WE LOVE PHISH. Said it, not sorry, deal. Now that you know that, know this: we were SUPER excited to have a Helping Friendly Box Overdrive Compressor from Hochstrasser Electronics appear on our doorstep, and here’s why. This particular pedal harkens after the setup that Trey Anastasio from Phish used for many years (and still does occasionally), where two differently-gained Tubescreamers were followed by the famous Ross Compressor. The HFB puts all three of these effects into one friendly enclosure, giving you a wide range of tone in one pedal, no matter what type of music you play.
The controls for the Compressor part of the Helping Friendly Box (non-phans who wish to investigate the name: do some research on the Helping Friendly Book) are mirrored after the Ross – Sustain controls the amount of compression present, Level sets the makeup gain of the compressor. From a slightly noticeable squeeze to full-on funk squash and a ton of settings in between, you can dial in a great boost, a mellow compression sound or tight and compressed grooves, all at the stomp of your foot.
The 2 overdrive circuits are the same, allowing you to set the controls differently on each, for 2 unique and distinct gain stages. Level sets the output of the drives, Tone balances your hi and low ends and Gain controls the amount of distortion present in your signal. Generally, you’d want one drive to be set a little lower and one a bit higher, for contrasting sounds, but there’s really no wrong way to work these two overdrives. Throw on one or both in conjunction with the compressor, and really dial in the exact tone you’re looking for – with this many options, you might even dial in two, or three, or ten!
As phans for more than 26 years, we love the graphics as well, giving a nod to the only drummer we know who can pull off wearing a dress on stage practically every show for nearly 4 decades. The name, look and sound of the Helping Friendly Box put a big smile on our face, and we love the versatility it brings to the table as well. Remember, this pedal works for ALL genres of music, not just the jammy stuff, so take a listen below to our demo and hear for yourself. These are just some examples of settings we found and liked, the options for each individual player are endless. Cheers once more to the Hochstrasser Electronics crew for a funky, inspired and tone-capturing effects pedal – check out their full lineup on the website, and give ’em a follow on the socials as well!
GET EXCLUSIVE UPDATES, CONTEST INFO, SEE OUR LATEST DEMO VIDEOS AND MORE:
