Snark releases its most compact model ever: the Crazy Little Thing rechargeable clip-on headstock tuner.
Offering precise tuning accuracy and a super bright display screen, the Crazy Little Thing is approximately the size of your guitar pick ā easy to use, unobtrusive and utterly dependable.
Housed in a sturdy shell, the Crazy Little Thing can be rotated for easy viewing from any angle, and its amazingly bright display makes it perfect for the sunniest outdoor stages or the darkest indoor studios. You can clip it to the front of your headstock or on the back of your headstock for extra-discreet usage ā and you can easily adjust the display to accommodate your preference.
As the newest addition to Snarkās innovative line of headstock tuners, the Crazy Little Thing is rechargeable (no batteries!) and comes with a USB-C cable/adapter for easy charging. Its display screen includes a battery gauge, so you can easily tell when itās time to recharge.
The Crazy Little Thingās highly responsive tuning sensor works great with a broad range of instruments, including electric and acoustic guitar, bass, ukulele, mandolin and more. It also offers adjustable pitch calibration: its default reference pitch is A440, but also offers pitch calibration at 432Hz and 442 Hz.
Snarkās Crazy Little Thing rechargeable headstock tuner carries a street price of $21.99. For more information visit snarktuners.com.
Electric blues guitarist Cedric Burnside.
Electric blues guitarist Cedric Burnside joins PGstaff and reader Dominic von Riedemann in cheering on their favorite pedalsāor lack thereof!
Question: What effects pedal can you not live without?
Guest Picker - Cedric Burnside
Mr. Burnside's no-frills pedalboard.
A: I only have two pedalsāone is a tuner and one is an AB box. I just like the AB box because I can play both amps at the same timeāthe lead amp and the bass amp. But I can live without any pedal and just play my guitar.
Current Obsession:Juke joints. Iāve just noticed the lack of them here in the hill country. It used to be a staple of this area, and Iāve been working to see when and where I could possibly open my own to bring that culture of music back to the area. Hopefully Iāll have my own here sooner than later.
Reader of the Month - Dominic von Riedemann
Mr. von Riedemann's pup, standing in for Mr. von Riedemann.
A: My Way Huge Green Rhino MkII has been a staple on my board since I bought it in 2012. The adjustable midrange and bass controls give it a lot more versatility than your typical TS type, and it loves pretty much every guitar and amp Iāve tried it with.
Current Obsession: Iām hard at work recording with my band the Boardwalk Cowboys, plus Iām listening to new music from Jason Isbell, symphonic metalsmiths Therion, and dance-punk outfit Model/Actriz.
Publisher -Ā Jon Levy
Jonās pedalboard
A: My gigging pedalboard is constantly morphing, but it centers around this essential item: a low-gain, always-on overdrive. The Timmy pedal has been my mainstay for about 10 years, but recently Iāve been test-driving (awful pun intentional) two impressive new contenders: the Keeley Blues Disorder and Messiah Guitars Billy overdrives.
Current Obsession: Playing guitar with dynamics. And being a better listener. Like many guitarists, I find this very challenging. Iām prone to using my guitar as a firehose: Once I get going, youād better run for the emergency exits because I will not curb this awesome power! I gotta learn to shut up, or at least improve my right-hand technique to allow the song to breathe a bit.
Gear Editor -Ā Charles Saufley
Mr. Saufley, represented by a mallard.
A: When push comes to shove, I guess I would say a Deluxe Memory Man. Delay is probably the effect I need above all othersāespecially if my amp has tremolo and reverb (and it had better). But the Deluxe Memory Man is more than a perfect analog echo. The level control can add grime to a too-polite signal, and a touch of the DMMās vibrato is always woozily delish. Plus, a guitar, a Deluxe Memory Man, and a good-looking amplifier is about as stylish as a rig gets.
Current Obsession: Playing along with windchimes. Thereās a beautiful, fascinating, and most instructive mix of structure and chaos in the springtime ring of windchimes.
A powerful new reverb covers almost every imaginable incarnation of the effect.
Incredible reverb tones. Limitless tweakability. Smart interface helps conquer complexity.
Expensive.
$599
Meris MercuryX
meris.us
The Meris MercuryX is the first pedal Iāve ever played that has its own glossary, found near the back of its 32-page user manual. Advertised as āa Modular Reverb System with pro audio and studio rack heritage,ā the USA-made MercuryX builds on the foundation of Merisā Mercury7 reverb unit, which was inspired, in part, by the Lexicon 224 Greek musician Vangelis used to score for Blade Runner. The Mercury7 is a richly featured and widely celebrated effect. But by comparison, the MercuryX makes it look like an abacus.
The MercuryXās price bracket is about as high as it gets for a non-vintage effects pedal, but spend an hour with it, and youāll realize the staggering amount of work the Meris team must have poured into it. Itās a feat of audio engineering and imagination that can take you anywhere you want to go.
Guide to the Galaxy
Though it features an almost comical amount of adjustability, the MercuryX is hardly a bother to operate in Merisā default graphic view on the digital display. (The text view, comparatively, felt labyrinthine, if not flat-out impossible to navigate.) Three of the pedalās seven knobs help you navigate the edit pages, where you can adjust a suite of parameters that, like the haunting reverb algorithms, feel like they never end. The 99 preset slots are divided into banks of three, which are selected and cycled via different combinations of the four footswitches. A favorites bank lets you keep your top three presets in immediate grasp. Plus, simultaneously pressing the two switches on the right will call up a tuner on the display. The MercuryX is powered by an ARM processor which helps enable its breadth of modulation options, including tremolo, chorus, vibrato, pitch shift, tape emulation, and more. Then thereās discrete filtering, compression, and preamp gain. Each of these functions is, of course, deeply tweakable, down to independent high- and low-frequency controls. The glossy deep-blue box is equipped with mono and stereo outs, expression pedal in, MIDI jacks, and USB-C for firmware updates. Itās sleek, but more importantly, it feels like resilient armor for the complex guts contained within.
Reverb of the Nerds
Itās clear that the builders at Meris are ginormous reverb nerds. The MercuryX contains eight distinct reverb algorithms. A few are ported from the Mercury7, while others are brand new. Thereās every sort of reverb sound imaginable, and theyāre all magnificent. You can dial in a tight, humble spring reverb, then jump to a pitch-shifting, interdimensional wormhole or a steely, dystopian fog.
And though they invite customization, the 87 Meris-made presets are each instantly cinematic and usable. The depth of these reverbs can be difficult to convey: Somehow, every single one is imaginative and stirring, suggesting different tones, voicings, picking styles, and progressions. (I could only imagine how theyād sound with a synth, bass, or vocal.) Plus, every setting in the presets can be individually tinkered with and saved, so thereās really a mind-numbing amount of flexibility here.
But that flexibility triggers some option paralysis, too. I found myself sticking to the MercuryXās pre-programmed settings rather than trying to build my own for two reasons. There were simply too many variables to modify, and the reverb aficionados at Meris know what theyāre doing. Why overcomplicate things?
The MercuryXās only flaw might be that it occupies an awkward in-between spot in the market. Its capabilities (and price tag) eclipse many of the higher-end reverb units available, and in practice, it often feels closer to a compact floor modeler than an effect pedal. But it is just an effect pedal. Though, maybe this is a sign of things to come: The MercuryX really does lend the feeling that, at least as far as reverb is concerned, it can do everything.
The Verdict
For the right user, the MercuryXās complexity will be a major asset. Learn how to manipulate all the processing power included here and this pedal might be a game-changer.