NAMM 2018 most promising offerings

NAMM 2018! I dig this time of year. Despite the fact I haven't been to NAMM in several years I always look forward to see what's new. This year has been particularly exciting and I thought I'd go over a few things that have caught my eye.

AMPS

The Marshall Origin 50- Take Marshalls well thought out but expensive hand wired amp and build it with PCBs overseas and you get a killer looking, plexi based pedal platform with a few modern options. At this price point these should sell amazingly well.

Synergy Amps- Bruce Egnater has taken his modular preamp design and worked with the gurus behind Freidman, Fryette, Morgan and others to make an amazing tool for both the studio and the stage. Word is even Bogner is getting involved.

PRS Mark Tremonti Amp- Mark has been working on this for a couple of years. A 15 watt Archon lunch box head! With 2 6l6s it has better cleans than most lunch box heads and a massive high gain sound.

EVH 5150 III 50w- While not exactly a new amp they have added dual concentric knobs for channels 1 & 2. This was a deal breaker for some people and a welcome addition to the line.

GUITARS 

Ibanez AZ Prestige and Premium- Ibanez has spent the last few years searching out the opinions of up and coming shredders like Martin Miller and Tom Quayle. The outcome is a new guitar that is being compared to brands like Suhr and Tom Anderson. I really want to try out one of these.

Ibanez Nita Strauss signature guitar - Long time Ibanez endorser and current Alice Cooper hired gun Nita Strauss has become the first female to have a Ibanez signature guitar. Based on her custom shop S series model it has an EKG fretboard inlay and a gorgeous blond burst finish that looks sick!

EVH Wolfgang Standard- Not a new guitar but I love the new Blue Frost color I've never wanted a $500 Chinese made guitar so badly.

PRS S2 Studio- Adding to the S2 range PRS now have a HSS model that sounds stunningly beautiful. Still made in the USA but cheaper than their core models the S2's have been a big hit for them.

PEDALS

Andy Timmons pedals- Andy Timmons is such a great player and has amazing tone in his fingers. So it comes as no surprise that pedals with his name on them tend to sell. Xotic has re-released the BB preamp Andy Timmons edition and JHS has added another gain switch to the AT Drive. I'd love to see another JHS/Keeley combo with Andy's AT Drive and Keeley modded Blues Driver (SPM) in one box.

The Friedman Wah pedal- With LEDs, a three voicing switch for classic, modern and extended range and a high quality designed buffer (with option to turn it off) this might be the wah I've been dreaming of.

Keeley Pedals- Robert Keeley and his team are blowing it out of the water again. The new Aria is a dual pedal with his famous Keeley compressor and tweaked TS pedal, the Duet has his version of the Boss Blues Driver with a delay/reverb and the long awaited ECCO delay pedal which should be available later this year. My wallet can't handle following Mr. Keeley on social media.

MULTI-EFFECTS 

Line 6 HX- Line 6 took the Amp modeling out of the Helix and left you with a world class effects processor that you can four cable with your amp for live gigs. This is a better version of the M9 that ended up on so many pro boards.

Fractal Audio AxeFX III- The bar has been raised on what many people consider to be the gold standard of Amp modeling the last few years. The AxeFX III has FOUR processors among other improvements.

PICKUPS

Fishman's Fluence pickups keep picking up endorsers left and right as people try them. I'm not sure if they are for me but I'm fascinated with the tech behind them.

One thing I'm starting to notice is that big brands like Ibanez, Marshall, and Boss are waking up to what the boutique builders have been doing for a few years. They aren't copying them but actually seem to be talking to their end user and asking what they want in a product. Let's hope this trend continues.

Top Pedal Releases of 2016

2016 has been a rough year for a lot of people but there have been some amazing pedals released. While it isn't quite over most new gear releases will hold off until the 2017 winter NAMM show. So I thought I'd run down my favorite pedals released this year.

Digitech Whammy Ricochet- Whammy's are just fun, I had one for a bit but it never found a permanant place on my board. That said the Ricochet is perfect if you don't need the real time control of a rocker pedal. It can bounce your sound up and down for you via preselected settings.

DOD Carcosa Fuzz- A versatile fuzz that isn't a fuzz face or muff clone the Carcosa fuzz carves out a unique niche but also covers a lot of territory. It's also reasonably priced at $99 and only from PGS.

Keeley Bubbletron- Robert Keeley and crew have been knocking it out of the park lately. The Bubbletron incorporates a load of features including a flanger, phaser, and step filter that can be controlled with an envelope filter to respond to your pick attack. You can choose your sensitivity to the pick attack and roll it off for more traditional sounds. A must have for tone explorers or for people who like a lot of options but don't have extra space on their pedalboards.

Keeley Monterey Fuzz Vibe- This is my pedal of the year. I did a review HERE and can't get over how fantastic this pedal is.  While it may be Mr Keeley's Hendrix in a box it's certainly not limited to it. It's so easy to dial in other sounds as show in THIS post and so incredibly versatile. Don't let the $300 price tag scare you. You could buy 9 pedals and not have this range of sounds.

MXR Echoplex Delay- Man this sounds nice. Combining the Echoplex preamp with a Carbon Copy delay and voicing the repeats a bit darker makes for an incredible sounding easy to use delay pedal. It might be a one trick pony but it does that trick amazingly well.

MXR Phase 95 mini- If you love phasers or mini pedals then this pedal is for you! The Phase 95 has built in sounds from the Phase 90 and 45 as well as a Script and Modern switch. Still it's super easy to use with one knob. The 45 is a much more subtle sound so if you ever tried a Phase 90 and found it to be to much this might do the trick.

TC Electronic Corona SCF- This limited eddition pedal marks the end of the more expensive SCF pedal made famous by players like Eric Johnson and Paul Gilbert and is revered in studios around the world. But due to sourcing problems the SCF will soon be discontinued. Not to fear the Tone wizards at TC have made those sounds availble via toneprint and loaded them all on this pedal. It sounds heavenly.

I'm also looking forward to TC Electronics new bargain line. 13 pedals priced at $50 available at Guitar Center here in the states. Several of these sound really promising and while the cork sniffers won't like them I imagine I'll be adding these to my budget recommendations rather quickly.

What else did I miss? Let me know

Keeley Neutrino Envelope Filter Review

The Keeley Neutrinio is a envelope filter that is a step above other envelope filters I've played.  I had been looking for an envelope pedal to play with and some of the cheaper brands didn't respond very well to my playing. Making be wonder what the deal with these was. But the Keeley Neutrinio is killer adding in funk and jam band sounds is easy. Getting it to making crazy synth sounds can be a bit trickier but yeah those sounds are in there.

I talk a lot about dynamic playing and there really are two kinds. One is alternating playing soft passages and heavy passages. The other is using your pick attack and volume knob to control how much gain is coming out of the amp. My favorite pedals are the ones who respond to this second type of playing the most. Most drive pedals and tube amps have this to a degree but in the last few years we've seen a plethora of extremely sensitive pedals. My favorite combination for drive pedals is my Zephyr fuzz into an OCD pedal. Both stacked together can sound like your amp is fixing to meltdown but rolling down the volume can give you a beautiful clean tone without switching them off. 

The Neutrinio is a fun and very dynamic pedal. You can switch back and forth between your pick and fingers for more dynamic range. I like to use a brighter pick like a tortex rather than a nylon or herco style pick that has a warmer tone.The more dynamic your pickups the better this pedal is going to work. I find that single coil vintage sounding work best where as hotter focused sounding humbuckers are not as dynamic to begin with. That's not to say you can't have fun with them. People say active EMG's lack dynamics but I had no problems getting the Neutrinio to make all kinds of sounds with mine.

Controls
The controls are very interactive with your guitar. The Peak knob controls how high the wah sound goes. The Range switch emphasizes either the low or high notes while the three way LBH acts as a high or low pass filter to roll off the edges. I find this is particularly important with really bright sounds. The gain knob is the one I move around the most and the final knob to dial in my tone. There is also a side switch which reverses the sweep of the wah, so instead of a "wOw" sound it's more of a "OwwA".

I really like setting up this pedal so that I have to roll the volume back a bit to get it to sound the best. I don't find that I have to fight with it like I have some others and it's highly tweakable to adjust to whatever the situation is. Using this pedal with drive pedals that also respond well to picking dynamics is amazing. One thing that I find fascinating is that you HAVE to control your picking intensity and your volume knob. I think I do a pretty good job with these but I had to really tighten up what I was doing. It forces you to work on different aspects of dynamic playing. So if your looking to work on that aspect of your playing I can't recommend the Keeley Neutrinio enough.

Note: This review was completely unsolicited, I received no compensation for it and all views and opinions are my own.

ADHD Reivews: Keeley Monterey Fuzz Vibe Pt 2

So just a few weeks ago I posted a review of the Keeley Monterey Fuzz Vibe pedal and I wanted to follow it up with a few thoughts. First off it's a really incredible pedal, it's like the pedal that keeps on giving. I keep finding uses for it, new sounds and things I like better about it than other pedals I have. But what about if your not looking for a Hendrix in a box pedal? Or maybe you like the idea of having a Hendrix in a box pedal but the band your in doesn't do a lot of Hendrixian Psychedelica type stuff. Maybe your band has a much more modern vibe... So I figured I'd throw up some of the things I've found it useful for.

1) Massive Attack Teardrop. Using the Vibe and a touch of Octave up I used the Monterey and some finger picking to play the theme song to House. Yeah that one

A little swirly sounds from the @keeleyelectronics #monterey vibe with a touch of octave #teardrop #massiveattack #tonetools

A video posted by @adhd_guitarist on Mar 28, 2016 at 11:00am PDT

2) Big Wreck A Place to Call Home. If you don't know Big Wreck please log on to youtube and look them up. Ian Thornley's tasty chops and sonic landscapes are not the most well know but are very admirable. The beginning of A Place to Call Home has one of the biggest guitar sounds I've ever heard. I was able to get that wall of fuzz sound with just the Monterey fuzz and and some octave.

A little doom and sludge with the @keeleyelectronics #monterey #bigwreck #aplacetocallhome #tonetools #walloffuzz

A video posted by @adhd_guitarist on Apr 3, 2016 at 2:37pm PDT

3) Soundgarden Black Hole Sun. I stumbled upon this sound while playing around with the rotary settings and heard it immediately. I quickly had to remember how to play the song. Probably not surprising that you could use the rotary for that sound but I haven't thought about that song in so long.

Using the rotary on the @keeleyelectronics #monterey for some #blackholesun #tonetools #soundgarden

A video posted by @adhd_guitarist on Apr 4, 2016 at 8:07am PDT

4) Ok I might have gotten some help from the Wampler TripleWreck on this one. A friend of mine brought up the John Sykes band Blue Murder the other day and I use to play this song all the time. I used the Monterey Rotary to add in a touch of chorus. Sure I could have used any chorus but the Monterey has such an organic sound.

@spearlife reminded me about this album yesterday. @wamplerpedals #triplewreck @keeleyelectronics #monterey #tonetools #bluemurder

A video posted by @adhd_guitarist on Apr 4, 2016 at 8:15am PDT

I've added it to the first review but there is also a cocked wah setting on this thing with an adjustable Q. It's like I bought 8 or 9 really great pedals. If you think of it that way I pretty much got all of this for the price of a few Chinese knock off pedals. Money well spent in my opinion. Check it out HERE By the way. I when I post these clips on Instgram I normally follow it up with a picture of the pedal for the settings, if you think you might find that useful follow me there.


This review was completely unsolicited, I received no compensation for it and all views and opinions are my own.

Keeley Monterey Rotary Fuzz Vibe Review

A few weeks ago Robert Keeley announced his idea for a Hendrix in a box pedal. Based around his new Workstation platform than combines a drive section with a very versatile modulation section the Keeley Monterey Rotary Fuzz Vibe tackles the herculean task of recreating the tones of Jimi Hendrix. I say herculean because I think different people hear Hendrix differently which inevitably means some people will be disappointed in this pedal in that it may not sound they way they want it to. More often than not this has more to do with their picking hand than anything else but that is a topic for another post. I digress.

Monterey Workstation

Some time in the early 2000's a legendary pedal was built called the Captain Coconut. It had an authentic Univibe, Fuzz Face, and an Octavia built into it. Throw a wah pedal in front and a cranked Marshall Plexi stack behind it and you had instant Hendrix tones, if you had the chops of course. These legendary pedals have been sought after by collectors. IF your looking for authentic photocells and a perfect Octavia clone stop now, the Monterey is NOT what your looking for! If your looking for a pedal that oozes late 60's psychedelica, is a studio work horse, and sounds freaking amazing read on. 

I'll start by talking about the fuzz, unlike the standard Fuzz Face, this fuzz plays well with buffers. I've used it with active pickups and placed it before and after pedals with buffers and it sounds fantastic. It's extremely dynamic, responding to your volume control and your pick attack. It can sound a little buzzy when turned down but I found the trick is to push the level up to where it is pushing your amp a bit and the buzziness goes away and it starts to get that meltdown apocalypse sound that we all want from a fuzz. Now roll back your volume and it cleans up beautifully. The fuzz also stacks well with other drive pedals, I used it with an OCD, a Tube Screamer and my Zephyr fuzz and it sounded great with all of them. 

Just using the volume knob from clean to scream. #tonetools #hendrix

A video posted by @adhd_guitarist on Mar 7, 2016 at 12:23pm PST

Next is the modulation section. There is three way switch to change between the Wah (harmonic and auto wah), the Vibe and the Rotary. There is also an expression pedal input to control the speed of the rotary and vibe or to act as a wah. I don't currently own an expression pedal but that has now moved up the on my wants and needs list. There is also an octave knob which will blend in an octave up or down. In rotary mode this changes the level of the tweeter in the rotary cabinet. There is also a level knob that blends in the overall effect of modulation. This is extremely useful in the rotary setting where the effect can be overpowering.  

This is a great rig

I'm a lover of all things vibe and phaser related. And I have to say I really love how deep and throby this vibe is. As I said earlier this is not a photocell vibe, it's really a phaser with a tremolo effect which gives a great approximation of a vibe circuit. It has a great sound to it. Do you want to play Pink Floyd's Breath? Perfect. Little Wing? Nailed it. I want to try this with an expression pedal but that will come later. Honestly for Hendrix sounds I can leave on this Vibe setting and throw my wah in front of the pedal and pretty much nail all of the sounds I'm looking for. 

The Wah section is really interesting. The depth knob can change the wah from an auto wah to a harmonic wah to a cocked wah. Once again with the added expression pedal can make this section a normal wah. For the cocked wah, roll the depth knob all the way to the left and use the rate to dial in the Q. The auto wah is pretty great too. It responds great to your picking dynamics and is a lot of fun to play with. But the real find for me was the Harmonic wah effect. I had never played with a harmonic wah effect and it has really blown my mind. I still don't fully understand it but it is crazy cool, it's a very unique sound. You know that sound at the beginning of Burning the Midnight Lamp? Add in a bit of upper octave and your there. This is such and interesting effect that Burgs did an entire video on it all by itself. This pedal is loaded with features.

I'm still loving this pedal. Check the link in my bio for my review. #monterey #hendrix #tonetools #gibsunday #sonex #burningthemidnightlamp

A video posted by @adhd_guitarist on Mar 20, 2016 at 11:02am PDT

The Octave knob is not it's own section and is not an octavia clone. This may bug some purist but I find it very useful. Octavia's are picky about where you play and what your overall tone is like, so they can be very tricky and many people complain that they have a hard time getting that octave up sound out of it. That is not the case with this octave knob. In the center position it is off, roll the knob to the right and you start to blend in an upper octave sound. Roll to the left and you get an octave down setting that is great for thickening the low end of your sound. Just watch your bass players eyes start to roll when you do it. 

The rotary section is more versatile than I thought it would be. It's not as three dimensional as a Strymon Lex but it is very convincing and I love the level knob that blends in your sound. In this mode the octave mode controls blend of the high and low speakers. One of the things I found interesting is that you can slow this down to a really organic chorus sound that doesn't sound metallic or processed like most chorus pedals do. You can even knock the rate down to zero but keep the depth up and get a flanger sound. This maybe the most versatile part of the modulation section. 

a small compact unit

Do you want all of these modulation effect to come before the fuzz? Open up the bottom of the pedal and there is a mini switch to do just that. This opens up a whole different feel and group of sounds on this tiny pedal. It's surprising just how small it is and for many people it has enough different sounds for it to be it's own pedalboard. Throw a delay behind it and a lot of guys could gig with just this and make every song sound different. One thing that is kind of cool is that there are 12 different paint jobs all with a metallic blue finish with art work inspired by Jimi's Monterey strat. You have no idea when you order which style you'll get. The Keeley Monterey is available direct from the Keeley pedals site and at select retailers. 

I keep using the word versatile. In some pedals versatile can be a curse, you have to constantly tweak to get it sound right but on the Monterey I have to say it's difficult to get a bad sound and it's just so easy to work with I felt immediately spoiled when I started playing with it. I've had it a week and I feel like I may have to update this review next month. I just keep finding cool sounds it this box. Check out Pt 2 of this review HERE

This review was completely unsolicited, I received no compensation for it and all views and opinions are my own

Andy Timmons on That Pedal Show

So you guys know what a huge fan of Andy Timmons I am. Daniel at The Gig Rig has started a youtube series called That Pedal Show and his latest installment features Andy Timmons talking about his current state of experimentation. Check it out below




One of the most interesting things to me in this video is that in the beginning he uses the Lonestar's lead sound and then later he uses a Keeley modded Boss Blues Driver, and he sounds almost the same! There are some subtle differences but it really proves the statement Tone is in the Hands. For more about getting Andy's sound check out my post HERE, and for more about my thoughts on the Lonestar my review is HERE. Also give Daniel a follow on youtube as he is a very interesting guy with some serious tone clout.

ADHD thoughts on Clones and Forgeries

Clones vs Forgeries

 It's no secret that a lot of pedal makers have taken Tube Screamer circuits and changed out certain components to achieve a similar, but different sound. They've done the same with Big Muff circuits, Fuzz Face circuits and a host of others. This is taking an idea and adding something that they felt is lacking in the original design or using better components and trying to create a better version of it. It's fun and creative and a lot of pedal builders seem to start off this way, as more and more people become aware of what they are doing. Analogman and Keeley both offer their version of the tweaked Tube Screamer with slightly different sounds than the current reissue. So, if you buy a current reissue TS-9 and would like it sound slightly different you can do the research and send it to someone to tweak.

For the purpose of this discussion I'm going to refer to clones as something where they have copied a circuit often using cheaper components, but are naming it differently and the pedal looks very different than the original. I've talked about the Joyo Ultimate Drive which is a clone of the Fulltone OCD. The parts are cheaper, the battery door doesn't close and I wouldn't expect it to stand up on the road like a Fulltone. I've also read that some of the Joyo pedal clones are closer in sound quality than others.

A forgery on the other hand is made to look identical and may or may not be sold to an unsuspecting buyer as an original. The forgery often uses inferior components and it may sound similar, but is rarely as good the real thing. Once again, I wouldn't expect it hold up if your thinking of touring with it. 

But I know the argument

Several years ago I worked for an artist supply store where we sold a brand of airbrush that was very expensive, at one point one of our sales reps brought us another airbrush that was identical for less than a third of the price. As it turns out, the more expensive brand was having this company build their product for them and now the manufacturer was re-branding it under another name and undercutting them. A lot of our artists were thrilled to have a high quality airbrush for $60 instead of paying the premium price of almost $200.

With a little bit of research you can find instructions for building fuzz pedals for $25 in parts. So, if a pedal builder is doing this and selling it $200 I can see where people would be upset. Visual Sound is a company who make no bones about the fact that their pedals are built overseas, they make a very good sounding and durable product at an affordable price. Most companies buy at least some of their parts overseas because they are not manufactured in the USA.  MXR and EHX both use overseas parts, but do their final assembly and quality testing in the US. Both are very affordable. 

What to look out for

So what about the forgeries? I read a sad story the other day from a dealer who said that a guy brought in his new guitar for a setup. He had just bought what he thought was used, but good condition Gibson Zakk Wylde Bullseye signature guitar off of eBay. It was a fake. This guy had spent a great deal of hard earned money on this guitar and it was not a very well built guitar. These new forgery pedals have the logos and looks and possibly the similar sounds, but are not built well. If you got a great deal on a used Wampler Triple Wreck on eBay only to get it and realize it's not as good as the one your friend has would you be upset? Or worse, if you got one and didn't have one to compare it to and it broke or didn't sound good would you then trash Wampler to your friends? Then talk about what a piece of junk it was? Now, you're hurting an honest guy who has worked hard to build a great business. You might even like the real product. Do you see where this goes? No where good. Nothing good comes of it. Something else I would like to add is that I believe that this happens in the Vintage guitar market more than people would like to admit. If someone can fake a guitar that sells for 30,000 dollars for under $1200 I'm pretty sure someone is doing it. 

It comes down to: know your product, know your supplier, know the return policy, and if a deal looks to good to be true, it probably is. I'd like to add that while we hear a lot of about these awful Chinese companies who are ripping off companies, I think that there are a lot good companies in China who are trying to better their quality and make an honest living. 

Know your product

A Few Things to Think About

A few companies like Lava Cable and VFE pedals make every effort they can to buy quality parts from US manufactures. This of course creates more jobs in the US, but you may have to pay a higher price. It should be noted that both Lava Cable and VFE have more affordable options in their lines that are priced at similar price points to their overseas competitors.

Having a pedal won't make you a better player. I really do believe that the sound of your guitar and amp is the most important thing. If you're not happy with that sound you probably won't be happy when you add in a pedal. If you like to learn and research stuff, there is a lot you can learn about building circuits so can you build a pedal that sounds the way you want. 

I've read a lot of interviews with smaller builders and they often talk about tolerances in electronics. They may specify a certain value in an electronic component but when they receive their shipment they often find that they have to test and sort each little component one by one to find the ones that actually are within acceptable limits. 

 Something else to think about is that if your not supporting the creative people who are creating and designing these products they won't keep doing it if they aren't making a living. They will be forced to go do something else. Most of these guys aren't making a fortune, they are creating a business that supports their families and sometimes a handful of other people. 

I think that there is a market for most of these different types of builders. Whether they are tweaking a circuit, building a clone, or trying to come up with something completely original. If their goal is to provide affordable quality options for real world musicians that is a worthy goal. If their goal is to only buy parts for their products from their home country, whatever that country is, I think that is awesome and patriotic. I personally would like to see more transparency from companies, I appreciate what Visual Sound does, as well as companies like MXR and Wampler and Analogman. But I drawn the line at forgery.