Mixdown June #242 Pedal Special

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al giveaw d e p Welcome to yet another foot stomping Mixdown pedal spectacular! This month we have assembled a simply MASSIVE range of pedals from some of the the newest and most innovative companies. We’ve included some of the biggest JOE HED D WAH P and some of the tiniest, some of A BA OGR AUT ANI BIG ENTER the loudest and most importantly O RI SAT EE P8 T the most useful pedals out there.

S Whether you’re looking to loop, boost, distort, phase or modulate its simply a jungle of choice out there and that’s why our expert team of top-notch guitar boffins have shredded through the wilderness to make your choice as easy as possible. So take some notes, tick some boxes and then head down to your local retailer to plug in, get stomping and hear exactly what we we’re talking about!

HOTONE BLUES OVERDRIVE

RRP: $99

DISTRIBUTION DETAILS: AUSTRALASIAN MUSIC SUPPLIES (03) 9549 1500 www.austmusic.com.au

YAMAHA MUSIC AUSTRALIA (03) 9693 5111 www.yamahabackstage.com.au

ELECTRIC FACTORY (03) 9474 1000 www.elfa.com.au

DOMINANT MUSIC (03) 9873 4333 www.dominantmusic.com.au

JADE AUSTRALIA 1800 144 120 www.jadeaustralia.com.au

HOT APPLE DISTRIBUTION www.hotapple.com.au

AMBER TECHNOLOGY 1800 251 367 www.ambertech.com.au CMC MUSIC (02) 9905 2511 www.cmcmusic.com.au NATIONAL AUDIO SUPPLIES 1800 441 440 www.nationalaudio.com.au

INNOVATIVE MUSIC (03) 9873 4333 www.innovativemusic.com.au NOISE TOYS IMPORTS www.noisetoysimports.com.au UBERSONIC (03) 9580 2060 www.ubersonic.com.au

MOOER BLUES CRAB MICRO SERIES OD

DISTRIBUTOR: NOISE TOYS IMPORTS EFFECT: OVERDRIVE

DISTRIBUTOR: JADE AUSTRALIA EFFECT: OVERDRIVE

RECOMMENDED FOR: Perfect stomp box for guitarists and the odd bass player looking for that classic blues driven spark. It will suit a lot of rock’n’roll genres and any player looking to cut through the mix.

RECOMMENDED FOR: Rock, blues, country, pop and funk. Setups that are pushed for pedalboard real estate or anyone that digs the mini pedal thing.

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: Really loved the classic tube like drive it emulates with it’s crisp clears and big bass wallop when the FAT button is engaged. Surprising how much bass was in such a small unit and especially loved the control of Gain/overdrive, Tone and Volume that you could blend to find your ultimate sound.

USEABILITY: The real bluesy aficionado will love the tweakable options here and even some heavier players will like EQing the right amount of flavour before they engage any heavier distortion pedals and effects. Love it for jamming in a band situation and dialling up some cool solo tones that cut through the mix.

CONSTRUCTION: My god! How Hotone built such a small range of pedals, all well constructed is beyond belief. The Blues is built tough for stomping with its metal chassis and metal foot stopper so you don’t touch the dials and if you do, well they won’t break as they’re built tough too! Weighing in at only 190 grams, don’t let this mini tank fool you, it can take a beating. Daisy-chaining and wall plug power only.

OVERALL: Built small, built tough, built for anyone looking for simple operation and lots of overdrive control. Great useable tones can be pulled here and it’s built with a small pedal footprint in mind. The players pedal, this is killer and I want one!

PG. 36 / MIXDOWN NO. 242 / JUNE 2014

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: As an on the edge of breakup and slightly pushed OD the Blues Crab will definitely appeal to rock and blues players. Handy for a range of gigs you could also run the Crab into a dirty amp or stack with other dirt pedals for extra gain.

USABILITY: Easy to setup and easy to get a nice light OD tone with minimal fuss. The extreme higher settings of the pedal are a little harsh, but overall it’s simple to get a usable crunch with a range of guitars and amps.

CONSTRUCTION: This mini line is small in stature but still feels tough and has no problems with heavier footed stompers.

OVERALL: No battery option (due to its small size) might be a drawback for some. Otherwise the Blues Crab is a handy light to medium gain OD pedal that’s great for adding a little juice to your tone. Plus, the Mini size means it’ll squash into a tight pedalbaord or fit in your gigbag/pocket for carrying to rehearsals, gigs and jams.

RRP: $89

JET CITY ‘GUITARSLINGER’ OVERDRIVE RRP: $99

MXR FET DRIVER

DISTRIBUTOR: AMBER TECHNOLOGY EFFECT: OVERDRIVE

DISTRIBUTOR: AUSTRALASIAN MUSIC SUPPLIES EFFECT: OVERDRIVE

RECOMMENDED FOR: Rock, metal, blues, pop, punk, indie and players needing to add some grit to their clean sound or thicken up an already distorted tone.

RECOMMENDED FOR: Guitarists looking to recreate the feel and response of a cranked tube amp–be it clean or dirty–at a low volume, or those who want some extra character from a loud amp.

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: Rounded and boosty through to crunchy this pedal is great for adding some edge to your tone or driving a dirty amp. The gain and volume controls work nicely together whilst the bright switch can add some high range definition if you really need to cut through the mix.

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: From punchy tube-like cleans to big fat overdriven roar, this pedal can do all sorts of great boutique sounds, with beautiful sustain and a nice interactive response. And when you use it in front of a cranked tube amp you’ll get incredible overtones and clarity.

USEABILITY: With dedicated high and low tone controls and a treble cut switch, there’s plenty of soundsculpting capability on offer, and unlike some treble switches out there, this one has a very noticeable and positive effect on your tone.

USABILITY: Suited to a range of uses and easy to get started with. I like to set the pedal close to my original tone (the bypassed signal) and then tweak for a little extra grit and volume when the pedal is engaged.

CONSTRUCTION: Keeping in line with the other Jet City range the look this pedal has vintage stylings and a tough casing for plenty of stomping abuse.

OVERALL: A warm sounding OD pedal that can do the blues thing or the more classic rock and metal tones with humbuckers and single coils.

CARL MARTIN AC-TONE

RRP: $289

RRP: $209

CONSTRUCTION: A typically road-worthy MXR pedal.

These guys make their pedals to last, and everything from the footswitch to the treble cut button feels reliable.

OVERALL: A great pedal for those who appreciate the subtleties in their tone, whether clean or dirty–and a real eye-opener when you’re playing through a really loud amp, because its character remains intact even at extreme volume levels.

CARL MARTIN PLEXI TONE

DISTRIBUTOR: INNOVATIVE MUSIC EFFECT: OVERDRIVE

DISTRIBUTOR: INNOVATIVE MUSIC EFFECT: OVERDRIVE

RECOMMENDED FOR: This is the pedal you need on your board when you want a compact VOX-like tone in your arsenal without the larger version of the pedal or even a VOX amplifier in your rig.

RECOMMENDED FOR: For anyone after a gold coloured pedal, or alternatively the sound of a Marshall Plexi crammed into a little box, then this is the unit for you.

That classic Marshall gold colour is matched by the classic Marshall tone, added to any amp you like.

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: This is a really great VOX style overdrive bundled into a little box. It doesn’t quite give you that VOX chime in a clean sound, but isn’t trying to either.

It is all about that pushed AC sound where you get a VOX breaking up nicely. The Cut feature allows you to trim back the high frequencies just like the Tone Cut control on an AC amp, making it a really friendly sound at higher volumes.

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: The sound is designed to be just like a Plexi in a box. What you get is perhaps something slightly more like a JTM45, with a darker bottom end. The higher frequencies are rolled off a little too, so you don’t quite get that brittle sound that can peel the skin off your face.

USEABILITY: Well, this is one of the easiest pedals to get a great VOX tone out of, as the name suggests. Get the level right to work with your amp, then slowly wind up the drive to the desired amount and you’re good!

USEABILITY: It is pretty easy to get your head around this pedal. Treat it like a simple amp and dial in the gain you want, and then roll back the tone to balance it out with your amp. That said, it sounds great when you run the drive lower and just set the volume flat out, pushing your own amp in the process.

CONSTRUCTION: This compact pedal is housed in a tough little casing that will take just about anything you throw at it. A firm switch and good, smooth pots all suggest you are going to get plenty of years of use from the AC-TONE.

CONSTRUCTION: Like all the other compact pedals available from Carl Martin, this is a simple design that doesn’t offer much to go wrong on the outside. Stand on it all you like and I doubt you will do it any harm.

OVERALL: There are all number of overdrive pedals out there, but few capture a specific sound quite like this one does. For its intended purpose, it is right on the money, plus it carries a smaller footprint than the original Pro Series model.

BLACKSTAR LT DRIVE

OVERALL: I love the colour of this pedal and I love the tone too. The fact that it isn’t quite as aggressive as I originally thought it may be was a real plus, making it more usable in a wider range of setups.

RRP: $99

BLACKSTAR LT-DUAL

DISTRIBUTOR: NATIONAL AUDIO SYSTEMS EFFECT: OVERDRIVE

DISTRIBUTOR: NATIONAL AUDIO SYSTEMS EFFECT: OVERDRIVE

RECOMMENDED FOR: Rock, blues, metal and indie players wanting a warm, classic type overdrive.

RECOMMENDED FOR: Players who need a lot of variety, from smooth overdrives for blues and rock, to all-out distorted mayhem for whatever else they can conjure up.

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: Round and warm on lower gain settings through to more shreddy lead tones. I did keep the Tone control below 12 o’clock most of the time but it’s definitely not bright or brittle. Enough gain to please rock players but it can also do the subtle thing for more relaxed sounds.

USABILITY: Three knobs–Gain, Level and Tone. Simple to get a usable sound almost instantly, then you can twiddle and really get the LT Drive zoned in for your specific setup.

CONSTRUCTION: Part of Blackstar’s LT series the LT drive is a smaller pedal size then some of their other offerings meaning its slightly more pedal board friendly but still built tough!

OVERALL: Blackstar now offer quite the range in amps and their pedals are heading the same way. I like the smaller form factor but more importantly the LT Drive sounds good. Light and smoky right through to shred, it’ll satisfy quite a lot of players in quite a lot of styles.

RRP: $209

RRP: $199

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: With plenty of low end, this pedal is great for getting some extra oomph out of single coils. And because it has two channels it’s very versatile, from smooth overdrives to harsh, edgy distortion.

Probably the best pedal in the LT range.

USEABILITY: The control layout can be a bit confusing at first–two gain controls and two channel levels but with shared tone and ISF controls–but it soon starts to make sense.

CONSTRUCTION: The layout does feel a little cramped and confusing at first. It looks very clean but perhaps there could have been a more intuitive way to lay out the controls: a gain and level on each side with the tone controls in the middle, for instance.

OVERALL: A great all-rounder with plenty of flexibility so you can use it for different types of gigs, or to cover a whole cover band set’s worth of sounds without much fuss.

JUNE 2014 / MIXDOWN NO. 242 / PG. 37

OGRE TUBEHOLIC OVERDRIVE

RRP: $229

VOX TONE GARAGE STRAIGHT 6 DRIVE RRP: $219

DISTRIBUTOR: UBERSONIC EFFECT: OVERDRIVE

DISTRIBUTOR: YAMAHA MUSIC AUSTRALIA EFFECT: OVERDRIVE

RECOMMENDED FOR: Believe it or not this pedal has a lot of different uses and you could easily find yourself playing blues riffs or alternative rock as well as the heavier genres that you would expect a pedal that looks like this to be suited to. Also recommended for those who believe in aliens, robots, and alien robots.

RECOMMENDED FOR: Blues, funk, rock, pop, country. Players after an overdrive pedal that can do cleanish boosted through to gainier tones.

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: Love the 12AX7 that really drives the sound and gives it that unique VOX voicing. Really versatile for creating original sounds and finding familiar ones.

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: This is a surprisingly smooth-sounding overdrive which would definitely please vintage tone hounds, despite its ultra-futuristic look. There’s a simultaneous smoothness and fatness to the tone, and when you use it as a boost on a distorted amp you’ll get a really pleasant midrange ‘honk.’

USABILITY: Easy to dial in a usable broken tone almost instantly. You can then tweak to find that sweet spot thanks to the Bass and Tone controls (and Bright switch) if you’ve got an overly dark sounding setup.

CONSTRUCTION: Green in colour, the Straight 6 again emphasises VOX’s tube design with the 12AX7 firmly front and centre. The whole pedal feels solid and it’s an interesting concept adding the ‘standby’ switch on the front of the pedal.

USEABILITY: The controls themselves are easy to use but carefully hidden underneath a sliding cover that forms the forehead of the face, while you step on the lower part of the face to engage the effect.

CONSTRUCTION: An extremely well-built pedal, both stylistically and structurally. Everything makes sense, and the controls themselves feel very reliable. In a way it’s a shame it looks so out-there because the looks might turn off some players who would love the tone.

OVERALL: A really great overdrive that transcends its love-it-or-hate-it looks to really reveal itself as a powerful sonic tool regardless of your musical style.

RADIAL TONEBONE TRIMODE DISTORTION

RRP: $479

OVERALL: There are plenty of boosty/OD pedals in the world ranging from next to nothing to exorbitant prices. The Straight 6 is a tasty little green number that won’t render you broke but will give you some nice bluesy, rocky overdrive tones if you’re still on your OD quest!

MC SYSTEMS LHR DYNAMIC DISTORTION

DISTRIBUTOR: AMBER TECHNOLOGY EFFECT: CLASSIC DISTORTION

DISTRIBUTOR: CMC MUSIC AUSTRALIA EFFECT: DISTORTION

RECOMMENDED FOR: Rock, metal, blues, punk, medium to low gain kinda guys and players wanting a tweakable distortion pedal from a high quality company.

RECOMMENDED FOR: Distortion junkies, bluesrockers who want different levels of crunch and scream for rhythm and lead, or pro players who need a lot of tone without a lot of hassle, buttons and LCD screens.

RRP: $245

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: The tone control gives you a really nice range of sounds from smooth to scratchy, and there’s plenty of scope for gain-shaping, from a light Stones-y overdrive to full on hairy distortion.

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: Clean, pushed, boosted, edgy, chunky, fat and thick gain can be achieved here. The TriMode has a tonne of tones in its arsenal and the scope to tweak to your heart’s content!

USABILITY: With quite a few settings, switches and the ability to switch between two distortion channels and your bypassed tone there is some tweaking and setting up involved but once you work it out it’s a cinch. The actual pedal size and 15 volt requirements will be off putting to some..

CONSTRUCTION: Like anything Radial the Trimode is a serious tank. Steely, tough and well laid out it looks like you could run a truck over it for fun.

OVERALL: Forget about the size and the power supply and you’ve got a seriously good sounding distortion pedal. The ability to set two independent sounds is great and the ‘Top End’, ‘Mid Boost’ and ‘Drive Gain’ switches make for an impressive range of tones. Killer!

USEABILITY: The V-Switch lets you select different distortion levels according to how hard you stomp on the pedal, and this is a very handy and intuitive feature.

Even cooler though is the Alternate switch which lets you select between two different tone settings. Have a bright one for rhythm and a fatter one for lead, for instance.

CONSTRUCTION: A nice strong pedal which takes up the perfect amount of space on your board: big enough to deal with the interactive nature of the stomping it requires you to perform, and small enough that you can fit a bunch of other MC Systems pedals on your board too.

OVERALL: A really unique, interesting and adaptable pedal, not just for its tone but also for the way it encourages you to access that tone. There are plenty of distortions which let you select between two different levels of gain but switching between different tone settings is so much more rare, and yet so much more important in a lot of cases.

MOOER SPARK SERIES DISTORTION

RRP: $99

BLACKSTAR HT DUAL VALVE DISTORTION

DISTRIBUTOR: JADE AUSTRALIA EFFECT: DISTORTION

DISTRIBUTOR: NATIONAL AUDIO SYSTEMS EFFECT: DISTORTION

RECOMMENDED FOR: Rock, classic metal, blues and pop. Players after a vintage sounding distortion.

RECOMMENDED FOR: Rock and metal players wanting some switching flexibility for two dirty settings. Handy for live use or with single channel amps.

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: Great for clean-ish boost and medium gain. Classic rock tones with some edge that respond well to both single coils and humbuckers.

USABILITY: Switch in the dead centre on top and 3 dials and a button on the front edge near the input/output. Simple.

CONSTRUCTION: Keeping with the compact theme but using a different shape the Spark series are square in shape, about 5.5 cms on each side and about 3cms high. Still uber compact, the controls on the front can be a touch fiddly but nothing to turn you off the pedal.

OVERALL: I was really suprised with the Spark Distortion–nice bite and chime without getting too fizzy or mushy. Low to mid settings were my favourite and it seriously competes with a heap of better known pedals that are three times the price and three times the size!

RRP: $349

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: Between the two channels you can find your perfect amp tone, use Channel 1 as a clean, boosted or overdriven sound and then add Channel 2 for more saturated tones. Plenty of tweakability and with a real tube in the pedal, the tube enthusiasts will be satisfied.

USABILITY: The control setup mirrors most amps so you can’t go wrong getting your initial tones. The stacked Gain and Level knobs cater for both Channel 1 and 2 and the switching setup means Channel 2 takes over from 1 when engaged and vice versa, you don’t have to take off one and engage the other.

CONSTRUCTION: Big and tough the HT Dual is one tough pedal. The 22v DC requirements might cause headaches for some pedalboard users but thumbs up to Blackstar for including a power supply in the package at no extra cost.

OVERALL: Two extra channels with your existing amp that sound great and have a tonne of tonal flexibility.

PG. 38 / MIXDOWN NO. 242 / JUNE 2014

BLACKSTAR LT-DIST

RRP: $129

VOX TONE GARAGE V8 DISTORTION

DISTRIBUTOR: NATIONAL AUDIO SYSTEMS EFFECT: DISTORTION

DISTRIBUTOR: YAMAHA MUSIC AUSTRALIA EFFECT: DISTORTION

RECOMMENDED FOR: Anyone who needs a straightforward analog distortion pedal with good soundsculpting capabilities with a minimum of extra features to complicate things.

RECOMMENDED FOR: Rock, classic metal, shredders or those wanting hi gain sounds in a pedal with actual tube tone thanks to a 12AX7 preamp tube.

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: Like most pedals from this range, the LT-DIST smashes out a huge amount of low end, so you need to factor this in. This pedal skews toward heavier distortion sounds rather than rich overdrives, with an emphasis on powerful mids and lows with plenty of compression and saturation.

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: Although it cleans up reasonably well the V8 is indeed focussed on higher gain rock tones with plenty of energy and bite. The Gain control takes you from chunk through to saturated distortion for big solo tones, squeally harmonics and burning rhythm sounds.

USEABILITY: The patented ISF control lets you veer from UK to US sounds and anywhere in between, and it’s fun to explore different ISF settings in conjunction with the tone control. Other than that it’s set-and-forget.

USABILITY: Volume, Bass, Tone (with a mid shift on/off toggle switch) and Gain controls are easy to navigate.

CONSTRUCTION: The construction here is very tough and roadworthy, although the ISF control makes such a difference across its whole arc that it’s a shame it doesn’t have numbered increments.

CONSTRUCTION: The black finish is very rock and the back lit tube section and casing seem solid and up to some extended stomping.

Slightly bigger than some common pedal sizes but still smaller than a lot of others!

OVERALL: A good distortion for those who need heavier tones but aren’t necessarily concerned about ultrascooped death tone. A good choice for those in singleguitar bands who want to be heard.

BLACKSTAR LT-METAL

OVERALL: Great to see VOX incorporating real tube tone into the V8 Distortion pedal. More angled towards vintage tones you can create on the edge breakup right through to sweet singing sustain.

RRP: $149

HOTONE WHIP DISTORTION

DISTRIBUTOR: NATIONAL AUDIO SYSTEMS EFFECT: HEAVY METAL DISTORTION

DISTRIBUTOR: NOISE TOYS IMPORTS EFFECT: HEAVY METAL DISTORTION

RECOMMENDED FOR: Metal players, pretty much exclusively, especially those who use extended range instruments such as baritone or 7 and 8-string guitars.

RECOMMENDED FOR: You like to shred, slay and leave your audience in ear bleeding dismay? Well, this hardcore Whip heavy metal distortion is for you, perfect for any guitarist wanting skater thrash to aggressive heavy dirty sounds in a small unit.

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: The sound isn’t very versatile outside of the scope of metal tones, but within it you’ll find thrash, djent, shred and heavy rock tones with a huge amount of low end–in fact this thing pumps out so much bass that you have to work around it with your amp’s bass knob, because the pedal will only let you tame it so much.

USEABILITY: Volume, Tone and Gain. Built by one thrasher for another. Simple, easy to use and controller friendly.

CONSTRUCTION: This is a very tough pedal, and it’s also very compact. The none-more-black construction certainly reinforces its metal pedigree, and you can pack a bunch of these smaller Blackstar pedals onto a board comfortably.

CONSTRUCTION: Well built, looks evil in black and red and although small in appearance, it packs a punch in tone. Good idea having the pedal bar on this one as I can imagine the player of this pedal will like to stomp down often and hard.

OVERALL: A good choice for those who want an aggressive, extremely bass-heavy metal tone, but not for players who need a lot of variety and nuance. Some players will love it but if you don’t spend all your time on 10, there are other Blackstar pedals that will suit you.

OVERALL: Pretty great metal sounds for the price, easily controlled and will really add that spark to your playing. Not at the top of the metal pedal line, but a useable sound and overall evil effect for the price.

RRP: $229

MC SYSTEMS BWI DYNAMIC FUZZ

DISTRIBUTOR: UBERSONIC EFFECT: HEAVY METAL DISTORTION

DISTRIBUTOR: CMC MUSIC AUSTRALIA EFFECT: FUZZ

RECOMMENDED FOR: Heavier styles. Definitely heavier styles. But not necessarily those where you want to be on 10 all the time. Certainly stuff that’s humbucker-driven and maybe tuned down.

RECOMMENDED FOR: Fuzz fans looking for something that keeps up with their performance, whether you play vintage rock, modern alternative, industrial or stoner rock.

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: This is a very heavysounding distortion and yet there’s a wide and very noticeable range of different distortion textures found along all points of the gain knob’s travel.

It sounds as good on 2 as it does on 10, and it handles low tunings really, really well. It’s capable of some nice overdrive tones too, especially more crunchy ones.

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: A truly versatile fuzz with a nice wide range of fat and edgy tones, responding very intuitively to your picking strength or pickup selection, especially with vintage-output single coil pickups.

USEABILITY: The knobs are actually the horns on the top of this demonic little butter’s head, and at first it’s a little bit disorienting trying to turn them, but it very quickly makes sense.

RRP: $99

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: Heavy distorted, metallic tones through to gritty, dark, overtones with balls of steel to match. Can look after pretty much all the harsher genres and when dialled right back be used for great lead lines in your rock bands. Hit the EDGE button and you’ll get a scream of boosted tone and top end.

USEABILITY: Backstar’s patented ISF knob gives you plenty of scope to go from fat and squawking lead tones to jagged, aggressive thrash rhythms, but a little more control over the low end would be good.

OGRE THUNDERCLAP DISTORTION

RRP: $219

RRP: $245

USEABILITY: You can set up different fuzz levels depending on how hard you stomp this pedal, which is lots of fun, while there are also two separate boost levels which let you hit your amp harder or softer, or select different volume levels for rhythm and lead. Clever!

CONSTRUCTION: It looks like a gimmick pedal but this monster is made very strongly indeed. It’s quite heavy to hold, and it feels like it’ll take a beating.

CONSTRUCTION: A very well-built pedal. Like all pedals in the range which are constructed in basically the same way, the designers know you’re going to be stomping on this bad boy pretty hard.

OVERALL: A really great-sounding overdrive and distortion which has had as much thought and care put into its tonal voicing as its impossibly cool looks.

OVERALL: Unique in all of fuzz-dom, this pedal does all sorts of things that other simply can’t do, by becoming a part of your performance and by encouraging you to play with it rather than through it and it sounds great.

JUNE 2014 / MIXDOWN NO. 242 / PG. 39

MOOER TRIANGLE BUFF MICRO FUZZ

RRP: $89

HOTONE FURY FUZZ

DISTRIBUTOR: JADE AUSTRALIA EFFECT: FUZZ

DISTRIBUTOR: NOISE TOYS IMPORTS EFFECT: FUZZ

RECOMMENDED FOR: Punk, rock, indie, blues as well as experimental, ambient, soundscape vibes.

RECOMMENDED FOR: Ideal for the guitarist or bass player who wants an easy to use fuzz effect that saves space on the pedal board. Blues rock, heavy rock sluggers and garage musos will love the versatility in tone it can dial up.

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: With plenty of level on tap you’re going to have plenty of volume to be heard with the Triangle Buff.

Thick and woolly with hints of creamy sustain, you can do the super sustain thing and work the tone control for harsher raspy tones.

RRP: $99

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: Can pull a classic Jeff Beck/ Yardbirds type fuzz tone while being both powerful when needed and then smooth as silk when desired. Controlling the gain of fuzz you can box it in or let it out and sing which when blended with the tone knob is really inspiring. The PUSH button is super cool and injects a harsher overtone to your signal like that of a ‘2000 Pound Bee’ being unleashed

by The Ventures – pioneers of the fuzz tone, check em out!

USABILITY: Great as an alternative to OD and distortion this Mooer Fuzz can thicken lead lines or add some craziness to bigger musical moments. Although it might take a little playing to work out exactly where it’ll fit it’s a nice effect to call on from time to time.

CONSTRUCTION: This mini line is small in stature but still feels tough and has no problems with heavier footed stompers.

USEABILITY: Simple three dials and a PUSH button to add all the grit you desire. I think this effect works best in garage rock bands, more so as a rhythm effect than a straight up lead sound. But each to their own and regardless how you use it, it will certainly cut through the mix with its unique and tweakable voicing.

OVERALL: Living on the smoother edge of fuzz town the Triangle Buff could be a good inexpensive option if its your first journey into the Fuzz world. Reacting differently to various pedals, pickups and general setups it’s a fun pedal that can keep you entertained for hours.

CONSTRUCTION: Don’t let the purple colour fool you, it’s bright so stomp on it more. Built tough like the whole Skyline Series range the fury is housed in an all mental casing and weighs an impressive 190 grams.

OVERALL: Wax on or wax off, this fuzz pedal will have you slaying d down that h cooll ffuzzy tone llike k a ninja!

Lots of useable and quality sounding fuzz effect in a saturated and fuzzy market, makes this version very cool indeed.

VOX TONE GARAGE TRIKE FUZZ

RRP: $199

RED WITCH LILY BOOST

DISTRIBUTOR: YAMAHA MUSIC AUSTRALIA EFFECT: FUZZ

DISTRIBUTOR: DOMINANT MUSIC EFFECT: BOOST

RECOMMENDED FOR: Rock, punk, pop, electro, ambient, indy, dance, experimental, soundtracks and those wanting special effects with some added synthy, glitchy goodness.

RECOMMENDED FOR: This is the clean boost that everyone is looking for. It’s perfect for the guitar player with very little room to spare on the pedal board. Especially good for those who want long life operation without a power supply.

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: More of an octa fuzz pedal the Trike Fuzz can do 70s psychedelic speaker splatter type tones but octave based wildness is really where it excels. Octaves +1 or -1 and -2 mean you can get down dirty for RATM kind of whizzy, buzz saw low end or computer glitch up the octave for anything from Satriani to Radiohead.

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: With just Pre and Post controls, the Lily Boost tries to do very little to your signal but get it louder for you. There isn’t too much noticeable gain increase, it just gets your level up to make your solo stand out, or allow you to drive your amp a little harder.

USEABILITY: These compact pedals from Red Witch feature a rechargeable lithium ion battery, so they can operate without a power supply for a good length of time. You just need to give them a charge every now and then as needed.

USABILITY: Easy to start getting wild with but will take a bit of experimenting to see where the Trike Fuzz will fit into your setup. In fact it’s the kind of pedal that you’d love presets for as there are a number of settings that I really dug wanted to switch between.

CONSTRUCTION: The first thing everyone notices with these pedals is the way the Pre pot makes a cracking sound as you adjust it. This isn’t a fault, but part of the design, so when you think you’ve found something wrong with Lily, you find out she is just fine.

CONSTRUCTION: Orange and vibey the Trike Fuzz will stand out on a board with its bright finish and fat menacing tones.

OVERALL: As a single unit, or as part of a collection of Seven Sisters pedals, the Lily Boost is a great addition to any setup where needed. It is compact, clean and very well priced in a market that really doesn’t have a huge range of quality clean boost pedals these days.

OVERALL: Another seriously cool pedal from this new VOX ‘Tone Garage’ range. Wild, woolly and synthy all in one package.

ONE CONTROL GRANITH GREY BOOSTER

RRP: $175

BLACKSTAR LT BOOST

DISTRIBUTOR: HOT APPLE DISTRIBUTION EFFECT: BOOST

DISTRIBUTOR: NATIONAL AUDIO SYSTEMS EFFECT: BOOST

RECOMMENDED FOR: Rock, blues, jazz, pop, metal, country, funk and indie players–almost any style. Handy for players wanting an easy to use, small sized boost pedal.

RECOMMENDED FOR: Rock, blues, jazz, country, pop and metal player as well as anyone looking for a clean booster with EQ options for adding volume to their fundamental tone or even those just wanting to push their distorted amp a little further.

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: Clean and punchy this booster will increase your signal by up to 30dB and can push your existing tone or add to a slightly broken or dirty amp for some extra gain. Great for a range of styles thanks to its tone and small size.

USABILITY: It doesn’t get much simpler–Input/Output, On/Off switchs and Level control.

CONSTRUCTION: In a silvery, grey casing the aptly named ‘Granith Grey’ Booster feels tough as nails and looks hip too. In a micro sized form it’ll fit onto boards with ease and is handy as an extra pedal in the gig bag to call on when needed.

OVERALL: Designed by famed pedal guru BJF, the Granith Grey Booster does its job beautifully. Clean and responsive it can add extra oopmh to single coils and just add to your palette when emphasising certain tones or passages.

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: I first tried to match my clean/direct tone and got quite close which I could then boost with the Gain control. Depending on your guitar you can then also shape the EQ to cut through a mix during solos or max the Gain control to add some bite and edge.

USABILITY: A handy pedal the LT Boost isn’t designed to radically alter your tone but to add some oomph and open up options for louder sections, solos or juicing up your amp that little but further. Added EQ controls give you some tonal control for added flexibility.

CONSTRUCTION: Another smaller form factor offering from the LT range this bright blue pedal looks built to last.

OVERALL: Boost pedals are often overlooked but can be a real godsend for livening up your rig or adding that hint of extra headroom when you can’t work your volume pot.

Clean or edgy the LT Boost sounds good and is much cheaper than a lot of others on the market.

PG. 40 / MIXDOWN NO. 242 / JUNE 2014

RRP: $159

RRP: $99

STRYMON OB1

RRP: $299

VOX TONE GARAGE FLAT 4 BOOST

DISTRIBUTOR: NOISE TOYS IMPORTS EFFECT: COMPRESSOR AND CLEAN BOOST

DISTRIBUTOR: YAMAHA MUSIC AUSTRALIA EFFECT: BOOST

RECOMMENDED FOR: Country, pop, rock, roots, studio or live players.

RECOMMENDED FOR: Rock, pop, funk, jazz, blues, country and acoustic setups.

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: As a compressor you can go from subtle tightening to super squish. Good with single coils for funk lines or country twang and humbuckers. It will add some bounce and sponge to clean tones or fatter overdrive sounds. Quite transparent at lighter settings and then more in your face as you ramp up the level of comp.

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: I started with trying to match my clean amp tone when engaged (essentially flat) and then just boost a little for which I was very pleasantly suprised. Remaining clean and dynamic it sounded great as a ‘little more volume but keeping my tone’ pedal. There is also the option of maxing the gain and rolling back the volume for some edgy breakup too.

USABILITY: With a two in one type setup you benefit from having a compressor with plenty of flexibility and then a clean boost built in.

The Boost Level control and Treble, Mid or Flat switch is also super handy for targeting certain frequencies for some extra enhancement.

USABILITY: Great as a clean boost that does a good job of retaining your fundamental tone firstly. Then you can tweak for more gain, fatter, thinner or even less volume as a tone shaper when swapping between humbuckers and single coils. Plenty of options here.

CONSTRUCTION: Anodized aluminium chassis and super lightweight, Strymon have made these smaller form pedals tough and easy to handle. They look great, have top mounted jacks which makes them smaller than you think (as no patch cables popping out the sides) and use premium components all round.

CONSTRUCTION: Keeping with the VOX ‘Tone Garage’ look but this time in yellow, the Flat 4 is tough and robust like it’s compatriots and the controls and EQ seem well thought out and responsive.

OVERALL: Great as a standalone compressor. Add the boost function and you’ve got a pedal that could replace a couple of your existing pedals with ease.

JIM DUNLOP ECHOPLEX PRE AMP

RRP: $229

OVERALL: Clean and punchy through to warm and edgy, an awesome pedal for the kit.

EDEN WTDI WORLD TOUR BASS PREAMP

DISTRIBUTOR: AUSTRALASIAN MUSIC SUPPLIES EFFECT: PREAMP

DISTRIBUTOR: ELECTRIC FACTORY EFFECT: BASS PREAMP/DI

RECOMMENDED FOR: Boutique tone-hounds looking for a way to add some extra mojo to their sound without spending the equivalent of a new car.

RECOMMENDED FOR: Player of rock, funk and pop at home in the studio or out live as a compact backup rig or for those wanting some extra tonal shaping possibilities for their bass setup.

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: This pedal is basically the preamp section of the famous Echoplex EP-3 delay unit (note that this is not a delay/echo, it just mimics the distinctive preamp section). It sweetens up your tone and adds more complex harmonic overtones, and will interact with a tube preamp in a truly beautiful way.

RRP: $219

RRP: $189

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: With a 3 band EQ and Bass boost and mid shift buttons you get plenty of EQ spectrum to work with. Then the ability to add Gain, Compression, Enhance (which adds low end, upper mids and highs and drops some low mids) and you’ve got a great sounding, super versatile pedal.

USEABILITY: It looks simple but there’s no end to the ways you can use it. There’s just one knob but the range of tones you can use it for – from sweetening your clean sound to punching up your distortion – is limitless.

CONSTRUCTION: It’s built in a very sturdy way and the ‘chicken-head’ gain knob makes it easy to see where it’s set when you’re playing a show. It’d be nice to have an easily accessible battery compartment though.

USABILITY: Whilst sharing the Eden bass amp aesthetics the WTDI also lends a familiar amp type layout that most players will relate to instantly.

Easy to get up and running and then plenty of features to stretch your imagination.

OVERALL: This thing is suitable for all genres, from adding punch to country licks to smothering death metal with overtone-laden saturated goodness.

Whatever you play, you’ll find a way to make this pedal bring out your best.

CONSTRUCTION: Rock solid yet still super compact the WTDI is easy enough to put in a gig bag and won’t take up much pedal board space yet tough enough to handle almost anything.

OVERALL: Very much in the Eden look and style the WTDI is a serious pedal that can play a number of roles–tone shaper, DI, preamp, studio tool, live backup rig and much more.

MXR UNI-VIBE

RRP: $239

MC SYSTEMS LAX GLASS CHORUS

DISTRIBUTOR: AUSTRALASIAN MUSIC SUPPLIES EFFECT: CHORUS/VIBRATO

DISTRIBUTOR: CMC MUSIC AUSTRALIA EFFECT: CHORUS

RECOMMENDED FOR: Blues, classic rock, indie, alternative, space-rock, Pink Floyd fans, Hendrix lovers, space cadets… anyone who wants to add a sense of depth, movement and undulation to their guitar sound.

RECOMMENDED FOR: Anyone looking for a way to add some nice chorus to their guitar sound, but moreover also players who like to experiment and aren’t content with ‘set-and-forget’ chorus pedals.

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: The Uni-Vibe conjures swirling chorus-vibrato effects that are unlike anything that you would think of when someone says the words ‘chorus’ or ‘vibrato.’ It’s an undulating, flickering, moving, living sonic entity. This pedal sounds iconic.

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: A nice rich chorus effect which is equally at home on Andy Summersstyle clean tones, Alex Lifeson-esque overdrives or Steve Vai-like leads. And the switchable settings make it very versatile and adaptable to specific songs in a way that other chorus pedals simply aren’t.

USEABILITY: Some Uni-Vibe iterations can be quite feature-heavy and while they give you minute control over the effect, it can be overwhelming. The MXR UniVibe strips the controls down to a very functional set of features–Level, Depth, Speed and a Vibe button–that makes it easy to get a great tone.

RRP: $245

USEABILITY: The V-Switch gives you access to two different levels of chorus depth, while the Alternate switch lets you vary between two different modulation rates.

CONSTRUCTION: Typical ‘run it over with a tank and it’ll probably keep working’ MXR construction, and a small pedalboard footprint.

CONSTRUCTION: You can probably hammer a nail into a plank or some sense into your drummer with this very solidly-constructed pedal.

OVERALL: This is one of those great overlooked effects that can add some serious psychedelic beauty to your music, especially if you lean towards vintage or simply weird, left-of-centre sounds.

OVERALL: A cool new take on the way we control chorus effects, taking it from a generally passive ‘turn it on and let it go’ type of effect into an active, real-time-controllable one that can become a part of your composition. Very clever.

JUNE 2014 / MIXDOWN NO. 242 / PG. 41

EDEN I-90 BASS CHORUS PEDAL

RRP: $169

STRYMON OLA

DISTRIBUTOR: ELECTRIC FACTORY EFFECT: BASS CHORUS

DISTRIBUTOR: NOISE TOYS IMPORTS EFFECT: CHORUS AND VIBRATO

RECOMMENDED FOR: Bass players wanting a classic, straight ahead foray into the world of effects.

RECOMMENDED FOR: Rock, pop, metal, funk, indie, roots, live, studio and players after a high quality chorus and vibrato pedal with plenty of power and tweakability.

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: Push the Depth and Mix controls for a airy, big vibe or increase the Speed to get warbly, watery sounds. The Speed, Depth and Mix work well together and the Low Cut is handy for targeting some extra frequencies.

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: Strymon really have done well with getting an analog feel and tone here with classic light 80s chorus sounds. Plenty of space and air–great on 2nd and 4th position on a strat. Thicker warbly sounds and big lush over-the-top type effects are also possible. Head into Vibrato world and you’ve got that head spinning, sea sick tone that’s been a favourite in the guitar world for years.

USABILITY: Simple operation and easy to navigate with 4 controls across the front, in/outs on the left and right and an on/ off switch (with status LED) smack bang in the middle.

CONSTRUCTION: Another pedal built like a tank from Eden. Great quality from a well regarded Bass brand. The only slight drawback is the 15v requirements. Thumbs up to the included power supply.

OVERALL: Classic chorus tones from subtle to the quite crazy. Quiet operation, solid build and good tones. Really can’t fault this intuitive design and build from Eden.

TC ELECTRONIC TRINITY

RRP: $299

USABILITY: Another example of lots of power packed into one pedal that doesn’t result in something completely overwhelming. Flick between effect types and mode, set your sound and the effect mix (with your original signal) and you’re away.

CONSTRUCTION: The layout is easy to work out and the inclusion of a Favourite switch lets you save a preset which is super handy!

OVERALL: A great sounding chorus and vibrato pedal that would stand up to live and studio use for a wide range of sounds and musical settings.

CARL MARTIN HEADROOM

DISTRIBUTOR: AMBER TECHNOLOGY EFFECT: REVERB

DISTRIBUTOR: INNOVATIVE MUSIC EFFECT: REVERB

RECOMMENDED FOR: Rock, pop, country, funk, experimental, ambient, studio and players wanting the combination of classic reverb settings and some more ethereal ambient tones to boot.

RECOMMENDED FOR: For anyone using an amplifier that lacks a reverb tank, this is the pedal for you. Or, if you just want more variety than what your amp offers you in a single reverb knob, this is going to get you interested.

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: The standard Room and Hall sounds are really great and perfect for adding some depth to a drier sounding amp or putting some extra space in your tones. Then move onto the extra Toneprints and you get huge, lush verbs with modulation and EQ for a whole heap of sparkly goodness.

RRP: $399

RRP: $399

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: This is really something special, in that it is a real spring reverb within a pedal.

You actually get two separate reverbs within the unit that allow you a range of spring reverb tones. With the Level control set all the way down, you get a completely clean signal, but as you wind it up you end up with a totally washed out signal that sounds great.

USABILITY: Hours of fun tweaking in the Trinity with plenty of settings, controls and the ability to share and utilise others sounds thanks to the USB connectivity and TC Electronic Toneprint design.

CONSTRUCTION: TC Electronic make world class music gear and the Trinity feels every bit a part of that. Tough and rugged with easy to use features and well laid out controls.

USEABILITY: With two reverbs to choose from, both with tonal adjustment to help them sit in with your amp’s sound, it is easy to find the settings that work for you. The Selection switch and Bypass switch are spaced really well, given the case it is built into, so you shouldn’t have any problem controlling the unit with your feet.

OVERALL: Add anything from a hint of verb to big spacey chime. Can be as subtle or in your face as you like and sounds great. Seriously cool.

CONSTRUCTION: The Headroom is housed in a rather large casing, but this is necessary to fit in the springs. The unit itself is really solid and the springs are mounted from four rubber banded points on the side of the housing, keeping them isolated from the floor as best as possible.

OVERALL: At first glance you might be left wondering how you could fit this pedal on your board, but after you hear it, you will be thinking about how quickly you can clear some room for it. This is a really unique reverb pedal, something that could compliment most existing setups really well.

HOTONE VERB

RRP: $129

STRYMON EL CAPISTAN

DISTRIBUTOR: NOISE TOYS IMPORTS EFFECT: DIGITAL REVERB

DISTRIBUTOR: NOISE TOYS IMPORTS EFFECT: TAPE ECHO

RECOMMENDED FOR: Any guitarist or bassist wanting that sweet subtle shimmer to an all out arena rock reverberation.

Simple reverb emulation that will suit all genres of music or musical parts in need of this simple yet powerful effect.

RECOMMENDED FOR: Pop, rock, country, rockabilly, roots, funk, vintage enthusiasts and players wanting a super tweakable tape styled echo without the headache of actually carrying a proper tape unit around.

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: From a small room, to a very large room it will create a classy smooth and natural sounding reverb effect that is very controllable and musical. Sounds better on lower reverberations and will suit the player who wants to use it as a subtle effect but can dial in something more expressive when needed.

USEABILITY: Simple reverb level control, decay time control of the reverb itself and a tone control which looks after the frequency response–it’s simple to use and you’ll love finding your perfect reverb sound. If you want to throw your tone in the deep end I suggest you check out the SHIM button which will add one octave overtone to create an almost dark ambience to your sound. It did with the chords I was playing anyway.

CONSTRUCTION: The construction although is almost perfect, however I might have swapped the positioning of the control of the reverb level with the placement of the decay time control.

Weighing in at only 190 grams, you will treat this like your favourite shimmering gem and want to take it everywhere – which it can handle.

OVERALL: Super cool reverb at a great price point and size. I can see this pedal being incorporated into many mixes and will be a pleasure to explore new sounds with. Be adventurous, connect a mic or even keyboard and see what happens!

PG. 42 / MIXDOWN NO. 242 / JUNE 2014

RRP: $399

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: Warm with plenty of saturation the El Capistan really sounds quite authentic. Three tape machine modes and styles that can get from straight up simple echoes to bigger and more saturated sounds.

USABILITY: Slap back and roomy type echoes are a cinch, then you can get deeper into the control set for added processing.

All in the form and layout of a normal pedal.

CONSTRUCTION: I love the layout and look of these smaller Strymon pedals and the design and control sections are super clever. Tap tempo and Bypass (on/off) stomp buttons on the front along with controls for Time, Tape Age, Repeats, Wow & Flutter and Mix. If that’s not enough for you these controls also handle Spring Reverb, Low End Contour, Tape Bias, +/- dB and Tape Crinkle in their secondary control mode.

OVERALL: Tape Echo with more tweakability than you thought was possible. Simply awesome!

JET CITY ‘THE FLOOD’ ANALOG DELAY

RRP: $99

MC SYSTEMS CGN DYNAMIC DELAY

DISTRIBUTOR: AMBER TECHNOLOGY EFFECT: ANALOG DELAY

DISTRIBUTOR: CMC MUSIC AUSTRALIA EFFECT: DELAY

RECOMMENDED FOR: Country, rockabilly, pop, funk, indie, ambient, live or studio players.

RECOMMENDED FOR: Anyone looking for a versatile delay with simple features and yet the ability to switch between different settings easily.

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: Benefiting from the analog circuitry this lime green, white and black pedal carries the vintage vibe that it’s colour scheme hints at. Shorter fattening and slap back delays ring true whilst longer settings repeat off with a gooey modulated kind of edge. Good for a range of musical settings.

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: Don’t let the name trick you–it’s not a ducking delay: the dynamics come into it via the V-Switch which gives you different feedback levels depending on how hard you stomp. Otherwise it’s a pretty standard but nice-sounding delay. The magic is in how you interact with it.

USEABILITY: There are two selectable delay time/ level settings, but the best usability feature here is the ability to alter the feedback by how hard you stomp. It takes some getting used to (and don’t try it barefoot–ouch) but once you’ve figured it out its a quite intuitive system.

USABILITY: Sleek and efficient ‘The Flood’ sticks with controls for Time, Repeats and Level for simple operation.

You can also twiddle on the fly with all kinds of retro whizziness popping up when you spin the knobs mid strum, nice!

CONSTRUCTION: A tough folded metal casing with smooth edges, big controls and an easy access thumbscrew battery door underneath if you need to swap batteries quickly.

OVERALL: If you’re looking for a straight ahead delay with warm analog tone and vintagey type repeats ‘The Flood’ is worth a look.

RED WITCH VIOLETTA DELAY

RRP: $199

CONSTRUCTION: A very well-built pedal. And it’d have to be because you’ll be stomping pretty hard on it sometimes just due to the nature of its control system.

OVERALL: It doesn’t reinvent the wheel in terms of tone, but the Dynamic Delay is a radical new take on how we interact with a delay pedal, turning the simple act of switching on the effect into a part of your performance.

SEYMOUR DUNCAN VAPOR TRAIL

DISTRIBUTOR: DOMINANT MUSIC EFFECT: DELAY

DISTRIBUTOR: DOMINANT MUSIC EFFECT: ANALOG DELAY

RECOMMENDED FOR: Anyone who wanted more after seeing and trying the Red Witch Violet Delay is going to love this pedal as it allows more control and tonal differences than the original. Red Witch fans and all users of delay will find this pedal intriguing.

RECOMMENDED FOR: When you are sick of the lifelessness of digital delay pedals and are looking for something that has a little more character to it, then the Vapor Trail is going to be the new analogue delay pedal you have been searching for.

RRP: $309

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: This unit offers a really warm, lush delay sound that somehow improves on the tone of the clean signal being passed through it. I couldn’t help but wind the mix all the way up until the mix was more delay than clean and found that this was when it really came to life.

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: Like the shining case that it comes in, the Violetta brings a bright glow to your delay sound. It really extends your tone as it repeats and with the mix controls set right can be used to deliver a really beautiful delay that can ring out over a good length of time.

USEABILITY: The concept is pretty simple, as is the case with most analogue delays and it doesn’t take too long to find the settings that work for you. Then, digging a little deeper into its functions allows you to create some really great sounds that you just want to hear over and over and over...

USEABILITY: Offering more versatility than the original unit, the Violetta allows you greater control over the mix and modulation features that the delay has to offer. The addition of an expression pedal input makes this a really creative tool indeed.

CONSTRUCTION: If you have ever owned any Seymour Duncan pedal, you’ll know there is no need for this category to be in question. They are all built tough and the Vapor Trail is no exception.

CONSTRUCTION: Housed in the same compact casing as the Seven Sisters pedals, this is a well-built pedal. You do need to take some care to protect the battery life to ensure you’re not eternally charging it, but other than that, it holds itself together nicely.

OVERALL: Basically, this is the best delay I have tried in a long time. And that isn’t just because one of the knobs lights up with a blue LED (although it’s an awesome feature), it’s because it sounds great and has a brilliant array of sounds and control that lets you quickly realise just how great an Analogue delay it is.

OVERALL: This is a really clever extension to the Seven Sisters range and one that offers a good range of features to justify adding it to the existing Violet Delay. You don’t need to own any of the others either, remember, it works just fine with any other pedals too.

CARL MARTIN DELAYLA XL

RRP: $245

RRP: $649

CARL MARTIN ECHOTONE

DISTRIBUTOR: INNOVATIVE MUSIC EFFECT: DELAY/ECHO

DISTRIBUTOR: INNOVATIVE MUSIC EFFECT: DELAY/ECHO

RECOMMENDED FOR: For anyone who has ever considered a Carl Martin delay, but can’t decide on one, this is it. A classic slapback style echo that will meet your needs for blues, classic rock, surf and rockabilly, but doesn’t discount any other genre either.

RECOMMENDED FOR: When you are looking for plenty of options with your delay pedal, this is going to tick all the boxes for you. It covers a wide range of musical styles and allows you to totally control how the delay works with your playing.

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: There is a reason why this is such a well known echo pedal. The DeLayla XL has the same sound as the original DeLayla, but also incorporates a second delay head for that slapback sound that makes it a real stand-out unit.

USEABILITY: There is a lot going on within this pedal, with the Slapback control allowing you to blend more towards the first or the second delay head to create a real change in how the effect sounds. Add the tap tempo feature that makes it so easy to blend the echo into any track and it becomes a very usable pedal indeed.

CONSTRUCTION: Built into the same sized housing as many other pedals in the series, you get plenty of spacing between the three footswitches and the control knobs too. The input and output jacks feel really nice as your leads go in too, they are fitted with quality connectors that will continue to work time and time again.

OVERALL: This is a great echo pedal that really allows you to take control of your sound and go to town with it. Hardwired with an Australian mains power lead, you can run this one right off a power board with no external power supply needed.

RRP: $699

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: This is a serious echo machine that gives you plenty of delay time to work with. The “Tail Off” switch found on the rear of the unit allows you to control whether the effect continues or stops dead when you disengage the unit. This is a great touch not often included on similar pedals.

USEABILITY: This is really easy to control and offers more adjustment from your feet than you might have thought. You can override the delay time control and engage a tap tempo feature at the press of a button to allow you to adjust your echo as is needed throughout your set.

CONSTRUCTION: Like all Carl Martin pedals, this is built to last. Being that it draws such a high current, it actually comes with a mains power cord hardwired into the casing with an internal power supply, so there is no chance of batteries going dead on you.

OVERALL: This is the sort of pedal that will challenge how you look at delay and echo style effects.

I think a lot of people are going to really enjoy experimenting with the sounds you can get from the Echotone. It certainly isn’t your average vintage sounding echo pedal, that’s for sure.

JUNE 2014 / MIXDOWN NO. 242 / PG. 43

CARL MARTIN RED REPEAT

RRP: $179

MOOER MICRO SERIES ECHOLIZER DELAYRRP: $89

DISTRIBUTOR: INNOVATIVE MUSIC EFFECT: DELAY

DISTRIBUTOR: JADE AUSTRALIA EFFECT: DELAY

RECOMMENDED FOR: This is the delay pedal for everyone who wants some character to their effects. Great for blues and classic rock, and really a must for anyone after a rockabilly sound.

RECOMMENDED FOR: Pop, rock, country, indie, ambient, experimental and funk. Players after a warm sounding no fuss delay pedal in a small package.

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: With warm repeats and almost some slight modulation in the mix the Echolizer definitely goes the vintage style as opposed to super pristine and clean. Slap back, slight echo right up to longer ambient trips with plenty of repeats.

Could be used in a variety of musical settings.

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: Once engaged, the Red Repeat is pleasantly unnoticeable. It doesn’t mess up your guitar tone at all as it passes through.

It does, however, add some great colour to the repeated signal that is generates with a certain grittiness that develops as the repeats continue to decay.

USABILITY: Time, Echo and Feedback make the Echolizer easy to get your head around.

CONSTRUCTION: Mooer have enjoyed much success with the Micro series of pedals–rugged and tough and small enough to fit into tiny spare spots on boards wanting to add some extra effects.

Feels solid!

USEABILITY: As an analogue delay, you get plenty of delay time with the Red Repeat going up to 600ms of delay. It allows you to grab the repeats hard with a rough slap-back style of echo, or drag them out for a more dramatic effect.

OVERALL: For players wanting a straight ahead, warm sounding delay you could definitely squeeze some tones from the Echolizer.

The kind of pedal you can set as a go-to tone rather than copious amounts of tweaking–and all in the cool little ‘micro’ casing.

CONSTRUCTION: This is a tough little pedal. The Bypass switch is not of the soft-touch variety as it engages, but it doesn’t send any audible pops through the amp, which is what you want in a pedal. It does chew through the batteries pretty quick, but that is to be expected from any delay pedal really. A Carl Martin Pro Power supply will fix that problem.

OVERALL: This is a pedal that is not going to disappoint. It will stand side by side with many higher priced delays and echo pedals and will give them all a run for their money.

HOTONE EKO

RRP: $99

STRYMON BRIGADIER

DISTRIBUTOR: NOISE TOYS IMPORTS EFFECT: DIGITAL / ANALOG DELAY

DISTRIBUTOR: NOISE TOYS IMPORTS EFFECT: DELAY

RECOMMENDED FOR: Any player looking for that spacey echo delay effect that is easily tweakable and has that classic natural sounding shape to its tone. Cool Radiohead indie dreamscapes and Dead Meadow psychedelic delay sounds here, very cool indeed.

RECOMMENDED FOR: Rock, pop, funk, roots, indie, experimental and ambient players or anyone after a bucket brigade sounding delay with plenty of tweaking possibilities.

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: Classic delay with its natural echo vibes the MOD mode will also bring a much more spacey feeling to your overall signal, sound and tone.

Loved how it made chords and lead lines sound warm and emphasised the overall tone when played with a light strum hand action or when you dig in.

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: Clean and pristine you can do short and long delay times. You can then get into dirtier (bucket loss) delays with darker or brighter repeats, modulation and set with Tap Tempo to quarter notes, dotted rhythms or triplets all the while retaining a warm vibe. The Brigadier really gets you into the analog bucket brigade delay world.

USEABILITY: Simple overall Control for the delay time and the Repeat dial that controls the feedback of the delay sound.

The Echo dial controls the level of delay altogether so when these three are all blended, you can really work in some cool and different sounding delays. The MOD function punches in some cool chorus like effects too, that whole “I’m lost in space” vibe.

RRP: $399

USABILITY: With various length modes and Tap Tempo capabilities it’s not hard to get your desired delay times happening. Then work in the Modulation, Bucket Loss and Repeats and you’re seriously kicking butt delay wise.

CONSTRUCTION: Built tough, small and straight to the point. Like all the effects in this line, I loved the LED lightup function on the lead control dial when engaged. It’s great for highlighting what pedal is in action and when under low lighting.

CONSTRUCTION: More of the same from Strymon (which is a good thing!) with connectivity for an expression pedal and two outs if you wan to go the stereo vibe.

OVERALL: Cool vibes, great sound, well built. It’s a big delay competitor in a tiny package. Some users will want to get on all fours to play with this live, in which case a larger delay pedal might work better – however everything is well laid out and easy to dial in. Top job!

OVERALL: Great for the uninitiated delay user wanting something that sounds great and a little extra power under the hood for the enthusiasts that live for vintage delay sounds. Bring on the Brigadier!

STRYMON TIMELINE

VOX TONE GARAGE DOUBLE DECA DELAY

RRP: $549

DISTRIBUTOR: NOISE TOYS IMPORTS EFFECT: DELAY

DISTRIBUTOR: YAMAHA MUSIC AUSTRALIA EFFECT: DELAY

RECOMMENDED FOR: Rock, pop, funk, indie, roots, ambient, experimental, live and studio players.

RECOMMENDED FOR: Pop, rock, funk, rockabilly, indy and country as well as analogue delay lovers.

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: Strymon have really upped the ante in the delay game with the Timeline. Super in-depth processing or easy as you like twiddle and forget. A digital pedal but super warm and tasty with tape delays, echo, lo-fi, filtered, swell and the list goes on.

USABILITY: Plug in and cycle through the presets for a tour of the Timeline’s capabilities. Plenty of good stuff albeit somewhat extreme at times, but once you get into programming your own sounds you’ll be blown away. Intuitive to start and then a little extra effort learning and digging before you can get seriously down and dirty.

CONSTRUCTION: Looks great, it’s smaller than you think and feels rock solid. The knobs are well spaced, the display is clear and the footswtiches are easy to handle individually yet still accesible for hitting two at once for bank changes and the like.

OVERALL: A killer unit, Strymon have seriously hit a winner with the Timeline. Handy as a small delay pedal for just a few settings but also easy to integrate into big rigs and multi switching setups. Most importantly it sounds great, the best in the market at this price point.

PG. 44 / MIXDOWN NO. 242 / JUNE 2014

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: True bypass, analogue design the Double Deca uses 3205 bucket brigade chips for a vintage delay tone. Killer slap back tones through to bigger lush, ambient sounds (up to 900ms) you can add modulation and flip between the long and short delay settings via a toggle on the control panel.

USABILITY: Level, Feedback, Time and Modulation controls will be super useful for some although others might prefer some more precise settings.

CONSTRUCTION: A groovy kind of UK double decker bus graphic and ‘Ye Olde England’ font work well with the red and white housing for a pedal that is tough and looks the part.

OVERALL: Easy to cop vintage tones from fattening and slapback to longer lush repeats will be right up many player’s alleys. Add in some modulation and you’ve got a tasty pedal that handles the straight ahead delay stuff very nicely indeed.

RRP: $219

HOTONE WALLY LOOPER

RRP: $149

MC SYSTEMS LYN DYNAMIC PHASER

DISTRIBUTOR: NOISE TOYS IMPORTS EFFECT: LOOPER PEDAL

DISTRIBUTOR: CMC MUSIC AUSTRALIA EFFECT: PHASER

RECOMMENDED FOR: Any guitar, bass, keys or percussion player that wants a singular mono channel of sound looped. It’s ideal for the guitarist or bass player who wants to record live licks on stage solo, with their band or writing in their studio. The Wally Looper is a great tool for creating dense adjustable layers of sound or just working out parts to a new song.

RECOMMENDED FOR: Anyone looking for cool and very controllable phaser textures, from vintage fans who want to get some of that ‘different Leslie speeds’ vibe to modern anarchist texturalists.

RRP: $245

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: Everything from gentle, barely-perceptable phaser warbles to truly alien “No Quarter” style phaser wobbles. Sounds good!

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: It doesn’t create a sound or tone as such, but the tempo variation function is adjustable to slow down your loop by a half speed (one octave down) or speed it up to double speed (one octave up) when engaged. When kept in its original position this pedal won’t colour your tone or disfigure it and the volume control knob will help you boost the overall loop volume to keep your overall sound where you want it.

USEABILITY: The V-Switch allows you to vary the level of phaser depth according to how hard you stomp on the pedal, while the Alternate switch gives you different modulation rates. It takes a little bit of getting used to but it soon feels natural. You can even create rhythms with careful use of the Alternate switch and rate controls.

USEABILITY: The input recording volume function is great when adjusting the volume of each loop you record and as you go or switch between instruments. Really dig the 15mins of recording time you can play with and infinite looping function which is down right crazy fun when you get the hang of it. Easy memory wipes and re-record functionality make it fun and simple to loop.

CONSTRUCTION: Built strong with a silent switcher it will have you looping and stomping a lot with ease and peace of mind that it won’t break after heavy use. The STATE LED is helpful to monitor the pedals operating status and loop functions.

CONSTRUCTION: It’s built to be stepped on, that’s for sure.

OVERALL: An awesome compact looper that will save you space on your pedal board in comparison to other larger more involved loop pedals on the market. It’s simple, functional and user friendly, so without further ado, introducing Wally – your new looper.

OVERALL: Phaser is the perfect effect to apply this kind of technology to because it allows you to access the more Leslielike elements of the phaser sound as well as more out-there textures in a truly interactive playing experience.

TC ELECTRONIC THE DREAMSCAPE

RED WITCH SYNTHATRON

RRP: $359

DISTRIBUTOR: AMBER TECHNOLOGY EFFECT: MODULATION

DISTRIBUTOR: DOMINANT MUSIC EFFECT: SYNTH/FILTER

RECOMMENDED FOR: Rock, metal, pop, ambient and experimental players wanting a couple of modulation tones in one pedal and John Petrucci fans of course.

RECOMMENDED FOR: When you are looking for that something a little different in a pedal, especially if you find an envelope filter pedal just doesn’t cut it, this is going to help you find that new sound in a flash.

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: I found all the effects usable from slight washes to big warbly chorus and whooshing flanger. Vintage swirl, psychedelic craziness and a host of other tones that can fill out a clean sound or add to your dirty sounds for extra body.

RRP: $509

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: With octave up and octave down synth generation that has adjustable decay lengths to the notes like a synthesizer would, you can create some really bizarre sounds thorough this pedal. Add some tremolo to this for a little bit of shimmer and then really mess it up with the sample and hold function and you end up with a sound that doesn’t resemble anything like a guitar, which is cool.

USABILITY: Chorus, Vibrato, Flanger and a Toneprint setting lets you work through quite a few tones.

Speed and Depth controls, FX Level and then a toggle switch for Bright, Normal or Dark. Again featuring TC’s Toneprint for a slot of your choice.

CONSTRUCTION: Tough, easy to use and the thumbscrew battery door is great. It’s easy to access without the need for screwdrivers.

USEABILITY: This is a real tweaker’s pedal that just wants you to experiment with it. You will not be able to just plug it in and dial up a sound; you need to spend a little time fine tuning it to get to where you want it to be.

OVERALL: Designed with John Petrucci there are some modern metal kinda tones on board for sure but also some great sounds that aren’t genre specific so don’t be totally fooled by the name on the box. Great for players that want some extra modulation tones but don’t have the budget or pedal board space to handle two or three separate pedals.

CONSTRUCTION: Housed in a sturdy casing, the internals seem well protected except for the eight mini-pots that offer little protection to the board beneath and are not going to take too kindly to being kicked when the unit is engaged, so tread lightly.

OVERALL: This is not a pedal for everyone, but saying that, it is going to get a lot of players excited as it fills a lot of tonal gaps that many pedal manufacturers aren’t even trying to get near. It is very much a wild card that needs to be heard to be understood.

STRYMON MOBIUS

RRP: $549

JET CITY SHOCKWAVE DISTORTION

DISTRIBUTOR: NOISE TOYS IMPORTS EFFECT: MODULATION

DISTRIBUTOR: AMBER TECHNOLOGY EFFECT: DISTORTION

RECOMMENDED FOR: Rock, funk, pop, country, roots, live and studio players wanting a high quality all-inone type of modulation pedal.

RECOMMENDED FOR: Metal, rock, hi gain players and shredders.

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: Chorus, Flanger, Rotary, Vibe, Phaser, Filter, Tremelo and a host of crazier effects the Mobius does an all round fine job of handling modulation duties. Plenty of depth and dynamics seep from the Mobius and the processing and tones are top notch. Some players will have specific favourites from other makers but as a whole the Mobius really covers a lot of ground really well.

USABILITY: Inheriting the looks and layout of the Strymon TImeline, the Mobius is the Modulation brother with a tonne of effects onboard. Like the TImeline it can also be as easy or in depth to use as you like for more stomp box type operation or serious switching.

CONSTRUCTION: Tough, slick and built to last – Strymon are onto a winner here.

OVERALL: It might not replace all your mod pedals but it does do a great job of offering a huge tonal palette with killer features in the one unit at a bargain price.

RRP: $69

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: Picking up where the Guitarslinger OD left off the Shockwave has gain to burn. Crunch and plenty of volume are great for chuggy rhythm players and shredders alike. It still holds quite a lot of body even at more saturated settings without getting overly fizzy.

USABILITY: Suited more to heavier styles the Shockwave will essentially be a matter of setting how much gain you want and then getting your levels right. Can clean up but not really what this pedal is intended for I’m guessing!

CONSTRUCTION: Like the rest of the Jet City pedals the Shockwave is tough, easy to navigate and setup for playing rather than twiddling with knobs for days on end.

OVERALL: Copping some tones reminiscent of the Jet City Amps dirty tones the Shockwave creates the gainy rock and metal vibe with ease and then has some extra level if needed. And priced at a reasonable point (like the Jet City Amps) the Shockwave Distortion makes itself accessible to a whole range of players.

JUNE 2014 / MIXDOWN NO. 242 / PG. 45

VOX JOE SATRIANI BIG BAD WAH

RRP: $299

MORLEY CLASSIC WAH

DISTRIBUTOR: YAMAHA MUSIC AUSTRALIA EFFECT: WAH

DISTRIBUTOR: DOMINANT MUSIC EFFECT: WAH

RECOMMENDED FOR: Joe Satriani fans, of course, but also anyone who likes plenty of control over their wah-wah performance from vintage to modern.

RECOMMENDED FOR: For those of you who are sick of using the same old wah pedal and want to step away from the obvious.

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: Wah One mode gives you the classic VOX wah sound, with all the vintage, honky goodness that implies. Wah Two gives you Joe’s own tailored voice profile and access to the drive control, giving you much more modern, harmonically technicolour settings to play with as well.

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: Although it doesn’t cry like a baby, the Classic Wah still has that great traditional wahwah pedal sound that allows it to work in with a huge range of musical genres. What you find with this wah is a different voicing that is really going to set your sound apart from all the others.

USEABILITY: The Voice switch lets you select between two drastically different wah-wah settings, and the Drive knob is a great addition which really lets you knock your solo tone up a notch by giving you up to 10dB of boost to slam your amp. The Wah 1/2 footswitch is a great feature which really increases the stageworthiness of the pedal.

USEABILITY: Unlike some Morley wah pedals that have the spring loaded pedal, this is a more conventional, static pedal that allows you to leave it sitting in one position for tonal control. Where this differs from so many others though, is that you are able to engage the pedal without having to dip the nose and so have it engage with the pedal in any position you like.

CONSTRUCTION: It’s a rather big pedal, almost twice as wide as most other wah-wahs, but it makes good use of that extra space by loading it with interactive features like the ability to select different inductors.

CONSTRUCTION: Solid as a rock. There is no way to describe just how tough these pedals feel under your feet. They have been designed so you can stand on them all night, as you most likely will. With the optical circuit controlling the tone, you are not moving a pot internally, so you get even more consistent and longer lasting use from this wah pedal.

OVERALL: One of the most versatile wah-wah pedals out there, taking advantage of Joe’s ever-the-tinkerer approach to tone in order to give you enough sound-shaping options to find your own tone in there as well as his.

OVERALL: It sounds great, it has a really smooth pedal action and it is built like the proverbial. Really, the only thing holding it back all these years has been the price.

Now the Classic Wah is more competitively priced than ever, there is really no reason to not pick one up and enjoy the world of wah!

To win this month’s Joe Satriani autographed Big Bad Wah see page 8 for details.

ONE CONTROL CROCODILE TAIL LOOP RRP: $880 DISTRIBUTOR: HOT APPLE DISTRIBUTION EFFECT: PEDAL LOOP

USABILITY: Yes there is super in-depth programming available for the Croc Tail but you can also get underway with some relatively easy to setup switching also.

CONSTRUCTION: Well laid out, tough and slick looking a lot of thought and design has gone into this programmable loop. The angled faceplate does well to keep footswitches out of the way of each other (as well as being wide enough apart to avoid hitting two at once). Clear LEDs, buffer included and the list goes on.

OVERALL: More than just a simple true bypass switcher for a few pedals, the Crocodile Tail could well be the pedal board tamer you were looking for!

RECOMMENDED FOR: This is the perfect accompaniment to any high gain amp rig where noise can be an issue. For guitarists looking to go hard and loud, especially after a choppy sound with active pickups, this is going to tame the operating noise in you rig the way you tell it to.

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: Well, really this pedal doesn’t have a sound as such, and that is really the point.

When the noise gate closes, you get nothing. Zip. Zilch.

Nada.

USEABILITY: Designed to give you are really fast attack in its opening and closing of the gate, you just need to find the threshold of your noise floor and set the Decimator just about that. Then, let it do its thing.

CONSTRUCTION: For those of you who get worried about how your pedals can look after a little use, the chrome finish on the Decimator is going to drive you mad with the fingerprints that show up on it. Otherwise, it is solid and there is nothing that can really go wrong with it, no matter how you treat it.

OVERALL: Although it doesn’t allow you to control the attack and decay of the gate, I love the way this pedal operates. It proposes a task and then it just gets it done.

There are no tricks, it just stops the noise getting through and offers you silence as an alternative.

PG. 46 / MIXDOWN NO. 242 / JUNE 2014

RRP: $189

RECOMMENDED FOR: Rock, pop, funk, serious effect users or those wanting some extra control over the blend of effects.

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: The beauty of the Crocodile Tail is that your pedals sound as good as normal but have the increased flexibility of simple on/off switching except that you use the corresponding switch on the Croc rather than hitting the actual pedal. Also good for adding much more complex routing that can handle presets, MIDI and plenty more.

DISTRIBUTOR: DOMINANT MUSIC EFFECT: NOISE GATE

ONE CONTROL MOSQUITE BLENDER EXPRESSIO DISTRIBUTOR: HOT APPLE DISTRIBUTION EFFECT: BLENDER/BUFFER

RECOMMENDED FOR: Players of any style wanting to add switching to a pedal based rig, add some higher level switching (presets and the like) or players wanting to centralise pedal switching.

ISP DECIMATOR 2

RRP: $149

RRP: $259

SOUND AND VERSATILITY: In one sense the Mosquito Blender Expressio isn’t meant to be heard.

Rather, you should hear more or less of the blend of your dry and wet signal. Great for some extra control when blending single pedals or even entire pedal boards. The onboard BJF buffer adds some extra cred to this handy little unit too.

USABILITY: Run like an effects loop it’s easy to patch a pedal into the middle and then dial in the amount of effect. Plug in an external expression pedal and you can manually control the amount of effect in your mix.

CONSTRUCTION: Tough, sleek and small the Mosquito is a cool little unit that is built for serious use.

OVERALL: An interesting design the Mosquito Expressio combines a buffer, loop for blending in effects for more control or to tame a little noise, reverse polarity switch and it’s quite small in size. Its a great pedal that can be put to a number of uses.

ONE CONTROL ‘MICRO DISTRO’ TINY POWER RRP: $179 DISTRIBUTOR ALL IN ONE PACK DISTRIBUTOR: HOT APPLE DISTRIBUTION EFFECT: POWER SUPPLY RECOMMENDED FOR: Smaller pedal boards where space is an issue or players seeking an alternative to a daisy chain setup.

USABILITY: Plug in, plug in your pedals and you’re away. Great for small rigs or powering multiple pedals on the fly.

CONSTRUCTION: The actual unit is about the size of a micro pedal with the outlets sitting on top.

A combination of straight and right angled leads are provided to give you some flexibility when patching in your effects and squeezing into tight spaces. As a ‘distro box’ it needs its power supply plugged in to provide power (this is your typical 9v type power supply) and the Micro Distro then gives you up to 2000mA from 9 outlets. Slick and tiny the unit looks great and will fit into plenty of spots a bigger more conventional power supply wouldn’t.

OVERALL: Not as super heavy duty or isolated like some of the big boys, but the inclusion of a 12-18v outlet and a Sag Control expand the Micro Distro’s capabilities. Add the small size and you’ve got a handy ‘tiny’ power distribution option at a decent price.