Premier Guitar features affiliate links to help support our content. We may earn a commission on any affiliated purchases.

Close-Up: Furman P-1800 PF R Power Conditioner / Surge Suppressor

The Furman Power Conditioner controls buzz and hum

For those of you who don’t want to be “that guy”—the guy whose bar gig rig involves rackmount gear—we suggest you look away. The studio applications for power conditioning equipment are obvious, but for some reason a lot of players are comfortable rolling the dice and using office-supply-store power strips for gigs, only to scramble for that potentially deadly 99-cent, two-prong adapter when that inevitable buzz rears its ugly head. The P-1800 PF R’s superb instrument-specific uses should tempt you to buy a portable rack box to put next to your amp.

 

An update to Furman’s Power Factor Pro R, the P-1800 PF R features the company’s surge, spike and voltage technologies, as well as their new Clear Tone and Power Factor technologies, designed specifically for high-current electronic gear like guitar amps and powered studio monitors. We’re talking 45-plus amps of instantaneous reserve current and tuned filtering circuits that allow your amp to perform like it should—regardless of a whether a venue’s stage outlets are powering five neon beer signs and the kitchen’s deep freeze.

A digital voltmeter/ammeter takes the mystery out of current draw, while nine outlets (one on the front) in isolated banks give you more than you should need for a single rig. Extra touches include three wallwart-spaced outlets with securing straps, a BNC connector in the back for your gooseneck lamp, and even a front panel USB outlet.

Our demo unit handled amp testing in various circuits with aplomb, providing slightly to dramatically cleaner sound (not to mention peace of mind) when A/B’d with a Furman Merit X Series conditioner, a number of strips, and no conditioner at all.

Furman Sound
List $599
furmansound.com

The two-in-one “sonic refractor” takes tremolo and wavefolding to radical new depths.

Pros: Huge range of usable sounds. Delicious distortion tones. Broadens your conception of what guitar can be.

Build quirks will turn some users off.

$279

Cosmodio Gravity Well
cosmod.io

4.5
4
4
4.5

Know what a wavefolder does to your guitar signal? If you don’t, that’s okay. I didn’t either until I started messing around with the all-analog Cosmodio Instruments Gravity Well. It’s a dual-effect pedal with a tremolo and wavefolder, the latter more widely used in synthesis that , at a certain threshold, shifts or inverts the direction the wave is traveling—in essence, folding it upon itself. Used together here, they make up what Cosmodio calls a sonic refractor.

Read MoreShow less

Featuring a preamp and Dynamic Expansion circuit for punch and attack, plus switchable amp simulations.

Read MoreShow less
Photo by Chuck Brueckmann

Creed extend their sold-out Summer of ’99 Tour with 23 additional dates.

Read MoreShow less

A thick, varied take on the silicon Fuzz Face that spans punky, sparkling, and full-spectrum heavy.

Dimensional, thick variations on the silicon Fuzz Face voice. Surprisingly responsive to dynamics at most tube amp’s natural clean/dirty divide. Bass control lends range.

Thins out considerably at lower amp volumes.

$185

McGregor Pedals Classic Fuzz
mcgregorpedals.com

4
4.5
5
4

Compared to the dynamic germanium Fuzz Face, silicon versions sometimes come off as brutish. And even though they can be sonorously vicious, if dirty-to-clean range and sensitivity to guitar volume attenuation are top priorities, germanium is probably the way to go. The McGregor Classic Fuzz, however, offers ample reminders about the many ways silicon Fuzz Faces can be beastly, sensitive, and sound supreme.

Read MoreShow less