I was excited to receive another TONEbUTCHeR pedal in the mail. The PocketPus was a really exciting demo and give away so it’s great to follow up with something new. Huck at TONEbUTCHeR sent over a new ‘micro pedal‘ called the WeeWah demo.
As with all of TONEbUTCHeR pedals, no instructions are provided. It’s about experimentation and creativity. Letting your ears and imagination guide you instead of the instruction. In a nutshell, this is an envelope filter (vactrol based). The pedal is very reactive and sensitive to how you play the instrument. Basically two knobs and toggle switch to manage the sweep direction. These *micro* pedals are TINY for sure. The PocketPus has a very small battery, but the WeeWah has an adapter.
Here is the official description of the TONEbUTCHeR WeeWah:
We are excited to pre announce a new micro pedal in our line – The Tonebutcher Weewah - a Vactrol based envelope filter – the same used in the classic MuTron. The Weewah has a switch that controls a reverse sweep on the envelope from low to high or high to low. This pedal sounds excellent by itself and takes the Pocketpus to another level when chained together.
For this demo we again have Jimmy Rolle taking the pedal through it’s paces. Jimmy is playing his Les Paul Elegant Custom Shop into a Germino Lead 55 (on a side note, I’m sort of in love with his Germino Lead 55 – it’s now officially on my want-to-buy-list) through a Marshall 4×12. The whole thing is mic’d up with a Shure SM57 and Fathead Ribbon mic. There is nothing between the guitar and amp besides the WeeWah
You can listen to the high quality MP3 clip via SoundCloud
Huck also sent me an EffectsBay incentive offer on the WeeWah:
Just let your readers know – if they purchase the Weewah pedal to Add Instructions to Seller on checkout – and put “Effects Bay Incentive”
PURCHASE INCENTIVE – NO SALES TAX + FREE SHIPPING!! + Adverb Sweepstake Entry
Existing Tonebutcher customers can purchase a Weewah for $139.00 and will receive free shipping and no sales tax (international customers are responsible for duties and taxes levied by their country) on a Weewah purchase prior to the end of the year ($20 value – shipping and tax are refunded upon cleared payment -Make sure you let us know you are an existing customer when you purchase by making a note in the Add Instructions to Seller on checkout.)
In addition to the Free Shipping No Tax Purchase Incentive we will put your name in for a giveaway on our next release The Adverb, a sick reverb just out of development which will retail for $199.00. This sweepstake is available only to our existing customers.
REFERRAL INCENTIVE – REFER A FRIEND – They get the incentive you get the Adverb Sweepstake entry!!
Don’t have the $$$ to buy before the end of the year? Refer a friend who buys a pedal, and we will extend them the same free shipping no tax incentive and will put your name in our sweepstake for the Adverb Giveaway – Just make sure they let us know that you referred them by adding your name as a referral in the Add Instructions to Seller on checkout.
Be sure to check out TONEbUTCHeR‘s other pedals. Let your imagination go wild!! Also, check out their Facebook and YouTube pages as well!
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I first have to say the Loud Button ElectronicsWTF pedal is one of the craziest pedals to come through EffectsBay. Initially I was expecting a distortion box, but noticed the low-frequency oscillator label on the enclosure and thought it might be a little different. When we plugged that thing in… it was like WTF!
In a nutshell, the Loud Button WTF provides synth/noise tones, but you can dial it in to be quite playable as well, or you can adjust to get to the insane/crazy/lazer world. I think your imagination will be your guide with this pedal. How to apply it for that special something in a lead, rhythm or intro/outro section of the song, etc. If you’re looking for that WTF type of pedal.. this could be the one.
Controls are very straight forward. We have Attack, Gate, Volume and Frequency. The Gate does some interesting things. All the way counter clock wise will choke the signal, but all the way clock wise, you’ll get full low oscillation when no signal is present.
For this demo, I called up Jimmy Rolle, and he ran it through the paces. He is again playing his Les Paul Custom Shop Elegant into a Germino Lead 55 through a Marshall 4×12 cabinet. Guitar is mic’d with a Fathead Ribbon Mic and a Shure SM57 mic. Nothing between the guitar and amp besides the Loud Button WTF.
You can listen to the high quality MP3 clip via SoundCloud
For this demo, I had a chance to send a few questions to Shawn at Loud Button Electronics, and this is what he had to say:
So how did the name of “Loud Button” come about and become the name of the biz?
In the grand tradition of suggestive guitar pedal names, I wanted to choose a risqué name for the business. One night, my wife and I were tossing around various business names and when one of us pitched Loud Button, it stuck. There’s a button and the circuits provide amplification so it’s a fitting name. For more information on the pop culture reference, please see the online urban dictionary.
How long have you been building pedals as Loud Button?
Loud Button was founded in June, 2009.
What inspired you to start working on circuits/electronics?
It began in early childhood. I’m a throwback DIY-infused “space age”,(1950′s & 60′s). I’ve been a tinkerer all my life and was always mesmerized by electronics. I’m a former motorhead – focusing on the shortcomings of most things mass-produced. Over the past 20 years as a guitar player, I’ve thrown untold thousands at hyped claims and celebrity-endorsed equipment. Moving into modifying effects was a logical move and it led to building “from scratch”. I’ve spent the past couple of years doing nothing but experimenting and reading. I have a huge appetite for learning and electronics is such a challenging discipline. It’s my passion. It’s so satisfying to help someone find the sound they’re looking for. That excitement is compounded by seeing the pedals proudly shown off on albums or at a live show.
With pedal names like “Balls Deep”, “Bongwater Fuzz”, “Trem-o-fo” and “WTF” do you have a hard time coming up with the names for future pedals? Or do they just come out naturally?
The risqué and in some cases downright obscene names spring from my mind as well as close friends who are also customers. For the record, I didn’t name the “Balls Deep” overdrive pedal. But I ran with it. If it makes me blush, I know I’m onto something.
Are you working a new design now? If so.. what is it?
I love the design phase and I tend to get caught up in development and tweaks so I have to strive for balance. I have around twenty circuits in development and I’d love to release them all to production. Based on popular demand, I’ve got a clean blend mod for bass players. There’s also a sample & hold circuit that’s just getting out of control in terms of complexity. I’ve got a high-quality, transformer coupled A/B/Y switch that I offer by word-of-mouth as a one-off. Basically, I can build anything to customer request. People come to me with really imaginative ideas for effects and I love the challenge of pulling it off. I’m not interested in offering more of the same. In order for a circuit to make it to production, it has to offer something special.
What type of musician are you trying to reach with your pedals? Meaning is there a specific style or genre that these pedals are ideal for?
Ideally, I want to appeal to musicians of all styles and genres. I do have a wide variety of customers in terms of style. Minneapolis has a very vibrant music scene. My pedals are on the boards of country players, indie rockers, noise-pop, shoe gaze, classic rock and death metal. Bass guitar players are a massively under-served market and I spend a lot of time modifying and developing circuits that serve their needs. For example, Loud Button pedals are designed to work well with guitar or bass.
I see you have handmade circuit boards. Do you etch your copper or do you a CNC to cut the traces?
The boards are etched 1 oz. FR-4. We do it the old fashioned way with Ferric Chloride. I solder all of the traces – that’s another throwback to the 1960′s.
What would you say is your “flagship” pedal? And why?
The WTF certainly put me on the map. Everybody loves that thing – no matter their playing style. I built the prototype for a close friend who wanted a noise/synth effect. I still get carried away playing through them as I test every one before shipment. There are so many possibilities with the WTF. Every setting yields an inspiring and unique effect. It’s come to my attention that the WTF does “Dub Step” bass tones. I had to look it up on YouTube because I’m aging but I understand it’s a very popular genre. I get a lot of feedback from customers raving about audience members asking, “WTF are you doing to get those sounds?” The music business is all about standing apart from the crowd and the WTF can help that happen. I mean, who doesn’t want a pedal on their board that makes their guitar sound like a laser and says, “WTF” in large block letters?
What is one thing that absolutely pisses you off about other pedals? Something you try to avoid with yours.
I respect the differences between different manufacturers. Whatever they want to do is none of my business. I’m honored to be a part of the musical instrument marketplace. There are many impressive pedals out there. If someone’s product doesn’t measure up then it won’t survive in the marketplace. And then the discontinued product becomes rare and sought after by future generations who will pay obscene amounts of money just to have one. Lol!
I see you also do Pedal Modifications. Are there any modifications that you specialize in?
Most often, customers come to me with a pedal and a wish list. I just take it from there. I’ve done some amazing things for bass players in particular. Loud Button offers everything from the obligatory but cool DS-1 mods to Post-Phase Inverter Master Volumes on tube amplifiers.
How is the future looking for Loud Button?
The future looks very bright. I recently left my job to focus on Loud Button on a full-time basis. Loud Button also offers repair and modification of amplifiers, rackmount effects, mixing consoles and just about anything electronic that’s worth fixing. I also specialize in vacuum tubes – particularly testing and selection. The repair side alone is a constant flow with only word-of-mouth and I’m currently negotiating service deals with some major retailers. I’m just beginning to focus on marketing. It’s just my wife and I building the pedals. We’re a natural team and she burns circuit boards like nobody I’ve seen.
Can I buy your pedal direct from your site.. or do I have to find a dealer?
Direct from the website is currently the only way to get a Loud Button pedal. I’m currently working with dealers to get Loud Button into really great guitar shops.
Be sure to check out Loud Button Electronics on the web and on Facebook. They’re making some great stuff, and be sure to check them out!
This is one of the pedals I was quite excited to see come through the EffectsBay office. It’s the Spaceman Effects Aphelion Harmonic Overdrive. Brandon at Elevation Boutiques (Spaceman Effects dealer) arranged for a unit to be sent here. Spaceman Effects has really been getting some buzz for their pedals. High build quality. High tone quality, and some big names are starting to be seen with Spaceman Effects. I’ve definitely been seeing them pop up on boards. In fact, when I just had a chance to see The Appleseed Casts, I saw the Aphelion on one of their pedalboards.
So, let’s talk about the Aphelion. Checking out Spaceman’s site, this is their official description of the Aphelion Harmonic Overdrive:
Introducing the Aphelion Overdrive, the latest Spaceman tone machine, built to inspire. The Aphelion is a harmonically rich overdrive pedal, with an emphasis on even-order harmonics. It has a wide gain range from light sparkle, to overdriven tube-amp bliss. The pedal is wonderfully transparent and extremely responsive to playing dynamics. To our ears, it’s the most realistic tube-amp overdrive tone we’ve ever heard in a pedal.
In standard Spaceman fashion, we’ve come up with an exciting, unique design that makes it truly one of the most organic and dynamically responsive overdrive pedals on the planet. The Aphelion creates unique drive tones and with a sea of cloned overdrive circuits out there today, this means so very much.
The drive possibilities of the Aphelion range from a sparkly, shimmering boost to high-gain overdrive, with plenty of boosting power on tap. The tone control lets you balance highs and lows, with full range at 12:00. Use your neck pickup with high gain settings for singing, harmonic-laden lead tones.
Completely hand-soldered and handmade in Portland Oregon, the Aphelion utilizes true-bypass switching via the heaviest duty mechanical footswitch available. Open one up and you’ll see an unparalleled display of craftsmanship. Thick, high quality PCB along with detailed military-spec wiring, using vintage US made heavy-gauge stranded wire. On top of the USA-cast aluminum enclosure sits a durable, engraved vinyl faceplate and clear jewel indicator with turquoise LED. This overdrive is built to last a lifetime.
My first initial thoughts when playing the overdrive… it is damn organic, with great tonal range/options. For this demo, I called my buddy Jimmy again… who in fact already owns an Aphelion (blue) and was quite familiar with the pedal. He’s playing his trusty Les Paul Elegant Custom Shop guitar into his new Germino Lead 55 head through a Marshall 4×12 cabinet. He mic’d the cab with Fathead Ribbon Mic and a Shure SM57. There is nothing between the guitar and amp besides the Spaceman Aphelion Overdrive.
For this video, I was able to gear up and get a better camera/lights for the shoot. I shot Jimmy to prove he’s not a artificial crazy rock robot I built.. but an actual person!
You can listen to the high quality MP3 clip via SoundCloud
Since Jimmy was quite familiar with this pedal, I asked to send me his thoughts on the Spaceman Aphelion Overdrive:
Aphelion is smooth and thick sounding across the gain spectrum. The even order harmonic content gives chords a dense and complex sound, single notes and lead lines are fat and juicy. The midrange is even and balanced. The tone control allows for gentle shaping of the lows and low mids, with noon on the dial sounding neutral. Counterclockwise of noon, the tone control shaves lows and low mids letting the true mids punch through more prominently. Full clockwise on the tone knob produces chewy low mids and extremely fat lead tones with an explosive low end quality while maintaining clarity. The Aphelion has plenty of gain for use with a clean amp, but also works equally as well pushing a gained up amp into big time gain approaching EH “Muff” tones, but with a refined voice and musicality. – Jimmy Rolle
As you can hear, this pedal sounds absolutely great. If you’re interested in getting your hands on one, they range in price depending on what particular model you get. They range in the $269 – $279 area. Head over to Elevation Boutiques and contact Brandon and he’ll treat you right. Also, you might want to follow Elevation Boutiques on Twitter and like them on Facebook. They often announce great deals on awesome pedals. Be sure to check out Spaceman Effects as well!
A little while back, Musiquip who is the USA distributor of T-Rex effects, sent over a T-Rex Yellow Drive for us to demo. The T-Rex Yellow Drive is a Guitar Center exclusive pedal (partnership between Guitar Center and T-Rex) and is a two channel overdrive allowing you to have two separate levels and tone settings. This is very handy where you have a nice crunch rhythm setting but want to also have a higher gain setting for leads. Basically, it gives you two pedals in one.
Here is the official description of the T-Rex Yellow Drive via T-Rex Effects:
Most guitarists know how complicated it can be to switch between clean, crunchy and distorted sounds on stage. If you set your amp to a crunchy sound and use a distortion pedal for solos, you don’t have a clean option. If you run you amp clean and use a distortion pedal for solos, the only way to back down from full distortion is to lower the volume on your guitar – and lose most of your tone.
Meet the T-Rex Yellow Drive
The T-Rex Yellow Drive solves this problem by giving you two separate channels of vintage T-Rex gain. Two channels means you can easily switch between a clean sound from your amp, a nice edgy overdrive from Channel A on your Yellow Drive and a thick warm distortion from Yellow Drive’s Channel B. It’s like having two pedals in one – and it gives you total control over your sound.
New tone controls
With the T-Rex Yellow Drive, total control runs deep. Of course you can set the amount of gain for each channel (the gain level for Channel B picks up where Channel A leaves off), but you also get pair of individually tuned tone controls – one for each channel – so you shape the timbre of your overdrive and your distortion to create your own signature sound.
We believe the T-Rex Yellow Drive is the best-sounding, most versatile boutique distortion pedal you’ll find anywhere. But don’t take our word for it. Try one today at your local Guitar Center!
For this demo, I enlisted the help of my good friend, Jimmy Rolle. He’s playing a Gibson Custom Shop Les Paul Elegant into a Germino Lead 55 through a Marshall 4×12 cabinet. The cabinet is mic’d with a Shure SM57 and a Fathead Ribbon Mic. There is nothing between the guitar and the pedal besides instrument cables.
You can listen to the high quality MP3 clip via SoundCloud
This is a nice sounding overdrive with a classic warm vintage tone, but can get nasty by adjusting the gain. Having separate gain, level and tone controls makes it easy while extremely versatile for dialing in the right tone for your guitar.
If you’re interested in T-Rex, please check out their website, as well as visit Musiquip (the official T-Rex dealer of the United States). If you’re interested in picking up a T-Rex Yellow Drive, it is available for $159.99 at Guitar Center.
I was fortunate to be contacted by Flickinger Tone Boxes a while back. They sent over a pedal for us to demo. Every once and a while you get something that you know is going to be special, and this is one of those boxes. After receiving it I was immediately impressed with the enclosure. Normally I don’t like to get too hung up with the graphics, etc. But this one really caught my eye. It was a flat white finish and what appeared to be a ‘glazed’ image on top. Never seen this before on a pedal. Before playing it I had to ask what the deal was on the finish, so I sent a email to Richard Flickinger. This is what he had to say about the finish:
The boxes are prepped, primed and painted with flat enamel. Then the design and text outlines are screen printed, also with enamel. The rest is hand painted with, you guessed, enamel…. It’s time consuming, however I enjoy it and most players seem to really dig the unique look. I’m glad you like it. The Sparrow I sent you uses some really nice metallic colors that look great with a heavy application. Hopefully the sound will meet or exceed your impression of the art!
Okay, impressed so far, but let’s get to the pedal. This is great sounding classic fuzz pedal. Built to do one thing.. sound like a great fuzz. 3 Basic controls, nice well designed circuit with high quality components. Here is the official description by Flickinger Tone Boxes:
Unlike other fuzz effects that have several stages of transistors with clipping diodes cascaded into one another, the Angry Sparrow Tone Box has only one clipping stage. The result is a more musical fuzz tone that is versatile and dynamic. The Deluxe version has a three band passive tone-stack for greater tone shaping. The controls are pretty self-explanatory, however here are some tips for getting the most out of the device.
VOLUME:
This controls the overall output volume of your Angry Sparrow. Be aware, this device is capable of a very large volume boost to your signal.
Make sure not to overload other effects or your amplifier!
SINGLE TONE CONTROL:
This is a passive low-pass tone control. Very similar to what is on your guitar/bass.
Most of the time you will leave it wide open (full clockwise), just like most players do with their tone control on their instrument.
However, it can be very useful to tame the highs on a very bright amp, or if you want a darker tone at higher gain settings.
TONE-STACK:
The Angry Sparrow Deluxe’s tone-stack is a three band passive EQ that is interactive.
In order to get the results you want, keep in mind that the controls only subtract from the signal. The tone-stack is basically removed from the circuit with all controls at full clockwise.
Also, the Middle control will assume more of the high and low frequencies as you reduce the Treble and Bass controls. Decide which frequencies you want more to add, and reduce the other controls.
GAIN:
Much time and effort was put into exactly how the gain control functions.
At the lowest (counter-clockwise) settings, there will be very little change from your original sound, only a little compression and a warming of the tone.
You can set the volume higher and use the pedal as a warm-boost.
As you increase the gain, you will find dozens of musical overdrive/distortion/fuzz tones that work with more complicated chords and harmonies than you would expect from a circuit of this type.
To put this guy through the paces, I enlisted the help of Jimmy Rolle. He’s playing his Gibson Les Paul Custom Shop Elegant into a Rivera Knucklehead 100w head through a Marshall 4×12 cabinet loaded with Celestion Vintage 30s. Nothing between the guitar and the amp except for the Angry Sparrow. The audio was captured with a Shure SM57 and Fathead Ribbon Mics. For this demo, Jimmy is playing various stages of the amp. It starts off on his clean side, then to the gain channel and finally the same gain channel with the boost of the amp enabled. You can really hear how the pedal responds through these changes.
You can listen to the high quality MP3 clip via SoundCloud
After playing the Angry Sparrow, Jimmy and I talked about our general impression of the pedal. Here are some of the points that came up.
You can really get some great vintage musical fuzz tones. It is a really usable fuzz!
The pedal can achieve fuzz tones that fit nicely between a EHX Big Muff and Fulltone ’69
It’s a very ‘smooth’ and versatile fuzz with lots of control.
With the tone knob you can get some good mids to cut through. It doesn’t just boost the highs, which gives it a nice classic fuzz midrange. The low end is very fat, but again, usable… which is great for fuzz.
If your amp has headroom in the preamp stage, this pedal will boost big time.
The pedal is simple. I love simple pedals. 3 knobs and a dream.. that’s all you need!
As you can see/hear this is a great sounding fuzz. You can contact Flickinger Tone Boxes and order one for yourself. The Standard Angry Sparrow runs $200, while the deluxe goes for $225. The deluxe has a 3 band passive tone stack.
Currently, I’m running a T-Rex Tonebug Fuzz give away (full details here). A few of you emailed asking what the pedal was all about. Well, good thing we demo’d the pedal! The great people at T-Rex were kind enough to send over a few Tonebugs for EffectsBay to demo, so I want stop and say thanks to T-Rex! If you get a chance, please check out T-Rex Effects for their complete listing of awesome guitar/bass pedals!
So let’s get down to the nuts and bolts. The T-Rex Tonebug Fuzz has three basic controls.
Fuzz – controls the amount of dirt/clip you want in the signal Tone – controls how bright/dark you want it to sound Level – controls the overall output gain of the effect
So what’s the deal with the Tonebug series? T-Rex has been pumping out some great pedals since 2002, and probably their most sought after pedal is the Replica Delay. Great quality with excellent detail to tone and effect, which also came with a equivalent price tag. With the Tonebug series, the folks at T-Rex wanted to achieve the follow – “to provide the best effects on the market for reasonable money.” The Tonebug series has been growing ever since.
For this demo, I again enlisted the help of Jimmy Rolle. Jimmy is playing is Gibson Les Paul Elegant Custom Shop guitar into a Rivera Knucklehead 100w head through a Marshall 4×12 cabinet. The cabinet is mic’d with a Shure SM57 and Fathead Ribbon Mic. Nothing is between the guitar and amp except for the T-Rex Tonebug Fuzz.
You can listen to the high quality MP3 clip via SoundCloud
Now, as I mentioned, the T-Rex Tonebug Fuzz give away is still on. It ends on Monday 9/26, so be sure to get your entry in before it’s too late!
I’m currently running a give away to win this particular pedal – T-Rex Tonebug Booster. For those of you that are interested in the T-Rex Tonebug Booster, we put a quick demo of what this guy does. I like clean boosts. They’re simple and designed pretty much to do one thing – increase your guitar input signal to the pre-amp or to pedals. This can be especially great if you’re playing through a tube amp to get some nice natural amp break up. Normally clean boosts have just a single knob to manage the input gain, but the T-Rex Tonebug Booster also has a mid-scoop control to help contour the mid-range, which can be useful.
You know the problem… When it’s time for you launch into another brilliant solo, how do you make yourself heard above the rest of the band?
Basically, you’ve got to turn up the volume, but that’s easier said than done. You can keep the volume knob on your guitar down when you’re playing rhythm and turn it up for leads – but that takes half the tone and all the shine out of your rhythm sound.
Or you can turn around and crank up your amp in the middle of the song – missing bars, losing your audience and – let’s face it – usually forgetting to turn it down again when your solo is over.
Introducing T-Rex Booster
Booster is the perfect solution when you want to turn your volume up or down on the fly – without losing your tone. The way it works couldn’t be simpler: You set the right volume for your solos compared to rhythm parts, and then you stomp on the box when you take a solo.
Added SCOOP control
Sometimes, tweaking your equalization can also help you rise above the rest of the band. That’s why Booster comes with a cool SCOOP knob, which lets you fine-tune your solo tone in addition to boosting your volume.
Part of the T-Rex Tonebug series
Booster is part of the T-Rex Tonebug series, a growing line of pedals that combines the classic T-Rex tone found in our high-end pedals with intuitive, uncomplicated controls – all at a price that any guitarist can afford.
Once you’ve give Booster a try, you’ll wonder why you waited so long to add one to your pedal board.
For this demo, I again asked Jimmy Rolle to help out. He’s playing his Les Paul Custom Shop Elegant into a Rivera Knucklehead 100w head through a Marshall 4×12 cabinet. The audio was recorded with a Shure SM57 and Fathead Ribbon Mic. There is nothing between the guitar and the amp besides this pedal.
You can listen to the high quality MP3 clip via SoundCloud
Now, if you’re liking what you’re hearing, and as I mentioned, I’m giving this pedal away! I’ll be accepting entries for a few more days, so be sure to get your entry in before it’s too late! You can find full details about the T-Rex Tonebug Booster Give Away here.
A while back Chris Olley of Coopersonic Engineering sent over the Dirtbox for a review, and I’m glad he did. For those of you not familiar with Coopersonic Engineering, they are out of Nottingham, England and are making some great pedals including the Dirtbox, Germaniac, Tubecleaner and the ValveSlapper. They have a very nice site which includes a cool blog and a store to purchase Coopersonic products.
The Coopersonic Dirtbox is great sounding overdrive/distortion pedal! It is a classic sounding overdrive, which they mention “sounds like something between a coloursound overdrive and the lovetone big cheese”.
Below are the features related with the Dirtbox:
* Die Cast Aluminium Housing
* Scratch Proof Powder Coated Paint
* Profesionally Screen Printed Colours
* Neutric Jacks not soldered to board
* True bypass high quality footswitch
* Super Bright LED
* Hand Wired & Assembled
* Awesome Sound
* Manual and Box Included
* 120mm X 70mm and is 50mm high
* It runs on a 9V battery and can also be powered by a 9 volt DC power supply
* Also available in white
Here is a break down of controls.
DIRT – Adds more or less distortion or drive LEVEL – Overall volume control BITE – Tone control
For the demo, I again asked Jimmy Rolle to do the honors. He is playing his Les Paul Custom Shop Elegant into a Rivera Knucklehead 100w head through a Marshall 4×12 cabinet. Nothing between the guitar and the amp except for the pedal. The audio was recorded using a Shure SM57 and and a Fathead Ribbon mic.
You can listen to the high quality MP3 clip via SoundCloud
A while back we did a demo of the VFE Pedals Pale Horse Overdrive and I was psyched that Peter from VFE Pedals sent over another pedal for a demo. This time he sent over the VFE Pedals Fiery Red Horse Fuzz pedal. VFE Pedals is a boutique pedal outfit out of Puyallup, WA and doing some great stuff. Definitely check them out!
So let’s talk about the VFE Pedals Fiery Red Horse Saturated Fuzz. Here is the breakdown of control functions on the box.
Level – Controls the output of the fuzz Sustain – Controls the gain/sustain of the fuzz Tone – controls the highs/lows. Dialing to the right clockwise you increase highs and decrease lows. Turning it counterclockwise you will get more lows and less highs.
There are two small pots on the pedal. They control power and mid. Adjusting the power to the circuit will alter the fuzz effect. Some guys like to ‘starve’ their fuzzes, while others like full juice. This gives that option. Mid control alters the mid frequency response of the Tone control described above.
There is a toggle switch to manage clipping. There are three clipping methods available – Symmetrical, single-sided germanium and 3mm LED. Each has their own “flavor” of clip. They also alter the level and gain so adjustment to level will most likely be needed when changing clipping options.
There is an internal control (managed via trim pot within the pedal). This adjusts the brightness of the pedal’s LED.
The pedal can be powered from 9 to 18VDC.
The true bypass switch is using an optical relay, which is something that VFE likes to use. This prevents the common ‘popping’ when switching true bypass switches.
For this demo, I enlisted the help of Jimmy Rolle. He is using a Gibson Les Paul Custom Shop Elegant into a Rivera Knucklehead 100w head through a Marshall 4×12 cabinet. The audio was recorded with a Fathead Ribbon Mic and a Shure SM57. He is using Channel 2 of the amp which is the “clean” side of the amp. The only thing in line was the VFE Pedals Fiery Red Horse.
Jimmy maintains a consistent riff as he goes through the various options of the fuzz.
You can listen to the high quality MP3 clip via SoundCloud
The VFE Pedals Fiery Red Horse Fuzz will give you various fuzz tones – from standard over drive to very nasally/throaty tones. Using the voltage starve can also provide additional tonal options. The mid control allows you to shape the appropriate mid bump or mid scoop within the tone control, which is nice for additional characteristics.
A while back Will Cady of Source Audio sent me a Soundblox Tri-Mod Flanger to check out and demo for EffectsBay.com. Source Audio is really starting to get their name out in the guitar/bass effects world. Their Soundblox and Soundblox pro pedals are starting to find themselves on various boards and backline rigs. Artists such as Billy Sheehan, Adrian Belew, Billy Corgan, Bela Fleck just to name a few. Please check out their artist page for more info! Some serious talent there.
Okay, let’s talk about the Soundblox Tri-Mod Flanger. The Tri-Mod Flanger came from the original Hot Hand Phaser/Flanger system in a smaller system. The tri-mod flanger has 11 preset ‘effects’. The presets include:
1. Classic flanger with resonance
2. Delayed subtracted from input, producing a hollow sound
3. Multiple individually varying delay lines summed
4. High resonance, peaks only, no notches
5. Multiple delays, no resonance
6. Multiple delays, with resonance
7. Classic flanger with resonance, but with extra delay network inserted into feedback path
8. A lot of individual delays with resonance and extra delay network in feedback
9. A lot of individual delays with resonance and extra delay network in feedback
10. Classic flanger, hollow sound
11. Delayed signal only, no flanging effect. Meant for pitch modulation, such as vibrato.
- There is also a calibration setting.
My first reaction with this pedal and these pre-sets, you can achieve just about ANY flanger effect you’re looking for. The options were plentiful, and these starting points for initial effect covers just about everything a flanger is known to do. Subtle flange to crazy jet flange with huge sweeps is possible with this pedal!
There are three controls available. These control delay, depth and speed to the preset effect selected.
Delay - Adjusts the amount of time delay used to create the flange Depth - This is actually a multi-purpose control. Primary function is to control the depth of the flange effect and controls the type of modulation used. Options include Envelope or LFO. Speed - In envelope mode (see Depth control) it will control the attak of the envelope. In LFO it will control the oscillation.
Optionally this pedal can be used with a HotHand attachment. The HotHand is a like a tethered ring with a accelerometer in the ring. By triggering the accelerometer you will be able alter the effect from your playing hand. The Depth and Speed knobs have ‘HH’ values there. You can control the depth response via the HH and Flail/Pick controls which are part of Speed. The HotHand is sold separately.
For this demo, I again enlisted the help of Jimmy Rolle. Immediately we were both impressed with the insane amount of flange tone/control/effects that are available, and to present them all within a demo video or two is impossible. It would be easy to devote a 5 minute video of each preset effect! For this demo, we broke it down to two videos. One for ‘clean’ and one for ‘gain’ amp settings. All played with a Les Paul Elegant Custom Shop guitar into a Rivera Knucklehead 100w head through a Marshall 4×12 cabinet. Cabinet was mic’d with Shure SM57 and Fathead Ribbon Mic. Nothing else in the signal path between the guitar and the amp.
Below Jimmy is playing on Channel 2 of the Rivera Knucklehead (clean channel)
You can listen to the high quality MP3 clip via SoundCloud
Next up is the Tri-Mod Flanger on the gain side of the amp.
You can listen to the high quality MP3 clip via SoundCloud
As you can see there is a big variety of flanger/vibrato sounds that can be acquired with this pedal, and we just scratched the surface. If you’re looking for a flanger with variety and quality, then you may need to look closely at the Source Audio Soundblox Tri-Mod Flanger.
I was excited to receive another TONEbUTCHeR pedal in the mail. The PocketPus was a really exciting demo and give away so it’s great to follow up with something new. Huck at TONEbUTCHeR sent over a new ‘micro pedal‘ called the WeeWah demo.
