Tremolo pedals are always welcome here in the Pedal of the Day office, as each one seems to have its own personality, features and tones, regardless of how many knobs, bells and whistles it may have. Today’s featured pedal leans towards the high end of that spectrum, with a ton of tonal options and sonic parameters waiting to be explored, and unleash all of their glory onto any recording or unsuspecting crowd. The Quaverato from...
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Happy New Year, everybody!! Here’s to a safe, healthy and prosperous go ’round the sun – cheers! Our first pedal review and demo for 2024 comes to us from our friends at Aclam: presenting The Mocker UL730 Fuzz Circuit, a seemingly simple three-knob fuzz distortion that comes from a very specific and rare amplifier, used famously by The Beatles, Joy Division and Led Zeppelin. If you need to freshen up your sound with...
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The entire lineup of UAFX pedals from Universal Audio is amazing, let’s just be honest. With each new release, there’s another options-filled gem that gets our creativity flowing and takes our musical thinking and approach up a notch. Today’s pedal, the Lion ’68 Super Lead Amp, shifts things from a modulation/delay/reverb vibe to some classic amp-pushing, overdriven sounds from decades past… Grab a Lion...
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One of the latest offerings from Universal Audio we’re looking at today is the UAFX 1176 Studio Compressor. This silver beauty delivers the same punchy, expressive tones of the world-renowned original 1176 Compressor, the reigning king of audio limiting, all within a compact stomp box. From the subtle squeeze of a single 1176 to the endless sustain of two units in parallel à la Lowell George or the compressed crunch of Led...
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(This article comes from our friends at GuitarTricks.com – check out their site for tons of guitar-related tips and tricks!!) Guitar Tricks presents A Look at the Vintage Pedal Market By Shawn Leonhardt for Guitar Tricks and 30 Day Singer, the original platform for online guitar lessons. Vintage pedals are so popular that many modern manufacturers attempt to replicate them so there are more to go around! Not only do some pedals...
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Hi, I’m Josh Gardziel, I’m from Halifax West Yorkshire (UK) and I play guitar in L.O.E (Last Of Eden) Facebook: https://facebook.com/weareloemusic Instagram: https://instagram.com/weareloemusic Twitter: https://twitter.com/weareloemusic Bandcamp: https://weareloemusic.bandcamp.com How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? I have been playing guitar for 21 years. I started when I was 14 which...
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The fine folks over at Eventide have been big supporters of Pedal of the Day for years now – we’ve reviewed just about every one of their modern pedals, and have been lucky enough to be included in their last several new release days as well. Today, we’re doing it once again, and with possibly their biggest, most grandiose effects unit to date. The H90 Harmonizer® takes everything that we all love about the...
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(This article comes from our friends at GuitarTricks.com – check out their site for tons of guitar-related tips and tricks!!) What Are Modulating Guitar Pedals? By Shawn Leonhardt for Guitar Tricks and 30 Day Singer What is Modulation Modulation is simply changing or moving the original guitar signal. Most electric guitars have control built into them. The cheaper guitars mostly just allow tone and volume control, while...
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We’ve all heard the classic Tone Bender Fuzz so many times, on so many timeless songs, whether we knew what it was or not. Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Mick Ronson, Pete Townshend…the list goes on of great guitarists who utilized this fuzzy effect. However, they are now rare and extremely expensive to obtain if you can find one, so many pedal companies have taken it upon themselves to re-create affordable (and updated) versions...
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Mike Dillon Kansas City, MO Bands: Mike Dillon Band, Nolatet https://mikedillonband.bandcamp.com How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? I have played music since I was 10 years old. I started taking drum lessons when I was in 5th grade, and had my first garage band in 6th grade. We played “American Band,” “Smoke on the Water” and “Black Dog.” I am sure we sucked, but I was hooked!! I played in...
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Tape echo delay units have been heard on classic recordings for decades, on albums from artists like Pink Floyd, Miles Davis, Led Zeppelin, Neil Young, Hawkwind, Chet Atkins, Eric Johnson, the late great Eddie Van Halen and many, many more. The old units, while possessing some secret ingredients and mojo, lend themselves to malfunctions, upkeep, unavailable replacement parts and general unreliability…but no more. Today...
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The Legends of Fuzz series from JHS Pedals is a tribute to the world’s most historic, rare, and sought after fuzz circuits. Since the originals are extremely hard-to-find, extremely expensive when you do and prone to the problems electronics might have after 50 years, this series brings these sounds and tones to the masses, for all to enjoy. There are four pedals in all, and we’re going to run through each one, what they...
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You’ve heard of Jimmy Page, right? Be you a fan of Led Zeppelin or not, it’s hard to ignore the culture impact he’s had on music, and rock n’ roll especially. That first Zepp album opened the floodgates for a new generation of guitar players who wanted to emulate Mr. Page, and basically altered music forever. The Danelectro The Breakdown™ Boost Overdrive seeks to emulate those classic, unforgettable tones from...
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Ori Naftaly Southern Avenue www.southernavenuemusic.com https://facebook.com/SouthernAvenueMusic/ https://www.instagram.com/southernavenuemusic/ How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? I started playing guitar when I was 5 years old. I remember listening to my dads record collection that was full of Jazz, Blues, Funk and British rock from the 60s and 70s. I had an amazing mentor called Tony...
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Anthony Thogmartin Papadosio EarthCry www.papadosio.com earthcry.net How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? Music has always been a huge part of my life. My father apparently sung to me while I was still in the womb. My mother used to play me to sleep with her violin. Who have been some of your major musical influences, past or present? In my early days I discovered Hendrix, Jethro Tull,...
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Patrick Garland Houston, Texas GARLAND FX garlandfx.bigcartel.com How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? I’m 33 years old, and started playing guitar at age 10 – so about 23 years. 20 on electric guitar. The first guitar I ever played was my mom’s Guild Madiera from 1970. My mom uses it for playing music to pre-schoolers – she’s quite talented and can play and sing. I also still...
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If you’re a fuzz lover, when you hear the words “Tone Bender,” an instant smile creeps over your face. Used on countless classic rock recordings and live shows by everyone from Pete Townshend to Jeff Beck to Paul McCartney and more, these gray boxes from Sola Sound defined the latter half of the 1960’s. The MkII Professional version of the Tone Bender was made popular by Jimmy Page, having used it on the first...
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Chris Traynor Topanga, California Bush bushofficial.com www.instagram.com/ct3guitar/ twitter.com/CT3GUITAR How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? I feel like I’ve been a musician since birth. My parents took me to Suzuki method when I was a toddler, and although I don’t remember much from those days I feel like it really gave me an interest in communicating through music from a very young age. I...
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Joey Lewis Buffalo, NY Funktional Flow www.funktionalflow.com facebook.com/FunktionalFlowMusic youtube.com/user/funktionalflowmusic/videos How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? From what I can remember, a man in our neighborhood growing up gave an acoustic guitar to my older brother Justin and he quickly lost interest in it. That’s when I swooped in and nabbed it lol. But it was ok...
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Kevin Wilson Guilford, Indiana Wilson Effects www.wilsoneffects.com How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? I started playing guitar in the 4th grade and dropped it for a while. I picked it back up when I was around 17 and have been playing ever since. I was an 80’s metal thrash kid so Metallica, Slayer all contributed to my willingness to pick it back up. Ultimately Pearl Jam became one of my...
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Clayton Donofrio Pittsburgh, PA American Wizard Toneworks americanwizardtoneworks.com How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? I think I was 12 or 13 when I got my first guitar, but I always wanted to play. Growing up my parents always had a great record collection (Black Sabbath, CCR, Led Zeppelin, Queen, etc.) so Rock n Roll was in my blood from the beginning. My mom in particular was very...
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Who likes delay and echo? “WE LIKE DELAY AND ECHO!” Of course you do, silly. Today’s pedal is an incredible recreation of one of the most famous echo units ever created, the Binson Echorec. This classic delay unit created in the 1950’s was made famous by bands like Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Hawkwind and the Chemical Brothers. The folks at Gurus Amps have created their take on this magical machine, and today we...
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Jesse Aycock (Tulsa, OK) www.jesseaycock.com / www.facebook.com/jesseaycockband Hard Working Americans (everywhere USA) www.thehardworkingamericans.com Paul Benjaman Band (Tulsa, OK) www.paulbenjamanband.com / www.facebook.com/paulbenjamanband Lauren Barth (Tulsa, OK) www.laurenbarth.com / www.facebook.com/laurenbarthmusic How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? I guess I’ve been a...
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Tim Bluhm San Anselmo, CA The Mother Hips www.motherhips.com/ How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? I’ve been singing since I was a kid, in church choirs and in school choruses. I started playing guitar right after high school. In my second year of college I started the Mother Hips with Greg Loiacono and we started getting gigs really quickly. Who have been some of your major musical...
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Drew Shirley Switchfoot.com How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? My mom made me take piano lessons. I quit when I got into high school and she said “you’ll thank me some day.” She was right. I picked up my older brothers guitar and taught myself a few chords to play in church youth group. After that I discovered Led Zeppelin and went on to write some songs, start a band and...
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Andy Fuchs Fuchs Audio Technology/Plush FX Pedals Div. 407 Getty Ave Second Floor West Clifton NJ 07011 973-772- 4420 www.fuchsaudiotechnology.com/ How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? I started messing with a broken old Eminee plastic guitar I found in the basement of my families music store when I was about ten. I guess around 14 or 15 years old I’d been playing flute in the school band...
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Jared Scharff SNL Band guitarist Pearl Lion instrumental project Creator of “Unnecessary Shredding” YouTube series www.soundcloud.com/IamPearlLion www.youtube.com/JaredScharff Instagram: @ScharffIsHere Twitter: @ScharffIsHere SnapChat: JaredScharff Facebook: JaredScharffOfficial Facebook: Pearl Lion How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? I’ve been in love with music since I was a kid and...
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Today’s guest review comes to us from Michael W. – find him on Instagram (@mwiegand77), Twitter (@mwiegand), Facebook (MichaelWiegand) and on his band’s Facebook page (A Greyscale). When you hear the name “Warped Vinyl,” you’re transported to a thrift store record bin. All the records you find in there are dusty, scratched, sunbaked; they’ve seen better days. But you buy one because it’s...
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Mike Gantzer Guitarist for Aqueous Buffalo, NY https://aqueousband.com/ https://www.facebook.com/aqueousband/ How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? Incidentally, when I first started playing music was in the 3rd grade with the standard issue recorder they give out to everyone, and i HATED it. haha I picked up trumpet for awhile, but I recall being sort of turned off with the rigidity of the...
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Celestial Effects 22 Kane Industrial Drive Hudson, MA 01749 800-343-4492 sales@celestialeffects.com www.celestialeffects.com How long have you guys been musicians? How did you each get into it in the first place? Dom: Thanks to my dad, who loved music but never played an instrument, my formal musical education came from playing trumpet and coronet from 3rd grade through high school. In high school I played in the concert band, wind...
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The Lumpy’s Tone Shop 7 Series Lemon Drop Overdrive is a fantastic but unusual overdrive. It’s great for what it does but it’s not for everyone. There are so many overdrives out there; it’s very difficult to figure out the difference between each, let alone which to choose. Broadly speaking, the most popular categories of overdrives are (there are definitely other categories but I’ll keep it simple):...
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I was born a synthesist. I didn’t know it until long after I had given up playing keyboards and spent years learning how to play bass and then guitar, but it’s true. My calling is not to be John Entwistle or Jimmy Page, but to be Suzanne Ciani or Edgar Froese. That probably explains why I’ve spent my entire musical life goofing around with funny little boxes on the floors of practice spaces. Being a huge fan of...
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