NEW at NAMM: Pure Gain Plus, Verbrator, Noxious Pedals
The Fuchs Amplification booth was another mix of constant activity at the show. Amp designer and owner Andy Fuchs had a long trail of musicians standing in line to say hello. Their line of premium amplifiers, and now boutique effects pedals, has attracted a substantial and loyal following over the past few years. My Overdrive Supreme is still my main amp in my rig and I continue to be complimented on my tone year after year.
Their Plush FX Pedals are also a huge hit in the guitar player community. Last year they introduced their initial line of pedals, which included a series of overdrive and boost pedals, a compressor and a tremolo pedal. My favorite is the Valve Job (see my 2008 NAMM HERE). If you want the Fuchs tone but your budget can’t support the purchase of a genuine Fuchs amplifier, these Plush overdrive pedals sure come awfully close to a real deal. They are designed like an amplifier, which gives them a very unique “Fuchs” character.
This year, three new pedals were introduced.
Pure Gain Plus – This new pedal concept was suggested by Dweezil Zappa who is a dedicated Fuchs amplifier user. The Pure Gain Plus combines two gain boosts and incorporates an A/B switch. The concept here is to use the gain circuits to balance the input of two guitars and then use the A/B to switch them to your rig. A nice feature about these boost circuits is that when set to zero, the booster acts as a buffer. It’s an ingenious design and should be well received.
Verbrater – This new pedal is both a reverb pedal and effects loop. The reverb portion includes a 24-bit digital reverb processor. There are controls for level and decay allowing short, medium, and long reverb times. The reverb really does sound great…big and wet! It’s amazing what you can stuff into a small box like this. The tube-driven effects portion of this pedal was designed to be used with any amplifier that has a passive preamp output and a power amp input. This allows you to insert any effect between the preamp and power amp section. It includes send and return controls to help balance out the signals.
Noxious – This is a signature pedal for Nick Catanese (Black Label Society and SpeedX) I did not hear this pedal at the show but if it is anything like Andy’s Viper amp, I’m sure it is very aggressive and very musical.
Andy Fuchs always continues to impress me with his new products. I’m very proud to be an early adopter and I’ll be a fan of Fuchs Audio Technology for many years to come.
Web Link: http://www.fuchsaudiotechnology.com/
Contact: Andy Fuchs
Email: info@fuchsaudiotechnology.com
NEW at NAMM: Pitch Factor
Eventide has always been known for their top of the line rack-mounted reverb, delay, and pitch shifter processors. Every major studio in the world includes an Eventide effects processor. I was so pleased when Eventide introduced a lower priced rack-mount effects unit called the Eclipse, which includes many of the incredible Eventide effects at an affordable price. Last year, they finally came to their senses and introduced the Mod Factor and Time Factor for guitar players, which have been incredibly successful. Like so many companies, they realized the HUGE selling potential for guitar pedals. I personally own both the Mod and Time Factor and use them exclusively for my wet effects. At this year’s NAMM show, Eventide added another pedal to their line up, the Pitch Shifter. The new Pitch Shifter includes Eventide’s 10 best pitch+delay effects based on years of development. I tried this unit out on the floor and it was truly impressive. These are the kind of effects that just make you smile. If you are creating original music and you want to add interest and style to your songs and guitar playing, this could be the best pitch shifter on the market for your money.
Web Link: http://www.eventide.com/AudioDivision/Products/StompBoxes.aspx
Contact: Audio Sales
Email: audio@eventide.com
NEW at NAMM: Robotalk 2
Truly a unique pedal offering, the Robotalk by Xotic Effects is an analog design Random Arpeggiator, Envelope Filter, and Lo-Pass Filter with some very cool sounds for the guitar. It’s a great funk-style effects unit that is great for playing wild “Jeff Beck” style guitar effects. The new Robotalk 2 includes two independent envelope filters, which can be blended together for additional tone options. I’ve played through this effects box multiple times and it is very inspiring. It is very different all the way around. You find yourself playing things you would have never come across because of it’s unique arpeggio effect. I just can’t figure out how to use it in my band yet.
Other fantastic pedals by Xotic include the AC Booster, RC Booster and the BB Preamp. See my review of these pedals HERE. The RC and BB come in a “Plus” model as well offering two effects in one package. These drive pedals are very expressive and musical much like a natural amp overdrive and are used by pros around the world. A new Scott Henderson signature model of the RC Booster was recently released but is now sold out.
Web Link: http://www.xotic.us/effects/
Contact: Toshio Horiba
Email: info@xoticeffects.com
NEW at NAMM: A few New Cool Cat Guitar Pedals
As I was walking by the Danelectro booth and a VERY good guitar tone was emanating from a small guitar amp on the corner. This fine guitar player was demonstrating the nifty line of Cool Cat guitar effects pedals by Danelectro. I have to say I was very impressed with the nice tones out of these little boxes. They all included true bypass, metal cases and metal jacks. I didn’t care too much for the Distortion or Metal I/II effects but the Fuzz, Drive, and especially the Transparent Overdrive effects were very expressive and musical. I also liked the Vibe and Chorus pedals, which were very clean and spacious sounding. The cost of these pedals is unbelievably reasonable ($29 to $69 each). For the price, these could be your best value at high quality tone for your money.
Web Link: http://www.danelectro.com/
Contact: Marcy
Email: marcy@coolcattone.com
This 1RU looper device for guitar players caught my attention as I walked by their booth. Looperlative is a small company out of San Jose, CA formed only a few years ago by designer Robert Amstadt. The LP1 was released in 2006 and seems to be turning heads. What’s intriguing about this looper unit is that it offers 8 stereo tracks in a single rack unit enclosure. The inputs are stereo, but it incorporates three stereo outputs, which can be very handy. Tracks can be synchronized or completely asynchronous. Track manipulation includes recording, muting, overdubbing, reversing, speed changing, scrambling, and bouncing output to new tracks. Total record time is 4.5 minutes. MIDI control is standard too.
Web Link: http://www.looperlative.com/index.php
Contact: Robert Amstadt
Support Forum: http://www.looperlative.com/forum/
