s works just like a tone knob (why do pedal companies have to overcomplicate things with unessessary terminology?)

The next bit is a “switchable output jack” system. Basically, if it’s more convenient for you, you can have the input and output on the same side of the pedal, or have the output be on a lower jack if it fits better. To explain, on the right side of the pedal there is an output jack. On the left side, there is an input jack, and closer to the heel of the wah is a special input/output jack, which can replace either of the other two jacks. It’s there for your convenience. Personally, I dont use it, but I can see how, in certain situations, it can come in handy.

This pedal also has an adjustable rocker tourque knob located just beneath the pedal’s rocker. This controls the amount of resistance you get when you rock the pedal back and forth. It’s pretty simple to do, and pretty basic, so if you dont like how much resistance you have on your rocker, you have a way to adust it. The issue, it needs an alen wrench to work. Still, once you get the right tension, you shouldn’t have to adjust it any more. It also has a large knob on the side which, if i’m correct, works like a mode switch, selecting one of 6 settings for the wah (ranging from subtle and wide to harsh and piercing). This is what i’ve gathered from fiddling around with it, however there is no mention of it in the instruction manual.

Last, but certainly not least, is the Boost circuit. This adustible boost can be activated by a button on the side of the heel-end of the pedal, which can be activated or deactivated using your foot. The boost is a normal boost, which, if the button is pressed, is active while the wah is on. You cannot have a boost and no wah, but the boost is great for wah solos and such. Because my distortion is very fat and warm, I like to activated the boost, then the wah, keeping the wah in a toe-down position, which gives my solos a high end tone to them, as well as boosting my volume so i can be heard over the mix. It’s also great for a light overdrive with wah, for funk or alternative music. I use it clean for jimi hendrix songs, like Voodoo Child (Slight Return), which this pedal is PERFECT for. In addition to the multitude of fine tuning options, this pedal also has two conveniently placed LED lights, one to signal if the pedal is on, one to signal if the boost is activated (the boost can be “activated” if the pedal itself is off. However, the signal wont be boosted unless the wah function is also activated). These LEDs are easily seen in the dark, the light, and best of all from across the stage, and are color coded (green is power, red is boost), so you know what is active and what isnt.

Again, this pedal really is an amazing sounding wah. No matter what style you play, or what songs you do, you can rest easy knowing that this wah  You can get nearly any sound from it, which is why all kinds of guitarists, from Children Of Bodom to Radiohead to Ashley Simpson to Anthrax, choose this pedal. Besides, if Mr. Dimebag Darrel used it, it HAS to sound good.

About the author:
George DesRoches

My gear: Fender HSS Stratocaster (soon to be HSH within the next week or so), Dunlop Dimebag Darrel Cry Baby From Hell, BOSS MD-2 MegaDistortion, DS-1 Distortion, TR-2 Tremelo, CH-1 SUPERChorus, and DD-20 Giga Delay, with a Raven RG200 amp and a Line 6 Spider III 15 watt when needed.

Check out my band, T.R.B., at
http://www.myspace.com/teearebee
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/The-Random-Band/110510314252?ref=ts
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=67927983941&ref=tsm
http://twitter.com/therandomband

You can follow George on Twitter (@TeeAreBee)

You can purchase the Dunlop DB-01 Dimebag Crybaby From Hell for $149.99 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: 9%

The following is a guest post review of the Eventide TimeFactor Twin Delay Guitar Effects Pedal by Nick Georgiou. If you are interested in guest posting, please contact me!

Many of us have been through pretty much every delay in the TimeFactor’s class; Boss DD-20, Line 6 DL-4, TC Electronic Nova, T-Rex Replica, Empress Superdelay, etc. and been relatively dissatisfied with the lack of certain features, or just on overall feeling of hitting “a brick wall” when it comes to parameter adjustment. Wait, lets back up, the TimeFactor is in a class by itself.  Not because of the price (it is well worth the money) but because of the features that make this pedal bar none. It is all of Eventide’s best delays wrapped in a stomp-box, times two by way of independent stereo, with one of the best user interfaces out there.

It has a USB hookup for infinite update possibilities. Like to update the internal firmware to allow for things such as; more accurate analog and tape sounds, more storage banks for presets, smoother user interface, and the list goes on. You can check for updates on Eventide’s website and updating is a breeze. You can even backup all your banks and preset settings online. From the digital delay to the reverse delay, all the way to the on board looper, you’re in for a wild ride of sounds so good, you’ll be changing your underwear with every twist of a knob. The control expansion is fantastic as well. You have your typical 3 footswitches built into the chassis, but you also have an expression pedal jack along with an aux switch jack that’s programmable to act as a tap tempo, bank select, or a number of other controllable functions. Not to mention the MIDI in and out for those dudes who want to rack this beast and control it using a MIDI controller or get creative and do creative MIDI things with it (my generation has a hard time fathoming all that MIDI stuff). The LCD readout and tempo display is fantastic for those players who play in bands or with artists who just so happen to enjoy a click track and maybe one or two or ten BGV tracks, programming tracks, and percussion loops. Just dial in the tempo and you’ll be rocking your way to a set tighter than Russell Brand’s trousers. The LCD readout also allows for the display of numerical setting values to either write down and patch back in later (should you choose not to save in one of the 100 available preset slots) or to remember and adjust for crazy oscillation manipulation. You have complete control over everything in this pedal. Granted, you’re not going to master this thing in a night. It’s like a woman; you have to spend some time alone with her, buy her nice things (like sick OD’s and Whammy pedals), and never under any circumstances talk about her size. Then, (even that’s a maybe,) she’ll put out and be easy to work with from then on.

About the author:
Nick Georgiou

Nick Georgiou is a freelance player currently living in Nashville and playing with many Christian music artists and worship leaders. Nick is currently with artist Sarah Reeves, and on the road with Decemberadio. He also plays with songwriter and worship leader Chris McClarney.
http://www.sarahreeves.net/
http://www.chrismcclarney.com/

You can follow Nick on Twitter (@rewindstuff)

The Eventide TimeFactor Twin Delay Guitar Effects Pedal can be purchased for $399.00 at Musician’s Friend.

Popularity: 6%

The following is a guest post review of the Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive by Andrew Elmore. If you are interested in guest posting, please contact me!

Few overdrive pedals have come as close to Tubescreamer popularity as the Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive pedal, and for good reason! This little guy is (circuitry wise) almost an exact replica of the Ibanez TS-808 Tubescreamer. Revered by many, this pedal will grant you the perfect range of smooth creamy sustain to the beautiful singing crunch of a plexitube amp.

This pedal has three easy knobs to help you nail your tone. Level (Controls the output volume of the effect) Tone (Controls color balance between bass and treble and offers wider range then TS-808) and Drive (Controls amount of distortion. The great thing about the SD-1 is that it provides an amazing, professional overdrive tone without blurring the tiniest nuances of your picking attack and technique, all for a budget price! The Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive (analog, buffered bypass) is available at most stores (like musiciansfriend.com) for $49.99!

Not only do greats like Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead) use this, but so do countless bedroom jammers and gigging musicians! I use this pedal when playing at my church almost every week, as it is the foundation of my tone! I usually leave the tone a bit more to the treble side, and leave the Level all the way up and the Drive all the way down to obtain a very subtle, slightly dirty sound. However, i can quickly fatten up my for a great lead boost by cranking the drive knob all the way up as well. However, with the tone a bit more towards the bass one can attain a great heavy overdriven bite, a la Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine, Audioslave, Streetsweeper Social Club

In the end, the Boss Super Overdrive will hold up to all your road abuse, and provide you with an amazing tone or boost for an awesome price. If this were stolen or lost i would by another the very same day.

About the author:

I’m a christian guitarist with a bad bad case of “Pedal Acquisition Syndrome” Iv been playing for about 6 years. My current set up is as follows:
Ibanez AX-S 42 > Dunlop Standard Crybaby GCB-95 > Boss AC-3 Acoustic Simulator > Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive > Digitech Hot Head Distortion > Danelectro Tuna Melt Tremolo > Digitech RP50 Processor (Piece of crap, only used as a tuner) > Boss DD-7 Digital Delay > Fender FM212R
You can follow Andrew on Twitter (@AndrewElmore)

The Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive can be purchased for $39.00 at Musician’s Friend.

Popularity: 6%