Benicia, CA (January 23, 2014) -- Dunlop announced their new product line for 2014. Here are the details from their website:
Clyde McCoy Cry Baby Wah Wah The CM95 Clyde McCoy by Cry Baby Wah Wah is a tribute to the first production wah wah ever made. This modernized classic captures the throaty voice and expressive sweep of the original while offering gigging players the consistency and convenience they need on the road.
As heirs to the wah wah lineage and guardians of its legacy, Dunlop drew from decades of wah wah design and building experience to ensure that the CM95 faithfully represents the tone and spirit of the very first wah wah. Years ago, we inherited the original tooling and machinery used to design and manufacture the first Clyde McCoy pedals from the Thomas Organ Company and Jen Electronica. Combining these resources with our own 30+ years of experience developing and manufacturing wah wahs allowed us to create the most fitting tribute to the original Clyde McCoy Wah Wah.
The most important element of any wah wah pedal is its voice. The Thomas Organ Company and Jen Electronica used a special component called a Halo™ inductor to give the original Clyde McCoy pedals their highly-coveted smooth vocal quality. Because of the way those original Halo inductors were built, however, they often added undesirable microphonic noise. Our engineers created the Dunlop HI01 Halo Inductor to solve this problem, updating the original design with a stabilized cup core to preserve the unique Clyde McCoy sound while minimizing unpleasant microphonics.
The rest of the CM95’s circuitry is just as faithful to its forebear, featuring thru-hole components built into a classic housing with a premium pot, switch, and jacks. Now, you can take the classic Clyde McCoy sound out on the road and leave your vintage wah wah safely at home.
- Faithfully represents the tone and spirit of the very first wah wah pedal
- Proprietary Halo inductor reproduces the Clyde McCoy’s famous vocal sound while minimizing microphonic noise due to its stabilized cup core
- Thru-hole components built into a classic housing with premium hardware
MSRP: $285.70 SHIPPING FEBRUARY 2014
Echoplex Preamp
When the Echoplex EP-3 came out, guitar players were hooked by the way its preamp sweetened up their sound. Soon, the EP-3 made its way onto the records of top guitar players—from Jimmy Page to Eric Johnson—as much for its tone conditioning ability as its tape echo effect. Now, you can put the EP-3’s legendary secret sauce right on your pedalboard.
Dunlop’s EP101 Echoplex Preamp recreates the magic of the EP-3’s front end, featuring a Field-effect Transistor (FET) just like the original and following the exact same signal path. The Gain control allows you to boost your signal by up to +11dB, with light asymmetrical clipping at higher settings for a bit of nice organic grit.
The Echoplex Preamp runs on standard 9-volt power and contains power management circuitry to guarantee constant headroom performance throughout the normal life of a 9-volt battery. With a heavy-duty Phase 90-sized housing, a replica EP-3 knob, true bypass switching and a status LED, the Echoplex Preamp is built to take a beating on the road so you can leave your fragile vintage piece at home.
- The EP-3’s legendary tone conditioning mojo in a Phase 90-sized box
- Adds up to +11dB of gain
- Light overdrive at higher levels
- True Bypass
MSRP: $171.41 SHIPPING FEBRUARY 2014
DVP1XL Volume (XL)
Create incredibly smooth volume swells or control your effect pedal parameters with the Dunlop DVP1XL Volume (XL), big brother to the DVP3. Featuring a larger footprint, the DVP1XL is solidly-built in an aluminum chassis with aggressive non-slip tread. Our patent-pending Band Drive allows for a smooth range of motion without the fear of breakage or change in feel or range, and for maximum comfort and precision, the DVP1XL’s rocker tension is fully adjustable.
When using the DVP1XL as an expression pedal, you can use the internal pot to set the minimum level of the parameter you’re controlling with the rocker. If you want to reverse the function of the heel-down and toe-down positions, the DVP1XL has an internal switch that allows you to do so.
Along with Volume, FX and Output jacks, the DVP1XL also features a convenient Tuner output for silent tuning onstage.
- Control your volume levels or effects pedals with exacting precision
- Big brother to the DVP3 Volume (X) for players who want a larger footprint
- Pat. Pending Band Drive for frictionless, highly reliable action
- Fully adjustable rocker tension
MSRP: $171.41
SHIPPING MARCH 2014
MXR Custom Shop Micro Amp +
For more than 20 years, the MXR® Micro Amp has been a staple among the world’s top artists because of its ability to boost and sweeten up your guitar or bass tone and drive the front of your amp. The MXR Custom Shop team has combined those features with a specially-tuned EQ section and low-noise op-amps to create the Micro Amp+.
With its Gain knob, the Micro Amp + allows you to dial up just as much gain as the original—up to +26dB—but with added EQ controls, you can now finely sculpt your boosted signal. For the classic Micro Amp sound, set the Bass and Treble controls to noon.
Along with these upgrades, the MXR Custom Shop team added low-noise op amps—so you don’t get any extra noise at super high levels—and true bypass switching. With the sturdy housing and durable components that MXR is known for, this pedal is ready for the road.
- Up to +26dB clean boost
- Specially-tuned Bass and Treble controls for fine tonal shaping
- Classic Micro Amp sound with EQ controls at 12 o’clock
- Low-noise circuitry
- True bypass switching
- Sounds great on bass as well as guitar
MSRP: $171.40
SHIPPING FEBRUARY 2014
MXR Custom Shop Phase 99
The MXR Phase 90 sits with the Cry Baby Wah Wah and the Fuzz Face Distortion as one of the truly iconic effect pedals in music history, setting the standard by which all others in its category are judged. For years, experimental players have used two Phase 90 pedals side by side to create amazing textures from the way the two circuits interact with one another. Now, you can access the same sounds in a single pedal.
The MXR Custom Shop Phase 99 opens up the sonic palette of the iconic Phase 90 by combining two phase circuits into a single Phase 90-sized housing. Separate rate controls for each circuit allow you to create intense complex phasing, and a Vintage switch toggles between modern and vintage style phasing. Further, the Phase 99 features a P/S switch to toggle signal flow between the circuits from series to parallel, and a Sync switch to synchronize the rate of each phase circuit.
- Two Phase 90 circuits in one Phase 90-sized pedal
- Run both circuits independently or feed one into the other
- Toggle between modern and vintage phase sounds
- Can be run in stereo
MSRP: $214.27
SHIPPING MARCH 2014
MXR Custom Shop La Machine
The MXR Custom Shop La Machine serves up thick, shaggy retro fuzz that’s tailor-made to drive the raw sounds of ’70s-style hard rock and modern garage rock.
Based on a vintage circuit, the La Machine features an Octave switch that adds an octave up tone to your fuzz signal to create a raw, searing sound. Use the simple Output, Tone, Distortion control interface to shape the sound of your fuzz signal.
- Thick, shaggy retro fuzz
- Tailor-made for raw ’70s-style hard rock and modern garage rock
- Octave switch adds searing octave up fuzz voice
- True bypass switching
MSRP: $199.99
MXR Uni-Vibe Chorus/Vibrato
The Uni-Vibe Chorus/Vibrato is one of the most iconic effects in music history. Since the late ’60s, groundbreaking guitar players have used it to expand the tonal and textural palette of the electric guitar.
The MXR team has just remastered the classic effect for modern players. The MXR Chorus/Vibrato delivers the same chewy, Leslie-sounding goodness with a smaller footprint.
With its simple three-knob interface, you can dial up the iconic effect to your taste in short order. First, use the VIBE switch to select either Chorus Mode—dry signal mixed with pitch-shifted signal—or Vibrato Mode—only pitch-shifted signal. Then, use the LEVEL control to set the effect volume, the SPEED control to set the sweep rate, and the DEPTH control to set overall intensity.
The MXR Uni-Vibe Chorus/Vibrato comes in a Phase 90-sized housing—a fraction of the size and weight of the original Uni-Vibe pedal—and features true bypass switching. Perfect for taking this lush, swirly pedal out on the road.
- Legendary effect in a smaller housing
- Chorus mode sounds rich, lush
- Vibrato delivers a deep, shimmering texture
- True bypass switching
SHIPPING FEBRUARY 2014
MXR Bass Preamp
The MXR Bass Preamp combines a pristine bass preamp with a studio-quality Direct Out in a Phase 90-sized box, providing clear tone without hogging precious pedalboard space. Use it to add a new voice to an old passive bass, sweeten up any amp, or put some special sauce on a particular song. Dial it in just the way you want it and send it straight to the house—pre or post-EQ.
The Bass Preamp features separate Input and Output level controls and a 3-band EQ section with sweepable midrange—from 250hz to 1khz—for extensive tonal flexibility. It’s all delivered super clean with high headroom thanks to our own Constant Headroom Technology™, and you can use the Pre/Post EQ switch to set whether or not your Direct Out signal is affected by the Bass Preamp’s EQ section. And of course, the Bass Preamp features a Ground Lift switch in case you encounter ground loop hum.
The Bass Preamp is factory preset to operate in 1/4” out buffered bypass and Direct Out active. For players who only want to use the 1/4” out, there are two internal switches that disable the Direct Out and 1/4” out buffered bypass for true 1/4” out bypass mode.
- Constant Headroom Technology provides super clean tone
- 3-band EQ with sweepable midrange
- Studio-quality Direct Out
- Pre/Post EQ switch for Direct Out signal
- Ground Lift switch
- Quiet operation
- Lightweight, small footprint
MSRP: $242.84
SHIPPING FEBRUARY 2014
MXR FET Driver Featuring a unique circuit design, the MXR FET Driver captures the rich, creamy sound of an overdriven tube amplifier by cascading an op-amp gain stage into a FET stage. This pedal thickens up lead tones with musical, amp-like distortion and sustain without the fragility and inconsistency associated with tubes.
The FET Driver features a simple but responsive set of controls. Set your volume level with the Output control, and then use the Drive control to dial in the grit, from subtle soft-clipping to early stage distortion. Fine tune the FET Driver’s sound by tweaking Hi and Lo boost/cut controls, and push the Hi Cut switch to roll off high end frequencies for a rounder sound or when playing in high volume situations where excess noise is apparent.
- Organic, amp-like overdrive and distortion
- Two-band EQ section for detailed shaping of distorted signal
- Hi Cut switch rolls off high end for rounder, warmer sound
- True bypass switching
MSRP: $214.27
SHIPPING FEBRUARY 2014
Way Huge Havalina Germanium Fuzz
The Havalina Germanium Fuzz from Way Huge® Electronics is a germanium-powered fuzz box inspired by a vintage 3-transitor design was a psychedelic shot-heard-round-the-world for guitar players, ushering in the new sound of rock. Designed around hand-selected Russian germanium transistors and a passive tone circuit, this peccary of a pedal can go from a soft, mellow crunch for meaty chords to a maelstrom of sonic fur that will make every note feel like a summer of love. Prepare to have your mind bent when you ride the Havalina!
- Based on a ’60s UK germanium fuzz circuit
- Simple three-knob layout
- Features hand-selected Russian germanium transistors and a passive tone circuit
- Go from soft, mellow crunch to gnarly sonic fur
MSRP: $171.41
SHIPPING MARCH 2014
Way Huge Swollen Pickle Jumbo Fuzz Dirty Donny Edition
The Way Huge Swollen Pickle Jumbo Fuzz Dirty Donny Edition serves up the same burly high-gain fuzz as the full-sized Swollen Pickle but in a more petite package, featuring a simplified control set up and a corpulently cool new paint job.
The Dirty Donny Edition retains six of the Mark II’s seven controls, and they’re all on the front of the pedal, so you can tune the portly saturation to your mad heart’s content without any fuss. The Sustain control takes you from mild crunch to burning Armageddon, while the Filter control lets you finely sculpt your fuzz tone, and the Loudness control has enough volume on tap to force the surrender of a Panamanian dictator. The Scoop control can elicit the classic Swollen Pickle mid scoop or a flat mid-frequency sweep, the Crunch knob adjusts the compression intensity of the fuzz, and the Clip control varies between two sets of clipping diodes for smooth or opened fuzz sustain.
To top it off, this pedal is emblazoned with limited edition artwork from legendary rock artist Dirty Donny.
- Swollen Pickle circuit in a smaller housing
- Six controls, all on front of pedal
- Limited edition Dirty Donny art
MSRP: $214.27
SHIPPING MARCH 2014
For more information:
Dunlop
Art Tube Mp Project Series Tube Microphone/Instrument Preamp
Designed in Rochester NY and originally released in 1995, the Tube MP is celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2025.
The Tube MP/C is the most fully-featured member of the Tube MP family, designed for recording guitarists and bassists. It is a tube mic preamp and instrument DI with advanced features including an optical compressor/limiter and switchable line/instrument output levels for use as a re-amping device.
Guitarist Scott Metzger and his Lollar P-90-loaded Creston T-style onstage with LaMP, next to organist Ray Paczkowski.
“They treated me like a kid, man,” he continues. “They really put me through the paces. There was a lot of hazing, and there was some tough love on a lot of those nights.”
Metzger estimates he left it all on the John & Peter’s stage hundreds of times, forming an old-school style of musical apprenticeship that can be heard in his playing today, three decades later. In any of the improv-heavy settings where he tends to find himself—such as his collaborative trio, LaMP, with members of the Trey Anastasio Band, the transformative Grateful Dead tribute Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, or in freelance situations—Metzger takes the patient and complementary approach of someone playing the long game. He’s a supportive and colorful collaborator who, to make a baseball analogy, always seems to have a good read on the musical ball, equally adept as a finely attuned rhythm player or commanding lead voice. For that, he offers a lot of credit to those early days.
Guitarist Scott Metzger and his Lollar P-90-loaded Creston T-style onstage with LaMP, next to organist Ray Paczkowski.
Photo by Andrew Blackstein
“I kept my mouth shut and my eyes open,” Metzger explains, “and I learned what it takes to become a good, competent guitarist and what it means to have a distinct voice—Dean Ween has one of the most distinct lead guitar voices in rock ’n’ roll as far as I’m concerned. But not only that, also how to support a singer, and how to play a song, and when not to solo, which is just as important as knowing when to.”
Metzger remembers his early teen years, learning tunes by the Ramones—his first concert—and Jersey’s own Misfits, and getting turned ontoHendrix bootlegs and Boredoms records at New Hope’s Now and Then shop. Later, Melchiondo expanded his psychedelic worldview, hipping him to P-Funk— specificallyEddie Hazel’s guitar work—and theAllman Brothers.
Metzger at home in Brooklyn, surrounded by an inspiring array of gear and posters.
Photo by Andrew Blackstein
It wasn’t long until Metzger put all those early lessons to work on the road. At 19, he was playing with his experimental trio F-Hole at Princeton, New Jersey’s Small World coffee when Phish guitaristTrey Anastasio wandered in. “As soon as we get done playing,” Metzger recalls, “he makes a beeline to me and basically started interrogating me about who I was listening to and what I was into gear wise and what kind of guitarists I was into. What I didn't realize was that he was basically auditioning me in real time to be in his friend Tom Marshall's band, who writes all the lyrics for Phish and was putting together a band at the time.”
Metzger scored the gig with Marshall’s Amfibian, playing sold-out shows on the road and opening him up to a whole new musical world. “I wasn’t that familiar with Phish at all,” he points out. “But I knew I liked being up in front of all those people and being able to just play all night. I was really kind of a focal point of the band, and that was my introduction to what is now considered the jam band scene.”
Fast-forward to the present: Metzger is a formidable member of the jam scene. He’s led and collaborated on a host of projects, including WOLF!, with bassist Jon Shaw and drummer Taylor Floreth; the blazing country-swing trio Showdown Kids, with his wife, violinist Katie Jacoby, and guitarist Simon Kafka; and his resplendent, forward-thinking 2022 acoustic-focused solo record, Too Close to Reason. In 2013, he teamed up with his longtime pal drummer Joe Russo, along with guitarist Tom Hamilton Jr., bassist Dave Dreiwitz, and keyboardist Marco Benevento, in forming Joe Russo’s Almost Dead. Colloquially known as JRAD, the group, in a sea of reverence, treats the Grateful Dead’s songbook almost as if it’s an edition of the Real Book—the shorthand jazz-standards tome—cracking open the large catalog and infusing their own voices with every improv-heavy performance.
Scott Metzger’s Gear
Guitars
- Creston T-style
- Ronin Songbird
Amps
- Headstrong Verbrovibe 1x15
- Victoria 35210
Effects
- Bearfoot Putting Green Compressor
- Benson Germanium Fuzz
- Paul Cochrane Timmy overdrive
- Interstellar Audio Machines Octonaut Hyperdrive
- Analog Man-modded MXR Phase 90
- Ibanez Analog Delay
- Keeley 30ms Double Tracker
- Benson Delay
- Wilson Wah pedal
- Line 6 DL4
- Voodoo Lab power supply
Strings and Picks
- D’Addario NYXL .011s
- Dunlop Prime Tone 1.0 mm
Being a part of a Dead tribute act was never part of Metzger’s plan. In fact, he says he wasn’t all that familiar with the band’s catalog. “I wasn’t sure I was the right guy for the band,” he says. But with exploration and personal vocabulary so paramount in JRAD, Russo knew Metzger was the right guitarist for the job.
“You have to be willing to get in there and do your thing and make your mark unapologetically,” Metzger muses. “That's something that's made us stand out in a world of bands that are playing those songs.”
JRAD has developed a large, dedicated following, rising to the top of the Dead tribute scene. “The size of the audience that we have is mind blowing,” Metzger points out, “and the fact that the audiences are willing to go to the places musically with us that we take it, it almost feels like we're testing how much we can get away with a lot of the time.”
Metzger and LaMP bandmates Paczkowski and drummer Russ Lawton. “Those two guys are kind of celebrities up in Burlington,” he says, “so it's like doing a gig with the mayor or something.”
Photo by David Gray
These days, JRAD makes up about half of Metzger’s current gig commitments, and LaMP fills the other. The trio was formed one night in 2018 at Burlington, Vermont’s jam nexus Nectar’s, when the guitarist joined forces with keyboardist Ray Paczkowski and drummer Russ Lawton, both longtime members of Trey Anastasio’s solo band, who also work as the psych-funk duo Soul Monde. “Right off the bat, there was a chemistry that was going to work,” Metzger recalls. “Those two guys are kind of celebrities up in Burlington, so it’s like doing a gig with the mayor or something. The whole town came out to see us, the place was packed, and I think it was very clear to everybody there that night, including us, that it would be a crime not to do it again.”
LaMP builds on the long history of the organ-trio tradition, referencing ’60s ensembles helmed by Grant Green and George Benson, the Meters’ soulful funk, more modern jammers like Medeski, Martin & Wood—and most notably their late-night groove collabs with guitarist John Scofield—as well as thrill-seeking, forward-leaning groups like John Abercrombie’s Gateway Trio and Tony Williams’ Lifetime, all while embracing the spirit of rock ’n’ roll abandon. As unabashed and freewheeling as that might suggest, Metzger and company shoot for a tasteful sonic experience more than a barn-burning blast-off, and at the fore of the band’s sound is a shared improvisational language built upon close listening just as much as any influence. “The real thing that we’re focusing on,” Metzger shares, “is having a good feel, a group sound, and some catchy melodies. Those things are enough to carry the thing without having to worry about ripping some blazing solos every song.”
This year, LaMP released One of Us, the follow-up to their self-titled 2020 debut. It’s filled with live-off-the-floor energy, or as Metzger puts it, “fresh tension.” The mostly first and second takes heard on the record, with barely any overdubs, successfully capture the band’s collaborative heart, making One of Us a ferociously spirited listen from beginning to end. “I like records that are made really quickly on low budgets with the clock ticking,” Metzger conveys. “You can feel that a little bit on the record. It’s not too polished. It's like you can feel that it’s three guys in a room playing together.”
LaMP’s One of Uscaptures the band’s effervescence with a set of mostly live-off-the-floor first and second takes.
Throughout One of Us, Metzger showcases his deep fluency in the Telecaster vernacular. With his Creston T-style, a chambered all-black affair loaded with Lollar P-90s, he slings lyrical licks that offer nods to the masters of the form, all the way back to the first Tele virtuoso, Jimmy Bryant through aces Roy Buchanan, Danny Gatton, Jim Campilongo, and Steve Cropper’s deep pocket. (In JRAD, Metzger calls on a Ronin Songbird loaded with DeArmond gold-foils, but his vocab and approach remain much the same.)
Metzger’s take on the tradition is less virtuosic gunslinger than most of those maestros, instead favoring a more complementary approach with an ear toward supporting the group. To that end, he keeps his sound mostly on the cleaner end by reserving a load of potential sonic energy. “I crank the amp,” he says, pointing out he prefers to set his combo—either a Victoria 35210, a 2x10 Fender tweed Super copy, for LaMP, or a Headstrong Verbrovibe 1x15, a replica of a 1963 Fender Vibroverb, which he favors for JRAD—to 7 or 8 so it’s fully opened up. A self-described “minimalist pedal guy,” he keeps four punch-packing pedals—a Bearfoot Putting Green compressor, Benson Germanium Fuzz, Paul Cochrane Timmy, and an Interstellar Audio Machines Octonaut Hyperdrive—on at all times. As hairy as that may suggest, Metzger maintains clarity, he explains, by keeping his guitar volume set between just two and four. That means that when he wants, he’s just a crank of the volume knob away from a wide-open, full-throated sound.
YouTube It
LaMP deliver the knotty mid-tempo groove of “Jasper’s World” from One of Us from a concert in fall 2024 at Boston’s Wilbur Theater.
His approach to pedals says much about Metzger’s playing style in general. There’s always a load of possibility on reserve, and you can sense it. He’s not one to frequently lay sonic waste with a technical assault, but, rather, a massive map of potential musical avenues is perpetually close at hand, with his ear in the driver’s seat.
Listen to Metzger in just about any situation, whether as a bandleader, bandmember, or just sitting in, and there’s an obvious musical set of ethics in place—and it’s probably been in effect since his early days at John & Peter’s. The responsibilities are something like work hard, support others, be ready to deliver at all times, and, maybe above all, be yourself.
“I was told in no uncertain terms,” he recalls, “that the important thing about being a musician was to find your own thing. You’ve got to stand on your own feet. The ultimate goal that we’re all still working on is to sing our own song with our own voice.”
