2014 – Two weddings and a funeral…..

Here we go again – not quite “all change” on the pedal front – still more of an evolution!

The Funeral  –

Was for my Jacques Meistersinger – who’s pedal on/off switch broke and I can’t work out how to fix it.  Plus I was already feeling that I needed to get rid of it.

The Two weddings –

Well I’ve “invested” in a….

1. Strymon “Blue Sky” reverb pedal – very studio quality effects, but it has this amazing “shimmer” effect that holds notes for days, can’t wait to try that out at church 🙂

2. The other pedal is a Design Retro Works Ge Fuzz Ace.  Over the years I’ve always felt that I should have a fuzz pedal – but I’ve never found one that I’ve liked, & I’ve tried a few:

Moolon – unremarkable, but looked pretty.

ZVex (Factory and Probe) – Too wacky, and literally only usable once – not a general sound.

Red Witch – wacky and abrasive.

Big Muff – does the “Big Muff” sound – regardless of what you put into it!

Boss – Unremarkable.

This limited edition Germanium Based Fuzz is simply stunning.  Handbuilt in Britain, I have Nø 34 of a strictly limited edition run of 200.  Each part of the pedal feels and is complete quality.  At first I must confess that I turned it on and thought – where’s the fuzz? – because I was expecting the sonic abrasion that the likes of Fuzz Factory etc bring – as I started to play I found what proved to be a very musical fuzz THAT I CAN ACTUALLY USE!

There is plenty of Fuzz, and the guys at DRW do make a more extreme fuzz, but this one’s on my board now.

“I have a fuzz box – and I’m gonna use it!”  🙂

The sequence is now….

  • Guitar >
  • Klotz La Grange Cable with Neutrik plugs >
  • Boss TU-3 Tuner (I like this one now I’ve got used to it!) >
  • Z Vex “Wah Probe” (Still the most intuitive and expressive Wah I’ve found) >
  • Robert Keeley “2 Knob” Compressor (chicken pickin’ sounds to just unbelievable sustain and feedback with driven sounds – otherwise transparent!) >
  • DRW Ge Fuzz Ace (awesome….) >
  • Paul Cochrane “Timmy” Overdrive (Simply awesome range of drive sounds – I use it for a super smooth saturated lead tone with no top end – beautiful and “full phat.”) >
  • Red Witch “Moonphaser” (Beautiful and useful range of very liquid phase/Univibe/Tremolo sounds – it’s totally replaced my Univibe as at least this doesn’t suck tone even when not being used….) >
  • Z Vex “Super Hard On” (Set to the “shimmer” setting at 9 o’clock – the only pedal that’s permanently on…)
  • > AMP (Klotz Cable)
  • Amp FX Send > (Klotz Cable)
  • BBE Sonic Maximiser (The DOOM switch – just makes everything bigger for the moments where you just need to go to “11″)
  • Empress “Superdelay” (Gradually getting used to this, awesome quality, fiddly as anything) >
  • Strymon “Blue Sky” (new toy :)) >
  • TC Electronic “Ditto” looper pedal (simple, effective and great for working out ideas/practicing) >
  • Jim Dunlop VP2 Volume Pedal (Boring – but this way I can drive the effects as hard as I like, drive the amp preamp hard – but still play quietly enough not to scare the neighbours!)
  • > AMP (Klotz Cable).

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