Effects Bay

I came across this video with Nels Cline giving the Pigtronix FAT drive a test drive. If you’ve been following this site, you know that I’ve been on a little Nels Cline kick as of late. Recently (not necessarily influenced by Nels) but I purchased a American Fender Jazzmaster Reissue and have been having a lot of fun with that guitar. Nels is all about the Jazzmaster, but we’re here talking about the Pigtronix FAT Drive. In this video, he compares it to the original ‘gold’ Klon Centaur. Bold move.

The audio quality captured on the video is not the greatest, but you hear it’s in the ballpark. We did an EffectsBay review on the Pigtronix FAT drive recently as well. You can view it here – “Pigtronix FAT Drive Demo“.  It’s a great sounding overdrive that was released this year by Pigtronix (debuted at NAMM 2012), and is currently available at Amazon for $139.00

Here is the official description of the Pigtronix FAT Drive:

FEATURES 100% Analog wide range overdrive Multi-Stage Tube Emulated Clipping Hi / Lo gain mode switch Passive LPF Tone Control True Bypass Switching 18VDC 300mA supply included Chassis Size = 2.4″ x 4.4″ x 1″ Circuit Design by Howard Davis Sound Design by David Koltai True bypass

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Hello All… just wanted to remind you that the Lotus Red Knob Overdrive Give Away is still happening! The response has been awesome, so I know a lot of you are hoping to win this guy (which retails for $199.95). Hell, wish I could keep this one. For those of you that didn’t know about the give away and want to enter go here – “Lotus Red Knob Give Away!“, for those of you that want to learn more about the Red Knob, please check out the full demo here – “Lotus Pedal Designs Red Demo“. I’ll include a video here as well.

I want to send out a special thank you to Sean at Lotus Pedal Designs for letting me give out this pedal to a lucky EffectsBay reader! Thanks Sean. Please check out Lotus Pedal Designs on the web, and on Facebook and on Twitter!

Below is our demo of the Lotus Red Knob featuring Jimmy Rolle!

Please help spread the word on this give away by re-tweeting and sharing on Facebook. We all love free stuff, so let’s help keep the action going!

Popularity: 4%

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GIVE AWAY IS CLOSED

A while back we did a demo of the Lotus Pedals Designs Red Knob. The Red Knob is a dirty and dark overdrive and uses the TS-808 chip. Plenty of gain with a nice classic ‘wooly’ tone. A really great overdrive. The response on the YouTube demo has been great, and Sean Erspamer of Lotus is kind enough to offer this guy to a lucky EffectsBay reader. Thanks Sean.

First off, I want to quickly talk about Lotus Pedal Designs. As I mentioned in the demo post, I really like his approach to simplicity. Most of his pedals are two knobs and a dream with a single foot switch. They pretty much only include the Lotus logo, what identifies what pedal they are is by the knob color. I dig it. To see all the pedals Lotus offers, check out their pedal selection here. While you’re at it, check out their Facebook and Twitter pages as well.

Okay, how do you win the Lotus Pedal Designs Red Knob? Read below:

I’m going to select one random entry on March 2nd. 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 March 2nd (Friday) 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 – A free Pedal Label System pack (learn more at PedalLabels.com)

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 piece of gear do you own, that you will NEVER part with?”

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: 9%

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A little while back, the kind folks at Pigtronix sent over the FAT Drive for us to take on a test drive. They unleashed the FAT Drive at NAMM this year, it’s great to get a new unit to demo! The FAT Drive is an overdrive that uses CMOS clipping with the standard controls you’d expect from a overdrive – Volume, Gain and Tone, but also has something a little extra. A toggle switch simply called ‘More’. The ‘more’ toggle changes the gain structure.. for more goodness. The pedal can be powered via 9volts, but comes with a 18v adapter for increased clarity and output.

Here is the official description from Pigtronix’s web site:

Pigtronix FAT Drive is thick and juicy, dripping with touch sensitive overdrive that responds to every nuance of your playing style. Multiple cascaded
gain stages enable the FAT drive to cover sounds ranging from slightly overdriven to rich saturation, all while retaining musical dynamics and the original character of your instrument.

FAT Drive takes a futuristic analog approach to create complex crunch tones using CMOS clipping and a variable low pass filter for tone shaping. Bringing the tone control all the way clockwise takes this filter completely out of the circuit for total transparency and robust low end. Rolling the tone control back smooths out the highs, leaving ample mid-range bloom and bottom end punch.

A Hi / Lo toggle switch brings additional versatility to the FAT Drive’s wide-ranging palette of overdrive tones, altering the gain structure for enhanced crunch and soaring leads. The FAT Drive features true bypass switching and runs fine on standard 9-volt power but ships with an 18-volt adapter for superior headroom, clarity and overall output.

For the demo we have my good friend Jimmy Rolle on guitar duty again. He’s playing his trusty Gibson Custom Shop Les Paul Elegant into a Germino Lead 55 head through a Marshall 4×12 cabinet. There is nothing between the guitar and amp besides the Pigtronix FAT Drive.

You can listen to the high quality MP3 clip via SoundCloud

The FAT Drive is available for purchase, and is a great value. It’s only $139 at Amazon!

Make sure you check out Pigtronix on the web, Facebook and Twitter for more information on their great products!

Popularity: 5%

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A while back I began corresponding with Jim Normandy of Normandy Guitars. Some of you may know I have a thing for aluminum neck guitars, and during some random searches I came across his site. Normandy Guitars makes some beautiful aluminum body guitars. I mean awesome looking. Seriously worth a look. But, he also makes an overdrive pedal – the Normandy Guitars O-CB Overdrive / Boost. He was kind enough to send one over for a demo, and here we are today.

The Normandy Guitars O-CB is a dual mode pedal offering overdrive on one side and a clean boost on the other side that will give you 30dB of signal gain. It’s a great sounding overdrive / boost and is available at Amazon for $225.00

Here is the official description of the Normandy Guitars O-CB Overdrive / Boost:

- An incredibly versatile overdrive
- Integrated cleanboost pedal up to 30db
- True bypass switching
- Heavy duty construction
- Made in the USA
- Single opamp design
- Classic 1N60 germanium clipping diodes
- Tantalum caps

The Normandy O-CB pedal is a must have for those on the quest for the Holy Grail of tone… an overdrive pedal and a clean boost pedal all wrapped up into one box of versatile tone heaven.
A powerhouse made with the highest quality parts, the incredibly versatile O-CB allows you to dial in an exceptionally wide array of overdrive variants. From bright shimmery highs to growling, crunchy, chunka-chunka-funk to warm, smooth and bluesy tones. All of this classic ear candy courtesy of a single opamp design, classic 1N60 germanium clipping diodes, and tantalum caps. AND, you have the power to be heard, I mean really heard, when it’s most important. The Boost switch can be used to punch in your lead volume just as loud as you want it – when you want it!

For the demo we have my good friend Jimmy Rolle on guitar duty again. He’s playing his trusty Gibson Custom Shop Les Paul Elegant into a Germino Lead 55 head through a Marshall 4×12 cabinet. There is nothing between the guitar and amp besides the Normandy Guitars O-CB Overdrive / Boost.

You can listen to the high quality MP3 clip via SoundCloud

Please visit Normandy Guitars on the web, like them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter!

Again, if you’re interested in picking up a Normandy Guitars O-CB Overdrive / Boost, they are available for $225 at Amazon.com

Popularity: 5%

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I just saw that Visual Sound posted (via Facebook) an interesting video where Phil Keaggy plays with a few Visual Sound pedals.Didn’t know much about Phil Keaggy, but if you’re interested tons of stuff on him via Wikipedia. He mixes it up with an electric guitar into the Visual Sound Route 66 and True Tone, then later he plays an acoustic with a Visual Sound Dual Tap Delay.

Pedals featured in the vide0:

Visual Sound Route 66 American Overdrive
Visual Sound TrueTone
Visual Sound Dual Tap Delay

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Today’s Free Shirt Wednesday is brought to you by Custom 77.

Custom 77 is an interesting company out of France that has their hands in multiple aspects of musical gear. They build guitars, basses, acoustics, cymbals and effects. As you can see, they have a lot of things going on. When Paul from Custom 77 sent over the shirt, he sent over a couple of pedals to get demo’d as well. He sent over a Push Me Pull Me Overdrive and a King for a Day Boost. We recently shot the videos for these (will post down the road after they’re completed), but my expectations were fairly high…. and I was not let down, both of these pedals sounded really, really good. They really focused on practical tone options and offering some features you normally don’t see in a stomp box. I’ll definitely get into more of that on their individual demos coming in the near future.

When you get a chance, check out their site – they definitely offer some high quality products and they ship to the United States as well. You can learn more by liking their Facebook page and following them on Twitter as well.

Now, if you want to be featured on Free Shirt Wednesday.. it’s really quite simple. Send me a shirt, if it’s music related (ie: guitar builder, band, pedal builder, guitar shop, recording studio, etc) I’ll dedicate a blog post about your biz, band, etc. I’ll take a photo with my aging, slightly pudgy mug and post it. Great simple, cheap form of advertising. Still interested? Then check this page for more info

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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: 5%

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Today I saw Caroline Guitar Company post a photo of the new Klon Overdrive at NAMM 2012. The Klon Centaur has reached mythical proportions (in desire and in price) over the last years. You definitely can spend up to $1500+ for original ‘gold’ Klon, etc. Last year, there has been talk about Bill Finnegan getting back into building Klons again, and there was a overdrive shootout video I posted a while back that had the new Klon (but in a card board box – weird right?). So, for 2012, there has been a lot of people interested in the new Klon. At NAMM, Bill Finnegan was there with his prototype Klon and here is the only video I found so far.

Video posted by natesousa:

Personally, I had a hard time hearing the pedal in this video, and hoping there will be more videos coming out…

Popularity: 8%

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This morning while nursing my Christmas hang over (related to prime rib and 20+ too many cookies) I thought I would explore the world of overdrives. A few days ago, I posted “Guitar World Staff Picks: Paul Riario’s Top 10 Effect Pedals of 2011” and the Keeley Luna Overdrive was on that list. I wanted to take a closer look.

Robert Keeley has been known for his great pedal modifications… as well as his 4 knob compressor, so I would expect the quality of this overdrive to be high.

Here is the official description of the Keeley Luna Overdrive:

The Keeley Overdrive is about as versatile and transparent of an OD pedal as you’ll find and all in a compact box! Utilizing components not found in many other pedals on the market, the Keeley Overdrive allows you to get classic and familiar OD tones, but with nearly unmatched transparency. If you have any questions please feel free to contact us. Thanks for looking and ROCK ON!

I found this video by GuitarWorld:

If you’re liking the sound of this overdrive, the Keeley Luna Overdrive is available for $229 at Amazon.com

Popularity: 4%

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