Familiar and freaked-out reverb colors live side-by-side in a powerful, sensibly sized ambience-generating tool.
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RatingsPros:Vast selection of conventional-to-cosmic sounds. Thoughtful, streamlined interface design. Cons: Twitchy knobs can be hard to dial in with precision. Street: $349 Walrus Audio Mako Series R1 Reverb walrusaudio.com | Tones: Ease of Use: Build/Design: Value: |
Digital stompbox reverb has evolved by leaps and bounds in a very short time. One of the best outcomes of this evolutionāand the explosion in affordable processing power that drives itāare reverbs that stretch the very definition of the effect. Walrus Audioās Mako Series R1 is such a unit. It readily produces sounds with so many compound resonances, reflections, and modulations that the resultsāindeed, the pedal itselfāseem to reside in a category all their own. The R1 isnāt all weird and wild. It has lovely and practical spring, plate, and hall emulations. But itās the R1ās ability to range from those points out to stranger realms that distinguish it from much of the stompbox reverb class.
Manipulation Means
The R1 very gracefully walks the line between intuitive and intimidating. You probably wonāt want to gig with it without familiarizing yourself with its idiosyncrasies, but it also forgives and rewards a naĆÆve, intuitive approach.
When the R1ās functionality feels elusive, itās usually attributable to the sensitivity and range in each knob. In the get-to-know-you phase, the knobs can feel twitchy and difficult to use with precision. The unique swell function, for example, comes on hard and fast. And subtle settings, to the extent that they exist, can be hard to pinpoint. Additionally, some functionsālike the decay knob in spring reverb modeāhave unnatural range relative to their inspirations. Thatās awesome when you want to achieve the sound of a spring reverb tank on maximum dwell and hooked up to 10 Dual Showmans blasting a dirigible hangar. Itās less helpful if youāre trying to fine-tune an authentically vintage-style amp reverb tone.
The good news is that the R1 is, ultimately, quite intuitive. Utilizing the nine presets is recommended: Youāll hunt less for sounds on the fly and can switch between wildly divergent sounds if you like dramatic tone shifts. But even if you skip the presets, with practice you can manipulate the core controls to predictable ends.
The tone and tweak knobs, and associated toggle switches, control multiple parameters that change depending on the reverb mode. I needed the manual on hand to remember the secondary functionsāparticularly those associated with the āXā toggle position. But switching between toggle positions and adjusting the parameters is neither as onerous nor complicated as it sounds. Ultimately, I could move nimbly and naturally through those sequences.
Mad Modes, Supremely Huge Spaces
Once you make friends with the R1ās quirks, itās fun to explore. The swell function, an envelope that operates a bit like an auto-volume pot, lends a beautiful woozy softness to each of the voices. You can only shape the duration of the swell, and the initial attacks of the note can hit with a bit more intensity than I prefer. But at high decay and mix levels, the swells become beautifully phantasmal. In hall mode, they generate swirling variations on My Bloody Valentineās Loveless reverse-reverb tricks. In most other modes, slow, abstract melodies adorned with quivery finger vibrato become the stuff of hazy dreams.
The spring mode might not beat the most obsessively crafted digital spring emulations for authenticity in isolation. But itās full of personality, and when mixed with other instruments (or enjoyed without perfect authenticity in mind) it generates lively spring-style voices with mechano-metallic overtones that are responsive to modulation and trebly tone settings. Hall mode is equally adaptable and versatileāranging from cozy room-like spaces to more spacious zones that can be turned nightmarishly disorienting with generous heaps of modulation. The plate mode can generate very practical, tight, warm, studio-style settings. Or you can use the X-switch overdrive with aggressive mix, decay, and treble settings to excite and distort compound reflections. The BFR setting (you can guess at the words behind the acronym) picks up where the hall setting leaves offāeffectively creating architectural spaces of scale that donāt exist on this world.
Air mode produces another voice that is more complex than it seems on the surface. Itās the closest the R1 comes to a shimmer-type reverbāadding and regenerating high-octave content that gives longer reverberations a choral quality. But where many shimmer verbs teeter toward the cheesy side of this tone recipe, the R1 often transforms that regeneration into cool feedback effects not unlike a freeze function. These textures can be thrilling to use, and sometimes behave a lot like amp feedbackāparticularly when you add extra regeneration via the X knob. This mode, like many on the R1, is suited to slow, lazy phrasing. But it can make a single note or chord cluster fantastically kinetic and alive.
The refract mode (labeled rfrct on the pedal) can also be driven to very resonant, near-feedback zones where individual notes and harmonics shape-shift wildly. These sounds can be used to exceptional ends at maximum decay settings, which effectively generate long-cycle loops that are a nice foundation for additional melodic and prepared guitar elements. Secondary functions from the tune and tweak knobs enable unexpected variations on these colors, and itās fun to get lost in the huge spaces you can build.
The Verdict
Though the R1 capably spans familiar and freaky tones, the most exciting sounds are the weirdest. That is no knock on the pedalās most basic core soundsāwhich are satisfying to use and can be warped into huge, mutant versions of themselves with the rangey primary and secondary controls. The Mako Series R1 reverb is a truly creative instrument that, with a little practice and exploratory spirit, can yield thrillingly and inspiringly unexpected results.
Watch our First Look demo of the Walrus Audio Mako Series R1:
PG contributor Tom Butwin demos seven direct boxes ā active and passive ā showing off sound samples, features, and real-world advice. Options from Radial, Telefunken, Hosa, Grace Design, and Palmer offer solutions for any input, setting, and budget.
Grace Design m303 Active Truly Isolated Direct Box
The Grace Design m303 is an active, fully isolated DI box, delivering gorgeous audio performance for the stage and studio. Our advanced power supply design provides unbeatable headroom and dynamic range, while the premium Lundahl transformer delivers amazing low-end clarity and high frequency detail. True elegance, built to last.
Rupert Neve Designs RNDI-M Active Transformer Direct Interface
Compact design, giant tone. The RNDI-M brings the stunning tone & clarity of its award-winning counterparts to an even more compact and pedalboard-friendly format, with the exact same custom Rupert Neve Designs transformers and discrete FET input stage as the best-selling RNDI, RNDI-S and RNDI-8.
Telefunken TDA-1 1-channel Active Instrument Direct Box
The TDA-1 phantom powered direct box uses high-quality components and classic circuitry for rich, natural sound. With discrete Class-A FET, a European-made transformer, and a rugged metal enclosure, it delivers low distortion and a broad frequency response. Assembled and tested in Connecticut, USA, for reliable performance and superior sound.
Hosa SideKick Active Direct Box
The Hosa SideKick DIB-445 Active DI delivers clear, strong signals for live and studio use. Ideal for guitars, basses, and keyboards, it minimizes interference over long runs. Features include a pad switch, ground lift, and polarity flip. With a flat frequency response and low noise, it ensures pristine audio.
Radial JDI Jensen-equipped 1-channel Passive Instrument Direct Box
The Radial JDI preserves your instrumentās natural tone with absolute clarity and zero distortion. Its Jensen transformer delivers warm, vintage sound, while its passive design eliminates hum and buzz. With a ruler-flat response (10Hzā40kHz) and no phase shift, the JDI ensures pristine sound in any setup.
Radial J48 1-channel Active 48v Direct Box
The Radial J48 delivers exceptional clarity and dynamic range, making it the go-to active DI for professionals. Its 48V phantom-powered design ensures clean, powerful signal handling without distortion. With high headroom, low noise, and innovative power optimization, the J48 captures your instrumentās true toneāperfect for studio and stage.
PalmerĀ River Series - Ilm
The Palmer ilm, an upgraded version of the legendary Palmer The Junction, delivers studio-quality, consistent guitar tones anywhere. This passive DI box features three analog speaker simulations, ensuring authentic sound reproduction. Its advanced filter switching mimics real guitar speaker behavior, making it perfect for stage, home, or studio recording sessions.
Learn more from these brands!
Delicious, dynamic fuzz tones that touch on classic themes without aping them. Excellent quality. Super-cool and useful octave effect.
Canāt mix and match gain modes.
$349
Great Eastern FX Co. Focus Fuzz Deluxe
Adding octave, drive, and boost functions to an extraordinary fuzz yields a sum greater than its already extraordinary parts.
One should never feel petty for being a musical-instrument aesthete. You can make great music with ugly stuff, but youāre more likely to get in the mood for creation when your tools look cool. Great Eastern FXās Focus Fuzz Deluxe, an evolution of their trĆØs Ć©lĆ©gantFocus Fuzz, is the sort of kit you might conspicuously keep around a studio space just because it looks classy and at home among design treasures likeRoland Space Echoes, Teletronix LA-2As, andblonde Fender piggyback amps. But beneath the FFDās warmly glowing Hammerite enclosure dwells a multifaceted fuzz and drive that is, at turns, beastly, composed, and unique. Pretty, it turns out, is merely a bonus.
Forks in the Road
Though the Cambridge, U.K.-built FFD outwardly projects luxuriousness, it derives its ādeluxeā status from the addition of boost, overdrive, and octave functions that extend an already complex sound palette. Unfortunately, a significant part of that fuzzy heart is a Soviet-era germanium transistor that is tricky to source and limited the original Focus Fuzz production to just 250 units. For now, the Focus Fuzz Deluxe will remain a rare bird. Great Eastern founder David Greaves estimates that he has enough for 400 FFDs this time out. Hopefully, the same dogged approach to transistor sourcing that yielded this batch will lead to a second release of this gem, and on his behalf we issue this plea: āTransistor hoarders, yield your troves to David Greaves!ā
The good news is that the rare components did not go to waste on compromised craft. The FFDās circuit is executed with precision on through-hole board, with the sizable Soviet transistor in question hovering conspicuously above the works like a cross between a derby hat and B-movie flying saucer. If the guts of the FFD fail to allay doubts that youāre getting what you paid for, the lovingly designed enclosure and robust pots and switchesānot to mention the pedalās considerable heftāshould take care of whatever reticence remains.
Hydra in Flight
Just as in the original Focus Fuzz, the fuzz section in the Deluxe deftly walks an ideal path between a germanium Fuzz Faceās weight and presence, a Tone Benderās lacerating ferocity, and the focus of a Dallas Rangemaster. You donāt have to strain to hear that distillate of elements. But even if you canāt easily imagine that combination, what you will hear is a fuzz that brims with attitude without drowning in saturation. Thereās lots of dynamic headroom, youāll feel the touch responsiveness, and youāll sense the extra air that makes way for individual string detail and chord overtones. It shines with many different types of guitars and amps, too. I was very surprised at the way it rounded off the sharp edges made by a Telecaster bridge pickup and AC15-style combo while adding mass and spunk. The same amp with a Gibson SG coaxed out the Tony Iommi-meets-Rangemaster side of the fuzz. In any combination, the fuzz control itself, which boosts gain while reducing bias voltage (both in very tasteful measure) enhances the vocabulary of the guitar/amp pairing. That range of color is made greater still by the fuzzās sensitivity to guitar volume and tone attenuation and touch dynamics. Lively clean tones exist in many shades depending on your guitar volume, as do rich low-gain overdrive sounds.
The drive section is similarly dynamic, and also quite unique thanks to the always versatile focus control, which adds slight amounts of gain as well as high-mid presence. At advanced focus levels, the drive takes on a fuzzy edge with hints of Fender tweed breakup and more Black Sabbath/Rangemaster snarl. Itās delicious stuff with Fender single-coils and PAFs, and, just as with the fuzz, itās easily rendered thick and clean with a reduction in guitar volume or picking intensity. The boost, meanwhile, often feels just as lively and responsiveājust less filthyālending sparkle and mass to otherwise thin and timid combo amp sounds.
Among this wealth of treats, the octave function is a star. It works with the fuzz, drive, or boost. But unlike a lot of octave-up effects, you neednāt approach it with caution. Though it adds plenty of the buzzing, fractured, and ringing overtones that make octave effects so wild and distinct, it doesnāt strip mine low end from the signal. The extra balance makes it feel more musical under the fingers and even makes many chords sound full and detailedāa trick few octave effects can manage. With the fuzz, the results are concise, burly, and articulate single notes that lend themselves to lyrical, melodic leads and power chords. In drive-plus-octave mode, there are many hues of exploding practice-amp trash to explore. The boost and the octave may be my favorite little gem among the FFDās many jewels, though. Adding the octave to boosted signals with a generous heap of focus input yields funky, eccentric electric-sitar tones that pack a punch and are charged with character in their fleeting, flowering state.
Ā The Verdict
Itās hard to imagine adding extra footswitches to the Focus Fuzz Deluxe without sacrificing its basic elegance and proportions, and without elevating its already considerable price. Certainly, there would be real utility in the ability to mix and match all three excellent gain modes. On the other hand, the output level differences between fuzz, drive, and boost are pretty uniform, meaning quick switches on the fly will shift texture and attitude dramatically without delivering an ear-frying 30 dB boost. And though itās hard not be tantalized by sounds that might have been, from combining the fuzz and/or boost and drive circuits, the myriad tones that can be sourced by blending any one of them with the superbly executed octave effect and the varied, rangeful focus and output controls will keep any curious tone spelunker busy for ages. For most of them, I would venture, real treasure awaits.
Why is Tommyās take on āDay Tripperā so hard? And what song would Adam Miller never play with him? Plus, we get Adamās list of favorite Tommy Emmanuel records.
We call guitarist Adam Miller in the middle of the night in Newcastle, Australia, to find out what itās like to play with Certified Guitar Player, Tommy Emmanuel. Miller tells us just how famous Tommy is in Australia, and what it was like hearing him play from a formative age. Eventually, Adam got to open for Emmanuel, and theyāve since shared the stage, so we get the firsthand scoop: Why is Tommyās take on āDay Tripperā so hard? And what song would Miller never play with him? Plus, we get Adamās list of favorite Tommy Emmanuel records.
Adamās newly released trio album, Timing, is out now.
Plus, weāre talking about new recordings from Billy Strings and Bryan Sutton, as well as Brooklyn Mediterranean surf party band Habbina Habbina.
Peavey Electronics announces the Decade preamp pedal. The internet and social media have been abounding with chatter about the current recording secret of the modern-day guitar gods ā the Peavey Decade practice amp.
The discontinued amp has reached unimaginable demands on the secondary markets. So much so that small pedal builders have made attempts to capitalize and duplicate the proprietary designs themselves. Tone chasers can now rejoice as the Decade preamp pedal now brings those highly sought after tones back to market in a small, compact footprint.
Guitar players will find a single input, single output preamp pedal straight forward and easy to navigate. Faithful to the original Decade circuitry (circa 1980), the control layout will be identical to the original amplifier. The GAIN section features PRE and POST controls. PREGAIN sets the gain of the input circuitry. POST GAIN sets the gain before the out. Built off the legendary Peavey Saturation patent, the new, switchable SATURATION allows tube-like sustain and overload at all volume levels, suitable for bedrooms, rehearsals, stadiums and apparently, those very expensive recording studios. The traditional BASS, MID, and HIGH equalization controls provide the tone shaping enhancements any guitar should require. Upgraded pedal features include an internal 24v supply from the standard 9v supply/battery and worldwide EMC/FCC compliance approval.
To learn more, visit online at www.Peavey.com
Street $199.99 USD