guitar gear review

Barcelona builders revive an obscure reverb preamp that adds sweet octane: The PG Aclam Windmiller review.

Beautiful, airy low- gain boost and overdrive tones. Cool interactions with other gain pedals. Super sturdy construction.

Expensive for a preamp pedal.

$310

Aclam Windmiller
aclamguitars.com

5
4.5
5
3.5

I studied Pete Townshend's '60 rigs religiously as a kid—watching The Kids Are Alright on repeat and ogling the photos in Richard Barnes' essential Maximum R&B book. But I don't think it was until I encountered the excellent thewho.net web site that I learned about the Grampian reverb preamp that Pete used to drive his mid-'60s amps to extra-aggro heights. So, I was psyched to hear that Barcelona's Aclam pedals (who already won me over with their fantastic Vox UL730-inspired pedal, the Dr. Robert, and clearly share my circa-'66 guitar production fixations) recreated the preamp section of the Grampian reverb in a pedal.

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