 | Download Example 1 Clean guitar, then Blackstone' Brown channel |
| Download Example 2 Blackstone Red channel, light then heavy overdrive |
| Clips recorded with 1965 Fender Strat with DiMarzio Virtual Vintage pickups through an Egnater Rebel 30 | |
When you hear fusion whiz Oz Noy play, you may wonder how he gets that fat, slightly broken-up but extremely articulate sound despite playing impossible flurries of notes through a Stratocaster’s bridge pickup driving a clean Fender amp. One secret to the Israeli chops monster’s tone—in addition to gobs of talent—is a diminutive black pedal. The pedal we can help you with (for the talent, you’re on your own): Toward the beginning of Noy’s signal chain is a Blackstone Appliances Mosfet Overdrive 2S pedal.
At 4.4" x 2.4" x 1.25", the Mosfet Overdrive 2S is roughly the size of an MXR Dyna Comp. It sports two footswitchable channels (hence the 2S), each with its own Drive and Level settings, and true-bypass switching. The top of the pedal contains what looks like five slot-head screws. These are the controls for the two channels and a master EQ. The flush control concept is a good one, because the controls are easily moved with a fingernail or a guitar pick, but they’re unlikely to get shifted if you throw the pedal in a gig bag or kick it around a stage. While this setup does preclude any spontaneous foot adjustments on stage, it allows five controls to fit on the minimalist housing. The Mosfet Overdrive 2S is handcrafted by Jon Blackstone in New York City with a cast aluminum chassis sporting a powdercoat finish and FR-4 (epoxy-fiberglass) plated-through-hole circuit boards. Rather than use the pair of head-to-toe diodes found in many distortion pedals, Blackstone has opted to use four gain stages of small-signal MOSFETs (metal-oxide-semiconductor fieldeffect transistors), each contributing a little soft clipping. Blackstone maintains that this avoids intermodulation and fizzy high-order harmonics in the same manner as vintage amps. Players who cascade different low-gain overdrives into each other can testify to the efficacy of this system.
What’s on Tap?
The two channels are called Red and Brown, presumably for the changing color of a center-mounted LED that indicates both when the effect is turned on and which channel is active. The light appears more orange than brown in Brown mode, and at some angles a red tinge can be confusing at first glance. Fortunately, the LED is bright red in Red mode—no confusion there. Each channel has a Level control on the left and a Drive adjustment on the right. The two Drive controls work differently: Turned clockwise, the Brown Drive boosts drive from a mild grit to a fat roar that still cleans up when the guitar volume is lowered. The Red Drive starts with a healthy crunch at noon, and then offers different-sounding distortion increases depending on whether you turn it clockwise or counterclockwise. Blackstone recommends clockwise for single-coils and counterclockwise for humbucker-equipped instruments. The different directions are essentially two differently voiced drive boosts. Clockwise adds some midrange girth to single-coils, while the other direction seems to reduce bass and emphasize some higher frequencies, preventing humbuckers from getting muddy. The fifth control is a post-distortion EQ that provides a 10dB mid cut at 750Hz.
As with some vintage fuzz pedals, the Blackstone circuit interacts with the inductance of your guitar’s pickups, translating playing dynamics into changes in waveform distortion, rather than passing them on as changes in output level. The Blackstone pedal also allows adjustment to the internal circuitry. Removing the backplate reveals (in addition to the 9-volt battery) a small switch that converts the pedal from unbuffered to buffered. In unbuffered mode, it is recommended that you place the pedal immediately after your guitar in your effects chain, like some fuzz pedals. If you need to place it after another effect, engaging the buffering prevents fizziness at high-gain settings.
A jeweler’s screwdriver can be used to simultaneously adjust Gain and Treble settings for the second stage of both channels, and the more electronically adventurous can experiment with the two replaceable, socket-mounted capacitors: One limits output presence and the other tunes Red-channel bass at counterclockwise settings.
Plugging In
The Mosfet Overdrive is not like some boost pedals that drive the amp into distortion or sound best with an amp that’s already slightly crunchy. Blackstone recommends that you use it with an amp that provides a great clean sound, and use the pedal to provide any breakup. For my great clean sounds, I chose Egnater Rebel 30 and Orange Tiny Terror heads running into a custom speaker cabinet containing a 12” Eminence Texas Heat speaker. I tested the Blackstone with a DiMarzio Virtual Vintage-equipped 1965 Fender Stratocaster and a similarly outfitted Fernandes Tele-style guitar, as well as a Stromberg Monterey with DiMarzio Eric Johnson humbuckers. Plugging the Strat into the Mosfet Overdrive and then the Egnater, I set the Brown Channel for moderate drive, flicked on the bridge pickup, and was rewarded with instant Oz Noy—the tone, not the chops.
It is always surprising when a pedal can contribute so much to a sound, but I could immediately hear how the Blackstone’s Mosfet staging contributed to the wide, warm sound that Noy gets, while its articulation and fast attack explained how he whips out flurries of individually distinguishable 32nd notes. At this setting, the Blackstone cleaned up completely when I backed off my guitar volume. In that sense, it’s very dynamic. In terms of responding to pick attack, I found it less so than some pedals I have played. Still, despite its rapid attack, the Mosfet never felt stiff to play. While not as saggy as some overdrives and amps, it “gives” enough to let you feel natural playing it. Plugging in the Fernandes pushed the drive a little harder and sounded more Robben Ford-ish.
Switching to the Tiny Terror head and the Mosfet Overdrive’s Red channel opened up a whole new world of more aggressive distortion. Tamer settings offered classic rock crunch, while maxing out the Drive served up balls-to-the-wall distortion, bordering on fuzz, with tons of singing sustain. Just because you never know, I tried the humbucker setting with the single-coils. If you have a particularly dark-sounding Strat or Tele and want a more belligerent drive, this could work, but this setting definitely felt more at home with the humbucker-outfitted Stromberg. With the counterclockwise setting maxed out, both the bridge and neck humbuckers remained tight and focused. For grins, I tried the single-coil setting maxed out with the humbuckers and discovered a great woolly, Big Muff tone.
The Final Mojo
While the Blackstone Mosfet Overdrive 2S is not the most transparent or natural-sounding pedal I have heard, it is one of the most musical. It has a sound of its own, it’s inspiring to play, and its small size makes it easy to find a niche for it on your pedalboard.
Buy if...
you want a an extremely musical, articulate overdrive pedal.
Skip if...
you seek a saggier, amp-style sound.
Rating...
Street $225 - Blackstone Appliances - blackstoneappliances.com |
Duane Denison of the Jesus Lizard, EGC Chessie in hands, coaxing some nasty tones from his Hiwatt.
The Jesus Lizard’s sixth album, Blue, served as the band’s final statement from the frontlines of noisy rock for the next 26 years. By the time of their dissolution in 1999, they’d earned a reputation for extreme performances chock full of hard-hitting, machine-like grooves delivered by bassist David Wm. Sims and, at their conclusion, drummer Mac McNeilly, at times aided and at other times punctured by the frontline of guitarist Duane Denison’s incisive, dissonant riffing, and presided over by the cantankerous howl of vocalist David Yow. In the years since, performative, thrilling bands such as Pissed Jeans, METZ, and Idles have built upon the Lizard’s musical foundation.
Denison has kept himself plenty busy over the last couple decades, forming the avant-rock supergroup Tomahawk—with vocalist Mike Patton, bassist Trevor Dunn (both from Mr. Bungle), and drummer John Stanier of Helmet—and alongside various other projects including Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers and Hank Williams III. The Jesus Lizard eventually reunited, but until now have only celebrated their catalog, never releasing new jams.
The Jesus Lizard, from left: bassist David Wm. Sims, singer David Yow, drummer Mac McNeilly, and guitarist Duane Denison.
Photo by Joshua Black Wilkins
Back in 2018, Denison, hanging in a hotel room with Yow, played a riff on his unplugged electric guitar that caught the singer’s ear. That song, called “West Side,” will remain unreleased for now, but Denison explains: “He said, ‘Wow, that’s really good. What is that?’ And I said, ‘It’s just some new thing. Why don’t we do an album?’” From those unassuming beginnings, the Jesus Lizard’s creative juices started flowing.
So, how does a band—especially one who so indelibly captured the ineffable energy of live rock performance—prepare to get a new record together 26 years after their last? Back in their earlier days, the members all lived together in a band house, collectively tending to the creative fire when inspiration struck. All these years later, they reside in different cities, so their process requires sending files back and forth and only meeting up for occasional demo sessions over the course of “three or four years.”
“When the time comes to get more in performance mode, I have a practice space. I go there by myself and crank it up. I turn that amp up and turn the metronome up and play loud.” —Duane Denison
the Jesus Lizard "Alexis Feels Sick"
Distance creates an obstacle to striking while the proverbial iron is hot, but Denison has a method to keep things energized: “Practice loud.” The guitarist professes the importance of practice, in general, and especially with a metronome. “We keep very detailed records of what the beats per minute of these songs are,” he explains. “To me, the way to do it is to run it to a Bluetooth speaker and crank it, and then crank your amp. I play a little at home, but when the time comes to get more in performance mode, I have a practice space. I go there by myself and crank it up. I turn that amp up and turn the metronome up and play loud.”
It’s a proven solution. On Rack—recorded at Patrick Carney’s Audio Eagle studio with producer Paul Allen—the band sound as vigorous as ever, proving they’ve not only remained in step with their younger selves, but they may have surpassed it with faders cranked. “Duane’s approach, both as a guitarist and writer, has an angular and menacing fingerprint that is his own unique style,” explains Allen. “The conviction in his playing that he is known for from his recordings in the ’80s and ’90s is still 100-percent intact and still driving full throttle today.”
“I try to be really, really precise,” he says. “I think we all do when it comes to the basic tracks, especially the rhythm parts. The band has always been this machine-like thing.” Together, they build a tension with Yow’s careening voice. “The vocals tend to be all over the place—in and out of tune, in and out of time,” he points out. “You’ve got this very free thing moving around in the foreground, and then you’ve got this very precise, detailed band playing behind it. That’s why it works.”
Before Rack, the Jesus Lizard hadn’t released a new record since 1998’s Blue.
Denison’s guitar also serves as the foreground foil to Yow’s unhinged raving, as on “Alexis Feels Sick,” where they form a demented harmony, or on the midnight creep of “What If,” where his vibrato-laden melodies bolster the singer’s unsettled, maniacal display. As precise as his riffs might be, his playing doesn’t stay strictly on the grid. On the slow, skulking “Armistice Day,” his percussive chording goes off the rails, giving way to a solo that slices that groove like a chef’s knife through warm butter as he reorganizes rock ’n’ roll histrionics into his own cut-up vocabulary.
“During recording sessions, his first solo takes are usually what we decide to keep,” explains Allen. “Listen to Duane’s guitar solos on Jack White’s ‘Morning, Noon, and Night,’ Tomahawk’s ‘Fatback,’ and ‘Grind’ off Rack. There’s a common ‘contained chaos’ thread among them that sounds like a harmonic Rubik’s cube that could only be solved by Duane.”
“Duane’s approach, both as a guitarist and writer, has an angular and menacing fingerprint that is his own unique style.” —Rack producer Paul Allen
To encapsulate just the right amount of intensity, “I don’t over practice everything,” the guitarist says. Instead, once he’s created a part, “I set it aside and don’t wear it out.” On Rack, it’s obvious not a single kilowatt of musical energy was lost in the rehearsal process.
Denison issues his noisy masterclass with assertive, overdriven tones supporting his dissonant voicings like barbed wire on top of an electric fence. The occasional application of slapback delay adds a threatening aura to his exacting riffage. His tones were just as carefully crafted as the parts he plays, and he relied mostly on his signature Electrical Guitar Company Chessie for the sessions, though a Fender Uptown Strat also appears, as well as a Taylor T5Z, which he chose for its “cleaner, hyper-articulated sound” on “Swan the Dog.” Though he’s been spotted at recent Jesus Lizard shows with a brand-new Powers Electric—he points out he played a demo model and says, “I just couldn’t let go of it,” so he ordered his own—that wasn’t until tracking was complete.
Duane Denison's Gear
Denison wields his Powers Electric at the Blue Room in Nashville last June.
Photo by Doug Coombe
Guitars
- Electrical Guitar Company Chessie
- Fender Uptown Strat
- Taylor T5Z
- Gibson ES-135
- Powers Electric
Amps
- Hiwatt Little J
- Hiwatt 2x12 cab with Fane F75 speakers
- Fender Super-Sonic combo
- Early ’60s Fender Bassman
- Marshall 1987X Plexi Reissue
- Victory Super Sheriff head
- Blackstar HT Stage 60—2 combos in stereo with Celestion Neo Creamback speakers and Mullard tubes
Effects
- Line 6 Helix
- Mantic Flex Pro
- TC Electronic G-Force
- Menatone Red Snapper
Strings and Picks
- Stringjoy Orbiters .0105 and .011 sets
- Dunlop celluloid white medium
- Sun Studios yellow picks
He ran through various amps—Marshalls, a Fender Bassman, two Fender Super-Sonic combos, and a Hiwatt Little J—at Audio Eagle. Live, if he’s not on backline gear, you’ll catch him mostly using 60-watt Blackstar HT Stage 60s loaded with Celestion Neo Creambacks. And while some boxes were stomped, he got most of his effects from a Line 6 Helix. “All of those sounds [in the Helix] are modeled on analog sounds, and you can tweak them endlessly,” he explains. “It’s just so practical and easy.”
The tools have only changed slightly since the band’s earlier days, when he favored Travis Beans and Hiwatts. Though he’s started to prefer higher gain sounds, Allen points out that “his guitar sound has always had teeth with a slightly bright sheen, and still does.”
“Honestly, I don’t think my tone has changed much over the past 30-something years,” Denison says. “I tend to favor a brighter, sharper sound with articulation. Someone sent me a video I had never seen of myself playing in the ’80s. I had a band called Cargo Cult in Austin, Texas. What struck me about it is it didn’t sound terribly different than what I sound like right now as far as the guitar sound and the approach. I don’t know what that tells you—I’m consistent?”
YouTube It
The Jesus Lizard take off at Nashville’s Blue Room this past June with “Hide & Seek” from Rack.
Once the news of the Oasis reunion got out, Sadler Vaden hit YouTube hard on the tour bus, driving his bandmates crazy. The Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit guitarist has been a Noel Gallagher mega-fan since he was a teenager, so he joined us to wax poetic about Oasis’ hooks, Noel’s guitar sound, and the band’s symphonic melodies. What are Sadler’s favorite Oasis jams? And if he ever shares a bill with Oasis and they ask him onstage, what song does he want to join in on?
