Though the business of cloning pedals is competitive (and endless fodder for frothing Reddit denizens), I appreciate when a pedal company offers a useful twist on an established formula.Warm Audio accomplishes this with the Throne of Tone. It is clearly inspired by theAnalog Man King of Tone. But it is also very obviously a nod to the Marshall Bluesbreaker, the pedal that Mike Piera used as a departure point for his KOT design. The Throne of Tone, though, might mark the point at which the snake bites its tail. It cross-pollinates the circuits in a dual overdrive that opens up many, many tone-coloring avenues and options.
Split Personality
Mike Piera ripped up a friend’s Bluesbreaker to build the first King of Tone. But by the time he rewired it, it was a different pedal altogether. To the extent that the KOT and Bluesbreaker sections are accurate in the Throne of Tone, the differences between the original Bluesbreaker and King of Tone are easy to hear. It’s hard to accurately assess the accuracy of the Throne of Tone’s two circuits without a real-deal King of Tone or Bluesbreaker at hand. But I’ve played through both as well as excellent clones, and in both sound and feel, both Throne of Tone circuits are in the ballpark and better.
In very general terms, that means the “king” side is a bit less aggressive, darker, and more dynamically responsive to changes in pick intensity—especially when you want to go from gnarly to truly clean. The “blues” side is a bit more dynamite, revved up, and lively in the midrange. It’s more immediate and a bit harder to keep on a leash for dynamic purposes. But the Throne of Tone is a great multiplier—and mixer—of these qualities, because you can experience each basic voice through the lens of high gain and low gain settings, a boost, an overdrive or a distortion. Additionally, output from each side can be modified with a presence control which appears on neither pedal in its original form. Add up the possible tone permutations and, well, you’ll probably be less occupied with the accuracy of the circuits, and more excited about harnessing the copious killer tones here.
Pick A Door
Of the three modes, the boost is the most user friendly and easy to apply to a base tone that just needs heft and body. It’s also great for demonstrating the basic duality in the king and blues voices—which align along a Marshall/Fender divide. The blues, or Marshall-like side feels considerably more compressed as a boost, but it positively rings in the high-mid zone. If you want a guitar to be boss in a mix it dishes the goods. But it’s agreeable too, and flattered PAFs, Telecaster single-coils, Wide-Range humbuckers, and a Rickenbacker 12-string—lending all of them an infectious, excited edge. Matched with an EL84 amp it can feel a touch redundant, but with 6L6 amps it shines. The king, or more Fendery side, sounds comparatively scooped. It feels much less hyperactive, and it excels in the clean, low-gain range, but it also gets squishy when you dig in.
These same qualities are very apparent in the overdrive mode. Each voice sounds more compressed than the boost mode. But the higher reaches of the gain controls yield treasure. Here again, the blues side was explosive—sounding at many settings like Malcolm and Angus Young after consuming a bag of firecrackers. Angry but fun. The king’s OD side, at high gain range, sounds much more like a mid- to late-’60s Bassman at high volume: crunchy, but softer around the edges. Each of these voices can be nudged into more savage extremes by the high-gain toggle, which depending on your amp and guitar, can be surprisingly airy to downright sizzly.
The distortion mode kicks the high-midrange in the pants, but retains much of the overdrive mode’s basic coloration. It’s an especially cool match for 6L6 amps—especially on the king side. But the way the distortion modes remain responsive to dynamic input like volume and touch variation is impressive. Distortions can often sound quite binary—either raging or gobbling up midrange oxygen. Both distortions in the Throne of Tone give you gray area to work with that can range down to chiming clean tones.
The Verdict
The original King of Tone and Bluesbreaker pedals are revered for good reason. And if Warm Audio’s take on the two circuits represents even 80 percent of those pedals’ prime tonality, you’ll still hear and feel what makes them special. As a whole, the Throne of Tone is adaptive and versatile. The kind of pedal that could save your hide and solve problems in a studio. But it could work the same magic in a live situation, especially one with a backline surprise in store. In performance, the vertically oriented mini toggles, which are situated perilously close to the bypass switches, could be a liability. I accidentally switched the gain and mode switches with my toe more than once. That’s a shame, because they make experimentation so much easier than when DIP switches are in the mix. It’s hardly a dealbreaker, though. For $229, the Throne of Tone offers a very big bucketful of tone options that can span civilized and rabid.
The long-running punk quartet pick prototypes, P basses, and Pauls for their latest live shows.
On tour supporting their 12th full-length record, Silver Bleeds the Black Sun…, California rockers AFI rolled through Nashville’s Marathon Music Works in October. After first running down their rigs in 2017, PG’s Chris Kies linked up again with guitarist Jade Puget and bassist Hunter Burgan to see how their gear has evolved in the past eight years.
Puget found this Les Paul Standard hanging at Guitar Center 15 years ago, and it’s still his go-to live guitar. A surprisingly light specimen, it’s had a Seymour Duncan pickup swapped in, and it’s strung with Ernie Balls—usually .010s.
Throughout AFI’s set, Puget switches between tunings: D sharp, drop C sharp, D standard, and E standard.
Silver Surfer
This new Schecter, a prototype made for Puget, is his first ever silverburst, which saw service in the music video for “Holy Visions.” It’s loaded with a Sustainiac system in the neck position.
Willing and Ableton
Puget has experimented a lot to get his rig to this point. His signal runs through a pair of rack-mounted Line 6 Helix units in a stereo configuration, and also through a computer running Ableton that triggers the exact sound designs he created while recording. The RJM Mastermind and Effect Gizmo are programmed to control all pedals, the Helix, and Ableton.
Jade Puget’s Pedalboard
Most of Puget’s effects come from the Helix, but he also runs a few pedals in his rack, including an MXR EVH 5150 Overdrive and Carbon Copy, Boss DC-2W, RV-2, and BF-2, and a Keeley Compressor.
Another board carries a Boss TU-3, TC Electronic Mimiq, EHX The Clone Theory, TC Electronic Arena, MXR Echoplex, and L.R. Baggs Venue DI.
Blackout
In live contexts, Burgan uses Fender P basses exclusively. This is his No. 1, which he’s had since 2012.
Pinky
This dazzling Fender P was made custom for Burgan before this tour.
Triples is Best
Burgan runs this trio of Ampeg SVT Classics.
Hunter Burgan’s Rack Setup
Burgan uses a RJM Mastermind GT to control his in-show switching. In his backstage rack, there’s an EHX Bass Big Muff, Micro Synth, Satisfaction, Nano POG, Bass Clone, and Graphic Fuzz, and on a second shelf, there’s the rest of the collection: a Bass Soul Food, Battalion, Lizard King, Neo Mistress, and Memory Toy.
If there’s any company you’d expect to understand the delicate relationship between pickups and pedals, it’s Seymour Duncan. The company’s Pickup Booster Mini, an evolution of the Pickup Booster that’s been around for roughly two decades, certainly reflects a less-is-more philosophy about what you should stick between a good pickup and your amplifier. But while the Pickup Booster is simple, it’s far from inflexible, nor, in most cases, does it sound very “mini.”
Friend to the Single Coil
The Pickup Booster Mini’s versatility is most evident in its resonance control. These shifts are clear when you use the pedal with single coil pickups at the front of a pedal chain—in fact, the resonance switch works onlywhen the Pickup Booster Mini is the first stomp in a line. The differences between settings are also apparent when used with a clean amp. So yes, Fender-oriented players, with their single coils and high-headroom amps, get a fatter share of the fun when using the Pickup Booster Mini, as well as a greater sense of the pedal’s transformative power.
For all its single-coil bias, the Pickup Booster Mini is still a good buddy to humbuckers.
I tested the Pickup Booster Mini’s interaction with different pickups using two contrasting rigs—first between a Fender Jaguar and black-panel Deluxe Reverb, then an SG and the Marshall 18-watt setting on a Carr Bel-Ray. To widen the stylistic disparity between these surfy- and AC/DC-sounding setups, I deliberately set up the Jaguar/Deluxe tandem for fairly anemic output, with the amp volume just past 2. Without the Pickup Booster Mini the combination was thin and lifeless. With an assist from the pedal, the previously absent low- and low-midrange became quite prominent—and not in a fashion that just added mud to the equation. Instead, it lent sustain and a warm, discernible glow to overtones while maintaining the Jaguar/Deluxe combination’s sunny essence. Could I have generated the same tone by turning the amp volume up, the guitar down, and adding some bass? Not easily with the Jaguar’s 1k pots. But even a Telecaster with a finely tapered volume control couldn’t always match the low-mid punch the Pickup Booster Mini added at lower amp volumes.
For all its single-coil bias, the Pickup Booster Mini is still a good buddy to humbuckers. In the more AC/DC-like SG/Carr set up, the Pickup Booster Mini worked best as a lead boost. And in terms of creating bolder tone contrasts, I had good luck with the pedal’s resonant peak 2 setting which, while ostensibly ideal for making single coils sound like high-gain humbuckers, can lend an almost cocked-wah like focus to leads.
You don’t have to use the Pickup Booster Mini at the front end of a pedal chain. Its buffer also means you can use it at the end of long cable runs to make up for the associated tone loss. You lose the flexibility of the resonance switch, but it still sounds fantastic and can work as an almost compression-like glue to meld overtones and artifacts from delay, reverb, and modulation units.
The Verdict
If, like me, you’re always looking for ways to shrink your pedalboard, the Pickup Booster Mini makes an appealing ingredient in a compact setup. Though it doesn’t excite the treble spectrum quite as much as some boosts and overdrives, it restores the fullness often lost when using single-coil pickups at low amp volumes, making it a simple, cost-effective cure for one of many performer’s most common challenges.
Get ready to dive into the gear-head dream: we teamed up with our friends at eastside music supply and pedal-wizard Blair White to build a pedalboard inspired by Queens of the Stone Age. From fuzz to filter sweeps, octaves to tape echo, we traced the band’s signature sound and then assembled a stacked board you could win. Whether you’re chasing heavy riffs or sculpting atmosphere, this one’s for pedal lovers and riff monsters alike.
The groundbreaking DC7 has a one-inch (25,4mm) profile and weighs 1.1 pound (500 grams) thanks to the pure 2-stage switch-mode technology inside. The profile may be low but the power ratings are certainly not – the DC7 puts out a maximum of 48W and allows the user to connect multiple high-current effects such as devices from Effectrode, Line 6 and Eventide without noise of any kind.
The Whammy Ricochet lets you bounce your playing up or down in pitch in controlled or crazy shifts. A momentary switch and customizable independent rise and fall time ballistics, allow you to get the Whammy action you know and love without the use of a treadle. Just hold your foot on the footswitch and let the Ricochet do the rest. Seven pitch selections – 2nd, 4th, 5th, 7th, Octave, Double Octave, and Octave+Dry, as well as a toggle to select up or down for the selected pitch.
The Whammy Ricochet also has latching footswitch mode so you can rise or fall to pitch and stay there, and an LED ladder that shows your shift trajectory at all times.
All these controls combine to create classic Whammy pitch-shifting as well as new sounds never heard before.
We've brought back the most sought after Parametric EQ pedal with groundbreaking updates. We kept everything people loved about the original ParaEq and added more fidelity and control.
In late 2023, we had a cool idea for a compact pedal, based on a recording technique pioneered in the 1950's… This radical, yet deceptively simple technique elevated great recordings to downright incredible, enhancing the depth, character and tonality through a process called Double Tracking. This simple, yet elusive concept was initially executed by recording a track twice and overlaying the two [nearly] identical takes on top of each other.
Fast forward 70-some years and we can now create "double-tracked" sounds in real-time, delivering the full, rich and complex intensity that was once only possible by employing slick studio tricks during a session!
The 2023 compact DoubleTracker was an instant hit, and we received a ton of feedback and praise regarding the pedal, but there was a reoccurring theme within…
Make it STEREO!!
Well, it wasn’t easy, but we are VERY proud to say: we did it! And it sounds marvelous. (Literally marvelous, as in something one will marvel at/about.)
XPND is the pedalboard that adapts to you. With its patented telescoping technology, XPND lets you instantly change the size of your board and number of pedals – forever expanding your sonic potential. XPND also features a unique cable management system and comes fitted with loop Velcro, keeping everything neat, while making swapping pedals super easy. XPND 1 is built to accommodate one row of pedals and is expandable from 14" to 24" and XPND 2 is built to accommodate two rows of pedals and is expandable from 17"to 31".
D’Addario’s Custom Series Flat Patch Cables optimize pedalboard space by allowing you to place pedals closer together while accurately transferring all the subtle details of your playing. Utilizing the latest in high-quality instrument cable manufacturing technology, these cables feature an oxygen-free coaxial copper conductor with two layers of noise-rejecting shielding, formulated for extremely low capacitance and handling noise. The lower cable capacitance allows your instrument’s brilliance, presence and character to be transmitted with the utmost transparency. The Flat Patch Cable plugs feature the patented Geo-Tip™, ensuring a secure connection in any instrument, pedal, or amplifier. Additionally, encapsulated soldering points and molded strain relief combine to deliver the ultimate long lasting, high-performance patch cable.
A warm grittiness to the warble, a rippling, wooshing, bubbling irregularity to the modulation and a dynamic response to your picking are all hallmarks of the true vibe experience.
Thicker and chewier than any chorus, earthier than any phaser and uniquely magical in front of a driven amp, the perfect vibe pedal moves you to dig in and play without inhibition.
This feeling has been difficult to find outside of large and expensive fully-analog boutique units, but the search for that elusive experience is now over.
Delivering vintage vibe tone that’s second to none with simple and powerful controls for instantly obtaining a rich variety of captivating sounds, UltraViolet is the vibe pedal you’ve been looking for.
The StroboStomp Mini™ delivers the unmatched 0.1 cent tuning accuracy of all authentic Peterson Strobe Tuners in a mini pedal tuner format. We designed StroboStomp Mini around the most requested features from our customers: a mini form factor, and top mounted jacks.
Introduced in 1974, the Roland RE-201 Space Echo stands among the most legendary and sought-after effect units ever produced. This tape-based classic remained in production for over 14 straight years, and its distinctive rhythmic echo sounds, warm character, and highly playable sonic quirks still inspire musicians, producers, and audio mixers over four decades on.
Backed by intensive R&D and our latest innovations, the RE-202 faithfully delivers the authentic sound and behavior of the Space Echo like never before. Built by the company that designed the original, this advanced pedal captures the RE-201’s magic in flawless detail, from the magnetic tape and motor properties to the vibrant spring reverb and colorful preamp circuit. And to take things even further, we’ve expanded the vintage Space Echo experience with lots of new features tuned for today’s music.
The Dispatch Master is a hi-fi digital Delay & Reverb Device that combines independent delay and reverb effects into one space-saving enclosure, so you can keep deep ambient echoes (or just a quick slapback) on speed-dial.
The best-selling EarthQuaker Devices pedal just got bester [sic] with new Flexi-Switch® Technology! Want to dip into ambient delay and reverb sounds for just one note? Press and hold the footswitch for as long as you use the effect, release it when you’re finished, and resume your regularly scheduled dry sound. To use the Dispatch Master as a normal effects pedal, press the switch once to activate and again to bypass.
Yesterday Effects Private Military Auditor - Eastside Exclusive
The Private Military Auditor is a collaboration between Yesterday Effects and us, your favorite real life music store in the whole world, eastside music supply.
What we got here is a highly tuned, 2-in-1 fuzzstortion + filter. One knob a piece, with the optional expression port out to sweep the frequency of the filter if you should choose to do so!
Left side of the pedal is the fuzz, the knob controls the volume. That's all you need because this baby is DIALED. Harmonically rich, with great note definition and insane sustain. The volume cleanup is killer and reminiscent of how fuzz faces feel. Plays well with every pickup combo we've thrown at it. And gives a surprisingly large amount of tonal variation depending on your pickup/volume/tone situation. Just a really great fuzz/distortion on it's own.
Right side of the pedal is the filter, the knob controls the sweep of the frequency. Kick this baby on when you're ready for your leads to stand out, or just to give yourself that gnarly parked wah tone.
this is an analog preamp inspired by the Decade practice amp, which was the secret to the bassist of Stone Temple Pilot‘s tone. Get that on your board and secure the crunch for whatever you run through it! Works with 9v or 18v (for a more amp-like response).
Packed with knobs that let you control everything from tight, radically fuzzy sounds that gate off instantly when you stop playing, to intermodulating oscillations that fight for control of your guitar as your notes decay, to shortwave radio sounds, ripping velcro and octave-like fuzz. Includes an on/off LED and center-negative DC power jack.
The Argonaut is a no frills pedal offers a clean-ish octave up sound. Using it alone offers you a gnarly, ring mod-esque sound that is pretty funky. The fun begins when you combine it with your favorite overdrive or fuzz pedals. Once combined all the iconic octave tones we know and love begin to jump out of your signal. It’s very touch responsive, weird, and fun all rolled into a small little package. The Argonaut uses a pair of Hand matched NOS Germanium Diodes, this gives the most prevalent octave up effect that is present all over your guitar neck. Unlike traditional octave pedals the octave effect can be heard up and down the guitar neck, so get ready to get weird once you add this bad boy to your setup.
We like the Argonaut after a fuzz pedal but before an overdrive. Like all things though, your mileage may vary and there is no right answer with guitar tones. Experiment and you’ll find what works best with your setup and hands.
he Echodriver Limited-Edition Reissue has been the core distortion sound of Troy Van Leeuwen (Queens of the Stone Age), delivering a harmonically rich, mid-scooped voice with the clarity and power to cut through any mix over his last few years of touring.
The tone stack uses a notch-style filter, similar to classic fuzz circuits, offering a broad sweep of EQ flexibility. The Tone control scoops mids at center, rolls off low end when turned down, and rounds off highs when pushed up—letting you shape the pedal’s response to your guitar and amp with surgical precision.
Clipping is handled by a dynamic combination of MOSFET and NOS Germanium diodes, producing warm, touch-sensitive gain. A right-side toggle engages Silicon clipping for a more aggressive, compressed response. The left toggle bypasses the tone stack completely, delivering a full-range, unfiltered drive straight to your amp.
Since it was first introduced in 1958, Vox has released myriad iterations of the AC15 combo—built variously in England and Asia, and offered in both hand-wired and PCB formats. The new AC15 Hand-Wired suggests a strictly old-school ethos, but several of its features—most notably a move from EF86 to 12AX7 preamp tubes—are deviations from vintage form. That does result in a different feel in some situations; at times it sounds and feels more like a half-power, 1x12 AC30 than a vintage AC15. But this iteration is arguably more flexible than its predecessor, too.
Channel Crossing
Given the microphonic tendencies of EF86 tubes, the switch to 12AX7s is an intriguing and practical move. Elsewhere among the tube complement, there’s a 12AT7 for the preamp and phase-inverter, two EL84s in the output stage for 15 watts RMS, and a GZ34 tube rectifier. It’s all housed in a classic Vox combo cab measuring 22 1/4"x23 1/4"x1 1/2".
The AC15 Hand-Wired’s normal channel has just a single knob for volume. But its voicing can be tweaked via a bright switch and the tone cut knob in the master section, and there’s also a boost switch to increase gain. The top boost channel features volume and dedicated treble and bass controls, but no boost or bright switch. Both channels have high and low inputs, and the latter can be handy for taming hot humbucker-equipped guitars.
The fine-tuning capabilities of the amp extend to the footswitchable, tube-driven, spring reverb circuit, which has a tone control in addition to its level, enabling you to fine-tune the frequency emphasis of the reverb itself. Send and return jacks for the effects loop—along with a bypass switch and a –10/+4 dB level switch for compatibility with both rack and pedal effects—are smartly positioned along the lower edge of the upper-back panel, rather than on the underside of the chassis. Dual speaker-outs have an impedance switch for 8- and 16-ohm operation. (The combo’s Vox-labeled Celestion Alnico Blue requires the latter.)
Vox was careful to reproduce the windings of a vintage AC15 output transformer circa 1963, which results in a heftier chunk of metal than you might expect in an amp this size. Vox makes up some of that weight by using slightly thinner plywood for the cabinet walls, which are just less than 1/2" in thickness—matching vintage specifications and, in Vox’s estimation, enhancing resonance and dimensionality. As with many AC15s past, the transformer and alnico speaker help push this new edition to 50 lbs, making for a surprisingly heavy combo of this size and output power. It might have been nice for Vox to slim things down. On the other hand, the amp might lose what turns out to be a strong, audible vintage spirit without those heavier design elements.
Chiming In
Paired with a Gibson ES-335 and a FenderTelecaster, the AC15 Hand-Wired plated up many impressive slices of vintage Vox tone, with plenty more versatility on top. With all knobs at noon and the boost and bright switches on the normal channel engaged, the two channels sound remarkably similar. There might be just a touch more grind and sparkle on the top boost side, but it’s close! At these levels, both channels still summon plenty of break up with a Telecaster. Switching to the ES-335’s humbuckers predictably kicks the overdrive up a notch at the same settings.
The boost switch on the normal channel isn’t always a breeze to manage. It delivers a pretty big jump in gain and, with it, a slightly ragged edge at some settings. With both boost and bright switches down, though, the normal channel is rich, warm, and muscular, and makes an excellent, adaptable platform for gain pedals (in my case an Analogman Prince of Tone and a Wampler Tumnus Deluxe). Knock this normal channel volume up to around 2 o’clock and it segues into toothsome sounds that dip into clipping under heavier pick attack.
Arguably the most delectable tones are found in the top boost channel with all three knobs set to around 11 o’clock. Here, the AC15 Hand-Wired achieves its closest approximation of vintage Vox tone: chewy midrange, lots of chime and sparkle in the highs, and a dynamic edge-of-breakup touch sensitivity that you can control and vary via pick attack. Cranked up, the top boost channel roars with a throaty, shimmery vintage lead tone, although at the expense of the delectable dimension and clarity achieved at lower volumes.
The amp’s master volume, by the way, is very effective at tailoring the AC15 Hand-Wired for a range of room requirements, and is essential for smaller venues. This amp is loud when maxed—probably a lot louder than you’d expect from a 15-watt 1x12" combo—which is another classic characteristic of the AC15. It’s worth noting that things can get a little ratty with the master below 10 o’clock and either channel volume up high, but that’s par for the course with such circuits.
The Verdict
Vox’s new AC15 Hand-Wired combo does a good job of capturing much of the vintage-voiced spirit of the classic while offering many features that are must-haves for modern guitarists less burdened by complete vintage correctness. And if it’s not a point-perfect reproduction, it honors the sound and spirit of the original—and looks the part onstage, too.