Dwarfcraft Surrender Dorothy

Dwarfcraft's Surrender Dorothy is a more tame version of their Great Destroyer but damn does it still pack a punch. It's thick, it's bassy and still a little noisy and I wouldn't have it any other way. More comprehensive demo to come.

Dwarfcraft Pitch Grinder Prototype!

Here we have the prototype Pitch Grinder from Dwarfcraft. It's a sequenced pitch shifter with some serious bit-crushing going on and it's amazing. I did a little demo of it's functions and just getting different sounds out of it. This was all recorded and edited on my iPad so the audio quality certainly isn't the best but it gives you a great idea of what this thing can do. Needless to say I can't wait for their Kickstarter to get approved so I can give my money to them! Enjoy the demo, there will be more to come tomorrow (that's right EffectsWire is back and it'll be better than ever)!

Update:
After spending more time with this thing I'm quite impressed by how intuitive it is and how inspiring it can be. It probably won't be an always on type of thing but certainly is an incredibly unique effect that can work for just about any style of musician. The Pitch Grinder is a challenge, a challenge to be creative and push the boundaries of what you're currently doing. I challenge you to take the plunge and pledge to their Kickstarter, I promise you won't regret it. I did a couple recordings on my computer as well using a USB mixer and a Shure SM57. Here's a medley of Pitch Grinder sounds and an improvised noise track I did with it as well.

Guest Post: DIY Feedback Looping with Kevin Ian

Hello Kind Readers!

I've been experimenting with feedback loops for the better part of the last two years. In my band, The Common Men, I utilize feedback loops within the scope of an electric guitar. This yields some wonderfully noisy and melodically noisy passages that--in my humble opinion--make me stand out in my local scene.

I've been asked about experimenting with such techniques without having to invest in a feedback loop pedal.

 

Those of you interested in feedback looping can do so with your existing pedal collection and a basic mixer. The requirement is that this mixer has an FX SEND to it.

Before I continue, allow me to make this warning loud and clear:

Turn down the volume of your amplification source! Whether this is a PA or amp, make sure the volume is all the way off. Feedback looping causes sudden spikes in volume that can damage speakers--more on this later.

Let's get started!

Review: DMB Lunar Echo

The DMB Lunar Echo is an analog delay with a sweet, sweet tone and tons of modulation options from subtle to sounds you've never even heard from a delay before. Keep on reading to find out about this killer analog delay.

For all you noise fans out there!

Here is another track I made using a few of my favorite pedals. Enjoy!


Winter by EelFistNoise

This track was made using the following pedals:
Dwarfcraft Eau Claire Thunder and Robot Devil
smallsound/bigsound Year4545
Mid-Fi Deluxe Pitch Pirate
Dr. Scientist Reverberator
Frequency Central Atomic Clock Delay

Effects were used in that order. A little bit of noise came from the guitar in the beginning, the rest is all generated by the voltage-starved Robot Devil going in to the Thunder with the feedback engaged and the rest of the noise was created from the Year4545's oscillators. Other sounds are from the Pitch Piate and Atomic Clock self-oscillating. You might also here a very faint rattling noise at the end, that is the wind rattling my blinds.

This was improvised and recorded in one take, no post processing done.

Review of the Mid-Fi Deluxe Pitch Pirate coming soon!

Review: Dwarfcraft Devices Eau Claire Thunder

The unit I will be reviewing today is a custom Eau Claire Thunder/Robot Devil but this review will be for the Eau Claire Thunder side of the pedal but a Robot Devil review will be coming up as well. The Eau Claire Thunder is high gain, fuzzy monster, the name Eau Claire Thunder could not be more fitting. With plenty tonal flexibility, this fuzz works great on both bass and guitar and even has a built-in feedback loop for more insanity! Read on to find out how this massive fuzz/distortion stacks up to the other high-gain fuzz boxes I've reviewed in the past.

Review: Dr. Scientist Radical Red Reverberator

The Dr. Scientist Reverberator is an amazing little contraption considering it fits so much reverb into such a small stompbox. It bestows its user with many different reverb types (hall, room, plate and brighter or darker variations on each as well as a sweet sounding Leslie speaker simulator). With the ability to do anything from adding a bright shimmer to your chords to providing absolutely cavernous reverb, there is a reason the Dr. Scientist Reverberator is a favorite among many guitarists who love reverb.

Review: smallsound/bigsound Year4545

The smallsound/bigsound Year4545 is a crazy fuzz sent through a pair of oscillators that absolutely destroy your tone in the most beautiful ways. It produce all sorts of noisy fuzz generating different octaves, hisses squeals and insane amounts of noise (the good kind), perfect for the experimentalist in all of us. Keep reading to hear more about this eye-opening fuzz/noisemaker.

EffectsWire is Back!

Hey everyone,

I just want to apologize for my sudden stop in posting. School and a new job got pretty hectic and I had to put this blog on hold for a bit but now I'm off school and work for a month which leaves me plenty of time to write some more reviews and hopefully do an interview or two.

I just want to personally thank everyone who reads this blog for your support and I hope you'll enjoy some new content in the coming days.


Mike Fetting

Review: McSpunckle Effects Gnomeratron VTF Fuzz and And Aardvarks Booster/Overdrive

The Gnomeratron is a fuzz tweakers dream and the And Aardvarks is the perfect companion for it. There's a knob or switch for just about any parameter you'd like to tweak on a fuzz and you can dial in some crazy sounds. The And Aardvarks is a boost/overdrive that perfectly compliments the Gnome and sounds amazing as just a standalone overdrive. The VTF and AA are guitar and bass friendly due to the Gnome's (somewhat) clean blend and the versatile tone stack on both of them. Read on to find how crazy versatile (and just crazy in general) this fuzz and overdrive are.

So what's been going on with EffectsWire?

Hey I know things seem to look a little weird on the site and I'm not too happy about it either. A lot of my Picasa pictures have been deleted and it seems there's no way to get them back sadly. So that's whats up with all the missing pictures, hopefully the reviews and clips are still helpful!

I haven't been posting much either, lately I've been getting settled into school, doing schoolwork and I recently got a new job which makes me even more busy. I also must say I've been a tiny bit lazy as well and I promise that will all change in October, I've got plenty of cool stuff coming up!

Again, sorry about the missing pictures and the lack of posting, I want to thank each and every one of you for reading my blog and I hope you'll continue to do so!

Mike

Review: smallsound/bigsound Team Awesome! Fuzzmachine

The smallsound/bigsound Team Awesome! Fuzzmachine is a versatile germanium fuzz that works equally well on bass as it does for guitar thanks to it's clean blend and heaps of low end. Read on to find out more about this absolute monster of a fuzz pedal.

Review: Make Sounds Loudly Blood Fuzz

The MSL Blood Fuzz is a very intriguing fuzz pedal. With the ability to switch between a combination of two individual sets of diodes, players can experiment to find tons of different fuzz tones in one box. Combine that with a built-in feedback loop and you have a very entertaining fuzz pedal to experiment with.

Review: Full Custom Music Barnacle Fuzz

The Barnacle Fuzz is an original design fuzz pedal from Full Custom Music. It's a very well rounded fuzz taking influence from a few famous fuzz designs. Keep reading to find out more about this awesome new fuzz box and the tone and simplicity it can bring to your pedal collection.

Review: smallsound/bigsound Sparkle Motion

The Sparkle Motion is a Dallas Rangemaster clone at heart (complete with a germanium transistor for that extra mojo), but just by looking at it you've probably already realized that the Sparkle Motion is more than a simple treble booster. It offers much more control than your standard Rangemaster clone. Keep reading to find out all the incredible things this boost can do for your tone.

Review: Death by Audio Fuzz War

The Fuzz War is a monster of fuzz producing tons of gain for a great scooped metal tone. It simply has a volume and tone knob with an internal trimpot for controlling the gain/amount of fuzz. Read on to find out more about this aggressive fuzz box.

Review: Frequency Central Atomic Clock Delay

Most of you have probably already read my interview with Rick, the life force of Frequency Central. If you haven't I suggest you do either before or after reading this, you can find it here. Rick built me a delay pedal that is his own original design and man is this thing impressive. Read on to find out about it's unique features and the wealth of sounds this device can bring you.

Review: Make Sounds Loudly Blue Whale Fuzz

The Blue Whale Fuzz is a gated fuzz with plenty of gain on tap for many over the top fuzz tones. Keep on reading to find out more about this crazy fuzz.

Interview with Mark from Black Arts Toneworks

I'm sure most of you have heard of Black Arts Toneworks due to the massively successful Pharaoh fuzz and the newly released LSTR. Read on to find out how all of this got started and get to know Mark, the man behind wall of fuzz.

Review: Mountainking Electronics Megalith

The Megalith is a destructive beast of a fuzz. It turns your guitar's sound into a hulking behemoth bent on destruction. It provides tons of saturated gain with the boost circuit as well as tons of low end and plenty of tone shaping capabilities. Read on to find out more about this crushing high gain fuzz.