Electro-Harmonix EHX Percolator Review
The InterFax Harmonic Percolator HP-1 circuit revealed its magic to me over a long period of time. Like just about everyone, I’ve never played an original. And when I finally encountered a reproduction at a recording session, it was the wrong pedal at the wrong time. I walked away from it vaguely disappointed and moved onto other things. Luckily for me, though, I came to be a colleague of Premier Guitar editor Joe Gore. Joe’s simple guidance for navigating the Harmonic Percolator lit the way to loving the circuit.
Daredevil Double Cocked Review
A lot of players spin magic and craft signature tones from a cocked wah. (For those that don’t know, the cocked wah sound is that honking, mid-rangey, filtered tone that you get when you park a wah pedal at a specific angle and leave it there to do its dirty work.) Frank Zappa did it. Mick Ronson did it. So did Michael Schenker. And for the last decade, Matt Pike of High on Fire and Sleep—a man whose entire tone philosophy seems to be “louder, and also weirder”—used various versions of Daredevil’s Atomic Cocked circuit to do that job.
Beetronics Seabee Lite Review
If you’ve never played a Beetronics pedal, the company’s extroverted design ethos might seem like a style-before-substance exercise. Nothing could be further from the truth. For starters, Beetronics’ wares are genuinely substantial in terms of quality. The brand is also inventive—and more than a little irreverent at times—when it comes to sonics.
Old Blood Noise Setback Review
I have to resist reverse delay like most have to resist ice cream. A totally uninhibited version of myself would probably record multiple box sets’ worth of reverse-delay-based music given the chance. Old Blood's Setback reverse delay makes a project of that scope seem totally possible, too.
Keeley Tube Drive Review
When I see an overdrive powered by a real tube, I’m predisposed to think about all those things that you associate with glowing tubes and overdrive—low-to-medium gain, warm, toasty, maybe even mellow tones. Keeley’s Tube Drive (which was originally issued in a limited edition of 100 fitted with 76-year-old Sylvania 12AT7s) dishes drive tones that are all those things, and sounds beautiful doing it. But the Tube Drive is made up of two sections. One is powered by a 12AX7 (alas, no ultra-rare antique tubes in this version.) The other is Keeley’s Phat Mod, a riff on the JFET Boss BD-2 Blues Driver, another circuit regarded as warm and responsive. Together, though, the two drive circuits expand each other’s range exponentially—right up to wicked saturated sounds that make a low-wattage combo more akin to a big British stack.
Mile End Effects Sofort, Si Fort Review
Mile End Effects does not do “subtle.” From art to enclosure to audio, Montreal builder Justin Cober’s pedals make big, bold statements. Even against a lineup of effect units that look and sound like Cold War-era machines of destruction, his latest creation, the Sofort, Si Fort, might just be the most devastating yet: a two-in-one design that combines a Sovtek Big Muff and Ampeg Scrambler elements.
Strymon Canoga Review
The Strymon name is commonly associated with fully featured, and sometimes complex, digital pedals. But if the company’s new analog endeavors are something of a surprise, they are already yielding promising results. The new Canoga fuzz emanates from some down-time/chill-out projects built by CEO and chief analog engineer Gregg Stock about a decade ago. But now it’s very real, and one of the first offerings from Strymon’s new all-analog, U.S.-built, Series A lineup.
Walrus Audio Highpoint Review
For some players, compression, and compression pedals, are exciting at a level just above a tuner or volume pedal—essential in some cases, but not the kind of thing that gets the blood pumping. For others, compression is an essential facet of their sound, perhaps even the core of it. For these players, the differences between compressors are meaningful and consequential, and separate a true creative device from a joyless, utilitarian tool. Walrus Audio’s Highpoint is more likely to appeal to players who see the painterly possibilities in a compressor. As an optical comp, it offers the smooth, fuzzy, non-linear glow that makes a good opto sound less sterile and bossy than a voltage controlled or FET compressor. It also has a control set that can get surgical. The $349 price reflects the pedal’s power and flexibility, and signals that this isn’t one for compression casuals. But while committed comp nuts might find the most to love here, less experienced users might be very surprised and impressed by what an asset the Highpoint can be.
Dominion Electric Filmotone Review
Aaron Sabourin runs Dominion Electric Effects Co., out of Ottawa, Ontario, as a one-man show, building effects using pricey, vintage parts when his day job permits him to. His Faceless Fuzz and Soul Power—inspired by the Fuzz Face and Hendrix’s screaming tone at Fillmore East circa 1970, respectively—are top-shelf recreations of common circuits that have been around for a long time. But it’s Sabourin’s commitment to using premium components in bomb-proof builds that make his pedals so coveted. His latest design, the Filmotone, strays a little further from the guitar-tone canon: It’s an effect pedal designed to approximate the sound and dynamic feel of a single-transistor preamp wrenched from the guts of a Bell & Howell Filmosound film projector.
Vox VFZ-1 Fuzz Review
In design and engineering terms, a vintage fuzz is a comparatively basic thing. And most of the earliest vintage fuzzes evolved from common ancestry. But as we’ve discovered in the intervening years, even small differences in a simple design can mean profound shifts in performance and personality.
Tsakalis AC Master Review
Amp-in-a-box pedals are a world unto themselves these days, spanning everything from digital simulations to discrete analog versions of amp topologies. Tsakalis AudioWorks of Piraeus, Greece takes the latter approach with their new AC Master. But here they couple a vintage AC30-based channel with a circuit inspired by the Dallas Rangemaster treble booster. As any fan of Brian May or Rory Gallagher will tell you, that’s a recipe that approaches perfection. But the AC Master’s tone-shaping power doesn’t stop with the addition of the treble booster. The pedal’s amp section also features approximations of an AC30’s top boost and normal channels, which can be blended with each other to create more complex drive textures. It all adds up to an impressive and varied array of Vox-style sounds in a single pedal.
Supercool Pedals Spritz! Saturator Review
Supercool Pedals, based in Peterborough, Ontario, released the original Spritz compressor, a simple 2-knob pedal, back in 2022. Earlier this year, builder Jamie Muir overhauled that design and released the Spritz! Saturator, adding a “tube simulation” overdrive circuit with its own discrete controls in addition to the familiar dual-knob setup. Like its titular drink on a hot summer afternoon, the Spritz! Saturator is a refreshing, invigorating treat.
EarthQuaker Scrolls Bass Odyssey Review
I thought I had everything a gigging bassist could possibly need. I usually get a pretty solid bass tone, the players and clients I engage with generally like it, and I tend to feel pretty good about my EQ choices. Some instruments I like to run direct, without much tonal color. Others I run through an amp, where I can get plenty of it. Between the two, I figured I had any session covered.
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