Way Huge''s long awaited reissues don''t disappoint. We check out the Swollen Pickle, Pork Loin and Fat Sandwich.
Originally conceived as a small start-up operation in 1992, Way Huge was helmed by relatively unknown upstart inventor Jeorge Tripps with the intent of constructing high quality effect pedals for gigging musicians. Way Huge products helped start the golden age of gear we’re now in, but when the company closed down in 1999 the boutique pedal boom had hardly even begun. Current boutique mainstays were crafting their designs and slowly gaining ground with players at the time, and some believe that Way Huge simply missed the boat because of unpredictable timing and the unforeseeable explosion of demand that was only a couple of years away. Timing aside, the design and construction of Way Huge pedals was nothing short of perfection. They were classic effect foundations combined with modern revamps that were truly ahead of their time.
Tripps chose very high quality components with very closely matched tolerances, which provided smooth analog warmth and feel, and a much more consistent tone from pedal to pedal. On top of that, the pedals left a modest footprint on the pedalboard. Because of the very high quality parts and production, their limited availability and unique personality drove prices through the roof, with some selling for over a $1000 dollars. Way Huge (along with numerous other small companies) informed a generation of guitar players that there were many more choices available to them than they could find at major chains.
Because of the high demand, Jim Dunlop commissioned Tripps to bring back the Way Huge line, to give the average player a chance to enjoy some of these renowned pedals. Along with the reissue of the Swollen Pickle Jumbo Fuzz comes the introduction of two new products: the Fat Sandwich Harmonic Saturator and the Pork Loin Soft Clip Injection.
Download Example 1 | |
Recorded using 1978 Gibson Les Paul Custom and 1982 Marshall JCM800. |
A new addition to the Way Huge effect pedal line, the Pork Loin is aimed at the more established styles of blues, country and classic rock ‘n’ roll. It is certainly the subtlest offering in the new lineup, aiming to thicken and refine the inherent tone of the instrument without excessive EQ-ing and distortion. The unit accomplishes this by taking the original signal and running it through a preamp, then layering it on top of a variable soft overdrive. This gives a three-dimensional feeling: a very cultured clean tone over a foundation of warm distortion, mimicking the technique of playing through a clean amp and an overdriven one at the same time—a method that has become a staple of the blues and rock tones achieved by such players as Stevie Ray Vaughan. Grabbing a 2007 Fender Nashville Telecaster and a 1978 Gibson Les Paul Custom, I put the pedal through its paces with a 1982 Marshall JCM800 50W head.
The Pork Loin’s controls are very simple and well laid out: Volume, Overdrive and Tone, and two smaller controls labeled Curve (which allows the player to tailor the corner frequencies to round out the tone) and Clean (volume control for the clean sound in the overall tone). Unlike most of the other overdrive pedals Way Huge has introduced, the Pork Loin doesn’t have a lot of gain on tap. This was a little disappointing at first, but after figuring out how to dial in the unit, it became apparent that it doesn’t really need a lot. The pedal really shines with single coil guitars, as the Telecaster/Pork Loin combination demonstrated. The clean on this particular JCM800 is very smooth, but a little flat. After engaging the Pork Loin, dialing up the overdrive control to about 70% and mixing in the clean to taste, the tone gained a lot of bite and muscle. It’s important to note that there are internal controls for Filter, Voice and Mix, which offer even more options: they can change the frequencies used and even allow the pedal to be used as a preamp if you dial out the overdrive completely.
Pushing the volume control higher, the amp really started to cook, mixing the Pork Loin’s signal with the natural Marshall bite. It was a very pleasing tone. The Pork Loin makes a great fit for players in the “set it and forget it” category. Rolling down the volume and picking lightly proved that the Pork Loin is also highly sensitive to picking style, as it has a very natural way of cleaning up. The Les Paul definitely hit the amp harder than the Tele did, but the results were spectacular (albeit different) with great, responsive overdrive tones. Boosting the amp while it was overdriven pushed it into Alice in Chains territory, making the combination a force to be reckoned with.
Buy if...
your tone is lacking in punch, definition, and refinement.
Skip if...
more gain is necessary.
Rating...
Street $170 - Way Huge - wayhuge.com |
Go to Page 2 for the Fat Sandwich Harmonic Saturator Review...
Download Example 1 | |
Recorded using a 2006 Gibson Flying V |
The overabundance of distortion and overdrive pedals available today has made it awfully tough for one to stand out from the pack. Large numbers of them are copies of legendary designs with a few tweaks here and there to address some of the issues players have had with those devices. Others are based on new concepts that try to creatively stretch the boundaries of what “good” guitar tone can be, and provide tonal options that can make the instrument sound completely different altogether. Sailing through this crowded arena is the Fat Sandwich Distortion. Bearing the Way Huge name may draw some intense scrutiny, but the Fat Sandwich holds up to just about anything you can throw at it.
The faceplate has the same basic layout as the other two pedals in the line: Volume, Tone, Distortion, and two mini controls that adjust specific frequencies. In addition, there are two internal controls to adjust the corner frequencies of the overdrive (similar to the controls inside the Pork Loin), and a Sustain control to add even more distortion to the sound. Plugging in a Gibson Flying V into an early eighties Marshall JCM 800 50W head, the Fat Sandwich was fired up with everything set at 12 o’clock, volume to taste.
One of the surprising qualities of the unit was the very focused tonality of the drive, not harsh in the least. The feel of the distortion is modern, but with more give in the lows and mids, yielding a very spongy tone. Certainly one of the best features of the original JCM 800 line was how great they sounded cranked. After dialing up a mild drive from the preamp and pushing the master up, engaging the pedal caused the amp to open up and surrender an incredible rhythm tone, with wonderful note separation and control. It simply rocked—that made it really difficult to take a break, even after two hours of playing.
The two controls on the face of the device, Presence and Resonance, control the response of the high and low-end frequencies. Pushing up the presence and maxing the gain gave up a killer eighties metal and hard rock tones, and with the volume knob rolled down it was very responsive to pick attack—really responsive. A higher setting of the Resonance control with the gain turned down was perfect for vintage rock tones in the vein of Kossoff and Red-era Robert Fripp. The sound and feel was tight but giving, and a blast to play. This is definitely the sleeper in the new Way Huge line, and could easily hold it its own against most boutique distortion pedals.
Buy if...
a versatile, dynamic distortion is just the ticket.
Skip if...
the idea of such extensive control scares you.
Rating...
Street $180 - Way Huge - wayhuge.com |
Go to Page 3 for the Swollen Pickle Jumbo Fuzz MKII Review...
Download Example 1 | |
Download Example 2 | |
This is it, the one we’ve been waiting for with bated breath. Out of the original Way Huge product line, the Swollen Pickle Jumbo Fuzz certainly garners the most attention. Obviously inspired by the Electro Harmonix Big Muff Pi, the Swollen Pickle has been a trade secret among gearhounds for years. While it’s definitely in the same vein as the EH fuzz, the voicing of this device and the reaction of the Tone knob set it apart. The reissue, dutifully designated by a “MKII” label, continues the tradition of the famed fuzz, while adding a few other features under the hood.
One thing that made the original Swollen Pickle so unique was the heft that that sound had. The best way to describe it would be that the sound pushes a lot of air, but is quite aggressive. Most Muff-esque pedals have a huge, thick sound, but are often plagued with a farty low end and a displeasing upper frequency range (icepick highs when the tone control is cranked). The Swollen Pickle MKII has all of the punch of the original, and a massive tonal range. With a stock setting (Tone: 12 o’clock, Sustain: 1 o’clock, Volume: 11 o’clock) the pedal immediately sounded fantastic, with great note separation, clarity, and a nice even frequency range. There is a very hi-fi quality to this pedal, but in a surprisingly musical way.
With an opportunity to improve upon the original idea, Way Huge has included four more controls in the circuit: Scoop, Crunch, two internal controls for adjusting the intensity of the Scoop control, and one to change the style of clipping. These additional options seemed a little overboard at first, but provided hours of fun.
The Scoop control allows the player to scoop or boost the midrange frequencies of the unit, which is highly useful on its own. Crunch controls how compressed the fuzz is, which resulted in highly squeezed square wave-esque sounds to all-out sonic annihilation. Using these in tandem with the Scoop intensity control yielded very smooth vintage tones to razor-sharp modern distortion, and the clipping type control provided a sucker punch intensity that just took it completely over the top. It was actually strange to turn off the pedal after an hour and play clean; the tone felt wimpy after being hit in the chest by this little beast for so long. The pedal can dish out fantastic, less extravagant traditional fuzz tones if need be, but it excels at aggressive, huge sounds.
Construction-wise, the Swollen Pickle is no slouch either. The enclosure is identical to the originals: thick, brushed aluminum. The jacks were solid and the pedal was very quiet with the Scoop intensity knob at lower settings (which was very nice). Even the battery compartment, which is usually an afterthought in so many pedal designs, is clever—it’s situated on the front edge of the device and requires no tools to get to. Why doesn’t every pedal out there have this as an option? The Way Huge Swollen Pickle MKII is an extraordinary fuzz pedal, and certainly lives up to its name.
Buy if...
huge fuzz tones are your thing, and you want to craft a unique voice with lots of punch and clarity.
Skip if...
you need more subdued, low-key fuzz.
Rating...
Street $160 - Way Huge - wayhuge.com |
Stompboxtober is finally here! Enter below for your chance to WIN today's featured pedal from Diamond Pedals! Come back each day during the month of October for more chances to win!
Diamond Pedals Dark Cloud
True to the Diamond design ethos of our dBBD’s hybrid analog architecture, Dark Cloud unlocks a new frontier in delay technology which was once deemed unobtainable by standard BBD circuit.
Powered by an embedded system, the Dark Cloud seamlessly blends input and output signals, crafting Tape, Harmonic, and Reverse delays with the organic warmth of analog companding and the meticulous precision of digital control.
Where analog warmth meets digital precision, the Dark Cloud redefines delay effects to create a pedal like no other
Wonderful array of weird and thrilling sounds can be instantly conjured. All three core settings are colorful, and simply twisting the time, span, and filter dials yields pleasing, controllable chaos. Low learning curve.
Not for the faint-hearted or unimaginative. Mode II is not as characterful as DBA and EQD settings.
$199
EarthQuaker Devices/Death By Audio Time Shadows
earthquakerdevices.com
This joyful noisemaker can quickly make you the ringmaster of your own psychedelic circus, via creative delays, raucous filtering, and easy-to-use, highly responsive controls.
I love guitar chaos, from the expressionist sound-painting of Jimi Hendrix’s “Machine Gun” to the clean, clever skronk ’n’ melody of Derek Bailey to the slide guitar fantasias of Sonny Sharrock to the dark, molten eruptions of Sunn O))). When I was just getting a grip on guitar, my friends and I would spend eight-hour days exploring feedback and twisted riffage, to see what we might learn about pushing guitar tones past the conventional.
So, pedals that are Pandora’s boxes of weirdness appeal to me. My two current favorites are my Mantic Flex Pro, a series of filter controls linked to a low-frequency oscillator, and my Pigtronix Mothership 2, a stompbox analog synth. But the Time Shadows II Subharmonic Multi-Delay Resonator is threatening their favored status—or at least demanding a third chair. This collaboration between Death By Audio and EarthQuaker Devices is a wonderful, gnarly little box of noise and fun that—unlike the two pedals I just mentioned—is easy to dial in and adjust on the fly, creating appealing and odd sounds at every turn.
Behind the Wall of Sound
Unlike the Mantic Flex Pro, the Time Shadows is consistent. You can plug the Mantic into the same rig, and that rig into the same outlet, every day, and there are going to be slight—or big—differences in the sound. Those differences are even less predictable on different stages and in different rooms. The Time Shadows, besides its operating consistency, has six user-programmable presets. They write with a single touch of the button in the center of the device’s tough, aluminum 4 3/4" x 2 1/2" x 2 1/4" shell. Inside that shell live ghosts, wind, and unicorns that blow raspberries on cue and more or less on key. EQD and DBA explain these “presences” differently, relating that the Time Shadow’s circuitry combines three delay voices (EQD, II, and DBA) with filters, fuzz, phasing, shimmer, swell, and subharmonics. There’s also an input for an expression pedal, which is great for making the Time Shadows’ more radical sounds voice-like and lending dynamic control. But sustaining a tone sweeping the time, span, and filter dials manually is rewarding on its own, producing a Strickfaden lab’s worth of swirling, sweeping, and dipping sounds.
Guitar Tone from Roswell
Because of the wide variety of sounds, swirls, and shimmers the Time Shadows produces, I found it best to play through a pair of combos in stereo, so the full range of, say, high notes cascading downwards and dropping pitch as they repeat, could be appreciated in their full dimensionality. (That happens in DBA mode, with the time and span at 10 and 4 o’clock respectively, with the filter also at 4, and it’s magical.) The pedal also stands up well to fuzz and overdrives whether paired with humbucker, P-90, or single-coil guitars.
I loved all three modes, but the more radical EQD and DBA positions are especially excellent. The EQD side piles dirt on the incoming signal, adds sub-octave shimmer, and is delayed just before hitting the filters. Keeping the filter function low lends alligator growls to sustained barre chords, and single notes transform into orchestral strings or brass turf, with a soft attack. Pushing the span dial high creates kaleidoscopes of sound. The Death By Audio mode really hones in on the pedal’s delay characteristics, creating crisp repeats and clean sounds with a little less midrange in the filtering, but lending the ability to cut through a mix at volume. The II mode is comparatively clean, and the filter control becomes a mix dial for the delayed signal.
The Verdict
The closest delay I’ve found comparable to the Time Shadows is Red Panda’s function-rich Particle 2 granular delay and pitch-shifter, which also uses filtering, among other tricks. But that pedal has a very deep menu of functions, with a larger learning curve. If you like to expect the unexpected, and you want it now, the Time Shadows supports crafting a wide variety of cool, surprising sounds fast. And that’s fun. The challenge will be working the Time Shadows’ cascading aural whirlpools and dinosaur choirs into song arrangements, but I heard how the pedal could be used to create unique, wonderful pads or bellicose solos after just a few minutes of playing. If you’d like to easily sidestep the ordinary, you might find spelunking the Time Shadows’ cavernous possibilities worthwhile.
This little pedal offers three voices—analog, tape, and digital—and faithfully replicates the highlights of all three, with minimal drawbacks.
Faithful replications of analog and tape delays. Straightforward design.
Digital voice can feel sterile.
$119
Fishman EchoBack Mini Delay
fishman.com
As someone who was primarily an acoustic guitarist for the first 16 out of 17 years that I’ve been playing, I’m relatively new to the pedal game. That’s not saying I’m new to effects—I’ve employed a squadron of them generously on acoustic tracks in post-production, but rarely in performance. But I’m discovering that a pedalboard, particularly for my acoustic, offers the amenities and comforts of the hobbit hole I dream of architecting for myself one day in the distant future.
But by gosh, if delay—and its sister effect, reverb—haven’t always been perfect for the music I like to write and play. Which brings us to the Fishman EchoBack Mini Delay. The EchoBack, along with the standard delay controls of level, time, and repeats—as well as a tap tempo—has a toggle to alternate between analog, tape, and digital-delay voices.
I hooked up my Washburn Bella Tono Elegante to my Blues Junior to give the EchoBack a test run. We love a medium delay—my usual preference for delay settings is to have both level and repeats at 1 o’clock, and time at 11 o’clock. With the analog voice switched on, I heard some pillowy warmth in the processed signal, as well as a familiar degradation with each repeat—until their wake gave way to a gentle, distant, crinkly ticking. Staying on analog and adjusting delay time down to 8 o’clock and repeats to about 11:30, some cozy slapback enveloped my rendition of Johnny Marr’s part to “Back to the Old House,” conjuring up thoughts of Elvis trapped in a small chamber, but in a good way. It sounded indubitably authentic. The one drawback of analog delay for me, generally, is that its roundness can feel a bit under water at times.
Switching over to tape, that pillowy warmth evaporated, and in its place came a very clear replication of my tone—but with just a bit of the highs shaved off the top. With the settings at the medium-length mode listed above, I could see the empty, glass hall the pedal sent my sound bouncing down. I heard several pronounced pings of repeats before the signal fully faded out. On slapback settings (time at 8 o’clock, repeats at 11:30), rather than Elvis, I heard something more along the lines of a honky-tonk mic in a glass bottle. Still relatively crystalline, which actually was not my favorite. I like a bit more crinkle—so maybe analog is my bag....“That pillowy warmth evaporated, and in its place came a very clear, pristine replication of my tone—but with just a bit of the highs shaved off the top.”
Next up, digital. Here we have the brightest voice, and as expected, the most faithful repeats. They ping just a few times before shifting to a smooth, single undulating wave. When putting its slapback hat on, I found that the effect was a bit less alluring than I’d observed for the analog and tape voices. This is where the digital delay felt a little too sterile, with the cleanly preserved signal feeling a bit unnatural.
All in all, I dig the EchoBack for its replications of analog and tape voices, and ultimately, lean towards tape. While it’s nice having the digital delay there as an option, it feels a bit too clean when meddling with time of any given length. Nonetheless, this is surely a handy stomp for any acoustic player looking to venture into the land of live effects, or for those who are already there.
A silicon Fuzz Face-inspired scorcher.
Hot silicon Fuzz Face tones with dimension and character. Sturdy build. Better clean tones than many silicon Fuzz Face clones.
Like all silicon Fuzz Faces, lacks dynamic potential relative to germanium versions.
$229
JAM Fuzz Phrase Si
jampedals.com
Everyone has records and artists they indelibly associate with a specific stompbox. But if the subject is the silicon Fuzz Face, my first thought is always of David Gilmour and the Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii film. What you hear in Live at Pompeii is probably shaped by a little studio sweetening. Even still, the fuzz you hear in “Echoes” and “Careful With That Axe, Eugene”—well, that is how a fuzz blaring through a wall of WEM cabinets in an ancient amphitheater should sound, like the sky shredded by the wail of banshees. I don’t go for sounds of such epic scale much lately, but the sound of Gilmour shaking those Roman columns remains my gold standard for hugeness.
JAM’s Fuzz Phrase Fuzz Face homage is well-known to collectors in its now very expensive and discontinued germanium version, but this silicon variation is a ripper. If you love Gilmour’s sustaining, wailing buzzsaw tone in Pompeii, you’ll dig this big time. But its ’66 acid-punk tones are killer, too, especially if you get resourceful with guitar volume and tone. And while it can’t match its germanium-transistor-equipped equivalent for dynamic response to guitar volume and tone settings or picking intensity, it does not have to operate full-tilt to sound cool. There are plenty of overdriven and near-clean tones you can get without ever touching the pedal itself.
Great Grape! It’s Purple JAM, Man!
Like any Fuzz Face-style stomp worth its fizz, the Fuzz Phrase Si is silly simple. The gain knob generally sounds best at maximum, though mellower settings make clean sounds easier to source. The output volume control ranges to speaker-busting zones. But there’s also a cool internal bias trimmer that can summon thicker or thin and raspy variations on the basic voice, which opens up the possibility of exploring more perverse fuzz textures. The Fuzz Phrase Si’s pedal-to-the-metal tones—with guitar volume and pedal gain wide open—bridge the gap between mid-’60s buzz and more contemporary-sounding silicon fuzzes like the Big Muff. And guitar volume attenuation summons many different personalities from the Fuzz Phrase Si—from vintage garage-psych tones with more note articulation and less sustain (great for sharp, punctuated riffs) as well as thick overdrive sounds.
If you’re curious about Fuzz Face-style circuits because of the dynamic response in germanium versions, the Fuzz Phrase Si performs better in this respect than many other silicon variations, though it won’t match the responsiveness of a good germanium incarnation. For starters, the travel you have to cover with a guitar volume knob to get tones approaching “clean” (a very relative term here) is significantly greater than that required by a good germanium Fuzz Face clone, which will clean up with very slight guitar volume adjustments. This makes precise gain management with guitar controls harder. And in situations where you have to move fast, you may be inclined to just switch the pedal off rather than attempt a dirty-to-clean shift with the guitar volume.
“The best clean-ish tones come via humbuckers and a high-headroom amp with not too much midrange, which makes a PAF-and-black-panel-Fender combination a great fit.”
The best clean-ish tones come via humbuckers and a high-headroom amp with not too much midrange, which makes a PAF-and-black-panel-Fender combination a great fit if you’re out to extract maximum dirty-to-clean range. You don’t need to attenuate your guitar volume as much with the PAF/black-panel tandem, and you can get pretty close to bypassed tone if you reduce picking intensity and/or switch from flatpick to fingers and nails. Single-coil pickups make such maneuvers more difficult. They tend to get thin in a less-than-ideal way before they shake the dirt, and they’re less responsive to the touch dynamics that yield so much range with PAFs. If you’re less interested in thick, clean tones, though, single-coils are a killer match for the Fuzz Phrase Si, yielding Yardbirds-y rasp, quirky lo-fi fuzz, and dirty overdrive that illuminates chord detail without sacrificing attitude. Pompeii tones are readily attainable via a Stratocaster and a high-headroom Fender amp, too, when you maximize guitar volume and pedal gain. And with British-style amps those same sounds turn feral and screaming, evoking Jimi’s nastiest.
The Verdict
Like every JAM pedal I’ve ever touched, the JAM Fuzz Phrase Si is built with care that makes the $229 price palatable. Cheaper silicon Fuzz Face clones may be easy to come by, but I’m hard-pressed to think they’ll last as long or as well as the Greece-made Fuzz Phrase Si. Like any silicon Fuzz Face-inspired design, what you gain in heat, you trade in dynamics. But the Si makes the best of this trade, opening a path to near-clean tones and many in-between gain textures, particularly if you put PAFs and a scooped black-panel Fender amp in the mix. And if streamlining is on your agenda, this fuzz’s combination of simplicity, swagger, and style means paring down pedals and controls doesn’t mean less fun.