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 | Download Example 1 Vibrato Mode |
| Download Example 2 Tremolo Mode |
| Recorded with a Fender Duo-Sonic into the Bubble Box into a Fender Deluxe. | |
Throughout the years, it has become apparent that the Italians are continuing their role as master craftsman. Ferrari and Lamborghini still evoke awe in the automotive world and musically speaking, their attention to fine craftsmanship remains true through companies like Dino’s Guitars. Dino’s Guitars’ recent guitar, speaker and pedal offerings show a dedication to detail as well as the player’s needs. Recent reviews of the Rust Box and Dynabox have praised the Savona, Italy company’s dedication to musicians, a dedication epitomized in their latest offering of the Bubble Box.
Like all Dino’s pedals, the Bubble Box is a mix of PCB and point-to-point construction. The company claims this provides consistency, reliability and great tone. Lucky for us the tester unit delivered on that statement to its fullest. The true bypass Bubble Box offers a handful of options not found in most tremolo or vibrato pedals. The lightweight aluminum chassis hosts the classic Rate and Depth knobs found on most modulation-style effects.
Dino’s also added a Master Volume and a very useful Tweak knob. In Tremolo mode the Tweak knob functions as a gain control, adding a cool crunch tone to your sound. Turning the Tweak knob down to zero returns it to a clean tone. This added feature proves very useful in adding just a hint of breakup without using your amp or a separate overdrive for some extra hair and grit.
The secret weapon of the Bubble Box is its three-way mini toggle switch. Upon first glance, you would assume that it is actually a two-way toggle, switching from tremolo to vibrato, but there’s an added bonus. The middle position is a booster/crunch mode that is very reminiscent of another Dino’s creation: the Dynabox. While in the middle position, the Tweak knob becomes a gain, controlling the amount of crunch and the Master Volume becomes the boost. Like the Dynabox, the middle position can add a nice hint of breakup without having to use a separate overdrive. This works particularly well with an already dirty amp for a little extra sonic drive.
Playing off of Dino’s love for Fender-style instruments, the Bubble Box was initially tested with a modified Telecaster into a Fender Bassman. Starting in Tremolo mode with the Tweak knob set to clean, and the Rate and Depth controls set to twelve o’clock, the Bubble Box was engaged. One word describes the sound of the Bubble Box: lush. The tremolo effect was nice and full, resulting in a great fifties-style tone that is nothing short of infectious. Utilizing the Bubble Box’s Tweak knob, I dialed in a bit of crunch that responded exceptionally well to a vintage Epiphone Sheraton. The end result was a robust effect perfect for both lead and rhythm parts.
Sticking with the Sheraton/Bassman combination, the Bubble Box was switched to the Vibrato mode. Again, the Dino delivered. This time the Leslie-style effect was nice and full, and the Rate and Depth knobs helped dial it into a rotary dream come true. After this, I switched to the middle position for some crunch. With the Tweak knob around three o’clock, the mini-humbuckers of the Sheraton helped to get a great speaker breakup tone that had me playing blues riffs for the rest of the eve. This is definitely a cool added feature.
If you need a good multi-purpose modulation effect then this may be worth checking out. The boys from Italy at Dino’s are consistently making great tone-based products for today’s players. Now I am craving pasta. Ciao.
Buy if...
you are into a high-quality tremolo pedal with added features.
Skip if...
you are on a tight budget.
Rating...
MSRP $260 Street $199 - Dino''s Guitars - dinosguitars.com |
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Silos features six presets, tap tempo, one full second of delay time, and three voices—two of which are styled after bucket-brigade and tape-delay sounds. In the $150 price category, it’s not unusual for a digital delay to leave some number of those functions out. And spending the same money on a true-analog alternative usually means warm, enveloping sounds but limited functionality and delay time. Silos, improbably perhaps, offers a very elegant solution to this can’t-have-it-all dilemma in a U.S.-made effect.
A More Complete Cobbling Together
Silos’ utility is bolstered by a very unintimidating control set, which is streamlined and approachable. Three of those controls are dedicated to the same mix, time, and repeats controls you see on any delay. But saving a preset to one of the six spots on the rotary preset dial is as easy as holding the green/red illuminated button just below the mix and preset knobs. And you certainly won’t get lost in the weeds if you move to the 3-position toggle, which switches between a clear “digital” voice, darker “analog” voice, and a “tape” voice which is darker still.
“The three voices offer discernibly different response to gain devices.”
One might suspect that a tone control for the repeats offers similar functionality as the voice toggle switch. But while it’s true that the most obvious audible differences between digital, BBD, and tape delays are apparent in the relative fidelity and darkness of their echoes, the Silos’ three voices behave differently in ways that are more complex than lighter or duskier tonality. For instance, the digital voice will never exhibit runaway oscillation, even at maximum mix and repeat settings. Instead, repeats fade out after about six seconds (at the fastest time settings) or create sleepy layers of slow-decaying repeats that enhance detail in complex, sprawling, loop-like melodic phrases. The analog voice and tape voice, on the other hand, will happily feed back to psychotic extremes. Both also offer satisfying sensitivity to real-time, on-the-fly adjustments. For example, I was tickled with how I could generate Apocalypse Now helicopter-chop effects and fade them in and out of prominence as if they were approaching or receding in proximity—an effect made easier still if you assign an expression pedal to the mix control. This kind of interactivity is what makes analog machines like the Echoplex, Space Echo, and Memory Man transcend mere delay status, and the sensitivity and just-right resistance make the process of manipulating repeats endlessly engaging.
Doesn't Flinch at Filth
EarthQuaker makes a point of highlighting the Silos’ affinity for dirty and distorted sounds. I did not notice that it behaved light-years better than other delays in this regard. But the three voices most definitely offer discernibly different responses to gain devices. The super-clear first repeat in the digital mode lends clarity and melodic focus, even to hectic, unpredictable, fractured fuzzes. The analog voice, which EQD says is inspired by the tone makeup of a 1980s-vintage, Japan-made KMD bucket brigade echo, handles fuzz forgivingly inasmuch as its repeats fade warmly and evenly, but the strong midrange also keeps many overtones present as the echoes fade. The tape voice, which uses aMaestro Echoplex as its sonic inspiration, is distinctly dirtier and creates more nebulous undercurrents in the repeats. If you want to retain clarity in more melodic settings, it will create a warm glow around repeats at conservative levels. Push it, and it will summon thick, sometimes droning haze that makes a great backdrop for slower, simpler, and hooky psychedelic riffs.
In clean applications, this decay and tone profile lend the tape setting a spooky, foggy aura that suggests the cold vastness of outer space. The analog voice often displays an authentic BBD clickiness in clean repeats that’s sweet for underscoring rhythmic patterns, while the digital voice’s pronounced regularity adds a clockwork quality that supports more up-tempo, driving, electronic rhythms.
The Verdict
Silos’ combination of features seems like a very obvious and appealing one. But bringing it all together at just less than 150 bucks represents a smart, adept threading of the cost/feature needle.
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