Kick Out the Jams: How to Make Your Delay Pedal Work for You - Ex. 2
A compact reverb pedal with three atmospheric modes for creating deep, lush, or lo-fi textures.
Walrus Audio adds an experimental offering to the Fundamental Series with an expansive reverb with three atmospheric modes in a compact size called the Fundamental Ambient.
Experience extended decay time that envelops your sound in a rich and immersive atmosphere in any of the three modes:
Deep - A dark ambient reverb with an added low octave, perfect for creating murky, cavernous sustain or adding a touch of moody atmosphere.
Lush - A breathy, expansive reverb featuring ultra-long sustain. Perfect for generating silky pads and immersive soundscapes with every note.
Haze - A textured, lo-fi reverb featuring distortion, sample rate reduction, and a resonant bandpass tone control, great for vintage or experimental tones.
The Fundamental Ambient opens up new possibilities for creating immersive textures and ambient layers, giving guitarists the tools they need to express themselves in unprecedented ways. Walrus wants to make it easy for newer pedal users to dial in precise and emotional sounds, but for these pedals to also be something a professional would be happy taking on tour with them.
The Fundamental Ambient is housed in a matte black diecast enclosure with blue and cream ink. Dimensionsare 4.33” x 2.16” x 1.61”. Power requirements are 9VDC (100mA minimum).
Walrus Audio is offering the Fundamental Ambient at a retail price of $129.
For more information, please visit walrusaudio.com.
Watch this pianist-turned-guitarist intertwine the styles of Eddie Van Halen and Andy McKee, with 10-finger orchestrations tapped out on his Les Paul Axcess, enlivened by a flexible Friedman BE-100 and a healthy pedalboard. His rig helps him build many moods, from melodious to morose.
“I grew up wanting to be Eddie Van Halen and Randy Rhoads, but over time I’ve found my own dark and aggressive style. These days, my dream as a musician is to make people feel as connected to the cosmos as I feel when I play the guitar,” wishes guitarist Sammy Boller.
Sammy Boller has been playing guitar most of his life. He played in high school orchestra and even attended University of Michigan’s School of Music, Theatre & Dance. In 2012, his life forever changed when he won Guitar Center’s “Master Satriani” competition. (Watch his submission for “Satch Boogie” here.)
Catapulting off that success, the next year Boller joined Detroit rockers Citizen Zero. The band released their 2016 debut LP, State of Mind, and its lead single “Go (Let Me Save You)” climbed to #17 on Billboard’s mainstream rock chart.
But even with Citizen Zero’s success, Boller wasn’t sending listeners into the stratosphere feeling one with the stardust. Then while shopping his instrumental solo work, he quickly earned a fan in CandyRat Records owner Rob Poland who signed Sammy. (CandyRat was started by Poland in 2004 and began working with Don Ross, Andy McKee, Antoine Dufourto. Boller released his debut solo album and an additional standalone single—Kingdom of the Sun and “Path of the Heart”—in 2020 that snake between Sunset shred and post-rock melodies. The next year was celebrated with Boller’s stunning third release “Ritual Lights” showing Sammy’s first (solo) recorded run in with the wah wah. (Something you’ll now see on his pedalboard later.) He’s since dropped a pair of singles “Spellbound” and “Midnight Garden” that grow off his enchanting formula and adds in heightened technical abilities and deeper rhythmic grooves.
Before his headlining show at Nashville’s Bowery Vault, the fretboard maestro shows off a pair of versatile guitars, explains why the chase for his pinnacle amp is over, and details and demos the select stompboxes that send his sound into the asteroid belt.
[Brought to you by D’Addario Strings & XPND Pedalboard.]
Les Paul, More Axcess
Sammy Boller scored this Gibson Les Paul Axcess Custom—his main cruiser since he was 20—on an eBay safari. It’s completely stock to him except he flipped the pickups for a set of Motor City Pickups with a HotHead (bridge) and Afwayu (neck). Both pickups are coil-tapped so when Boller needs a different tone for tapping or less aggression, it’s there with a pull of a knob. His previous band, Citizen Zero, often performed in drop-D tuning, so he added an EVH D-Tuna to his Floyd Rose. The floating tremolo has been blocked off for tuning stability. And for his solo stuff, he typically plays a half-step down and always uses Elixir Strings 12052 Nanoweb (.10-.46).
Soul of the World
On the top side of his Les Paul, he etched in an inspirational reminder.
No Holds Barred
The second steed in his svelte setup is this Friedman NoHo 24 that Boller fell in love with years ago at NAMM. Not a fan of “new” guitars, Boller had the Friedman team take the pristine, flame-maple-topped NoHo and gave it the company’s “vintage” touch seen on other models in their lineup. The “super strat” still has been upgraded with the same pickups as the Axcess— HotHead (bridge) and Afwayu (neck)—and the 24-fret guitar features a compact 24.75" scale length.
Excalibur
“I think I tried every amp out there,” jokes Boller. “But as soon as I plugged into one of these, I was like, ‘I’m done!’” The Friedman BE-100 has been his go-to amp for over seven years. The amp’s lively, supercharged plexi tone matched with modern appointments (three channels, effects loop, toggles for voice, bright, and cln-be-hbe) makes it a Swiss Army knife for Boller. Underneath the head, is a checkered Friedman 100-watt 4x12 cab outfitted with a pair of Celestion Vintage 30s and a couple of Celestion Creamback 25s.
Sammy Boller's Pedalboard
In front of the Musicomlab EFX MK-V Audio Controller, Boller has routed his Shure GLXD16+ digital wireless pedalboard unit, Korg Pitchblack Tuner, MXR EVH Phase 90, Empress Compressor (to lift his clean tapping parts), Dunlop CBM95 Cry Baby Mini Wah, and ISP Technologies Decimator II G-String that has two signals before and in the effects loop. The three other pedals in the BE-100’s effects loop are an Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail, MXR Carbon Copy, and a TC Electronic Flashback X4. Everything rides on the Friedman Tour Pro 1529 Platinum pedalboard.
Shop Sammy Boller's Rig
Gibson Les Paul Axcess Custom
Friedman BE-100 Deluxe
Friedman 412 Checkered 100-watt 4x12" Extension Cabinet
Celestion Vintage 30s
Celestion Creamback 25s
Shure GLXD16+ Digital Wireless Guitar Pedal System
Korg Pitchblack Tuner
MXR EVH Phase 90
Empress Compressor
ISP Technologies Decimator II G-String
Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail
MXR Carbon Copy
TC Electronic Flashback X4
Friedman Tour Pro 1529 Platinum Pack 15-inch x 29-inch Pedalboard
Elixir Strings 12052 Nanoweb (.10 .46)
If you can’t figure out how to play Joe Bonamassa’s solo from “Blues Deluxe,” don’t worry. Neither can Chris Shiflett. But it all changes when Shifty sits down with Bonamassa for this special episode of Shred With Shifty. No surprise that both of them reach for their Les Pauls, and Bonamassa even reveals why he switched from Strats to Gibsons in the early 2000s.
Bonamassa is known for his dazzling collection of vintage guitars—which he says has become a target for haters—but he explains that you don’t need a ’58 Les Paul to get the goods. “It’s also the mystique,” he says. “If Jimmy Page played a Tokai, everyone would want a Tokai.” A guitar made two weeks ago, he says, is just as good as a classic.
Bonamassa’s lightning-quick soloing style, which conjures a hurricane of major and minor pentatonic notes with some phrygian flair, is the stuff of legend, and his tricks on “Blues Deluxe” are plenty. Even though he tries to adhere to a “divide by two” rule to simplify his phrasings, he still stumps Shiflett with a volume swell trick he learned from Roy Buchanan and Danny Gatton.
This solo is no walk in the park. Any brave takers up for giving it a shot? Share it and tag us so Shifty can have a look! Most importantly, remember to have fun. “Do whatever you want with the damn thing,” says Bonamassa. “It’s just a guitar.”
Credits
Producer: Jason Shadrick
Executive Producers: Brady Sadler and Jake Brennan for Double Elvis
Engineering Support by Matt Tahaney and Matt Beaudion
Video Editors: Dan Destefano and Addison Sauvan
Special thanks to Chris Peterson, Greg Nacron, and the entire Volume.com crew.