gear giveaway

Pigtronix Gatekeeper Noise Gate

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…Click on the title for more

Pigtronix Gatekeeper Noise Gate

Sonic Youth’s Pedal and Equipment Archive

Sonic Youth is a band that like no other brought innovation to the sound of indie rock – particularly in the guitar tones and playing style departments. But unlike many contemporary Lo-Fi, noise rock bands, Thurston Moore and co. always devoted a lot of resources to researching the sonic possibilities…Click on the title for more

Sonic Youth’s Pedal and Equipment Archive

Z-Vex’s new Step Sequence Pedals with Midi Synch

Step sequence pedals have become quite trendy in the last few years, probably because of their ability to create intriguing textures that manifest themselves as some kind of happy accidents. I find it really useful to have a piece of gear that allows me to approach the creative process in…Click on the title for more

Z-Vex’s new Step Sequence Pedals with Midi Synch

Celestial Effects’ Cancer Wah The Fuzz

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…Click on the title for more

Celestial Effects’ Cancer Wah The Fuzz

Production ideas – replacing snare reverb with gated stereo samples

Many contemporary bands thrive on the creation of new sounds and textures. Here’s a cool idea that’s also CPU friendly – since it implies using samples instead of computer-power-hungry reverb plug-ins. With the help of a simple noise gate, a stereo enhancer plug-in, and a virtual sampler (like Drumagog or any of the…Click on the title for more

Production ideas – replacing snare reverb with gated stereo samples

Magnetic Effects’ Electrochop

The New Electrochop from Magnetic Effects is designed to give your guitar sound a really retro echo-esque tremolo. The sound gets imitated with oscillators and can either create a driving rhythmic pulse to the song, or phase through it like a Steve Reich Piece. It is a super choppy tremolo that features the classic,…Click on the title for more

Magnetic Effects’ Electrochop

Brick + Mortar and the Recording Process

Brick + Mortar's favorite piece of gear: Roland SPD-SX " It’s a midi controller, sampler, 1 track recorder, and can trigger visuals if you like that kind of stuff. It’s the holy grail of gear for Brick + Mortar... " New Jersey rockers Brick + Mortar are a refreshingly new sounding…Click on the title for more

Brick + Mortar and the Recording Process

T-Rex Effects releases multi-boutique effect Magnus

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. This new pedal represents an interesting format, since it's a collection of five custom…Click on the title for more

T-Rex Effects releases multi-boutique effect Magnus

Amptweaker introduces FatRock Distortion – a TightRock evolution

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 to display two of their pedals. Being mainly an amp designer, James makes stompboxes from a different vintage point than most…Click on the title for more

Amptweaker introduces FatRock Distortion – a TightRock evolution

Guitar Pedal Reviews: Pigtronix Infinity Looper

This is a great time for solo acts. The technology available for allowing a musician to be their own band has come a long way in the last 10 years or so. One of the main contributing factors is a device known as a Looper or Loop Pedal. These gadgets…Click on the title for more

Guitar Pedal Reviews: Pigtronix Infinity Looper

Why do mixes sound different on different sound systems or even rooms?

Click on the picture to go to the article it was taken from(SAE Institute).A big component of the art of mixing is balancing audio frequencies, and to properly do that the engineer should be able to hear the budding mix in a completely neutral way (what audio nerds call “flat…Click on the title for more

Why do mixes sound different on different sound systems or even rooms?

Pedaltrain Volto – Powering Pedals Wirelessly

If you followed our recent Stompbox Exhibit at Summer NAMM 2013 (pictures here), you may have noticed these little white Pedaltrain boxes next to the pedalboards. Those things are called "Volto" and they actually powered most pedals during the show (not the 12v ones), and in most cases one of them…Click on the title for more

Pedaltrain Volto – Powering Pedals Wirelessly