Gear Reviews

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Suhr Corso 5 Watt Amp and the Hedgehog

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Wow, just been made aware of a couple of new amps from Suhr, which look fanatastic....and by watching the video of the Corso, sound pretty fantastic too! The Corso in particular looks like it could be a very versatile and fantastic in the studio. Likewise, the Hedgehog (what a cool name for an amp!!) look very interesting, although, I always the 30 Watts of the Badger seemed to be rather optimum these days. But quite exciting all the same, really love Suhr products, and the Suhr Riot, is probably one of (if not the) best pedal I have ever owned!It will be interesting to see what the prices are....but I am guessing high! It is also interesting to watch Suhr videos without Guthrie Govan in them, now he has moved to Charvel (Fender)...although his new guitar looks amazing, but again I am guessing megabucks!!PeaceNeil

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TC Nova System Direct into a PA - A/DA GCS-2

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Following up on my series of articles on the Nova System an video reviews, I have always wished a little bit that the Nova was like a GT-100 or HD-500 and had some associated amp modelling, so it could be used direct into a PA or recording session. I didn't wish that much as to be honest I think the effects are awesome and it is a fantasticaly awesome pedal, as is evident. Then part of me thought wouldn't it be cool to have a set up where with a simple clean modelling pedal I could achieve basically the same thing (and use it in an emergency should my amp break). Whilst the Nova does have a 'speaker simulator' built in, this is a very basic eq curve (hence the reason you 'loose' the eq section when you engage it), but it could save you in an emergency. And then I found this, the A/DA GCS-2 cabinet simulator and direct box and it could be exactly what I am looking for, and something which is an all round Swiss army.I am starting to think, that with something like this, and say an American Sound pedal, you basically have a modelling rig (and all analogue) which could save you in an amp emergency, but also make a fairly small and lightweight rig. I am going to look into this and report back asap!PeaceNeil

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Wampler Dual Fusion Pedal

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Okay, after not being to up on stuff to come out of NAMM 2013, I did just stumble across this....Been following Tom Quayle for a while now, really like his lessons (and playing of course!) on iGuitar (although curses for tuning to 4ths!), and was really surprised to hear that he has released a signature pedal, but how cool is that. I really like the idea of a dual pedal (in a compact space), I think it is what of guitarist really need, a great rhythm tone on one side, then gain staging to get a lead tone/boost. I am really excited to try this pedal out. Here are the specs from the Wampler site• 2 separate pedals in one box, each with their own gain structure - volume|tone|gain (each with two voicing options)• Switcbable stacking order (1 into 2, 2 into 1 or you can completely separate them).• Stack perfectlyI like the fact (actually I think it is amazing!) that you can separate the channels out!! Hoping it won't be too expensive!!PeaceNeil

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Joyo JF-14 American Sound Review

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It seems Joyo Pedals are causing a bit of a stir, and I have already reviewed the Joyo Tremolo and Ultimate Drive, so it is the time of the American Sound now. I know there is some controversy about the Joyo range of pedals, and how they are basically rip offs (copies) of existing pedals, in this case the Tech 21 Blonde, and I know we should be looking into the economics and politics of this, but it is difficult to know where to start.

Should you buy something which is basically stolen from someone else IP (intellectual property?), or if I took one a part and brought the same components for pennies from Maplin and rebuilt it, is that the same thing?

The fact that the economics of scale and the Chinese economy mean that they are then able to sell these back to us for incredibly cheap prices, particularly when compared to the Tech 21 original. But for me, curiosity got the better of me, I wanted a pedal which could be used as a DI incase of my amp going down, and what better pedal to have than an amp model of than a clean Fender and then drive it with distortion pedals. So I gave it a whirl.

The Joyo JF14 is supposed to emulate a Fender 57 deluxe amplifier, which (according to Fender) is their most popular Tweed Amp, and it is a lovely amp I must say!

How easy is it to use?

The pedal is dead easy to use it has a 3 band EQ section and controls for level, gain and voice. The voice control is perhaps the only one which isn't immediately clear as to what it does, but it is basically a mid-shaping pre-amp controlThe pedal also has built-in amp simulation, (this is a simple EQ profile to make it sound like the output is running through a 1 x12 cab, in this instance) which make it sound "Fender-ish".

This is great because you can use this as an emergency amp, or strapped to a pedal board you could create your own amp simulator board, without the need of something like a Line-6 amp simulator. To me this is probably the best feature of this pedal. I have been using it to do direct recording too and it sounds fantastic. In conjunction with something like a traditional pedalboard, you could have a amp modelling system.

There is 9V input and it runs from a battery.

Are there any nice touches?

Pretty bog standard really! Nicest touch...it costs less than £30!!! (Ethics aside)

So most importantly what does it SOUND like?

For a pedal which costs less than £30, it is simply amazing! It would be impossible to have any real complaints at all. It works fantastically as a DI amp modelling box in the studio, and I would happily use it instead of micing up an amp. It also works fantastically well as a DI box in a live situation, I am using it now as my valve amp back up, and it is just stuck on my pedal board.

I would say I am not completely convinced by the drive setting, but actually in conjunction with the voice setting you can get some nice break up tones, but I found using it with a separate drive pedal suits me more (personally).

I will say that the pedal is very dynamic and does respond well to your playing, it does cleans up well using the guitar's volume.It is well worth every penny. I would suggest putting it on your shortlists.All guitars were tracked direct with this pedal (using a Fender Telecaster with Dimazio Tone Zone in the neck), straight into DP8 with a touch of ambience from the Live room plug-in.The pedal is also true bypass.

Will it fall apart?

The case is made of pretty robust Aluminium, built like most pedals, but whilst I am sure it could take a complete hammering, I probably would treat it with some care, I also worry about the battery cover which seems a bit flimsy. I use a PSU, so this isn't really an issue for me.

Pros

1)The cost!

2)The cost!

3)It sounds GREAT as a clean amp and as a direct box.

Cons

1)Not 100% convinced about the construction if used under pressure

2)Personally the dirty gain sounds aren't awesome, seems to work better in conjunction with an OD pedal.

3)The ethics of 'stealing' IP and cheap labour economics?

Request

I hope that you found this article useful and enjoy my blog, podcast and YouTube channel. I’m always happy to share my thoughts and to help others as much as I can and I will never charge for my blog content. Having said that, I truly appreciate when someone supports me in return for the time it takes to write articles, produce podcasts and videos, where I share my years of work and experience with you.

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Peace

Neil

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Rothwell F1 Booster Review

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So here is my review of the Rothwell F1 Booster pedal, which I think is just pure boosting awesomeness! I have tried one or two boosting pedals/methods over the years, mostly part of existing multi-fx pedals, rather than stand alone. I while back I tried out the Rothwell Hellbender Overdrive pedal in a shop, I was trying out and amp and wanted to see what it sounded like with an overdrive pedal, and I was well impressed with the quality of the pedal. So, scroll forward a few month, I am still on the quest of being able to boost my solos whilst maintaining an appropriate rhythm level, and with the band I am currently working with this is tricky as we cover everything from 60's soul to Bon Jovi! I thought that a pedal which could push the amp on a clean setting to get a fuller bluesy tone and then in conjunction with a distortion pedal get a gainy lead sound would be ideal. So in walks the Rothwell F1 booster. The thing which I instantly liked was the tone control, I have in the past (successfully) used a Boss GE-7 Graphic Equaliser pedal as a booster and with a boost in the mid frequency range to make a solo stand out.  The Rothwell gives you a fantastic 20dB of clean boost, which is ample and great for driving the front of a valve amp (it works fantastically well with my Cornford Roadhouse 30 W combo) where it pushes it into a lovely crunchy tone.

How easy is it to use?Very easy to use and very easy to get a great sound out of it. There are basically two knobs Level and tone and mid-cut switch, which are pretty self explanatory really. The level as mentioned gives a 20dB clean boost to the guitars signal, and tone control in the middle postion leaves the guitar tone untouched, but turning either way either cuts or boosts the treble tone slightly and in a lovely way. I have it notched up a bit to give me a bit more treble to cut through on a solo. The mid-cut switch is useful for creating a scooped sound, you could actually use the pedal inversely, where you switch it on and scoop the mids for your rhythm sound and the switch it off for a solo boost.The pedal is also true bypass.There is 9V and 18V input and it runs from a battery.Are there any nice touches?The pedal looks and feels very sturdy and gorgeous too! It is a bit strange that there are no little rubber feet on the bottom of the glorious metal box to stop it flying around all over the floor. The pedal feels and looks like a quality piece of kit.So most importantly what does it SOUND like?The idea of a boost isn't probably the most exciting of pedals, but actually the effect it can have on your guitar tone is immense. Depending on how you choose to use it, the pedal can give you a wide range of options. The thing I like most about this pedal is that it sounds transparent, it doesn't affect the original guitar, just makes it sound more awesome. The F1 words will beefing up single coiled guitar, edging a tube amp in to lovely distortion or crunch, working as a gain stage with other overdrive or distortion pedals and then adding the icing to a solo tone .It is well worth every penny. I would suggest putting it on your shortlistsWill it fall apart?Very ruggedly built with strong control knobs, can’t see them being a problemPros1)The sound and the amount of gain on tap.2)Build quality is outstanding4)It’s a very versatile pedalCons1)No rubber feet (yeah I know it isn't really an issue...but thought I had to put something!)Video review coming soon!

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TC Ditto Looper Pedal

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Wow curses to TC Electronic for making me spend more money with them!! Looks fantastic...and a great size too!! Just seen news on Facebook of their brand new Ditto Looper pedal. I have to say I think it looks (and sounds from the video) great, and is actually a really good size (I am guessing similar to the Polytune mini). I dropped the Boss RC-3 off of my pedal board, because it was really only on for practicing, and it did take up a fair amount of space for something which I didn't really ever use at gigs....this could be different.....wow and there is the Flashback X 4 ....TC stop making such cool stuff!!!Wow TC, just release a Nova System II (with Auto wah/filter) effect and I will love you for ever (well I kind of do already!)PeaceNeil