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Rig Rundown: The Dear Hunter

Explore the three keys that propel the band’s prog-rock orbit: custom axes, pedal-platform tube amps, and stompboxes strengthened with modeling tech from Line 6.

Already embracing 3D CAD for guitar design, it makes complete sense that Casey Crescenzo has converted to the digital effects realm. (At least onstage.) He sings complex lyrics over sophisticated music, and while still loving traditional pedals, he needed to reduce the nightly tap dancing and troubleshooting headaches an old-school pedalboard can give touring musicians. (He admits in the video he’s been stashing up synths, delays, reverbs, and fuzzes for the next record.) He’s embraced the modeling technology by mainly using a Line 6 Helix with a few choice stomps—a Strymon TimeLine, EarthQuaker Devices Dunes, and a Quiet Theory Prelude.

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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.

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The author in the spray booth.

Does the type of finish on an electric guitar—whether nitro, poly, or oil and wax—really affect its tone?

There’s an allure to the sound and feel of a great electric guitar. Many of us believe those instruments have something special that speaks not just to the ear but to the soul, where every note, every nuance feels personal. As much as we obsess over the pickups, wood, and hardware, there’s a subtler, more controversial character at play: the role of the finish. It’s the shimmering outer skin of the guitar, which some think exists solely for protection and aesthetics, and others insist has a role influencing the voice of the instrument. Builders pontificate about how their choice of finishing material may enhance tone by allowing the guitar to “breathe,” or resonate unfettered. They throw around terms like plasticizers, solids percentages, and “thin skin” to lend support to their claims. Are these people tripping? Say what you will, but I believe there is another truth behind the smoke.

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

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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.

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