Week #4 is here! You could WIN pedals from one of SIX great brands... including a whole new pedal lineup from Pigtronix!
Pigtronix Pedal Board Giveaway - Gloamer
Gloamer is an all-analog, polyphonic amplitude synthesizer that alters the attack and decay time of any sound source without sacrificing the fidelity of the original tone. Its attack function provides a pick-triggered volume swell: a cinematic “slow gear” effect that is smooth and controllable with variable timing from extremely fast to very slow. The volume swell cycle can be reset at any moment by muting, allowing players to craft bowed string-like lines and chords with ease. Gloamer also features a powerful optical compressor that can add subtle punch or extreme sustain, helping to maintain a smooth volume swell effect even with very long attack times. A Volume knob controls loudness at the peak of the attack cycle, while a master Blend control allows players to layer an uncompressed clean sound in with the volume swell effect. Additionally, when activated, the Decay function causes notes to fade out once the attack cycle is complete. When the decay cycle is completed, an auto-reset function causes the attack to begin again immediately, as long as there is audio input. This allows you to create a wide range of undulating, asymmetrical tremolos at slower settings as well as pulsating stutter effects when using faster attack and decay times.
Blackstar Dept. 10 Dual Drive 2-channel Tube Overdrive Pedal
The Dept. 10 pedals combine modern versatility with real tube-driven tones, using an ECC83 triode preamp tube running at 250V at the heart of each pedal. The Dual Drive and Dual Distortion are powerful tube effects, preamps, and audio interfaces, and the Dept 10 Boost is a flexible tube boost, eq, and overdrive.
WaterFall
A JAM pedals favorite for a lot of guitar, bass and keyboard players, the WaterFall is serving as a mainstay on boards of such greats as John Scofield, Nels Cline, Steve Lukather, Anthony Jackson and John Mesdeski for many years now, and has established itself as one of the best analog chorus/vibrato pedals in the market.
It features BBD chips faithful reproductions of the Panasonic MN3207, 2 toggle-switches, the first to select between chorus and vibrato modes, and the other to switch to a “wetter” effect resulting in a deeper, more contemporary sounding chorus, or a more intense, deranged vibrato sound! Max out the Depth and Speed controls to get Leslie-speaker type effects!
Pedaltrain Classic 2 w/ Tour Case + BTPA I/O Panel mounted + Power Cable + High Def Guitar Cable
Pedaltrain Classic 2 Pedalboard w/ Tour Case installed with BTPA interface panel for input, output, send, return, and power. Power cable included + BTPA High Definition Straight to right angle instrument cable.
Honey Bee OD 4K Mini Standard
One Control Honeybee Overdrive 4K Mini and Mini Custom Versions.
For the 20th anniversary of the original BJFe Honeybee Overdrive, Björn Juhl has now brought the sound of his classic low-gain overdrive to the One Control Mini pedal platform, featuring both the classic Honeybee warm syrupy texture with Modern/Vintage Switch and a special new Custom version, with enhanced gain and a hot crimson finish. Gold finish is classic, Crimson finish is the high gain variant.
One of the most popular customer requests from the original Honeybee OD was for enhanced treble response. While many guitarists love the original “Nature” knob, Björn has equipped the new HBOD4k Mini with both Bass and Treble controls. This new design will enable players to dial the pedal in more easily with a wider range of amplifiers.
After the original run of 200 BJFe Honeybees, Björn started to change the original circuit in response to requests from guitarists worldwide. You can have both flavors of the Honeybee OD with the 4K Mini – simply flip the switch on the side between Vintage/Modern and experience the original sound of both Honeybee circuits in our Mini size enclosure to allow the HBOD4K Mini to fit on any pedalboard setup.
Vidami Blue
Vidami Blue is a revolutionary multi-modal tool that gives you hands-free control of today’s most popular music production, performance and education technology.
● The World’s First Hands-Free Video Looper with Page Turning, Tab/Lyric
Scrolling and Digital Audio Workstation Control.
● The Vidami Blue’s 3 Modes Features
1. Video Mode: Handsfree looping, slowing, and navigating of videos with the
tap of your foot.
2. DAW Mode: Control of many of today’s most popular Digital Audio
Workstations
3. Page Turning & Tab/Lyric Scrolling Mode: Easily Turn Pages, Scroll Tabs,
Lyrics, and other functions on your favorite Digital Sheet Music apps and
Tab sites
● Vidami maximizes the time you spend with your hands on the instrument by
putting the controls at your feet
● Cuts your practice time in half: no more tedious reaching for the mouse and
keyboard to control the video
● Experience Freedom, Focus and Flow while you loop and slow down and learn
at your own rate
● Vidami’s easy to use Patented technology makes learning on YouTube and 50+online platforms easier, faster and more fun because your not distracted by technology
● Vidami Blue makes handsfree recording a breeze
● Scroll tabs and turn pages with ease
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!
Realistic and highly controllable Leslie sounds from an essentially easy-to-use stompbox. More control than some similar-priced models. Stereo ins and outs.
Drive control could be more responsive and, at higher settings, more subtle. Slow-fast switch’s multi-functionality can be initially confusing, so save the instructions.
$299
Keeley I Get Around Rotary Simulator
robertkeeley.com
A highly controllable, mid-priced rotary speaker simulator inspired by the Beach Boys that nails the essential character of a Leslie—in stereo.
There’s nothing cooler than using a Leslie cabinet in the studio, and few things worse than having to lug one to gigs. The famed Leslie 981, for example, weighs nearly 150 pounds. Enter the rotary speaker pedal—an easy-on-the-back alternative for players who are looking to conjure Leslie-derived guitar sounds employed on classic records by Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, the Beatles, and others.
California Roller
There are a lot of good options for on-the-floor rotary pedals between $99 and $549. At $299, Keeley Electronics’ new I Get Around Rotary Simulator falls in the middle of the pack on pricing but has an array of functions that make it competitive with costlier examples. The I Get Around is part of a collaboration between Keeley, JHS Pedals, and Benson amps, dedicated to creating five limited-edition effects in tribute to the Beach Boys. I can’t recall many Beach Boys tracks with Leslie-style guitar, but Brian Wilson did use the effect on brother Carl’s guitar on 1965’s “You’re So Good to Me,” and a year later on the song “Pet Sounds.”
At 5" x 4" x 2", the I Get Around is a little larger than the average stompbox, but that’s necessary to accommodate the three big dials on top (blend, drive, and speed) as well as the on/off (which also works to select true bypass or buffered mode) and slow-fast switches, plus the stereo inputs and outputs. Using two amps in stereo makes the flutter and warble of the rotary sound more pronounced and immersive. It’s truly psychedelic. There’s also a toggle that adds a 4.5 dB mid-boost, which fattens and tightens the tone enough for me to simply want to leave that boost engaged all the time.
How I Got Around
I ran the I Get Around—powered by a 9V barrel connector at 130 mA— through a pair of Carr amps, playing a Gibson Les Paul Standard and a PRS SE Silver Sky, and blended the pedal with overdrive, fuzz, and delay as I experimented. I love the extra-large size of the speed control, which let me adjust the rate of simulated rotation at a whim with my shoe. The speed’s range is .06 Hz to .6 Hz, with 1 Hz being one revolution per second, and all the speed settings sound great and conjure the vibes you’d want from a Leslie, from velvet-painting dreamscapes to edgy, breathless Robert Ward- and David Gilmour-style psychedelic blues. Add a little delay and the sound becomes spongier and stranger, but too much, of course, can turn things to muck, as can an overbearing fuzz.
The drive control is a subtle overdrive that simulates a pushed 6550 and 12UA7 tube. At moderate amp volume, it doesn’t add much discernable grit until about 9 o’clock. Past 2 o’clock it rolled off enough top end to make my guitar sound less potent. But between those demarcations lies a very sweet spot for adding beef. The blend control starts being effective at about 8 o’clock, when the first hints of the rotary sound become a backdrop for the guitar’s voice, and then it's just a matter of turning up to taste—including cranking all the way clockwise to entirely eliminate your core guitar sound in favor of the rotary effect alone. For my taste, the best overall sounds were achieved with subtle-to-pronounced blends, between 9 o’clock and a bit past 2, that added rotary effect to my always-present basic guitar tone, thickening, supporting, and swirling behind it.
The slow-fast switch is all about drama. It allows toggling between two speed settings, and when it’s held down it stops the rotating speaker effect, which resumes when the switch is pressed again. The ramp rate can be customized as well. I like it slow, so the activation of the swirl is audible.
The Verdict
Keeley’s new I Get Around Rotary Simulator commands all the essential sounds you’d want from an actual Leslie. Unlike some pedals in its price range, it’s got stereo outs, which, to my thinking, are essential, because the rotary effect sounds best through guitar amps run in stereo. Also, the deep functionality beyond the basic adjustments of the three topside dials is attractive, adding more Leslie-like realism. There are cheaper alternatives, but to find competitive or better examples, you’ll need to reach deeper into your pockets.
Keeley I Get Around Rotary Simulator Pedal - Sweetwater Exclusive, Limited Release
I Get Around Rotary SimulatorOur columnist’s musings on honey bring him back to a forgotten little guitar company in Japanese history that didn’t last very long, but produced some interesting models.
One of the guys I work with is such an interesting fella. Dylan has an opinion on literally every topic, and I take amusement by asking him all sorts of probing questions.
For instance, he only wears t-shirts made from a certain blend (I’ll wear anything), and he likes smoke-infused whiskey (I drink mine straight), and he can go into great detail about an array of things like infusers, griddles, recording software, artificial intelligence, and the list just goes on and on. It seems like I, on the other hand, only have a certain amount of brain bandwidth and I don’t really ponder things of the material world, unless it’s guitar-related.
Recently, he was telling me about the rise of hot honey! He’s always telling me about recipes and how he uses it, but I have to say, anything that’s hot always turns me off. I used to love heat and spice and I could really eat anything. Yours truly even won a chicken-wing-eating contest (101 wings, baby!) with scorching hot sauce. I can even remember working at a restaurant back in the day, and the cooks were always challenging me with hot-sauce concoctions. Even the Jamaican dudes there couldn’t believe how I could inhale heat without a tear. Alas, all the years of trashing my body eventually caught up with me, and now if I eat anything that’s spicy, my belly and bowels just give up the ghost.
So, all this talk with Dylan about hot sauces and hot honey got me thinking about the old guitar brand, Honey. Looking back, I can’t believe I’ve never written about the little company before, but it was just a blip in guitar history—albeit a cool blip.
The story goes that in 1965 the Japanese guitar company Kawai had purchased the Teisco company. Teisco had its headquarters in Tokyo and made mostly electronics there. The wood production was done at a plant called Teisco Gen Gakki, which was located near Matsumoto City. Within a year or so, Kawai brought all-wood production to its own plant and Teisco Gen Gakki went idle.
Some former Teisco employees, who had mostly lost their jobs in this production shift, decided to make a go of their own at the guitar business. From this time, we see the brands Firstman, Idol, and Honey. The Honey Company made all sorts of products, including amps and guitars, and the company only sold in the Japanese market. Honey had a few wild designs, but mostly the guitars were copies of Rickenbacker, Gibson, and Höfner. But then there were these crazy one-off models, like this Honey Happening guitar from 1968. I’ve never seen another one and the only photos I can find online are all of this same guitar! One of my good Japanese friends gifted this to me.
The Happening takes its name from common terminology of the time, like, “It’s what’s happening,” meaning “hip” or “cool,” but this one is one of the coolest, with that elongated upper bout contrasting a super-short lower one. It has a Bigsby copy resting on the beveled-out section at the butt, which is another detail that’s rarely seen. If you check out the pickguard, there’s a cute little bumblebee there with “happening” written across in an old typeface. The headstock design is also noteworthy, featuring an extra-large truss-rod cover with two little diamond-shaped accents.
This solidbody is powered by two sizzling pickups that are Mosrite copies. It has a stinging sound—sorry—and sets up well with the adjustable bridge. Electronics round out with simple volume/tone knobs and a 3-way pickup selector switch. The only part I personally dislike on this guitar is the tuners, which can be finicky. But the guitar itself is surprisingly well-balanced and is a joy to play.
The Honey Company started business in early 1967 but was bankrupt in March of 1969. All Honey guitars and amps are extremely hard to find today, and if you have a good example, consider yourself one of the lucky ones. So instead of hot honey, let’s give a little props to a cool Honey.
1968 Honey Happening Guitar Demo
Frank’s friend Mike Dugan demos the Honey Happening 6-string.
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.