Category Archives: Effects

Pedals, rack processors, modeling processors…

Mini Pedals, Maxi Tone

November 28, 2010 romain 1 Comment

Pedals with a small foot print have become a must as you can cram more tones into the same old tired pedalboard. There was a time where BOSS and MXR pedals were considered small but, these past few years, smaller models have appeared. Some of them are as small as 1×3 inches (about 2.5 cm by 7.5 cm). I will list here a few of these “mini wonders”.

Mini Line by Love Pedal Custom Effects

Love Pedal is a boutique effect manufacturer with a full range of pedals. You might have heard of their Kalamazoo overdrive, considered to be one of the best on the market.

They came up with a series of really small pedals featuring a delay, an overdrive/boost, a buffer, a tremolo as well as a univibe clone, the Pickle Vibe. Univibe clones are usually pretty big but it seems Love Pedal managed to create a small circuit that sounds killer, and here is the proof:

The Pickle Vibe sports only one knob but an intensity trim pot can be found inside the pedal to fine tune the effect. It is not an uncommon trait for these tiny pedals as the video about the Xotic EP-Booster down below will show you.

JHS

JHS has a full range of hand built boutique pedals, some of which having a tiny footprint (and custom paint jobs!) like the “Mini Bomb Clean Boost” or the silicon based “Mini Foot Fuzz“:

Guyatone

Guyatone are not new comers to the pedal game and their micro line of pedals has been around for ages. Their 2.75×3.875″ footprint makes them a tad smaller than Boss pedals and there are 14 to choose from: chorus, delay, flanger, fuzz, distortion, overdrive, booster…

Here is a demo of the od2+ by none other than gearmanndude:

MXR

MXR are known for their compact pedals. The Dynacomp and pedals of the same size used to have the smallest footprint of all pedals, that is until boutique manufacturers such as Love Pedal or JHS released 1×3″ models.

In 2010, MXR released three “micro” pedals. The Micro Flanger, Micro Chorus and Phase 45 which will take each 4.75×2.75″ on your pedalboard.

Here is the official MXR Video Demo for the yellow micro chorus:

Xotic EP-Booster

Known for their AC Booster,RC booster and BB Preamp, Xotic came up relatively recently with a booster measuring only 1.5×3″. The circuit of the EP-Booster is inspired by the preamp of the old Echoplex delay unit and it seems to have garnered quite a following among pros and amateurs alike. Here is Allen Hinds explaining (and demonstrating) why he’s got two EP-Booster in his pedalboard:

Effects

Pedal Manufacturer List

November 21, 2010 romain Leave a comment

A quick post to tell you that I have added a “Pedal Manufacturers” list on the right hand side of the blog, just under the ads. The list features big companies as well as small boutique outlets and will grow over time.

I should be back shortly with a bigger post but in the meantime, go and visit some of the websites in the list, there is a lot of cool stuff out there.

Effects, Oddities

Guitars with built-in effects

November 2, 2010 romain 13 Comments

Last week, Gibson announced the limited edition Firebird X. Apart from the fact that its construction reminds me more of a Fender than a Gibson, the integrated effects are being brought forward as one of its biggest innovations.

This got me thinking about guitars with built-in effects. I for one have always thought that integrating a Tube Screamer like overdrive in the body of a guitar would be a great idea. After doing a bit of research I found out that Gibson is not the first company to have toyed with the idea.

The Vox Ultrasonic

As soon as 1967, Vox were already known for their amplifiers but they also had several lines of guitars including one with built-in effects. Called “Ultrasonic”, these axes offered a fuzz, a “tuner” (well something that could play a low E), a wah, a treble/bass booster and a repeater (some sort of percussion device). Be sure to check out the Ultrasonic page at www.vintageguitars.org.uk, it is full of information and whacky sound clips. It does not get more psychedelic than that!

The Bilt Revelator

Well maybe it does with Bilt, a guitar manufacturer which seems to have taken on some of the features of the Ultrasonic. They make the “Revelator”, a guitar obviously inspired by the Fender Jaguars and Jazzmasters. Fitted with Seymour Duncan antiquity pickups, it’s got a built-in fuzz, analog delay and a theremin type of sound generator.

See it in action here:

The Alesis XGuitar

The Alesis Xguitar has been discontinued but it looks like you can still find it for about $220. Clearly inspired by hot rodded Stratocasters, it features 2 single coil pickups, one Humbucker and a modern built-in multi FX unit with 80 presets and as much as 9 effect modules. Let’s not forget the headphone output for some quiet jamming.

The Gibson Firebird X

Finally, here is a video demo of the newly announced $5000 Firebird X by Gibson, which I have mentioned in the introduction of this post. There is not much information about it yet as it will be available next month and Gibson is clearly trying to do some teasing right now but the asking price has raised some eyebrows:

Boutique mods, Tube Screamer Alternative, Video Demos

Tube Screamer Alternative: The Keeley modded Boss BD-2

October 24, 2010 romain 1 Comment

After the super boutique BB preamp and the more mundane Boss SD-1, the next Tube Screamer alternative to be featured on Guitar Tone Overload is somewhere in the middle. Born in the Boss factories and modified in the workshop of mister Keeley, the Boss BD-2 “Blues Driver” overdrive is not a Tube Screamer copy but a different machine as you will gather from the demo videos below.

I will begin straight away with the videos and will give my thoughts afterward.

Here is how it sounds using single coil pickups, followed by a quick comparison with a Tube Screamer (here an Analogman modded TS9). I have decided that instead of changing the gain on the pedal, I would leave it on three o’clock and change the amount of dirt using the volume knob of the guitar and varying picking dynamics, blues style. This is a testimony to the quality of the pedal as this is not something that every overdrive pedal will do well:

And now here is how it sounds with humbuckers:

My Thoughts about the Keeley BD-2

Robert Keeley took a good overdrive pedal to start with and fine tuned it. When a friend lent me his stock BD-2, it gave me the opportunity to compare it to my Keeley modded one and, of course there are differences but both share the same basic tone. If you cannot afford a Keeley model, chances are that what applies to it will stay more or less true with the stock model.

Here is what the modification brings: a lot more output volume, an “edgier” tone and I would say a bit more gain while being very silent. The relative absence of noise is a quality that most “Boutique” pedals have when compared to mass produced models. There is also a little switch that will make the sound a bit fatter when on and let’s not forget the super bright blue lead!

How does it fare as a Tube Screamer alternative?

The Keeley BD-2 will appeal to people who are looking for a grainier, edgier overdrive pedal. It is not as smooth as a Tube Screamer but in a good way as you have probably noticed from the videos. I even find that with Humbuckers and a little delay, there are some similarities to Robben Ford’s tone. I am not saying it is the same but it is reminiscent of it (in order to get the same tone, you would need his fingers of course).

And there is also a big difference in terms of available gain compared to a Tube Screamer (here an Analogman modded TS9). With the gain on 2 o’clock, the BD-2 matches the gain of the Tube Screamer on max. With the gain on 3 o’clock or more, the Keeley BD-2 comes close to a distortion pedal. This is especially true with Humbuckers (see above the video that I recorded with the Gibson SG).

Also, like any good overdrive pedal, it is very efficient used before an already distorted amp or another distortion pedal in order to give it a kick.

All in all, a worthy alternative to the Tube Screamer if you are looking for a gainier overdrive tone while retaining a blues/rock feel.