Category Archives: Guitar Tone

All about Guitar Tone!

Electro-Harmonix Effectology

June 9, 2013 romain Leave a comment

I don’t how I could have missed this! Session musician Bill Ruppert shows in the “Effectology” section of the Electro-Harmonix website how to create the craziest sounds out of a regular guitar and EHX pedals: synthesizers, orchestral instruments, special fx, you name it!

27 “volumes” have been published so far, here is a little selection:

Volume 25: How to Recreate the Theme from Bladerunner (originally composed and recorded using a variety of keyboards and synthesizers by Vangelis), one word: wow.

In Vol 15, Bill shows us how to recreate the sounds of Timpani and Horns, still using a regular guitar and Electro-Harmonix pedals:

In the last volume (27), the synthesizer part of Pink Floyd’s ‘On the Run’ is on the menu:

Boutique, Guitar news, Guitars

Moniker Guitars Kickstarter Campaign (Updated)

April 18, 2013 romain Leave a comment

28-04-2012 Update: the guys at Moniker have exceeded their target for this Kickstarter campaign, kudos to them! I have contributed myself and my reward will be a Hype Box Boost Overdrive pedal, I can’t wait to get it.

Moniker Guitars is running a Kickstarter campaign to help finance tools and materials for their shop in Austin, Texas. The ultimate reward for the campaign is a gorgeous and reasonably priced semi hollow or solid body guitar built to your specifications. There is a choice of bodies and finishes (I personally love the telecaster inspired ones, they are totally igniting my GAS):

Semi-hollow body or... — Semi-hollow body or…

The $150 reward is a very limited edition boost/overdrive pedal called the hype box (video demo here):

Other rewards include a guitar body refinish, pickguards, t-shirt, etc. I say, give them a hand, their stuff looks really cool!

Guitarists, Timeless Classics

Boss DS-1 Demo by Paul Hanson

April 16, 2013 romain Leave a comment

Here is a cool demo of the Boss DS-1 by Paul Hanson, whom you may know as the host of the excellent Boss US Podcast.

He shows how you can use the DS-1 with a clean amp or an already overdriven one. What I particularly like about this demo is that you can hear the tone on its own as well as in the context of a song (Bohemian Rhapsody in this case). You can hear how well a DS-1 can sound in an arrangement, which goes to show you what you can do with a non boutique pedal.

Boutique, Guitar news

Buffalo FX Germanium Fuzz Version 2

April 11, 2013 romain Leave a comment

I reviewed and demoed version 1 of the Buffalo FX Germanium Fuzz last year and, as you might recall, it was a killer pedal.

Version 2 is now available, the most noticeable improvements reside in the addition of two extra knobs, besides the basic Level and Fuzz. There is now a bias and a pre-gain setting. On a Germanium Fuzz, the bias usually allows to compensate for temperature differences. As to the pre-gain, I imagine it will allow for more “tonal” possibilities. As always with Buffalo FX, high build quality and awesome tone are to be expected.

You can order yours here for Euro 150 plus shipping.