Tone Makers
We catch up with Hudson Electronics’ main man about the new Ariel Posen pedal and his love of ageing Copicats…
1What was the first pedal you built and how did the design come about? “I started off building vintage Fuzz Face and Tone Bender-style circuits for my own use when I was playing in bands. This was in the early 2000s when you could pick up the [NOS] transistors on eBay more easily. After that, I built a hybrid of a Fuzz Face and an Italian [Vox] Tone Bender, and that turned into the first pedal I sold – the Mr Soul. I was trying to get the sound of Neil Young in Buffalo Springfield on the song Mr Soul. Things grew steadily from there.”
2What do you think makes Hudson Electronics unique? “I always try to keep the pedals really dynamic and responsive-sounding. The sound is the most important thing, but I think a distinctive look with a nice user interface really helps, too. Things changed when I came up with the Broadcast. That’s done really well over the last few years. The use of transformers [in the Broadcast] is a fairly unique thing; it’s a different way of adding texture and colour – it sounds a bit frayed at the edges and it has a nice sort of crackle to it.”
3What’s your best-selling pedal and why do you think that is? “Without a doubt it’s the Broadcast. It’s a uniquely voiced overdrive and is different to a lot of other things out there. It’s a big wide-ranging, full-frequency overdrive with plenty of low-end, but the ‘Low Cut’ control will tighten the sound up a bit more if needed. A lot of bass players use it, either as a preamp or overdrive.”
4Which notable musicians have used Hudson Electronics pedals? “I was really excited to see Graham Coxon using a Broadcast. It was cool to see him playing some Blur songs through it because I’ve been a big fan since the mid90s. I get lots of messages from studios and producers saying they’ve got one on the shelf. It’s great to hear people are using your pedals and putting them to good use – to hear that from anybody is an honour.”
5Is there anything new on the horizon at Hudson Electronics? “I’ve just released the Ariel Posen signature version of the Broadcast [the
Broadcast-AP; read the review on p128]. I tend to design stuff on my own, but it was nice to get a different perspective by working with Ariel. I’m currently working on a new compressor pedal, but rather than being a transparent studiostyle compressor I’m going in a different direction and adding some character and colour to the sound.”
6Tell us a secret about effects that you’ve discovered… “I really like running distortion after reverb. It creates a big haunting wash of sound.”
7Can you share your best tone tip for guitarists? “There’s nothing worse than having hum and noise on your pedalboard, or dodgy cables crackling and popping. Or, indeed, your entire pedalboard going down. I’d say try to make sure you’re that using goodquality power supplies and decent cables so that your pedals sound as best they can. You don’t need to spend hundreds of pounds on cables, as long as they’re strong and reliable.”
8Name some common mistakes guitarists make with effects… “Writing off a particular type of effect based on preconceptions about music or playing styles you’re not a fan of. I stayed well away from chorus pedals for a long time, but I’ve recently discovered some really cool sounds using chorus. It’s often worth trying something new. A different type of pedal might open new doors for you creatively.”
9What’s your favourite vintage pedal and why? “I’ve got an old WEM Copicat [tape delay] – a transistor one from the 70s. It’s quite beaten up and the heads have worn on it, so the repeats are really warm and gritty sounding. The ageing tape mechanism gives this great wobble and warble. You can’t adjust the tape speed, but you can engage three different heads at different points on the tape, and if you engage them all you get this great lo-fi reverb that’s also a bit distorted. I like the imperfections because you get something different out of it every time. I really like that. It’s just a little bit too big to carry around!”
10Are there any long-lost gems in the pedal world that you think would be worth reissuing? “I’d like to see a WEM Copicat reissue. I know people have done Echorecs and Echoplexes, but it would be good to have one of the WEM Copicats in a small form factor with those unique ageing qualities.” https://hudsonelectronicsuk.com