Documente Academic
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FREEPEDALFRIDAY
SYNTAX ERROR
p r e s e nt e d by : Al exa n d e r P e d a l s
outlawguitareffects.com
TABLE OF CONTENTS ISSUE 200 OCTOBER 6TH
FEATURES
12 DIRT CITY USA
7 BOXES WITH
DOUBLE THE DIRT
12 26
22 NOW PLAY THIS
26 6 ORIGINAL EFFECTS
MASTERS
34 FROM THE BUILDER’S
MIND: SUHR ALEXA
38 5 SOLO GUITAR
RECORDS THAT WILL
CHANGE THE WAY
YOU PLAY
34 38
SPOTLIGHT
48 PEDALPALFX
PAL 800 GOLD
52 JHS PEDALS
48
SWEET TEA V3
56 BUFFALO FX
CARRERA
52 56
8
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR ISSUE 200 OCTOBER 6TH
H
ART & DESIGN
ello to all of my trusty ‘99 Guild Bluesbird
ART DIRECTOR Adam Handermann
guitar nerd friends, and I cried many a tear
this week. We expressed PHOTOGRAPHY
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our fear and we felt the STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Gavin Wahl-Stephens
particularly difficult week
hurt. We grieved for the VIDEO
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Trying to wrap our minds
the families coping with VIDEOGRAPHER Mike Hermans
around the catastrophe
loss. We played and sang EDITOR / SALES / MARKETING
in Vegas has been
Petty. My guitar knows MEDIA DIRECTOR Tom Keithly
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just what to say and can SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER Joey Rubenstein
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LEVEL
LEVEL TONE
TONE
JHS
JHS
BOSS
BOSS
OUTPUT
OUTPUT
ECK
HECK
JHS/
JHS/ BOSS
BOSS
BOSS BOSS
DRIVE J B
DRIVE J B JHS
JHS
PARRALLEL
B J PARRALLEL
B J MODE
MODE
INPUT
INPUT
REMOTE
REMOTE
Everybody needs a little dirt in their life, or both, so you shouldn’t spend too much
especially guitar players. Having a good time agonizing over which pedals to buy.
distortion, fuzz or overdrive adds versatility to To make things even easier for you, I’ve put
your rig and enhances what you already love together a list of awesome double dirt boxes.
about it. Like other effects categories, you These multi-function pedals give you terrific
can really get lost when you seek out the one flexibility without taking up too much space on
pedal that’s going to work best for you. The your board, ensuring you have room for your
truth is there’s probably dozens of pedals that other favorite gadgets.
would work great for your playing style, genre,
14 TONE TALK // Dirt City USA: 7 Boxes with Double the Dirt
EARTHQUAKER DEVICES
PALISADES
EarthQuaker Devices never makes anything included buffer. There are tons of sounds you
half-assed, and the Palisades is no exception. can get out of this thing, but once you find
Think of the Palisades as a Tube Screamer your personal sweet spot, you don’t have to
injected with the serum that gave Captain adjust anything if you don’t want to.
America all of his strength and agility. The
Palisades gives you two separate gain sections
as well as a boost, and you can tweak the
tone to your heart’s content via the Voice and
Bandwidth selectors, as well as mini toggle
switches that choose between normal and
bright modes and activate or deactivate the
ToneReport.com 15
JHS CALHOUN V2
The Calhoun is one bad dog. I had the conventional or whacked out fuzz tones. The
privilege of reviewing this beast of a pedal, real magic happens when you use the two
and it was a ton of fun. If you love vintage circuits together. For your convenience, you
style fuzz and overdrive, look no further. can select the order of the effects. Run the
Designed to emulate the breakup and overdrive into the fuzz section for wicked,
sweet distortion of Campbell’s favorite old saturated lead lines, or run the fuzz into the
school tube amplifiers, the drive section has overdrive for a spitty, yet dynamic vintage dirt
plenty of raunchy dirt on hand and can be sound. There’s a lot of tone in this box—it’s a
tweaked with treble and bass knobs. The fuzz modern classic.
section is inspired by the Tone Bender, and
using the Bias knob, you can get all kinds of
16 TONE TALK // Dirt City USA: 7 Boxes with Double the Dirt
KEELEY D&M DRIVE
What do you get when you pair one of the boost tone, and paired up with . . . the Dan
best pedal companies in the world with two side. This rockin’ overdrive has tons of gain on
of the biggest pedal geeks on the planet? tap, and you can get everything from classic
The Keeley D&M Drive. Named after Dan rock to pinch harmonic squeals. With the
and Mick of That Pedal Show fame, the D&M boost going into the overdrive, it gets even
Drive features two overdrive circuits that can more saturated. You can also run the boost
be used in tandem or on their own. The boost, after the overdrive if that’s your thing. All in all,
or Mick, side of the pedal, offers glorious low- it’s an awesome pedal, and it could probably
gain tones. With the Gain knob pushed, you replace your entire overdrive collection.
start to get into medium overdrive territory,
but it really excels when set to a light gain or
ToneReport.com 17
MXR DOUBLE DOUBLE
The Double Double has two circuits inside a little real estate on your board, yet it offers you
standard MXR enclosure. The Lo gain circuit a ton of tone. In my opinion, it’s worth it to
offers a familiar midrange overdrive sound, have a couple options in one small box, and
and the Hi gain circuit is great for people it’s as easy as the flip of a switch if you want to
that have an obsessive compulsion for great change up your sound.
higher gain sounds, if you catch my drift. Both
circuits share Treble, Bass, Level and Drive
controls, and the circuits can only be used
separately. While the inability to combine
them might seem like a drawback at first
glance, remember that this will take up very
18 TONE TALK // Dirt City USA: 7 Boxes with Double the Dirt
STRYMON SUNSET
Strymon has a reputation for making some three modes. You can run one into the other,
of the best effects in the business, especially or use both in parallel for a stunning number
when it comes to reverb and delay. If you of beautiful dirty combinations. You can also
ever nerd out over pictures of pedalboards, use an expression pedal to control various
it seems like the El Capistan, Timeline, and parameters. Sure, I can understand why you’d
BigSky appear on damn near every board be hesitant to buy a digital dirt pedal, but you
you look at, and for good reason. But can can throw your cares aside—the future is here,
Strymon do dirt too? Hell yeah, it can. The and it sounds freaking good.
Sunset is a powerful dual dirt box and it
sounds amazing. Both dirt sections have Tone,
Level, and Drive knobs, and each section has
ToneReport.com 19
Z. VEX DOUBLE ROCK
Z. Vex effects aren’t really known for their originally created for J. Mascis, so you know
subtlety. The Double Rock continues the fine it’s going to rock your socks off. If you’re into
tradition of standing out in the best possible unique, one-of-a-kind artwork, snag one of
way with two Box of Rock circuits in one pedal. the artist painted special editions. If you’re an
Both of these can also be converted to the economical rocker, you can opt for the Vexter
Super Hard On circuit, allowing you to have a series model to save some coin. Whichever
wide array of distortion, overdrive, and boost one you get, turn it on, turn it up, and rock the
tones at the tip of your toes, and you can even night away.
adjust the sub-frequencies. This pedal was
Which double dirt box fulfills your needs? without over complicating your rig. If you have
Are you a hard rocker? Or do you just need multiple dirt boxes, chances are you gravitate
some light overdrive with boost capability? Do towards a couple favorites anyway, so just
you love bells and whistles, or do you prefer figure out which two-in-one pedal can get you
to keep it simple? However you like to play there, fasten it to your board, and never look
guitar, and whatever genres you like to dabble back.
in, having a quality dual dirt box at your
disposal can open up new sonic landscapes
20 TONE TALK // Dirt City USA: 7 Boxes with Double the Dirt
Data Corrupter
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E NTE R NOW
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NOWPLAY
NOW PLAYTHIS
THISPOWERED
POWERED
POWERED
BY BY
BY EFFECTS
EFFECTS
EFFECTS DATABASE
DATABASE
DATABASE
ToneReport.com 23
6 Original Effects
Masters
words by Fletcher Stewart
Versa
patching pedals together on a board that
these incredibly rich (and largely non-guitar-
With all the wild and wonderful stompboxes based) realms of music make me approach
and plugins out there, we are entering the whole shebang differently. After all, a
a new universe of hybrid hardware and pedalboard can be thought of as a mini-
software intermingling. Boundaries and microcosmic studio and when that little
genre borders are being knocked down sonic ecosystem is integrated into a larger
as we explore new networks of effects and world of studio sound, the cross-pollination
auditory adventures. Today’s feature is all flowers pure magic. Let’s wave the wands
about looking to those that understand the and focus on the hocus-pocus of then and
art of playing the studio as one enormous now.
instrument. We’ll take inspiration from
console conductors, cosmic dub warriors,
pedal pushers, DAW dwellers, techno
tweakers and interstellar producers of all
kinds. More and more I am looking to
26 TONE TALK // 6 Original Effects Masters
Joe Meek
For me, truly psychedelic music starts Deco and a Catalinbread Topanga and get
with London’s eccentric genius producer, Meeked out for some proto-psychedelic
Joe Meek. One listen to Joe Meek and vibe. Let the out-of-tune instruments add
the Blue Men’s 1959 album, I Hear a New character and do away with the pedal tuner.
World, will cause a polarising effect in the
listener—they will either flee or bask in the
strangeness and let it tan their mind to new
Technicolor hues in its otherworldly glow.
I have never played this record for anyone
and had an indifferent reaction. My favorite
track is “The Bublight” with its eerily elastic
lap-steel licks that lap around the ghostly
haunted-honky-tonk piano tinkling and
bassoon-like bassline. The silvery serene
atmosphere here evokes fever-dreams of
Santos and Johnny Sleepwalking on the
moon in a space ritualistic showdown. This
record shows one just how far they can
push the limits with a compressor, some
mechanical reverb (such as plate or spring)
and a bit of slide guitar. Grab a Strymon
ToneReport.com 27
Lee “Scratch” Perry
Speaking of resourceful, innovative the deck and gain inspirado from the king.
geniuses, we enter the Black Ark of Lee Then, grab a phaser and tape echo of
“Scratch” Perry. He needs no introduction, choice and tap into the dimension of dub.
but for me he is the godfather space player.
Armed with little more than a Teac four-
track, a broadcasting console, a Mu-Tron
Bi-Phase and a Roland Space Echo, Perry
created whole universes and pleasure-
domes of sound in which to get lost. These
earthy yet otherworldly atmospheres
expand the mind as well as the soundscape.
Focal points shift like freeform poltergeists,
causing vertigo-inducing depth perception
sounds. One minute, we cling on to the
rock-solid bassline only to be blown to outer
space with a crack-shot snare explosion
that echoes into the echelons of time and
space. We slide down slurping serpentine
phase shifts that twist with every beat as we
ride the anaconda of Dub consciousness.
Slap Super Ape or Blackboard Jungle on
ToneReport.com 29
Martin “Youth” Glover
Youth is a kaleido-sonic visionary and in the geographic and metaphysical sense
master sound manipulator who never and one can find truly new sounds and
stops creating in all mediums—a spelunker styles in every release on his Liquid Sound
of the artistic and expressive psyche. Design label.
Though he is also a poet, painter and
multi-instrumentalist, his production
prowess has been honed for decades,
nurtured by the cross-pollination of
his many mediums. He has also been
an instrumental force in the genesis of
many genres. post-punk, industrial, acid
house, trance, chillout, future dub and
countless other un-categorical mashups
that manifest when Youth is at the helm.
Again, it is hard to know where to start,
but I believe the Celtic Vedic In Dub
album by Dub Trees is a good place to
start with Youth production; it is also
an amazing album to jam along to on
guitar. This record revolves around Jah
Wobble’s iconic plate-shifting basslines,
which underpin a swirling cosmos of
drone, resonance and shape-shifting
atmospheres generated by both Celtic
and Eastern instrumentation mixed with
electronic treatments. Sympathetic drones
from bagpipes, sitars and human voice
intertwine, while elephantine rhythms
charm and hypnotise us into the infinite.
Skipping-stone rhythmic patterns flitter
in and out of the mix, sliding us into a
transcendental atrium of sound where any
snare hit can explode into a million little
universes or drop the ground beneath us,
exposing yawning cavernous chasms of
wonder. Youth is a stateless sonic explorer
30 TONE TALK // 6 Original Effects Masters
Shawn Lee
Shawn Lee is kind of like the Quentin guitarron, moroccan castanets, cithare,
Tarantino of music production. He can vibraphone, xylophone, bulbul tarang,
collage iconic retro styles into something charango, bouzouki, talking drum, and udu.
modern and all-his-own and his overall sonic If that doesn’t make someone shake a leg,
aesthetic is earthy and girthy. He seems (to they must be dead. Take inspiration from
my ear) to be working entirely in the analog this shamanistic sonic priest, jack the Wah
realm—where what one puts in, is what into the Fender Champ and try to keep up.
one gets out. The humans that play on a Or, better yet, imitate the sonic signatures of
Shawn Lee record have very little filtration the exotic instruments listed above and find
between their bodies, souls and the tape. some new tones.
Speaking of tape, Shawn is a master of
saturation and he has a true sickness for the
thickness. From dry and tight, to dubbed
and scrubbed, atmospheres are generated
by mechanical and psychoacoustic means
rather than fancy pedals and plugins. This
gives Mr. Lee’s records an organic funkiness
that is rich in vibes. Take Shawn Lee’s Ping
Pong Orchestra album, World of Funk for
example. On it, he himself plays sitar, ektar,
balaphone, tanpura, kalimba, steel drum,
ToneReport.com 31
Simon Posford
Perfectly described by Youth as “the process is real-time fader riding and knob
Jimi Hendrix of electronic music,” fellow twisting through dense jungles of tracks
London producer extraordinaire Simon to find synchronicity and cohesion. He
Posford has a similar approach to sound takes us on a true sonic safari that reveals
design. Meticulous manipulation of sounds, many plateaus, pitfalls, underwater realms
instruments and voices from all over the and hidden oasis of auditory bliss. One
globe are the only uniform criteria for of my favorite aspects of his productions
his most famous entity, Shpongle. This is his vocal manipulation techniques. The
incredible duo (including brain blowing sheer audacity of taking a Hindu chant and
conceptualist and flutist, Raja Ram) creates sending it helium-high is an example. He
some of the most rich and immersive can pitch-shift and chop up all manner of
music out there, combining organic voices into sequenced, rhythmic, squirming
instrumentation and electronic sounds with segments making sounds akin to a thousand
seamless atmospheric and rhythmic shifts. worms writhing on a chopping block. The
Unlike many electronic productions, there music of Simon Posford has liquidity and
are little-to-no right angles in the maze of freeform spiritual movement that will inspire
Shpongolian music. Perhaps all the organic all who listen.
elements offset the mechanised feel that
many electronic records have, but it is
much more than that. Simon Posford plays
the studio as an instrument and part of his
SUHR
ALEXA
The motivation behind Alexa was to create I decided to use a bucket brigade device
a rich sounding analog stereo chorus using (BBD) to create the chorus (just as a vintage
a combination of vintage and modern pedal would) as opposed to modern
circuitry. techniques such as digital signal processing.
ToneReport.com 35
Jamie Wolfert
38 TONE TALK // 5 Solo Guitar Records that Will Change the Way You Play
5 Solo Guitar Records
that Will Change the
Way You Play
Solo guitar instrumental music is a tough, instruments in any direction they see fit.
thankless gig. The audiences are small, the The end result is guitar like you have never
paychecks are smaller, and the stage is a heard it before.
cold, lonely space with nary a comrade in It’s for this reason that, when I’m feeling
sight and no one to cover your ass when especially burned out and boxed in by the
you hit a clam. In short, it’s one of the usual blues licks and barre chords routine,
scariest realms of the live music world, one desperate for some sort of inspiration to
that only attracts the most self-assured and remind me why the guitar is the greatest,
single-minded visionaries, musicians born most versatile and formidable instrument
alone into this world possessed of a set of as yet created by humankind, I inevitably
solid brass balls and something important turn to solo guitar music to stoke my
to say. inner mounting flame. What follows
Perhaps as some sort of byproduct is a short list of my favorite albums of
of the music’s lonesome, fearless, unaccompanied guitar music (or at least
and individualistic prerequisites, solo mostly unaccompanied, as some of these
guitar performers tend to be a highly records feature rare, sparse moments of
experimental bunch as well. Freed from additional instrumentation). It covers a
any responsibility to a backing band or any variety of genres, moods, and decades, and
other sort of human accompanists, these should have a brain-melting moment or two
guitarists often give themselves carte for anyone that approaches it with an open
blanche to push their abilities and their mind and an appetite for fresh sounds.
ToneReport.com 39
Mary Halvorson
Meltframe
Brooklyn based guitarist Mary Halvorson
is one of the most exciting jazz
instrumentalists working today, and
unquestionably the most original, exciting
guitarist of her generation. She’s appeared
on a dizzying number of recordings in the
last decade or so, both as a collaborator
(with Marc Ribot, Weasel Walter, Trevor
Dunn’s Trio-Convulsant, and many others)
and as a very formidable band leader,
but her 2015 debut solo guitar album,
entitled Meltframe, proved to be a major
intent of the compositions. There is clearly
milestone. Three years in the making,
deep reverence for the source material
Meltframe defined Halvorson’s strikingly
and its place in jazz history, combined
unique voice on the instrument, as well as
with an equal dose of fearlessness and
her inventive and wholly original approach
vibrant musical imagination. Meltframe
to melody, timbre, and arrangement.
is further enhanced by the unique sonic
It consists entirely of cover tunes,
qualities imbued in the recording itself. The
including compositions by some of her
microphone on the speaker of Halvorson’s
contemporaries on the new jazz scene,
Fender Princeton Reverb is combined
as well as a number of classics composed
with one capturing the warm acoustic
by everyone from Duke Ellington and
tone of her Guild hollowbody, as well as
Ornette Coleman, to Oliver Nelson, McCoy
an additional ambient room mic. It’s a
Tyner, and Carla Bley. Halvorson maintains
beguiling sound, blending vintage acoustic
the integrity and emotion of these
jazz ambience and vicious, in-your-face,
compositions, while brilliantly rearranging
modern guitar attack, especially when
and translating them for solo electric guitar.
Mary stomps on the Rat pedal and runs
This guitar is oftentimes highly effected
the voodoo down. Meltframe is required
with molten fuzz, tremolo, delay, and wild,
listening. Get it.
warped pitch-bending effects that both
play with and push against the original
40 TONE TALK // 5 Solo Guitar Records that Will Change the Way You Play
John Fahey
The Transfiguration of
Blind Joe Death
John Fahey is largely responsible for
legitimizing the steel-string acoustic guitar
as a solo concert instrument. Before his
unique, minimalist vision came to the
fore, only nylon-string classical guitar
held legitimacy in this capacity, while
steel string was regarded more as a tool
for accompanying singers or other folk
instrumentalists. Fahey changed everything
with his first album, an initially self-released
collection of songs originally entitled remains among his most popular works,
Blind Joe Death. Though not immediately however, and it’s a perfect starting point
successful, the record would go on to be for the unfamiliar listener. A standout track
reissued several times, and be the basis is “On the Sunny Side of the Ocean,”
for an entire genre of music, American which transitions from bright, if somewhat
Primitive Guitar, which is still with us today. melancholy, opening figures to strikingly
Fahey’s genius was many-layered, but it was heavy, dissonant, descending chords at
primarily the way in which he seamlessly the one minute mark, to subtle, fleeting
fused varied influences that made his Spanish tonalities in the last half. It’s a
vision so singular. He lifted fingerpicking wonderful microcosm of the mind-bending
techniques and open tunings from obscure Fahey style, and a great reminder of the
folk and blues records, often marrying power of an unaccompanied guitar.
them to dissonant harmonic concepts from
modernist classical composers like Charles
Ives. Later works would see him taking
these ideas even further, incorporating
elements of Brazilian music, gamelan,
raga, Gregorian chanting, and avant-garde
music among other things. Blind Joe Death
ToneReport.com 41
Marc Ribot
Saints
It’s practically impossible to discuss solo
guitar records (especially improvisation-
based records) without mention of Marc
Ribot. Ribot has gained widespread
notoriety primarily because of his long
relationship with Tom Waits, but among
jazz and improvised music enthusiasts he is
a living legend known for his idiosyncratic
style, distinctly punk rock approach to jazz,
and his fiery, captivating live performances.
He is especially revered for his solo work,
which is almost too intense to fathom unbridled intensity, radically reimagining
within a live setting. Few solo performers the material without abandoning its soul.
can command the complete attention of an His guitar sound has never been more raw,
audience with the ease of Ribot. Thus far in bloody, clanky, and magical, with some
his long career he has released six records of the tracks having a kind of lo-fi, old
of solo guitar material, pulling from a wide record ambience that suits the material
variety of sources, including the occasional perfectly. One can easily imagine that the
standard, the work of John Zorn, and whole album was recorded in a crumbling,
even a series of deliberately frustrating, haunted mansion or an abandoned rail car.
twisted guitar etudes he composed entitled Saints really takes the listener on a journey,
Exercises in Futility. His best loved solo one that only Marc Ribot could guide. It is
album, however, is probably Saints, a 2001 essential listening.
release that includes interpretations and
rearrangements of a broad range of tunes,
including the Beatles’ “Happiness Is a
Warm Gun,” several traditional folk blues
numbers, a John Zorn composition, and
two Albert Ayler songs, which bookend the
album and lend it its title track. Throughout
Saints Ribot keeps the focus on melody and
42 TONE TALK // 5 Solo Guitar Records that Will Change the Way You Play
Azonic
Halo
If you know of guitarist Andy Hawkins at all,
it’s probably because of his work with Blind
Idiot God, the noise/dub/post-hardcore/
post-metal/post-everything instrumental trio
he formed in St. Louis, Missouri in 1982. The
groundbreaking band relocated to NYC in
1986, releasing its eponymous debut album
on Greg Ginn’s SST Records the next year.
This powerful opening salvo, coupled with
a reputation for scorching live shows played
at impossible volumes (the band once
nearly destroyed CBGB’s), quickly earned the blackened vacuum of space, somehow
Blind Idiot God notoriety in the New York conjuring up memorable pieces of music
avant-garde music scene. John Zorn and without ever resorting to anything like a
Bill Laswell were instant fans and frequent riff or lick. A rapid-fire, inharmonious blister
collaborators, with Laswell producing BIG’s of notes will peel off across the stereo
second album, Undertow. Andy Hawkins, spectrum, followed by a distant seismic roar,
bassist Gabe Katz, and Laswell would with both suddenly disappearing into the
also go on to collaborate on Hawkins’s ether like sonic specters from an auditory
first solo outing, Halo, released under the nightmare. Halo is a singular masterpiece
name Azonic in July of 1994. Consisting of solo electric guitar, and if that’s not
of a quartet of long form, drone-based enough to pique your interest, you should
improvisations on heavily distorted, highly also know that photography and design for
reverberant electric guitar (accompanied the album was done by Alex Winter (AKA
by the occasional haunting electronic wash, Bill S. Preston, Esq). Hawkins is planning to
courtesy of Katz), Halo is an epic work of release a follow-up to Halo in October 2017,
terrifying ambience that maximizes the entitled Prospect Of The Deep Volume One,
full pitch range and extraworldly textural which will include current BIG drummer Tim
possibilities of a vibrato-equipped six-string. Wyskida on orchestral timpani, bass drum,
The mangled guitar of Hawkins shrieks, and gong accompaniment. It promises to be
groans, convulses violently, and howls into a work of massive, brain melting brilliance.
ToneReport.com 43
Derek Bailey
Solo Guitar
There has never been a free improviser
more free than the late, great English
guitarist Derek Bailey. Though he was an
active session musician at the beginning of
his career in the early ‘50s, and quite adept
at standard harmonic jazz techniques,
Bailey ultimately abandoned all semblances
of conventional guitar performance to
develop his highly personal, and oftentimes
confounding, playing style. This style was
utterly without precedent or recognizable
genre references, and sometimes left
contemporaries in the European avant-
unwitting listeners wondering if the man
garde scene. Solo Guitar will either blow
even knew how to operate his instrument
your mind, drive you mad, or both, but you
at all. Sophisticated music aficionados,
will not forget the first time you heard it.
however, found themselves in awe of
Unfortunately Derek Bailey died from ALS
Bailey’s boundless creativity and fearless
in 2005 at the age of 75, but his influence
exploration of the guitar’s many possible
lives on in modern guitar improvisers
voices, including haunting feedback, pick
like Nels Cline and Marc Ribot, and in
scrapes, harmonics, percussive sounds,
adventurous rockers like Thurston Moore
notes played behind the nut and below
(who did an improv record with Bailey in
the bridge, jarring intervallic skips, and
1997).
ethereal broken chordal shards, among
other extended playing techniques. He was
also a master of haunting and perfectly
timed silence. The essential introductory
Derek Bailey solo album is the aptly titled
Solo Guitar from 1971, which consists of
four absolutely death-defying solo improv
pieces, as well as three bold interpretations
of compositions written by some of his
44 TONE TALK // 5 Solo Guitar Records that Will Change the Way You Play
ToneReport.com 45
FREEPEDALFRIDAY
WINNER
Congratulations!
J EAN P IE RR E N AVANT
LA KEWO O D , U SA
CON TAC T:
i n fo @to nereport. com to col l ec t you r priz e:
MO O N SH I N E V2
by : JHS Pedal s
www.chemistrydesignwerks.com
GEAR SPOTLIGHT
PEDALPALFX
PAL800 GOLD
OVERDRIVE
REVIEW BY DAVID A. EVANS
STREET PRICE $184.90
Some pedals call out to Bass, Middle, and Treble. noon. Higher Gain settings
this reporter the moment On the righthand side of produced an almost
he strums the first chord. the pedal is a small, three- indistinguishable difference
PedalPalFX’s new PAL800 way toggle switch which between the different
Gold Overdrive is just such allows the user to choose voicings. This was fine.
a pedal. Perhaps its gold different Gain Voicings. At the lower gain levels,
housing ought to have The middle setting on the difference between
given a hint that the unit the Gain Voicing toggle voicings was dramatic. The
is golden in more than one seemed to be the “neutral” neutral setting was not only
sense. Its build quality is position. It offered clear, quieter than the up and
excellent, and the pedal, resonant, and ringing tone, down toggle settings, but
which aims to emulate the with perhaps less treble it was also warmer because
classic Marshall amp sound, than I would hear from the it lacked the definition in
accomplishes this task clean signal. The tone was the high end. I don’t mean
easily. warm, but with enough that the neutral setting was
The PAL800 Gold features sparkle to shine through a totally without high-end—
the distinctive Marshall- dense mix. far from it. The “up” toggle
style, gold-top knobs on its position, on the other hand,
True to PedalPalFX’s claim, was noticeably louder and
six controls. In addition to the Gain Voicing switch was
Volume, the pedal includes offered greater clarity in
most effective when the the high end. The pedal
controls for Presence, Gain, Gain knob was set below could become pretty thin if
ToneReport.com 49
GEAR SPOTLIGHT
JHS PEDALS
SWEET TEA V3
REVIEW BY NICK RAMBO
STREET PRICE $319.00
“No, I’m not the man I used drive and Angry Charlie— of a clean blend control.
to be lately. See, you met felt new to me tonally If you’re someone who
me at an interesting time.” speaking, it also felt prefers more of your
This line struck me about strangely familiar from original signal in the mix,
20 minutes into trying out a utility standpoint. An this handy extra knob gets
the newest iteration of the interesting time, indeed. you there. I found it best
Sweet Tea from JHS Pedals. SWEET TOOTH used sparingly with the gain
The right side of the Sweet dialed up in front of a clean
Of course, this medium- amp, but inching your clean
to-high-gain stompbox Tea is where you’ll find
the Moonshine. Now in tone up to where it isn’t so
delivers significantly more clean is where things get
grind than you’ll hear on its second version, this
“massively tweaked” Tube interesting.
the average John Mayer
tune, but the lyrics were Screamer variant offers a The final control, a two-way
especially poignant given wide range of tones. “Proof” switch gives you
the fact that I’d recently Using the standard Volume, more sizzle and saturation
planted a two-in-one Tone and Gain controls, in the down position,
combodrive on my own you can make it sound a lot and more volume and
pedalboard. like a Tube Screamer—but headroom when pushed up.
there’s more to it than that. I preferred the openness
So while this mashup of of the up position in
two highly respected JHS What makes the V2 most instances, but both
designs—the Moonshine significant is the addition
ToneReport.com 53
FUR COAT FUZZ
BUFFALO FX
CARRERA
REVIEW BY DAVID A. EVANS
STREET PRICE $250.00
Buffalo FX’s Carrera the tone a bit more fullness. Mid and higher gain settings
overdrive occupies that Indeed, my clean tone delivered a smooth, velvety
middle-ground between seemed flat, maybe even a distortion which responded
not-too-little and not-too- little sad, because it lacked just as gracefully to
much overdrive. The pedal the punch and edge which dynamics as did the lower
adds a bit of presence, a bit the Carrera offered my settings. When I rolled back
of breakup and edge, and guitar. And that was only on my guitar’s volume knob, I
for lack of a better term, a the lower gain setting! had to compensate more
bit of je ne sais quoi, as the When I strummed softly, than I anticipated by turning
French purportedly say. The the lower and middle up the Carrera’s Level knob.
Carrera accomplished this frequencies seemed most But the Carrera cleaned
task quite well. Moreover, affected by the distortion up and delivered a warmer
the pedal exceeded my circuit, while the higher end tone in this setting, one with
expectations about its chimed through my amp. a fairly good amount of high
quantity of distortion, given When I strummed harder, end. In other words, the
the company’s modest the higher frequencies lower input volume didn’t
claims. began to distort, along with kill the tone as it might
Compared to my clean tone, their lower and mid-range have.
I think the Carrera brought cousins. The distortion At high-gain settings,
out a bit more harmonic responded well to these the Carrera delivered a
complexity in the midrange, dynamic shifts, as a good respectable quantity of
which, consequently, gave overdrive ought to. overdrive, more so than
ToneReport.com 57
TONE REPORT W E E K L Y
FIN
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