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Author Archive

Compressor Review: Origin Effects Cali76-CD by Gearphoria

Seminal, vintage fuzz pedals: the WEM-Rush Pepbox – by Gearphoria

pepbox SOMEBODY once said that if you remember the ‘60s you weren’t really there, and this is clearly a problem if you have an interest in effects pedal history. The WEM-Rush Pepbox was, until recently, one of the great mysteries of UK fuzz, an area which is notoriously, um, fuzzy in its formative years. This photograph of John Lennon at Abbey Road in August 1966 ensures the place of the Pepbox in rock’n’roll history. Lennon stands with his back to the camera, his left hand lingering on a pedal, sitting on top of a Vox amp. You can’t see it clearly, but eventually it was identified as an early fuzz box, the WEMRush Pepbox.... Click on the title for more

Seminal, vintage fuzz pedals: the WEM-Rush Pepbox – by Gearphoria

Featured Pedal: Dr. No Octofuzz

Octofuzz-large[1] One of the premier effects from the mad minds at Dr. No Effects - a Dutch company with a firm “all analog” design principle, dedicated to bringing an old school sound to the modern age - comes in the form of the Octofuzz. As you may have guessed, this is an octave fuzz pedal, but the tones available from the Octofuzz run the entire range of fuzz. While certainly capable of handling the legendary fuzz sounds of such rock pioneers as Hendrix, the pedal is also right at home dishing out more modern sounds reminiscent of acts like Queens of the Stone Age, the White Stripes, and more.... Click on the title for more

Featured Pedal: Dr. No Octofuzz

Ghost King’s guitar pedals on “Bones”

13592803_1263358687022711_6446972213589363482_n[1]Ghost King's 2016 debut album "Bones" impressed our friends at The Deli so much that they made it NYC Record of the Month back in April. The album features what could be seen (and heard) as an noteworthy recap of the (indie) guitar rock sound of the '90s, with references to bands as disparate and glorious as Sonic Youth, the Violent Femmes, Pavement, The Pixies and Guided by Voices. Considering the wide range of guitar tones in the record, we thought band songwriter and guitarist Carter McNeil might have something interesting to say about what inspired the record and what gear made it possible.... Click on the title for more

Ghost King’s guitar pedals on “Bones”

amukaT Gadgets’ Tweaker V.2

amukaT%20Gadgets%20Tweaker%20Ver2[1] For NYC's amukaT Gadgets’ latest stompbox, the name says it all: Tweaker. This is a revamp of the original Tweaker that came out two years ago, now with sturdier metal footswitches (you’ll understand why momentarily), a horizontal layout, and a redesign of the circuit.... Click on the title for more

amukaT Gadgets’ Tweaker V.2

Half Waif’s gear and creative process

Seminal, vintage pedals: the Seamoon Fresh Fuzz – by Tones Machines

AJ Peat Pedals’ Screaming Flamingo and Dirty Buzzard

12294792_454398514750223_2913904229537690380_n[1] Orange County boutique manufacturer AJ Peat, owned and founded by Luthier and self-described tinkerer Andrew James Peat, builds guitars, effect pedals and other signature audio devices. At the 2016 Summer NAMM show in Nashville his pedals were on display in the Cusack/Mojo Hand booth. This was due to the fact that Jon Cusack offered to help AJ design non-hand-built versions of Peat's effects. We actually had a chance to talk to AJ directly about this and he was so happy about the results he was almost questioning why he stuck to hand building for so long: "the new, mass built designs sound identical to their hand built counterparts"- he said. Surely Jon Cusack's engineering brain came in handy to pull off this accomplishment.... Click on the title for more

AJ Peat Pedals’ Screaming Flamingo and Dirty Buzzard

Jess Abbott of Tancred and Now, Now talks about gear and the creative process

tancred-photo

The solo project of Minneapolis singer/guitarist Jess Abbott of
Now Now, Tancred plays riff driven power pop that will intrigue fans of Weezer and We Are Scientists. Her songs follow paths more unpredictable than your average pop rock band, always propelled by inventive guitar work and melodies that are instantly hummable. Jess is obviously a very versatile electric guitarist, as demonstrated by the range of parts and tones audible on latest album Out of the Gardenand also by the fact that when she plays with Now Now, her style is completely different - a lot less distorted and more subtle. We asked her a few questions about her new album and the guitar rig she sued to record it.... Click on the title for more

Jess Abbott of Tancred and Now, Now talks about gear and the creative process

VFE Pedals about to relaunch! – from Gearphoria.com

vfe Peter Rutter of VFE Pedals is going back to teaching full time in the fall, and while he doesn’t want to walk away from all he has built with the pedal company, he knows he cannot keep it in its current form. So he is blowing out all of his back stock of highly-tweakable pedals in order to bring a new, simpler form factor into mix. All new VFE pedals will be limited to four knobs and one minor control, like a toggle (see image). Peter posted this page on the VFE site with details about his plans for the future. - Read the full article on Gearphoria.com.... Click on the title for more

VFE Pedals about to relaunch! – from Gearphoria.com

Lavachild and her Synths

11064610_393846034130771_6807267733939764215_n[1] LAVACHILD is a NYC based synth pop project fronted by (very fashionable) singer songwriter/keyboardist Chantel De Lava, whose hypnotic presence charmed us at our 2015 B.E.A.F. fest. Their older single "Want U To" went viral on the internet, and since then the group has been releasing promising new material on their Soundcloud profile, which should be soon gathered in a proper release. We asked Chantel a few questions about her gear and the way she uses it.... Click on the title for more

Lavachild and her Synths

Build your own spring reverb with Mod Kits DIY’s The Wave

mod103[1]Those of you who like to challenge themselves with DIY projects in the realm of electric engineering applied to music, should take a look at MODKits DIY's authentic spring tube reverb design called The Wave. For the the young and unaware, spring reverbs are an electromechanical reverb device that produces a reverb effect by inducing sound vibrations at one end of a long wire shaped like a spring. They were among the first reverbs on the market, and you can find them in many now vintage guitar amps from the 50s and 60s.... Click on the title for more

Build your own spring reverb with Mod Kits DIY’s The Wave