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Gain Boost Part 2 – Building the Pedal

gain boost part 2Now that we’ve reviewed the components in Part 1, we’ll begin the process of actually building our gain boost pedal.

If you are a guitar player looking to create your own unique sound, one of the best ways to do that is to build your own equipment from scratch. A good portion of “Guitar Electronics” is just very simple circuits that can be built and modified at home. Continue reading “Gain Boost Part 2 – Building the Pedal”

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Vox V847A Classic Reissue Wah Pedal

vox v847aThe V847A is designed to have the original Vox tone while adding a few modern updates to bring the pedal into the modern era

Many wah pedals suffer from a loss of tone when the guitar is plugged into the pedal, and often, this tone loss can be considerable, but the Vox V847A Classic Reissue Wah Pedal is a modern version of the original Vox Wah and it has been designed to address that issue. Continue reading “Vox V847A Classic Reissue Wah Pedal”

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Electro-Harmonix Wailer Wah Pedal

electro-harmonix wailerThe Electro-Harmonix Wailer Wah features a circuit that is very similar to the Crying Tone Wah but with a traditional rack and pinion style design.

The traditional style of the Electro-Harmonix Wailer, with movable pedal and a steady base, is much better suited to a pedalboard than the Crying Tone. The pedal is constructed in a light and cost-effective, but still very sturdy, high-impact plastic housing that’s designed to take years of abuse. Continue reading “Electro-Harmonix Wailer Wah Pedal”

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Fulltone Clyde Deluxe Wah

fulltone clyde deluxeThe Fulltone Clyde Deluxe Wah uses a very quiet MU-80 (80% nickel alloy) shielded Fulltone 500mH inductor that is hand made and designed to be the same as the inductor in the ’60s Vox.

The Fulltone Clyde Deluxe Wah is the Fulltone version of the Vox “Clyde McCoy” Wah, a well known vintage Wah used by Jimi Hendrix. This pedal has one of the largest pedal sweeps of any wah on the market. Continue reading “Fulltone Clyde Deluxe Wah”

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Dynamics and Gain – Understanding How Guitar Effects Work

dynamics and gainDynamics and gain are the most basic of guitar effects. They deal with Volume, and they’re designed to help control how loud or soft your signal is

Dynamics-and-gain are the most basic of guitar effects. They deal with Volume, and they’re designed to help control how loud or soft your signal is. The Volume control built into your guitar might not seem like it, but it fits into this category. What might seem like it fits this category even less is your guitar’s Tone control, but believe it or not, it actually adjusts the Volume of your guitar’s high end frequencies. Continue reading “Dynamics and Gain – Understanding How Guitar Effects Work”

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Distortion – Understanding How Guitar Effects Work

distortionWhen a signal is sent into a device such as your amplifier with too much Gain, the signal begins to “clip.” This clipping gives the sound its characteristic buzzy sound that we call distortion.

Overdrive

Overdrive is usually a naturally occurring clipping of the signal. It is often created by turning the volume up too loud on the gain stage of the amp, or by using a gain-boosting pedal that makes the signal too hot going into the amp or another pedal. This will oftentimes drive the later stages of the amp too hard and the signal will begin to clip, or chop off the parts of the signal that are too loud. This distorted sound is oftentimes a warm, pleasing tone that also adds a little compression to the signal. Continue reading “Distortion – Understanding How Guitar Effects Work”

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Dunlop GCB95 Cry Baby Wah Pedal

dunlop gcb95The original Thomas Organ Cry Baby pedal is an American branded version of the Vox Wah. The Dunlop GCB95 Cry Baby Wah Pedal is the modern version of the Thomas Organ Cry Baby.

This modern interpretation features several technical improvements over its vintage namesake and it was created by Jim Dunlop when he bought the Cry Baby brand from Thomas Organ in 1981. This Cry Baby pedal uses the legendary red Fassel inductor that was used in the vintage wah pedals, and combines it with a more focused high end, and a more aggressive and accentuated wah sound. Continue reading “Dunlop GCB95 Cry Baby Wah Pedal”