Thursday, January 21st, 2010
Pigtronix has launched three new analog effects at this past NAMM. You may remember Pigtronix from such classics as the Philosopher’s Tone and the EP-1 Envelope Phaser. The three new pedals are EP-2 Envelope Phaser ($299), Aria ($189) and the Philosopher King ($399). Aria and EP2 are in stores now. The Philosopher King will be available soon.
Thursday, December 10th, 2009
Admittedly for someone that works on the Internet and spends a lot time thinking about gear and guitars, I’m a bit of a luddite when it comes home recording software and hardware. In the past I’ve mainly used Garageband on MacBook Pro with a FireWire Solo recording interface. So when I was contacted by Cakewalk to give their Guitar Tracks Pro 4 a try I decided it was time to broaden my horizons.
Overall I was impressed with breadth and depth of options and features included in the Guitar Tracks Pro 4. It was a bit daunting at first but eventually I was to get it set up and working properly on my WinXP laptop.
Tuesday, November 17th, 2009
Tuned in Fretbase reader Tim sent us an article about a new effects pedal called OpenStomp. The pedal itself looks like any other boutique pedal but the OpenStomp is powered through programmable software that allows you to create and customize your own effects in a whole new way.
OpenStomp comes with software called OpenStomp Workbench that will allow you to build patches and assign functions to the unit’s four top-mounted knobs and two footswitches. But you can even take it a step further and use the software to create your own effects and sounds.
The catch? You’ll need to know something about programming to get very far in this endeavor. But there is a silver lining - it’s all open source code.
Thursday, October 15th, 2009
Here’s a simple cost-effective way to better manage your pedalboard cables and make sure you can easily reach that second row of pedals on your board.
StageTrix has developed a “Pedal Riser” that can attach to just about any pedalboard and lifts the pedal an inch off the board so that back row is easy to reach. They’ve also slotted each of the pedal risers so you can tuck away all of those chords and cables.
It’s a simple and cost-effective way to improve and organize your current pedalboard. We dig it. Check out the video…
Monday, September 21st, 2009
Ok this could be the coolest thing you could possibly step on before launching into a crushing guitar solo on stage. I can’t believe metal fans haven’t come up with something like this sooner.
Tuned in Fretbase reader Tim sent us this tip on a 3D guitar effects pedal called the “Skull Crusher” by Tone Box. This is the first pedal from Tone Box creators Kasha and Crosby in what promised to be a line up of cool 3D pedals for your pedal board.
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009
We all know the trials and tribulations of collecting a massive amount of gear. Beyond the complaints from our spouses and the past due credit card statements, one problem we inevitably run into is space. Especially when it comes to pedals. Just where are we going to fit that next must-have, 6″ wide, analog delay pedal we scored off eBay?
Well the puzzle-piece influenced folks over at Lava Cable have come up with an innovative solution to our ever growing problem. The Lava CPS or Configurable Pedal Board System. Full story…
Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
Update: Here are the results from our own build of a fuzz pedal. Come check out the pictures and hear a sound clip.
Lately I’ve been looking into a few do-it-yourself projects that might be a good starting point for someone who is trying to build some of their own gear. So what are the options? I’m pretty sure building my own guitar is a little beyond my 8th grade shop class education. I looked into a couple of package kits for building my own amp but fear of electrocution is a strong deterrent. How about building an Fuzz pedal? I did a some research on the web and found a few options for the beginner DIY’er out there who wants to construct their own fuzz pedal. Full story…
Monday, November 24th, 2008
Dave’s earlier post on Peter Frampton and his classic Frampton Comes Alive album sparked a discussion around the guitar effect that is now very closely associated with Frampton - the Talkbox. Frampton employed the Talkbox on his biggest hits - Show Me The Way and Do You Feel Like We Do.
So what exactly is a talkbox?
