Tools, Tones and Toys for Guitarists
Now, I cant say that I make a habit of buying ridiculously expensive pedals, but in the past I’ve been known to splooge some cash on some big, knob-laden beauties. My first foray into a standalone pedal costing more than £100 was the Electo Harmonix PolyChorus. As a teen I got into Grunge, particularly Smashing … Read more
Now I wanna preface this by stating I am in no way a Muse fan, and my attempt at Plug in Baby was complete improv for a LOL. Other than that, enjoy the carnage.
Now, this blog is about building effects pedals. Ive been playing guitar for a fair while now (since I was 13) and have been into FX since I could afford to buy them.I thought it would be cool (and a good memory exercise for me) to delve into my FX past and try to recall … Read more
Now, where was I. Oh yea…shamelessly ripping off a certain mr Zachary V… After I’d managed to build a few SHO clones as shown in a previous page, I was getting very frustrated with my inability to make something with a bit more of an “effect” to it. I’m sure many purists out there collect … Read more
There’s creativity, and then there’s Cusack Effects pedals. Since day one I have been a huge fan of these innovative stompbox designs. These are pedals that ooze with originality, superb sound, and one of a kind style. If there exists a perfectionist out there in the pedal building game I’d have to give that title … Read more
Around the time of wanting to up my game a bit, I started to read this fantastic blog by a chap called Melx: Melx: Adventures in Effectors In his blogs he has many how to guides, done much better than I could hope to, so read that wisely. Anyway, one of his posts mentioned a … Read more
Buoyant from the success with the Pula Mare, I went on to try to produce a smaller version, using the same home-brew layout, this time employing a 3PDT footswitch and an LED, with DC 9v power. I was at this point still using my old soldering iron setup, and struggling along with it. This build … Read more
Now, Ive played guitar for some 15 years…shit, sounds a long time when you put it like that. Ive always had shall we say a keen interest in guitar effects, and I still have a large boxload of them. It wasnt until a few months ago that I put serious intention into building a pedal … Read more
——————————————————————————— Handsome, well built, simple, and great sounding – is how I would describe the Manifold Drive if I only had a few words to do so. Everything on this pedal (and I mean everything) is super freakin’ sexy and right on target. From it’s gun metal grey finish and hip simple artwork, to it’s very … Read more
It is no secret I am a sucker for a great sounding stompbox. But even greater than my desire for guitar pedals is my love for superbly built, great sounding amplifiers. Like the world of stompboxes, today just like yesterday exists a wide variety of boutique and commercial amp companies – all there to tempt … Read more