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Learn how Adrian Belew's BEAT Tour came together to include Tony Levin, Danny Carey and Steve Vai—plus King Crimson, Bowie, Zappa, Talking Heads, and more.
The BEAT Tour, featuring a superband of Adrian Belew, Tony Levin, Steve Vai, and Tool’s Danny Carey, begins on September 12 in San Jose, California, and continues into December, playing repertoire from King Crimson’s highly influential ’80s albums Discipline, Beat, and Three of a Perfect Pear. PG’s editorial director Ted Drozdowski sat down with Adrian in his home studio to talk about how these four great players came together, Adrian’s decades in Crimson, and Robert Fripp, Bowie, Zappa, Talking Heads, and more. Also, stay tuned for our exclusive Rig Rundown, coming soon!
Discover the SoloDallas Orbiter Fuzz, a meticulously crafted effects pedal designed to blend genuine vintage tones with user-friendly versatility.
Building upon the legacy of the 1966 Arbiter Fuzz, the Orbiter Fuzz enhances this classic circuit with advanced fine-tuning circuitry.
Key Features:
- Vintage Tone: The Orbiter Fuzz delivers smooth, musical fuzz tones with cutting sustain, offering immediate inspiration.
- Vintage Power: Our unique power circuit internally converts modern wall power to emulate the draw of a vintage carbon zinc battery.
- "Sweet Spot" Dial: An internal mini potentiometer allows you to dial in the perfect impedance response for your favorite pickups.
Versatile Controls:
- FUZZ: Adjusts the overall amount of fuzz by shaping the signal’s waveform from triangular to square as the knob is turned clockwise.
- GAIN: Increases the amount of signal entering the circuit, pushing it into harmonic clipping for smooth overdriven fuzz tones.
- BIAS: Modifies voltage to the matched pair of transistors, unleashing a wide range of vintage fuzz tones. Lower voltages produce spitty Black Keys responses, while higher voltages create smooth American Woman fuzz.
- Compact Design: Optimized for pedalboard space and easy integration with any standard pedal.
- Durable Construction: Crafted for reliability to withstand rigorous touring conditions.
Technical Specifications:
- Input Impedance: 500 kOhm
- Output Impedance: 10 kOhm
- Power Requirements: External 9V DC center-negative power supply
- Dimensions: 4.75" x 2.50" x 1.5"
- Weight: 0.8 lbs
- Bypass: True bypass
Design Details:
- Custom Artwork: Retro space-age design that pays homage to the Arbiter’s flying saucer enclosure.
- High-Quality Housing: Durable reinforced steel enclosure with a vintage metallic blue hammered finish.
Why You Need the SoloDallas Orbiter Fuzz Pedal:
A great fuzz pedal is essential for every guitarist and bassist. The Orbiter Fuzz offers the smooth, singing fuzz tone every musician dreams of, combining musicality with the reliability you need. If you’re looking for a pedal that excels in both sound and style, the Orbiter Fuzz is a must-have. Complete your search for the perfect fuzz pedal with the Orbiter Fuzz.
Arriving on Planet Earth 9/1/24! The Orbiter Fuzz will be available for purchase exclusively at SoloDallas.com starting September 1, 2024. The first 100 orders will include a SoloDallas swag pack guaranteed to impress. All SoloDallas orders ship within 24 hours.
Price: $249 USD.
Revisiting the very first wah circuit with delicious vintage-flavored results.
Delicious, present voice. Satisfying, expressive range and filter curve. Well-made. Very little noise.
Toppy tones could be too hot for some players.
$279 street
Vox Real McCoy VRM-1 Wah voxamps.com
Some pedals are more fun than others. And on the fun spectrum, a new Vox wah is like getting a bike for Christmas. There’s gleaming chrome. It comes in a cool vinyl pouch that’s hipper than a stocking. Put the pedal on the floor and you feel the freedom of a marauding BMX delinquent off the leash, or a funk dandy cool-stepping through the hot New York City summertime. It’s musical motion. It’s one of the most stylish effects ever built. A good one will be among the coolest-sounding, too.
Vox Real McCoy - MAIN by premierguitar
Needless to say, there are not a lot of original Vox Clyde McCoys on the gigging circuit. They’re collector-spendy and a rarity, even in nice studios. And as anyone who has ever owned a wah knows, the combination of vigorous stomping and relative fragility in electro-mechanical terms means many wahs live short lives. A late-’60s Clyde McCoy can indeed sound special, though: top end that’s substantial, sweet and searing, and vowel-y contours in the filter sweeps that lend a haunting humanity to the voice. The new Vox Real McCoy VRM-1 is exhilarating in many of the same ways vintage specimens can be.
Of Halos, Pots, Treadles, and Trips
The Real McCoy mixes old and newer components and circuit construction techniques. The machine-populated board is clean, neat, and dotted with time-tested, familiar parts, like BC-109 transistors, and a contemporary halo inductor design. The latter component, like any inductor, shifts the resonant peak and shapes a wah’s voice. The one used here is less noisy than those on early Clyde McCoys, but clearly shares many very similar tone attributes.
Something in the Wahter
When I play a wah, I love using long, slow filter sweeps—like, “Maggot Brain”-at-half-speed slow. The McCoy’s nuanced taper means lots of copious tone colors to paint with if you take that approach. If you’re accustomed to the narrower vocal range of inexpensive wahs, the Real McCoy can inspire a relaxed approach to the effect—the kind that compels a player to lean on a single note and enables sweet, vocal-style support in more tender, soulful musical settings. As much pleasure as there is in these lazy-footed adaptations of the effect, the McCoy’s range and treadle action also makes it a standout for Wah Wah Watson and Skip Pitts “wocka-wocka” rhythm jabs. The Real McCoy is quiet, too, adding little hiss or noise to your signal.
At extremes of the potentiometer’s travel, the McCoy shines. The toppiest of the top end is blue-flame hot—a killer place to punctuate a solo or linger for a whole one, for that matter. The bassier reaches of the sweep are throaty, thick and powerful rather than muffled. I love the sounds the Real McCoy makes here, particularly with a nasty fuzz on the receiving end, which can sound really snarly and focused rather than grating.
The Verdict
The Real McCoy sounds, in most respects, very vintage in its tone profile. There’s lots of range, sharp trebly peaks, and fat, bassy resonance. It feels great underfoot, too. It’s responsive—facilitating fast, fluttering “Dazed and Confused” filter sweeps and long, slow throws of the treadle. About the price: $279 is on the high end for new wah wah. That’s only 20 bucks less than Vox’s V846-HW handwired wah and anywhere from 100 to 180 bucks more than wahs at the affordable end of the price spectrum, where the occasional wah-ist tends to look. If lyrical, super-present wah textures are a cornerstone of your sound, the Real McCoy merits a listen to see if the differences here justify the cost. Even wah newbies, however, may well find the Real McCoy’s characterful voice infectious and irresistible.
Introducing the ENGL Steve Morse Signature 20, a compact and versatile all-tube head with two channels, power soak options, built-in noise gate, delay, reverb, and more. Made in Germany, this amp delivers Steve Morse's precision and clarity in a powerful package.
Steve Morse, the legendary guitarist known for his work with bands like Deep Purple and the Dixie Dregs, has recently announced a new collaboration with ENGL Amps.
The result of this partnership is a small signature head that promises to deliver the perfect tone for any guitarist looking to achieve the same level of precision and clarity that Morse is known for. The new ENGL head, aptly named the Steve Morse Signature 20, is a compact and versatile amplifier that packs a punch in terms of both features and sound. With two channels, guitarists will have the ability to dial in a wide range of tones to suit their playing style.
What makes this signature head stand out is its unique preamp and power amp design. The clean channel offers a warm and articulate sound, while the lead channel delivers a classic rock tone with just the right amount of grit. With its powerful and responsive gain stage, this head produces a rich and dynamic sound that can go from smooth and creamy to aggressive and punchy with just the twist of a knob.
But that's not all the E658 also features a built-in noise gate, making it perfect for high-gain playing without any unwanted noise. And for those who want even more tonal options, the head also has a built-in delay and reverb as well some handy features like an IR loader, midi, headphone out. Whether you're a fan of Steve Morse's playing or just looking for a versatile and powerful amp, the ENGL Steve Morse Signature 20 is definitely worth checking out. With its compact size and impressive features, this head is sure to become a go-to for guitarists of all styles and genres.
- Two Channels: Clean, Lead
- All Tube Head
- Power Soak (Full Power / 20 Watts, 5 Watts, 1 Watt, Speaker Off)
- Preamp tubes: 4 x ECC83 (12AX7)
- Poweramp tubes: 2 x EL84
- Tube buffered FX Loop
- Noise Gate Master Volume Boost (M.V.B.)
- Reverb
- Delay
- Midi: MIDI In (with ENGL Phantom power switch)
- Impulse Response Loader
- USB: for IR loading
- Headphone Output with Level control
- XLR Ground Lift Switch
- Store (for MIDI programming)
- Controls: Gain (separately for each channel), Bass, Middle, Treble, Lead Volume, Clean Presence, Master
- Controls (Rear): Powersoak, Noise Gate threshold level, Delay, Reverb
- Outputs: 1 x 8-16 ohms or 2 x 16 ohms
- Made in Germany
The Steve Morse Signature 20 is available now from authorized Engl Amplifiers dealers worldwide.
For more information, visit engl-amps.com.