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As you’ve probably surmised by now, this November 2010 issue of Premier Guitar is pretty special. Editorial Director Joe Coffey, who usually writes in this space, is on the road as we put this issue to bed, so he asked me to fill you in.
What makes this issue so special—besides the fact that it’s our highly anticipated annual “Pedal Issue” packed with 30 stompbox reviews and three captivating artist interviews—is that it’s a huge first in at least three ways. For starters, as far as we’re aware, this is the first guitar publication ever to print its cover text right on the face of not one but four fully functional and 100 percent badass custom stompboxes: The DigiTech Whammy (in never-before-used “candy apple red” finish) and Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi are accepted the world over as all-time classics, while Diamond Pedals in Nova Scotia, Canada, contributed their wonderful Halo Chorus, and JAM Pedals in Athens, Greece, created the retro-righteous RetroVibe. We extend a hearty and heartfelt thanks to each of these companies and everyone who made this possible.
Our second first this month? This is the first PG to feature four different covers, each highlighting one of the aforementioned custom pedals. These four iterations of the November issue have been distributed at random to both retail newsstands and subscribers. If you’re a collector who simply must have the three issues that aren’t in your hand right now—and you’ve already hightailed it down to your local bookstore, but to no avail—relax: For $14.99 you can get the other three straight from us. Simply email (info@premierguitar.com) or call us (877-704-4327) to work out the details. Oh, and did I mention that you can enter to win these one-of-a-kind stompboxes online at premierguitar.com?
We’re also stoked to report that Inquiry Management Systems, a publishing research firm that tracks all the major US guitar magazines, has verified that this is the first to hit the mammoth 272-page mark. (In all likelihood, it’s the biggest ever—period—but that’s difficult to verify categorically.) So for all intents and purposes, the November 2010 Premier Guitar is THE BIGGEST guitar magazine EVER. That’s pretty heavy—literally and figuratively.
Last but not least, this issue is the first with our new Gear Editor Charles Saufley. Charles has worked previously as an editor at Acoustic Guitar, and he’s been contributing to PG for a few months now (he wrote the September 2010 feature “Zen Guitar for the 22nd Century . . . and Beyond”). As you can imagine, accomplishing all these firsts has been a bit like birthing a 272-pound baby—it’s nearly killed all of us. And none more so than Charles. Not only has he had to hit the ground running with a new company (and from 2000 miles away), but he’s also had to manage, edit, and fact-check four times as many reviews as normal—and pen two features (Zakk Wylde and “5 Boutique Stompbox Builders You Should Know”). Welcome, Charlie!
Because this issue full of firsts has been such a massive endeavor—and so fulfilling to see come together—I want to be the first to thank the rest of our fantastic staff for their awe-inspiring work ethic: our totally on-the-ball admin team, our remarkably respectful sales crew, Chris Kies for all the stellar web videos, Rebecca Dirks for engaging weekly web content, Meghan Molumby and Angela Cox for their patience and impeccable taste, Adam Moore for his wrangling, Joe Coffey for his vision, Jason Shadrick for keeping our music theory straight and chipping in anywhere and everywhere, and Andy Ellis for his chops, wit, and wisdom. (Doh! I forgot another first: Andy’s fantastic new monthly instructional column, “Rhythm & Grooves.” And be sure to tune in for Jason’s first monthly instructional column next month.)
It’s going to be tough to beat this one, but something tells me this first-rate staff still has a few surprises up its sleeve.
Enjoy!
Shawn Hammond
shawn@premierguitar.com
Walrus Audio Fundamental Series Distortion
- Controls: Gain, Tone, Volume
- Modes: Dark, Silicon, LED
- Power Requirements: 100mA minimum
Positive Grid Spark Mini 10W Portable Smart Guitar Amp & Bluetooth Speaker
- Portable guitar amp & Bluetooth speaker with powerful, multi-dimensional sound. Rechargeable battery delivers up to 8 hrs of listening or play time.
- Free accompanying smart app included (iOS or Android) with Auto Chords, video creation & access to 50,000+ tones and more for never-ending inspiration.
- A mini guitar amp that jams along with you: All-new Smart Jam Live uses machine learning technology to build bass and drum backing tracks based on your playing style.
D'Addario Guitar Strings - XL Nickel Electric Guitar Strings - 10-46 Regular Light, 5-Pack
- BESTSELLING SET – XL Nickel are our best-selling electric guitar strings, revered by players since 1974.
- VERSATILE, BRIGHT TONE – Nickel-plated steel wrap wire provides a bright, versatile electric guitar tone, great for a variety of musical genres.
- FOR THE ULTIMATE PERFORMANCE – Like all D’Addario electric guitar strings, XL Nickel are made with our proprietary Hex-Core, ensuring perfect intonation, consistent feel, and reliable durability.
Fender Squier 3/4-Size Kids Mini Strat Electric Guitar - Surf Green Bundle
- 3/4-size body; 22.75" scale length
- Ideal size for children ages 6 to 12 years
- Three single-coil Stratocaster pickups with five-way switching, and vintage-style hardtail Stratocaster bridge
- Bundle includes Guitar, Amplifier, Instrument Cable, Tuner, Strap, Picks, Fender Play Online Lessons, and Austin Bazaar Instructional DVD
Dunlop MXR Micro Chorus
- All analog circuitry with bucket brigade technology
- Rich chorus textures
- True bypass
Fender Dreadnought Acoustic Guitar - Sunburst Bundle
- This guitar also features scalloped "X"-bracing, mahogany neck.
- It features a durable dark-stained maple fingerboard to give you an instrument that looks as good as it sounds.
- With its slim, easy-to-play neck and full-bodied dreadnought tone, the SA-150 is an ideal choice for all rookie strummers.
STRICH TSUNAMI Overdrive
- WARM & HOT OVERDRIVE MODES: Easily switch between warm and hot overdrive tones. Warm mode delivers rich, bluesy overdrive, while Hot mode offers more aggressive drive.
- PRECISE CONTROL: Dial in your perfect sound with VOL, GAIN, and TONE knobs for volume, distortion level, and tone
- COMPACT & PRACTICAL: Utilizes an aluminum alloy sturdy, tough, and stable casing. The compact cigar-box design saves pedalboard space and facilitates portability for performances.
Fender Professional Series Tweed Instrument Cable, Daphne Blue, 18.6ft
- 8mm outer diameter wire jacket
- 22 AWG
- 95% OFC spiral shielding
- Nickel-plated connectors
Sennheiser Professional e 609 Silver Super-Cardioid Instrument Microphone
MOOER GE100 Multi-Effects Guitar Pedal
72PCS Guitar Tool Kit
- 【Multifunctional Use】Available for changing strings, setting intonation, adjusting action or checking string height, perfect for stringed instrument cleaning, maintenance and repair.Dedicated to the most common guitar repairs and adjustments.
- 【Widely Application Area】72 Pcs tool set is a superb choice for most guitar repairs.Ideal for electric guitars, basses, mandolins, banjos, Hawaiian ukuleles, and other stringed instruments for necessary measurements and adjustments.
- 【Tool Bag Included】 Assortment of necessary tools are in one bag. We not only provide a large package, we also provide each accessory with a small individual package. You can protect and store these tools well to prevent loss and mess.
LAVA ME AIR Portable Carbon Fiber Electric-Acoustic Guitar, Travel Guitar for Beginners
- htweight at 4.3 lb, thin and portable
- Capable magnetic pickup, clear sound & low feedback
- Customizable digital knobs and presets
Overall, they encompass the historic arc of stompbox technology from fuzz and overdrives, to loopers and samplers, to tools that warp the audio end of the space-time continuum. Click on each one to get the full review as well as audio and video demos.
DigiTech JamMan Solo HD Review
Maybe every guitarist’s first pedal should be a looper. There are few more engaging ways to learn than playing along to your own ideas—or programmed rhythms, for that matter, which are a component of the new DigiTech JamMan Solo HD’s makeup. Beyond practicing, though, the Solo HD facilitates creation and fuels the rush that comes from instant composition and arrangement or jamming with a very like-minded partner in a two-man band.
Click here to read the review.
Warm Audio Warm Bender Review
In his excellent videoFuzz Detective, my former Premier Guitar colleague and pedal designer Joe Gore put forth the proposition that theSola Sound Tone Bender MkII marked the birth of metal. TakeWarm Audio’s Warm Bender for a spin and it’s easy to hear what he means. It’s nasty and it’s heavy—electrically awake with the high-mid buzz you associate with mid-’60s psych-punk, but supported with bottom-end ballast that can knock you flat (which may be where the metal bit comes in).
Click here to read the review.
Walrus Monumental Harmonic Stereo Tremolo Review
Among fellow psychedelic music-making chums in the ’90s, few tools were quite as essential as a Boss PN-2 Tremolo Pan. Few of us had two amplifiers with which we could make use of one. But if you could borrow an amp, you could make even the lamest riff sound mind-bending.
Click here to read the review.
MXR Layers Review
It’s unclear whether the unfortunate term “shoegaze” was coined to describe a certain English indie subculture’s proclivity for staring at pedals, or their sometimes embarrassed-at-performing demeanor. The MXR Layers will, no doubt, find favor among players that might make up this sect, as well as other ambience-oriented stylists. But it will probably leave players of all stripes staring floorward, too, at least while they learn the ropes with this addictive mashup of delay, modulation, harmonizer, and sustain effects.
Click here to read the review.
Wampler Mofetta Review
Wampler’s new Mofetta is a riff on Ibanez’s MT10 Mostortion, a long-ago discontinued pedal that’s now an in-demand cult classic. If you look at online listings for the MT10, you’ll see that asking prices have climbed up to $1k in extreme cases.
Click here to read the review.
Catalinbread StarCrash Fuzz Review
Although inspired by the classic Fuzz Face, this stomp brings more to the hair-growth game with wide-ranging bias and low-cut controls.
Red Panda Radius Review
Intrepid knob-tweakers can blend between ring mod and frequency shifting and shoot for the stars.
Electro-Harmonix LPB-3 Linear Power Booster and EQ Review
Descended from the first Electro-Harmonix pedal ever released, the LPB-1 Linear Power Booster, the new LPB-3 has come a long way from the simple, one-knob unit in a folded-metal enclosure that plugged straight into your amplifier. Now living in Electro-Harmonix’s compact Nano chassis, the LPB-3 Linear Power Booster and EQ boasts six control knobs, two switches, and more gain than ever before.
JFX Pedals Deluxe Modulation Ensemble Review
This four-in-one effects box is a one-stop shop for Frusciante fans, but it’s also loaded with classic-rock swagger.
Origin Effects Cali76 FET Review
The latest version of this popular boutique pedal adds improved metering and increased headroom for a more organic sound.
JAM Fuzz Phrase Si Review
Everyone has records and artists they indelibly associate with a specific stompbox. But if the subject is the silicon Fuzz Face, my first thought is always of David Gilmour and the Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii film. What you hear in Live at Pompeii is probably shaped by a little studio sweetening. Even still, the fuzz you hear in “Echoes” and “Careful With That Axe, Eugene”—well, that is how a fuzz blaring through a wall of WEM cabinets in an ancient amphitheater should sound, like the sky shredded by the wail of banshees.
Fishman EchoBack Mini Delay Review
As someone who was primarily an acoustic guitarist for the first 16 out of 17 years that I’ve been playing, I’m relatively new to the pedal game. That’s not saying I’m new to effects—I’ve employed a squadron of them generously on acoustic tracks in post-production, but rarely in performance. But I’m discovering that a pedalboard, particularly for my acoustic, offers the amenities and comforts of the hobbit hole I dream of architecting for myself one day in the distant future.
RJM Full English Programmable Overdrive Review
Programmability and preset storage aren’t generally concerns for the average overdrive user. But if expansive digital control for true analog drive pedals becomes commonplace, it will be because pedals like the Full English Programmable Overdrive from RJM Music Technology make it fun and musically satisfying.
Strymon BigSky MX Review
Strymon calls the BigSky MX pedal “one reverb to rule them all.” Yep, that’s a riff on something we’ve heard before, but in this case it might be hard to argue. In updating what was already one of the market’s most comprehensive and versatile reverbs, Strymon has created a reverb pedal that will take some players a lifetime to fully explore. That process is likely to be tons of fun, too.
JHS Hard Drive Review
JHS makes many great and varied overdrive stomps. Their Pack Rat is a staple on one of my boards, and I can personally attest to the quality of their builds. The new Hard Drive has been in the works since as far back as 2016, when Josh Scott and his staff were finishing off workdays by jamming on ’90s hard rock riffs.
Keeley I Get Around Review
A highly controllable, mid-priced rotary speaker simulator inspired by the Beach Boys that nails the essential character of a Leslie—in stereo.
Cusack Project 34 Selenium Rectifier Pre/Drive
The term “selenium rectifier” might be Greek to most guitarists, but if it rings a bell with any vintage-amp enthusiasts that’s likely because you pulled one of these green, sugar-cube-sized components out of your amp’s tube-biasing network to replace it with a silicon diode.
Vox Real McCoy VRM-1 Review
Some pedals are more fun than others. And on the fun spectrum, a new Vox wah is like getting a bike for Christmas. There’s gleaming chrome. It comes in a cool vinyl pouch that’s hipper than a stocking. Put the pedal on the floor and you feel the freedom of a marauding BMX delinquent off the leash, or a funk dandy cool-stepping through the hot New York City summertime. It’s musical motion. It’s one of the most stylish effects ever built. A good one will be among the coolest-sounding, too.
Loopers can be complex enough to make beginners cry. They are fun if you have time to venture for whole weeks down a rabbit hole. But a looper that bridges the functionality and ease-of-use gap between the simplest and most maniacal ones can be a sweet spot for newbies and seasoned performers both. The JamMan Solo HD lives squarely in that zone. It also offers super-high sound quality and storage options, and capacity that would fit the needs of most pros—all in a stomp just millimeters larger than a Boss pedal.
Fast Out of the Blocks
Assuming you’ve used some kind of rudimentary looper before, there’s pretty decent odds you’ll sort out the basic functionality of this one with a couple of exploratory clicks of the footswitch. That’s unless you’ve failed to turn down the rhythm-level knob, in which case you’ll be scrambling for the quick start guide to figure out why there is a drum machine blaring from your amp. The Solo HD comes loaded with rhythm tracks that are actually really fun to use and invaluable for practice. In the course of casually exploring these, I found them engaging and vibey enough to be lured into crafting expansive dub reggae jams, thrashing punk riffs, and lo-fi cumbias. Removing these tracks from a given loop is just a matter of turning the rhythm volume to zero. You can also create your own guide rhythms with various percussion sounds.
Backing tracks aside, creating loops on the Solo HD involves a common single-click-to-record, double-click-to-stop footswitch sequence. Recording an overdub takes another single click, and you hold the footswitch down to erase a loop. Storing a loop requires a simple press-and-hold of the store switch. The sizable latching footswitch, which looks and feels quite like those on Boss pedals, is forgiving and accurate. This has always been a strength of JamMan loopers, and though I’m not completely certain why, it means I screw up the timing of my loops a lot less.
Many players will be satisfied with how easy this functionality is and explore little more of the Solo HD’s capabilities. And why not? The storage capacity—up to 35 minutes of loops and 10 minutes for individual loops—is enough that you can craft a minor prog-rock suite from these humble beginnings. Depending on how economical your loops are, you can use all or most of the 200 available memory locations built into the Solo HD. But you can also add another 200 with an SD/SDHC card.Deeper into Dubs
Loopers have always been more than performance and practice tools for me. I have old multitrack demos that still live in the memory banks of my oldest loopers. And just as with any demos, the sounds you create with the Solo HD may be tough to top or duplicate, which can mean a loop becomes the foundation of a whole recorded song. The Solo HD’s tempo and reverse features, which can completely mutate a loop, make this situation even more likely. The tempo function raises or lowers the BPM without changing the pitch of the loop. As a practice tool, this is invaluable for learning a solo at a slower clip. But drastically altered tempos can also help create entirely new moods for a musical passage without altering a favorite key to sing or play in. Some of these alterations reveal riffs and hooks within riffs and hooks, from which I would happily build a whole finished work. The reverse function is similarly inspiring and a source of unusual textures that can be the foundation for a more complex piece.
HD, of course, stands for high definition. And the Solo HD’s capacity for accurate, dense, and detail-rich stacks of loops means you can build complex musical weaves highlighting the interaction between overtones or timbre differences among other effects in your chain. I can’t remember the last time I felt like a looper’s audio resolution was really lacking. But the improved quality here lends itself to using the Solo HD as a song-arranging tool—and, again, as a recording asset, if you want a looped idea to form the backbone of a recording.
The Verdict
With a looper, smooth workflow is everything. And though it takes practice and some concentration in the early going to extract the most from the Solo HD’s substantial feature set, it is, ultimately, a very intuitive instrument that will not just smooth the use of loops in performance, but extend and enhance its ability as a right-brain-oriented driver of composition and creation.
The Warm Bender dishes these sounds with ease and savage aplomb. Outwardly, it honors the original MkII—a good way to go given that the original Sola Sound unit is one the most stylish effects ever built. But the 3-transistor NOS 75 MkII is only one of the Warm Bender’s personalities. You can also switch to a 2-transistor NOS 76 circuit, aka the Tone Bender MkI. There’s also a silicon 3-transistor Tone Bender circuit, a twist explored by several modern boutique builders. Each of these three voices can be altered further by the crown-mounted sag switch, which starves the circuit of voltage, reducing power from 9 to 6 volts. From these three circuits, the Warm Bender conjures voices that are smooth, responsive, ragged, mean, mangled, clear, and positively fried.
The Compact Wedge Edge
Warm Audio, quite wisely, did not put the Warm Bender in an authentically, full-size Tone Bender enclosure, which would gobble a lot of floor space. But this smaller, approximately 2/3-scale version, complete with a Hammerite finish, looks nearly as hip. It’s sturdy, too. The footswitch and jacks are affixed directly to the substantial enclosure entirely apart from the independently mounted through-hole circuit board, which, for containing three circuits rather than one, is larger and more densely populated than the matchbox-sized circuit boards in a ’60s Tone Bender. Despite the more cramped quarters, there’s still room for a 9V battery if you choose to run it that way. Topside, there’s not much to the Warm Bender. There’s a chicken-head knob for output volume, another for gain, and a third that switches between the NOS 76, NOS 75, and silicon modes. Even the most boneheaded punk could figure this thing out.
A Fuzz Epic in Three Parts
Most Warm Bender customers will find their way to the pedal via MkII lust. If you arrive here by that route you won’t be disappointed. The Warm Bender’s NOS 75 setting delivers all the glam-y, proto-metal, heavy filth you could ask for. It sounded every bit as satisfying as my own favorite MkII clone save for a hint of extra compression that falls well within the bounds of normal vintage fuzz variation. My guess is that when you’re ripping through “Dazed and Confused” you won’t give a hoot.
“There’s more color and air in the NOS 76 mode.”
If the NOS 75 circuit suffers by comparison to anything, it’s the 2-transistor friend next door, the NOS 76. The lower-gain NOS 76 mode is, to my ears, the most appealing of the three. It’s the most dynamic in terms of touch response and guitar volume attenuation and delivers the clearest clean tones when you use either technique. There’s more color and air in the NOS 76 mode, too. Paired with a neck-position single-coil, it’s an excellent alternative for Hendrix and Eddie Hazel low-gain mellow fuzz that’s more like dirty overdrive. The silicon mode, meanwhile, lives on the modern borderlands of the ’60s-fuzz spectrum. It’s super-aggressive and focused, which can be really useful depending on the setting, but lo-fi, spitty, and weird when starved of voltage via the sag switch. It’s deviant-sounding stuff, but extends the Warm Bender’s performance envelope in useful ways, particularly if you hunt for unique fuzz tones in the studio.
There’s a widely accepted bit of wisdom that says most germanium fuzzes sound lousy unless you turn up everything all the way and use your guitar controls to tailor the tone. This is partly true, especially with a Fuzz Face. But in general, I respectfully disagree and present the Warm Bender as exhibit A in this defense. The gain and volume controls both have considerable range and fascinating shades of fuzz within that can still rise above the din of a raging band.
The Verdict
Some potential customers might balk at the notion of a $199 vintage-style fuzz made in China—no matter how cool it looks. But the Warm Bender looks and feels well made. The sound and tactile sensations in the three circuits are truly different enough to be three individual effects, and $199 for three fuzz pedals is a sweet deal—particularly when consolidated in a stompbox that looks this cool. There is a lot of variation in old Tone Benders, and how these takes on the circuits compare to your idea of true vintage Tone Bender sound will be subjective. But I heard the essence of both the MkI and MkII here very clearly and would have no qualms about using the Warm Bender in a session that called for an extra-authentic mid-’60s fuzz texture.
