Ex-B-52s member, composer, and NYC music scene veteran Pat Irwin loves pairing EHX pedals with keyboards—and recollecting good times with his late guitar virtuoso friend.
I’ve got a thing for Electro-Harmonix effects boxes. I’ve got a Crying Tone Wah that’s the coolest, a 16 Second Digital Delay, and a Deluxe Memory Man. All have made their way onto my ambient country band SUSS’s new record, Birds & Beasts. And currently a Big Muff, two Freeze Sound Retainers, and a Mel9 Tape Replay Machine are on my pedalboard. Here’s the thing: I like using them on keyboards.
I remember spending one cold winter night recording keyboards for a track called “Home” that made it onto Promise, the third SUSS album. I was playing a Roland Juno-106 through the Deluxe Memory Man while my bandmate Bob Holmes manipulated the delay and feedback on the pedal in real time. The effect was otherworldly. You can also hear the Crying Tone on SUSS’s “No Man’s Land” and “Train,” on Bandcamp. Sure, the guitars sound great, but those keyboards wouldn’t sound the same without the extra touch of the Crying Tone. I also used it on the B-52s’ “Hallucinating Pluto,” and it went out on the road with us for a while.
One of the first musicians I met when I moved to New York City in the late ’70s was the late, great Robert Quine. Quine and I would talk for hours about guitars, guitarists, and effects. I bought my first Stratocaster from Quine, because he didn’t like the way it looked. I played it on every recording I’ve made since the first Lydia Lunch record, 1980’s Queen Of Siam, and on every show with 8 Eyed Spy, the Raybeats, the B-52s, and my current bands PI Power Trio and SUSS. It was Quine who taught me the power of a good effects pedal and I’ll never forget the sessions for Queen of Siamwith the big band. Quine played everything through his Deluxe Memory Man straight into the recording console, all in one take except for a few touch ups here and there.
Quine and I used to go to Electro-Harmonix on 23rd Street and play through the boxes on display, and they let us pick out what we wanted. It’s where we first saw the 16 Second Digital Delay. That was a life-changer. You could make loops on the fly and reverse them with the flick of a switch. This thing was magical, back then.
“Quine played everything through his Deluxe Memory Man straight into the recording console, all in one take except for a few touch ups."
When I recorded a piece I composed for the choreographer Stephen Petronio and performed it at the Dance Theatre Workshop in Manhattan, I put everything through that 16 Second Digital Delay, including my clarinet. Later, when I recorded the theme for the cartoon Rocko’s Modern Life, I played all of the keyboards through the Deluxe Memory Man. Just when things would get a little too clean, I’d add a little more of the Memory Man.
I’m pretty sure that the first time I saw Devo, Mark Mothersbaugh had some Electro-Harmonix effects boxes taped to his guitar. And I can’t even think of U2 without hearing the Edge and his Deluxe Memory Man. Or seeing Nels Cline for the first time, blowing a hole in the universe with a 16 Second Digital Delay. Bill Frisell had one, too. I remember going into the old Knitting Factory on Houston Street and passing Elliott Sharp. He had just played and I was going in to play. We were both carrying our 16 Second Delays.
Who knows, maybe someone from another generation will make the next “Satisfaction” or “Third Stone from the Sun,” inspired to change the sound of a guitar, keyboard, or even a voice beyond recognition with pedals. If you check out Birds & Beasts, you’ll hear my old—and new—boxes all over it. I know that I won’t ever make a SUSS record or play a SUSS show without them.
Things change, rents go up, records are being made on computers, and who knows how you get your music anymore? But for me, one thing stays the same: the joy of taking a sound and pushing it to a new place, and hearing it go somewhere you could never have imagined without effects pedals.
Win the complete Electro-Harmonix Pico Pedal Collection and transform your sound with pitch-shifting, reverb, delay, and more. Enter now for your chance to level up your pedalboard with these compact, tone-shaping powerhouses! Ends September 26, 2024
NYC DSP Pico Series
The Electro-Harmonix Pico pedal series offers a range of compact, powerful effects suitable for various musical styles. The Pico Pitch Fork provides pitch shifting, while the Pico Oceans 3-Verb delivers three versatile reverb modes. The Pico Canyon Echo offers lush delay effects, and the Pico Deep Freeze gives dynamic freeze and shimmer sounds. The Pico Attack Decay allows for vintage envelope control, and the Pico Triboro Bridge produces rich, harmonic tremolo. The Pico Rerun emulates the warm, nostalgic sound of lo-fi tape echo, while the Pico Platform is a compressor/limiter with precise control. Lastly, the Pico POG offers polyphonic octave generation, all in small, pedalboard-friendly sizes.
EHX Pico Attack Decay - Tape Reverse Simulator
Create volume swells and decays, both in Mono mode—one volume envelope for all notes you play—or in Poly mode where each note to has its own volume envelope creating cascading swell effects and leads with agile attack smoothing.
EHX Pico Canyon Echo – Digital Delay
Pristine digital delay featuring up to 3 seconds of delay, Filter control, and tap tempo with 3 tap division modes.
EHX Pico Deep Freeze – Sound Retainer
Classic EHX Freeze effect with added auto mode, glissando, individual DRY and EFFECT level controls, and adaptive layering.
EHX Pico Oceans 3 Verb – Multi-mode Reverb
Packed with 30 polyphonic pitch modes, latching/momentary functionality, and adjustable pitch bend sweep for whammy-style effects.
EHX Pico Platform – Studio-style Compressor
Studio-style compressor / limiter to precisely tune dynamics with adjustable attack and sustain, hard/soft knee compression curves, and blend knob for parallel compression magic.
EHX Pico POG – Polyphonic Octave Generator
World famous octave effect in a pico package featuring octave up and down plus new Tone knob with tilt-shift EQ, Low Pass, and High Pass filtering options.
EHX Pico Rerun - Tape Delay
Vintage-style tape delay sounds with adjustable saturation and flutter to achieve a variety of warm, crunchy, warbly delay tones.
EHX Pico Tribobo Bridge – OD/Dist/Fuzz
Bridging the worlds of overdrive, distortion, and fuzz in a sub-compact pico chassis with selectable input contouring eq, active EQ on OD and DIST, and LPF and Gate on Fuzz.
EHX Pico Pitch Fork – Polyphonic Pitch Shifter
Packed with 30 polyphonic pitch modes, latching/momentary functionality, and adjustable pitch bend sweep for whammy-style effects.
You've got another SIX chances to win in this week's giveaway. Enter below for your shot at pedals(or gear) from Aguilar, AmpMojo, Electro-Harmonix, Gator Cases, Truetone, or Zashabuti!
Aguilar AG Preamp/Direct Box
Aguilar’s AG Preamp Pedal is a must-have for any bassist looking for a clean and transparent preamp to sculpt their sound. Revered for tight, fast response and tonal flexibility, the AG Preamp Pedal features a 4-band EQ, footswitchable "deep" and "bright " controls, headphone out, aux in, and balanced DI.
AmpMojo Sol Drive Responsive Tube Overdrive
The Sol Drive is a low-to-medium gain, responsive tube overdrive pedal. It uses a Tung-Sol 12AX7 pre-amp tube to bring a rich harmonic texture to your tone that only a real tube can. Real tube tone. Real tube feel.
Features:
• Genuine Tung-Sol 12ax7 vacuum tube
• Premium no-click foot switch
• True bypass relay circuit
• Top mounted input, output, dc jacks
• Tour-grade durability
• Built in U.S.A.
Electro-Harmonix Lizard King Octave Fuzz Effects Pedal Green
Make way for the new heir to the octave fuzz throne, the Lizard King from Electro-Harmonix. Directly inspired by the EHX x JHS collaboration released in 2023, the Lizard King takes the gnarly and responsive octave fuzz circuit from the Lizard Queen and optimizes it for bass and beyond. With updated tone controls and a new Blend knob, the bass’s fundamental tone and low-end is preserved while the top-end of the fuzz tone is shaped to fit or dominate any mix!
The EHX Lizard King is a fixed-gain fuzz that is dynamically responsive. Adjustments to your instruments volume affects the amount of fuzz. Lower instrument volumes create a clear, fuzzy overdrive, while full instrument volume sends the gain over the top for ripping riff and searing solo tones. The familiar VOLUME and OCTAVE knobs control overall output and octave blend volume respectively. New to the Lizard King, the BLEND knob sets the mix between your clean and fuzz tones to create the perfect balance of fuzz while retaining your bass’s attack and low-end. The TONE knob is a low pass filter that rolls off the highs, while the SUN/SHADOW switch further enhances the tone of the octave fuzz and clean tones. SUN boosts the octave fuzz with a more driving midrange, and the clean tone accessed by the BLEND knob has more treble and bass frequencies. When the switch is set to SHADOW, the clean tone is unchanged, and fuzz tone is tighter.
Gator Extra Large Pedalboard with Bag - 32"x17" Orange
TrueTone 1 SPOT Pro CS11
Our most powerful 1 SPOT Pro yet! The 1 Spot Pro CS11 is the same size as the CS12, but with all new outputs and options. It doesn’t replace the CS12, but gives users more power and more available 9Vdc outputs. It also has “one more” output on the back, which allows users to connect the CS11 to Truetone’s new expansion boxes like the XP5 and XP8. It goes to 11… and so much more.
Zashabuti ZAMP
Vintage Tweed Tube Amp Reimagined in Gold Analog Stompbox
Zashabuti has announced the launch of the ZAMP, a groundbreaking amp-in-the-box pedal that delivers the cherished sound of 1950s Fender Tweed amplifiers.
For musicians seeking to capture the magic of rock’s golden era, the ZAMP brings legendary tones right to your pedalboard, offering an authentic playing experience that pays homage to the greats. With its innovative true analog tube emulator, the ZAMP meticulously recreates the entire tube chain and tone stack of these classic amplifiers with Jensen speaker emulation, offering musicians the best of both worlds – vintage tone with modern reliability.
Imagine dialing in the iconic sounds of The Eagles, The Rolling Stones, Steely Dan, Eric Clapton, and Neil Young—all without the high cost and maintenance of vintage gear. Designed as an all-in-one DI amp-in-a-box solution, the ZAMP eliminates the need to lug around a traditional amplifier. You’ll get the sounds of rock legends – everything from sweet cleans to exploding overdrive – for the same cost as a set of tubes.
The ZAMP’s versatility makes it an ideal tool for a variety of uses…
• As your main amp: Plug directly into a PA or DAW for full-bodied sound with Jensen speaker emulation.
• In front of your existing amp: Use it as an overdrive/distortion pedal to impart tweed grit and grind.
• Straight into your recording setup: Achieve studio-quality sound with ease—no need to mic an amp.
• 12dB clean boost: Enhance your tone with a powerful clean boost.
• Versatile instrument compatibility: Works beautifully with harmonica, violin, mandolin, keyboards, and even vocals.
• Tube preamp for recording: Use it as an insert or on your bus for added warmth.
• Clean DI box functionality: Can be used as a reliable direct input box for live or recording applications.
See the ZAMP demo video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJp0jE6zzS8
Key ZAMP features include:
• True analog circuitry: Faithfully emulates two 12AX7 preamp tubes, one 12AX7 driver tube, and two 6V6 output tubes.
• Simple gain and output controls make it easy to dial in the perfect tone.
• At home, on stage, or in the studio, the ZAMP delivers cranked tube amp tones at any volume.
• No need to mic your cab: Just plug in and play into a PA or your DAW.
• Operates on a standard external 9-volt power supply or up to 40 hours with a single 9-volt battery.
The ZAMP pedal is available for a street price of $199 USD and can be purchased at zashabuti.com.
About Zashabuti:
With a team of experienced engineers and innovators from leading companies in the music industry, Zashabuti is dedicated to designing products with a deep respect for the classic sounds of the past, combined with the best of today’s technology. We strive to create products that inspire and elevate your musical journey.