Drive effects
The hot little boxes of rock that have driven us to distraction this year…
earthQuaker Devices eruptor Fuzz £155
This pedal was the Holy Grail of designer Jamie Stillman, who worked on it for two years before pronouncing himself happy. So what’s so great about it? Well, it’s a vintage-voiced fuzz that can be used anywhere in the signal chain. To explain: real vintage Germanium Fuzz Faces need to be placed first in the chain, with no intervening buffered pedals, to sound at their best. Freed from that must-go-first imperative, the Eruptor sounds great before or after modulation, other drives and so on, which opens up masses of new sonic possibilities. It also reproduces low end without muddiness, is one-knob simple and sounds gloriously classic. Solid-gold innovation in sonic terrain that seemed mined out. www.earthquakerdevices.com
strymon sunset Dual Drive £299
It took Strymon a while to dip their toe into drive pedals as, prior to now, their ‘thing’ has been high-end digital emulations of classic ’verbs, delays and so on. But we’re glad they did because the Sunset is, for Guitarist writer and session man Adam Goldsmith at least, the pedal that pushed the revered King of Tone OD off top slot on his ’board. Like the KoT and the D&M Drive, it’s based around two drives in one box, which can be stacked, routed and tweaked in a myriad of ways to yield tones ranging from transparent boost to sewer-filthy fuzz. Run the drive stages in parallel or stacked one into the other, reverse their order in the chain… the list goes on, making the Sunset classic in voice but progressive in execution. www.strymon.net
effectroDe sr-71 BlackBirD vaccum tuBe preamp £369
So, this is a drive pedal that wants to add several new channels to your amp – and it’s got valves at its heart. Valve preamp pedals have been on the rise in recent times, with Kingsley’s superb Page and Maiden also being very worthy of commendation. You can use the SR-71 in front of the amp or, more properly, in the effects loop return of your amp, bypassing the existing preamp stage alogether. We said: “It’s exceptionally quiet with almost inaudible hiss and hum levels. The drive effects cover the full spectrum of vintage and modern tones, going from Dumble-like smoothness to a more aggressive bite with practically endless sustain.” www.effectrode.com