Tools, Tones and Toys for Guitarists
Divided By Thirteen CJ 11 in Cream Divided By Thirteen are a relatively new company (with regards to amp manufacturing) based in California and spear headed by Fred Taccone. They make some great sounding and beautifully build amps, not to mention the way they look! The CJ11 is one of Divided By Thirteen’s smaller offerings and … Read more
I love compressors. I love them more than any other guitar effect – and there’s a reason; they are the glue that sticks a great performance together. Unless you’re Jimi Hendrix or Eric Clapton a compressor *will* improve your tone and help you sit in a band mix much better. The Pigtronix Philosophers Tone has … Read more
The EMG 81 is now ranked as a “classic” humbucking pickup – for years it has been the go-to choice for Shred and Metal guitarists thanks to it’s monstrous voltage output (making it a doddle to overdrive a preamp!) and searingly smooth high frequency response which allows guitarists to cut straight through all the sludge of the … Read more
Info from Maxon about the reissue: Originally released in 1979, the Maxon OD808 was one of the first tube-amp overdrive simulators to hit the market. Its smooth, creamy crunch tone caught on quickly, and helped to launch a long line of predecessors as well as imitators. Today, the OD808 design is without a doubt the … Read more
This little circuit is part of DIY pedal designs early beginnings. I first ran into it when I was surfing the early DIY forums in the early 2000s but never really paid it much attention, I wish I had done because it sounds great! Here’s the original newsgroup posting in which Arsenio Novo presents his … Read more
[This article has build details on the Boss CE-2, Ibanez WH-10 Wah and Marshall Shredmaster] The Red Hot Chilli Peppers are a band renown for producing chart topping albums – Blood Sugar Sex Magik, Californication, By the Way and Stadium Arcadium all hit the top of the charts all over the world with all of them going … Read more
The Jordan (Yes, they’re the same people who made the Boss Tone) Vico Vibe was an odd effect, built as a sort of plugin for your guitar. It was a great sounding tremolo unit though and has baffled quite a few guitarists over the years as to why it isn’t more sought after. Original Jordan … Read more
Info about the original: Mark Sullivan from daddys.com wrote this The Mudhoney is a Distortion/Fuzz pedal with a very wide tonal range. It features a typical 3-knob gain/volume/tone layout plus a boost switch. I played this for a few minutes with the boost off and it is quite impressive; very thick tone with warmth that … Read more
Brian Wampler has alway made cracking pedals – the Tweed ’57 is no exception. It’s another pedal based around the jfet “amp emulation” technique that is frequently employed in this current era of overdrive pedal design. Here’s the description from the Wampler website: “Brian’s work on the Wampler Pedals Black ‘65 left him grinning. Finally, … Read more
Here’s another Lovepedal for you. What’s in this one I wonder? Well, IVIark (of the great tagboardeffects.blogspot.com) has provided a trace and schematic with the help of rmrosa. Firstly lets see the Lovepedal description; “Your quest for the ultimate Fuzz ends here. Lots of players use it like an OD pedal or full on fuzz, … Read more