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Pedals

Motherload pays homage to the classic fuzz/distortion pedals that set the benchmark of saturated guitar sound.

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When Louis Cato received this Univox LP-style as a gift in high school, it needed some major TLC. A few years later, it got some practical upgrades and now makes regular appearances with Cato on The Late Show.

Photo by Scott Kowalchyk

The self-described “utility knife” played drums with John Scofield and Marcus Miller and spent time in the studio with Q-Tip before landing on Stephen Colbert’s show as a multi-instrumentalist member of the house band. Now, he’s taken over as the show’s guitar-wielding bandleader and is making his mark.

It’s a classic old-school-show-biz move: Bring out the band, introduce them one by one, and build up the song to its explosive beginning. It’s fun, dramatic, audiences love it, and that’s how every The Late Show with Stephen Colbert taping starts.

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A multi-effects powerhouse that serves session aces and free spirits.

Seemingly endless sounds on tap. Relatively streamlined functionality. Fun in spite of its complexity. Many authentic analog-style tones. Dual algorithm capacity.

Maximizing pedal potential takes homework. Some digital artifacts in some voices. Spendy.

$899

Eventide H90
eventide.com

4.5
5
3.5
4.5

Eventide’s Harmonizer family of products are a curiously named bunch. Most do, in fact, harmonize and produce related pitch effects. But Eventide’s new H90 Harmonizer, like its predecessor the H9, also does about a million other things very, very well. It’s a powerful multi-effect that, in its new incarnation, offers thousands of vintage and future sounds and generates rich textures and tone colors that can transform the germ of an idea into a foundation for composition, or something grander, quickly and with relative ease.

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A fly rig that gets freaking huge.

Convincing Marshall tones in a very tiny package. Rich high gain, and detailed low-gain sounds. Cool fuzz.

Channels lack independent EQ.

$279

Tech 21 Character Plus Fuzzy Brit
tech21nyc.com

4
4.5
4.5
4.5

As adjectives go, “cute” and “raging” are usually an odd fit. But apart from, perhaps, a rabid pug with vampire fangs, few things are as deserving of both descriptors as Tech 21’s Fuzzy Brit. This light, solidly built, and miniscule menace machine is an all-analog, 2-channel approximation of Marshall amps from the Bluesbreaker to ’60s plexi and ’70s JMP models—all paired with a cool take on a Fuzz Face. And it’s a satisfying substitute when you can’t lug a massive Marshall head and 4x12 along to the show.

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A clever triple-delay offers infinite avenues to echo bliss.

Mysterious, hazy, and uncommon echo colors. A cool break from the same-old-delay blues. Streamlined design.

Clock noise could turn off some users. Limited numbers available—so far.

$225

Death By Audio Exploding Head
deathbyaudio.com

4.5
4.5
4
4.5

If you don’t follow the many-splendored musical world of noisy psychedelia, you might be surprised to know that Oliver Ackermann, co-founder of the sometimes psychotic but often thrilling stompbox concern Death By Audio, also helms the equally psychotic and thrilling band A Place to Bury Strangers. If you’ve seen APTBS live, you’ll understand much about what makes Death By Audio pedals unconventional. APTBS is generally a sensory overload experience. They are loud, sonically confrontational, and capable of oscillating between chaos and dark beauty. Last year marked the 13th anniversary of the band’s breakthrough LP, Exploding Head, and,in typically perverse fashion, Ackermann elected to celebrate that most unlucky of anniversaries with a triple delay named in the LP’s honor.

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