Tone Makers
Audio Kitchen’s head chef serves up some tasty tone tips to expand your effects palette
1
What was the first pedal you built and how did the design come about? “The first pedal that Audio Kitchen released was The Big Trees [Class A valve amp/preamp pedal]. I’d made the Little Chopper amp and at that point people were saying, ‘It’s great for the studio, but I need something really loud to play live with.’ I thought it would be really cool if you could have an amp to use in the studio that you could also use as a pedal and just plug into another [louder] amp when you wanted to go and play live.
“I came up with this idea and it took about three years to get it out there. I had a strong gut feeling when it was finished; I knew it was done and it was as good as I could possibly make it… Incidentally, the name is a homage to Lovetone’s Big Cheese [fuzz], which I think is the coolest pedal ever.”
2
What do you think makes Audio Kitchen pedals unique? “Looking back at the things I’ve designed over the years, I think it’s about having a relatively unmolested transient in the note. When people play through my pedals, they say they can hear the instrument and the person who’s playing it. In other words, the pedals don’t impose their own sound – they’re transparent. Even when they’re face-meltingly broken up, you can hear the person who’s playing and the instrument they’re playing.”
3
What’s your best-selling pedal and why do you think that is? “It’s The Big Trees by a country mile. I think that’s because it’s very flexible and it can find its home doing lots of different things. You can power a cab off it, you can use it as a pedal, you can use it as a hardware insert [with a DAW], you can do reamping through it, you can use it for a nice valve DI sound to add some sparkle… It does a lot of different things.”
4
Which notable bands/players have used Audio Kitchen pedals? “The Cure, Radiohead, The Edge, AC/DC, Biffy Clyro, Coldplay, Wolf Mother, Nine Inch Nails, Death Cab For Cutie, Steve Albini… Flood and Alan Moulder use my stuff a lot for mixing – it’s on a lot of records.”
5
Tell us a secret about effects that you’ve discovered… “Get a box you can use for A/B’ing stuff, so you can swap between two different things and blind-test sounds. Analysing things without knowing what you’re listening to can open up your mind to experimenting more and expand your palette.”
6
Name some common mistakes guitarists make with effects… “Using too much distortion/break-up is something you can hide behind. When you dial it back a bit, or have a clean component of your signal, it forces you to up your game. It’s like recording: you’ve got to get better. That doesn’t necessarily mean technically better – it’s more about conveying what you want to convey. It’s about decreasing the friction between your brain and what comes out of the speaker.”
7
What new pedal triggers your GAS most now? “I think the Chase Bliss Audio and Stone Deaf idea of digitally controlled analogue pedals is awesome. The technology is there and I’d love to see more being explored down that path. You could potentially have a Tube Screamer with presets. Wouldn’t that be cool?”
8
What’s your favourite vintage pedal and why? “I admire the inventor of the Tube
Screamer [Susumu Tamura] because he made something that worked very well and was eminently moddable. People have built careers on selling modded Tube Screamers before going on to do other really cool stuff. It got so many people into building pedals who may not have otherwise done so.”
9
If you had a three-pedal ‘desert island’ pedalboard what would be on it and why? “I’d have The Big Trees on there. I’d also have some kind of reverb/delay. I’m really enjoying the Chase Bliss Audio Dark World [dual-channel reverb] – it’s really interesting. Also, RJ Ampworks are building a Phase 90 variant with presets. It sounds amazing.”
10
What are your favourite effects pedal moments to be heard on record and why? “The first thing that comes to mind is Jonny Greenwood’s Paranoid Android solo [from Radiohead’s OK Computer album], which is just mental. It’s an amazing leftfield solo using the [Mutronics] Mutator. I also really love the iconic stuff that Russell [Lissack] from Bloc Party did on his first few records. The way he combined effects was so interesting and much copied afterwards. Most of his pedalboard was Boss.” www.audiokitchen.co.uk
Well, this whole scenario would definitely put a dampener on any NPDs (new pedal day). However, buying used pedals is a great way to save money, so if we can smooth the transaction/implementation process out a tad for you, it’ll help keep you in the pedal game.
01 A 50 per cent failure rate for any used equipment is absolutely not acceptable. Most manufacturers of pedals seek to have as low a failure rate as possible, so this sort of failure rate for used pedals is abnormal, unless you are buying them from an alt-metal band with elephants for band members.
02 I believe you’ve definitely had a bout of bad luck. That said, you can do things to avoid buying pedals that have been abused. First, if the pedal is grimy or dirty in the photos, think twice about buying it. Gear gets used on the road, but if the individual listing the pedal can’t be bothered to clean it in order to sell it, it is a great indicator that they won’t have looked after and maintained the pedal during their ownership tenure. Second, try to buy pedals with as transparent a description as possible and with great photos of the pedal from all angles. Openness and honesty in a listing is indicative that nothing nefarious is hiding beneath the case.
03 There are a number of things that can be done to check your pedals work on arrival:
a) Do not put the pedal straight on your ’board. Try it in isolation with two guitar cables that you’re confident work.
b) Check you have the right power supply. Ensure the current draw, voltage rating and polarity all meet the pedal’s needs; if they don’t then do not plug the power into your pedal. A typical stomp box takes a nine-volt centre negative DC supply connected with a 2.1mm adaptor. Typical current draw is below 100ma for analogue pedals and higher for digital pedals.
c) Plug the pedal in with the right cables in the right jacks. If it works, great; if it doesn’t, you have a faulty pedal.
d) Test in situ on your pedalboard.
Ensure the patch cables you have are known to work. Ensure the power supplied from your ’board matches the pedals requirements. If it all works then great. At this stage, the most likely negative is going to be an interaction issue.
Interaction issues are just a part of the game: sometimes pedals don’t work well together; other times they work so well that it brings a tear to the eye… Either way, this last stage requires patience, a little finesse and a willingness to persevere.
One last thing, the same steps should be followed for new pedals, too – it pays to be diligent. There’s nothing worse than exploding your new pedal with 24-volt AC power when you should have used nine-volt DC. Good luck!