Author Archive
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SKATERS excitedly pronounces their name repeatedly on landing on their nondescript website. But once you've seen the pizza-loving video for 'Schemers,' you'll get a better idea for the sense of humor the trio is capable of. Shooting toy guns through confetti-soaked backgrounds, it's obvious this is a band looking for a party. And with this much energy, there can't be one far behind. The band was selected as The Deli writers' best band of 2012, and recently signed a deal with a major label. Be ready to get familiar with them.... Click on the title for more
New York City based manufacturer Pigtronix has recently released a noise gate stompbox called The Gatekeeper.
The pedal utilizes high speed J-Fet circuitry to quell any static or non-musical sounds from your signal path. With above the average headroom and wide range threshold control, the Gatekeeper enables fast and smooth playing that was previously only available in rackmount noise gate processors used in studios. The Gatekeeper is said to allow for musical gating even for demanding, high-speed genres like heavy metal, thanks to the release time knob, which allows the user to control how long it takes for the gate to slam closed.... Click on the title for more
Sometimes affordable, simple, great sounding stompboxes give us exactly what we need today, but their one-trick-ponyness fails to keep us entertained for very long.
That's why exploring a distortion pedal priced just short of $500 like the hand built Celestial Effects' Cancer Wah The Fuzz can actually make sense. Another plus is that a pedal like this gives you a very wide palette of tones produced by effectd that are designed to work with each other at the source, therefore sparing you from spending time researching pedals from different manufacturers that integrate well with each other.... Click on the title for more
New Jersey rockers Brick + Mortar are a refreshingly new sounding indie band bent on visual elements and electronic samples, which combined with their abrasive vocals, makes them stand out from the rest. We asked the duo, made up of Brandon Asraf and John Tacon, some questions about their sound, which is certainly not a dull one. Here’s what we learned!... Click on the title for more
New Jersey rockers 
Danish effect manufacturer T-Rex Effects, in partnership with Guitar Center, announced today the new co-developed Magnus boutique tone controller, which will be available exclusively through the mighty musical instrument retailer and its online subsidiary Musicians Friend.... Click on the title for more
We became acquainted with Ohio based manufacturer Amptweaker - run by ex Peavey amp engineer James Brown - at our Brooklyn Stompbox Exhibit last year, when we had the pleasure of displaying two of their pedals. Being mainly an amp designer, James makes stompboxes from a different vintage point than most manufacturers: specializing in distortions, Amptweaker's pedals are created to fit the needs of different musicians, thanks to a constantly open communication between James and his clients - he is always interested in suggestions for future pedals, which anybody can submit here. Amptweaker also tends to add unique signature features to those ideas, therefore improving them in the versatility and range department.... Click on the title for more
