Tools, Tones and Toys for Guitarists
Ladies and gents, I would like to start this month off by introducing you to one of the most exquisite pedal building machines I have ever come across. The name is Eckermeister Effects, and their pedals are to-die-for! Eckermeister is the brainchild of one Carsten Eckermann from Cologne, Germany, and like many of the discoveries … Read more
So, the latest overdrive offering from the guys at Mad Professor (Designed by Bjorn of BJFe electronics, no less!) has been generating buzz around it for a long time now. Pitched as a super dynamic light overdrive pedal it’s been creating some great tones with a large variety of gear. The tech-no-files over at Freeztompboxes.org … Read more
Well, I think we all knew it but there is confirmation – Pete Cornish likes Big Muffs and his G2 unit (Which he charges £444 for!) is a nice take on the classic circuit… But £444? Hmmmm. You decide: Anyway, the tinkers over at freestompboxes.org in the Tracers Fund gutted this one and put together … Read more
[Note] – this post also includes information on the Bearfoot Honeybee and a Hot Rodded Honeybee a’la the Honeybee De’luxe [Note] Here it is, the one we’ve been waiting for – It’s the BJF Honeybee Overdrive, widely recognized as one of the best sounding “low-gainers” around. I built one up and found it great as … Read more
[Lots of pretty custom shop Fuzz Factories] For mere completeness – and to stop me getting so many emails 😉 Here is the schematic a vero board layout for the ever famous Zvex Fuzz Factory, crazy fuzz sounds galore. And, a few actually useful ones too (If you tweak for long enough – don’t forget … Read more
By now there must be a thousand and one boutique pedal companies doing their thing, with a thousand and one well on the way, and a thousand and one long and gone. As a player and true tone hound finding and separating the “gems” from the “so-so’s” has not been easy. It takes a keen … Read more
Wow. Just wow. Build one of these: http://www.beavisaudio.com/projects/FuzzLabJr/ (It’s a baby one of these: http://www.beavisaudio.com/projects/FuzzLab/ )and you’ll not leave your practice room for at least a month while you play with all those settings. Beavis has some of the best projects there are around, get on it and build some of them. I’ll post another … Read more
The Doc is most definitely in the house and prescribing some of the healthiest tone remedies to ever hit the music scene. FX Doctor is another one of these cool little outfits floating around out there that I was blessed to come across. It was a couple of the FX Doctor’s (Joshua’s) modified stompboxes that … Read more
Here is another Mad Professor pedal – it’s a derivative of a Big Muff classic circuit. Check out those fet clippers in there. This thing can scream! Here is a you tube demo of the thing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaUfuqw_8rA Here is the schematic which was, once again (and as always), produced by the freestompboxes forum. Special thanks … Read more
To me there are a few pedal companies that will never seize to amaze me, Maxon being one of them. I can look back at some of the first Maxon pedals I ever had and remember them being stunning little devices. The art of the stompbox is something that the people at Maxon have down … Read more