Tasty Pedal!

You can never have enough fuzz pedals, especially when they're bargain priced!  The Danelectro French Toast was a cheap and cheerful pedal that hit the markets a few years back.  I bought one because it was based on the 1970s classic Foxx Tone Machine, including an octave up feature.  The only drawback to this pedal is the lack of a LED to indicate when the pedal is on.  There probably wasn't room to squeeze in the circuit. 

I recorded "Toaster" to show off the French Toast with the octave up feature engaged (I'm pretty sure the photograph above shows the settings I used for the recording). I find that the pedal sounds more lively that way.  I was using my Stratocaster and no other effects were used, so you're hearing the pedal in all its raw glory.  The echo was added later.  The spooky sounds in the background beginning with the second verse were created with a Minimoog V Original VST instrument.  The bass was my Danelectro (hmm ... is there a pattern here?), while the drums came courtesy of BFD Eco.


If the Soundcloud widget isn't visible, please click here:"Toaster"

Let's Swirl!

So here's a pedal I don't use often enough - the Ibanez Bi-Mode Chorus.  The premise is somewhat unique - this is a single pedal which contains two separate chorus pedals, each with their own SPEED and WIDTH controls (see the above photograph).  Playing around with each pair leads to some intriguing sounds.  I recorded "Swirly" with the controls set above.  The pedal can be heard best in the main guitar line, while the guitar solo is he same setting only with some distortion added.  The more outrageous sounds and stereo effects were made with plug-ins.



If the Soundcloud widget isn't visible, here's the link to the tune:

Swirly .

Filter Fever! (Two videos)

What a cool sound!  Listening to this made me want to go out and buy a BOSS AW-3.  Luckily for my credit card, it was late, and the shops were closed.  So I had time to ponder - don't I have any pedals that can give me a similar sound?

I do have a Line 6 FM-4.   And it has a "Voice Box" setting.  So I plugged in and tested it out.  Close enough (especially if I play around with the controls and bring in other pedals).

The following video is something I put together to show the default setting of the FM-4's "Voice Box".  I used a Danelectro Surf & Turf compressor to beef up the sound going into the FM-4.  This is something I do whenever I use any kind of filter-based pedal, especially if I'm using my Strat.  There are no other effects on the guitar, and I plugged into a POD's Small Tweed setting.  Here it is:

  

Great video for BOSS AW-2 owners

Now this is a great example of a pedal demonstration video. It's not flashy, but it does the job. The video points out a number of useful settings for the BOSS AW-2 pedal. I have this pedal and like it, but didn't realize it could be this versatile.

Ten Pedals Reviewed!

A big shout out to PREMIER Guitar for helping fuel Gear Acquisition Syndrome with this article. Click on the link below to read short but sweet reviews of the following pedals: Boss FRV-1 Fender Reverb, Guyatone Mcm5 Micro Chorus, Granville Procrastinator, Way Huge Angry Troll, Mad Professor Sweet Honey Overdrive, Whirlwind Gold Box, Granville Spiney Norman, Aguilar Octamizer, Guyatone Svm5 Slow Volume, Seppuku Octave Drone.

I came across this article while looking for reviews of the Guyatone Slow Volume pedal. My local music store had a used one for sale. After reading the review, I don't know if I want to add it to my arsenal for the asking price ($99).

Click here to read the article

Too much temptation here!

I just want to share the following article, courtesy of PREMIER Guitar.  The author focusses on four kinds of effect pedal, and gives just enough detail for me to grab my wallet and hit the local guitar shop.  For example, I never gave much thought to ring mod pedals, but after listening to a few samples, I wonder how I can live without one.

Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit ... but only a bit.  Click the link below to read the article. 

Unconventional_Effects_and_How_To_Use_Them

What The Fuzz?

This is an interesting pedal, though I wonder about the ad copy. "The fuzz for people who don't like fuzz?" Who DOESN'T like fuzz? I watched the video (below) and this certainly sounds like a versatile pedal. I was interested in the more extreme settings, because I already have enough overdrive/distortion type pedals. This pedal gets nice and crazy at the "far right".

To learn more, click here to visit the Rockett site and download a PDF for the WTF.