A high-gain stomp that features five different clipping modes and a blend knob.
Eras is a no apologies, high-gain distortion that's ready to chug, shred, and palm mute with tight response and multiple distortion textures. Use the Blend knob at max for a full distortion onslaught or roll back the Blend knob to creatively stack and mix other dirt pedals placed in front of Eras. Great for bassists that want to blend in their dry signal as well. Anywhere you set it, the Eras is ready to deliver a diverse world of speaker ripping sounds.
Walrus Audio Eras Five-State Distortion Technical Demo
The Eras features a five-position rotary knob that offers the following gain states:
I. Tight mode with a slight mid-cut, LED hard clipping, and internal volume control. Fastest response, great for palm muting.
II. Tight mode with a slight mid-cut and silicon hard clipping. Smooth with added compression.
III. Dual clipping mode with a slight mid-cut and both silicon and LED hard clipping. Rich & full with added sustain.
IV. Rhythm mode with a deeper mid-cut, LED hard clipping, and internal volume control. Scooped mids, tight response. V. Rhythm mode with a deeper mid-cut and silicon hard clipping. Rhythmic, warm and full.
Think of each position as a different "flavor" of the pedal. Blend in dry signal or other pedals in combination with the gain states for a near-infinite amount of distortion sounds.
The Eras comes in a translucent red enclosure with yellow, cream, and black ink. Artwork by Adam Forster features an apocalyptical four-horned, winged bull ready to stampede into any mosh pit. The enclosure's exact size is 4.77 x 2.9 x 2.3 inches. Power requirements are 9VDC, center negative (100mA minimum).
Walrus Audio is offering the Eras for a retail price of $199 and is available now at walrusaudio.com and with our authorized dealers all over the galaxy and Virgo Supercluster.
- Walrus Audio Ages: The Premier Guitar Review - Premier Guitar ›
- Walrus Audio Descent Reverb Review - Premier Guitar ›
- Walrus Audio Polychrome Review - Premier Guitar ›
- Walrus Audio Ages Review - Premier Guitar ›
- Walrus Audio Announces Eons Five-State Fuzz - Premier Guitar ›
Stompboxtober continues! Enter below for your chance to WIN today's featured pedal from LR Baggs: The Align Series Reverb! Come back each day during the month of October for more chances to win!
LR Baggs Align Reverb Acoustic Reverb Pedal
The Align Series Reverb was built from the ground up to complement the natural body dynamics and warmth of acoustic instruments that we love so much. The circuit seamlessly integrates the wet and dry signals with the effect in side chain so that it never overwhelms the original signal. We shaped the reverb with analog EQ to reflect the natural voice inherent in acoustic instruments. Additionally, the tone control adds versatility by sweeping from warm and muted to open and present. The result is an organic reverb that maintains the audiophile purity of the original signal with the controls set in any position.
This four-in-one effects box is a one-stop shop for Frusciante fans, but it’s also loaded with classic-rock swagger.
Great, lively preamp sounds. Combines two modulation flavors with big personalities. One-stop shop for classic-rock tones. Good value.
Big. Preamp can’t be disengaged. At some settings, flanger effect leaves a little to be desired.
$440
JFX Deluxe Modulation Ensemble
jfxpedals.com
When I think of guitarists with iconic, difficult-to-replicate guitar tones, I don’t think of John Frusciante. I always figured it was easy to get close enough to his clean tones with a Strat and any garden-variety tube amp, and in some ways, it is. (To me, anyway.) But to really nail his tone is a trickier thing.
That’s a task that Jordan Fresque—the namesake builder behind Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario’s JFX Pedals—has committed significant time and energy into tackling. His Empyrean is a five-in-one box dedicated to Frusciante’s drive and dirt tones, encompassing fuzz, boost, and preamp effects. And his four-in-one, all-analog Deluxe Modulation Ensemble reviewed here is another instant Frusciante machine.
The Frusciante Formula
Half of the pedal is based off of the Boss CE-1, the first chorus pedal created. The CE-1 is renowned as much for its modulation as for its preamp circuit, which Boss recently treated to its own pedal in the BP-1W. The other half—and the pedal’s obvious aesthetic inspiration—is the Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Electric Mistress, an analog flanger introduced in the late ’70s. Frusciante fans have clamored over the guitarist’s use of the CE-1 for decades. The Chili Peppers 6-stringer reportedly began using one in the early ’90s for his chorus and vibrato tones, and the preamp naturally warmed his Strat’s profile. Various forum heads claim John dug into the Electric Mistress on tracks like “This Is the Place” off of 2002’s By the Way. The Deluxe Modulation Ensemble aims to give you the keys to these sounds in one stomp.
JFX describes the DME as “compact,” which is a bit of a stretch. Compared to the sizes of the original pedals its based on? Sure, it’s smaller. But it’s wider and deeper than two standard-sized pedals on a board, even accounting for cabling. But quibbles around space aside, the DME is a nice-looking box that’s instantly recognizable as an Electric Mistress homage. (Though I wish it kept that pedal’s brushed-aluminum finish). The knobs for the Mistress-style as well as the authentic Boss and EHX graphics are great touches.
The flanger side features a footswitch, knobs for range, rate, and color, and a toggle to flip between normal function and EHX’s filter matrix mode, which freezes the flange effect in one spot along its sweep. The CE-1-inspired side sports two footswitches—one to engage the effect, and one to flip between chorus and vibrato—plus an intensity knob for the chorus, depth and rate knobs for the vibrato, and gain knob for the always-on preamp section. The DME can be set to high- or low-input mode by a small toggle switch, and high boosts the gain and volume significantly. A suite of three LED lights tell you what’s on and what’s not, and Fresque even added the CE-1’s red peak level LED to let you know when you’re getting into drive territory.
The effects are wired in series, but they’re independent circuits, and Fresque built an effects loop between them. The DME can run in stereo, too, if you really want to blast off.
I Like Dirt
The DME’s preamp is faithful to the original in that it requires a buffered unit before it in the chain to maintain its treble and clarity. With that need satisfied, the DME’s preamp boots into action without any engaging—it’s a literal always-on effect. To be honest, after I set it to low input and cranked it, I forgot all about Frusciante and went to town on classic-rock riffs. It souped up my Vox AC10 with groove and breadth, smoothing out tinny overtones and thickening lead lines, though higher-gain settings lost some low-end character and overall mojo.
The chorus nails the wonky Frusciante wobble on “Aquatic Moth Dance” and the watery outro on “Under the Bridge,” and the vibrato mode took me right through his chording on 2022’s “Black Summer.” On the flanger side, I had the most fun in the filter matrix mode, tweaking the color knob for slightly different metallic, clanging tones, each with lots of character.
The Verdict
If you’re a Frusciante freak, the Deluxe Modulation Ensemble will get you within spitting distance of many of his most revered tonal combinations. If you’re not, it’s still a wickedly versatile modulation multitool with a sweet preamp that’ll give your rig instant charisma. It ain’t cheap, and it ain’t small, but JFX has squeezed an impressive amount of value into this stomp
A classic-voiced, 3-knob fuzz with power and tweakability that surpass its seemingly simple construction.
A classic-voiced, well-built fuzz whose sounds, power, and tweakability distinguish it from many other 3-knob dirt boxes.
None, although it’s a tad pricey.
$249
SoloDallas Orbiter
solodallas.com
You’ve probably seen me complain about the overpopulation of 3-knob fuzz/OD pedals in these pages—and then promptly write a rave review of some new triple-knobber. Well, I’m doing it again. SoloDallas’ Orbiter, inspired by the classic circuit of the 1966 Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face, stings and sings like a germanium Muhammad Ali. Mine’s already moved to my pedalboard full-time, because it delivers over-the-top fuzz, and allows my core tones to emerge.
But it also generates smooth, light distortion that sustains beautifully when you use an easy touch, punches through a live mix with its impressive gain, and generates dirt voices from smooth to sputtering, via the bias dial. All of which means you can take gnarly fuzz forays without creating the aural mudslides less-well-engineered Fuzz Face spinoffs can produce.
“Fuzzy forays are gnarly as desired without sacrificing tonal character or creating the aural mudslides less wisely engineered Fuzz Face spinoffs can produce.”
The basics: The 4 3/4" x 2 1/2" x 1 1/2" blue-sparkle, steel enclosure is coolly retro, abetted by the image of a UFO abduction on the front—an allusion to the flying saucer shape of the original device. Inside, a mini-pot dials in ideal impedance response for your pickups. I played through single-coils, humbuckers, Firebird humbuckers, and gold-foils and found the factory setting excellent for all of them. There’s also a bias knob that increases voltage to the two germanium transistors when turned clockwise, yielding more clarity and smooth sustain as you go. Counterclockwise, the equally outstanding sputtering sounds come into play. For a 3-knob fuzz box it’s a tad costly, but for some players it might be the last stop in the search for holy grail Fuzz Face-style sounds.
MayFly’s Le Habanero Boost and Fuzz pedal, designed with input from Trevor May and Lucas Haneman, offers a wide range of tonal options from clean to scream. Responsive to player touch and guitar volume, stack the Boost and Fuzz for endless sustain and harmonics. Perfect for exploring your inner David Gilmour.
MayFly’s Trevor May and LH Express’ Lucas Haneman have been cooking upsomething real good. Le Habanero is a dual boost and fuzz pedal specifically designed to be very responsive tothe player’s picking hand and the guitar’s volume control. With Lucas’ input, the pedal was specifically tweakedto give a ton of tonal options, from clean to scream, by just using your fingers. It heats up your tone with a tastyboost, scorching lead tones with the fuzz, tantalizing tastes of extreme heat when boost and fuzz are combined.
The boost side is designed to ride the edge between clean and grit. Keep the drive below 12 o’clock for cleanboost but with active treble and bass controls, or push the gain for clear/clean sustain with great note definition.
The fuzz side is tuned to match the tonality of the boost side and offers a load of sustain and harmonics. The fuzz features a unique two-pole filter circuit and deep switch to help match it with single coils or humbuckers.
Stacking the Boost and Fuzz gives you even more. Want to explore your inner David Gilmour? Switch both onand turn up the volume! Want to switch to Little Wing? Turn the volume back down.
- Combination Boost and Fuzz pedal, designed to work well together.
- Very responsive to guitar volume and player’s touch.
- Use Boost and Fuzz independently, or stack them.
- Boost features Treble, Bass, Volume, and Drive controls.
- Fuzz features a two pole Tone filter, Deep switch, Fuzz and Volume controls.
- Stack them to create endless sustain and plenty of harmonics.
- Wide form factor for better footswitch control live.
- Full bypass using relays, with Mayfly’s Failsafe circuitry.
- Suggested Pairing: add a dash of Le Habanaro to spice up a MayFly Sunrise guitar amp simulator!
MAP price: $185
For more information, please visit mayflyaudio.com.