guitareffectpedals

Build Your Own Clone Tonebender MKII

2009-02-15T06:48:00.001-08:00

This concept is so cool! You can order a kit with the components and you build a pedal yourself, even without experience with the soldering-iron. There are many clones available of famous pedals, that are collectible and expensive. I built my first pedal, this Tonebender MKII clone. It has three new old stock Philips OC-75 germanium transistors. I didn't totally succeed, as can be seen in the video. I'll have to take a look at the potentiometer I guess...

4MS Mini Noiseswash - crazy stuff

2009-02-15T06:28:00.000-08:00

This pedal is crazy shit from 4ms pedals. They are handmade, true bypass and on request you can get extra functions, knobs and custom artwork. It can be a beautiful fuzz, but it can also get in feedback loops that go on and on, even if you don't plug in a guitar, with strange sounds of a robot under a tap or a circuit bent children's toy. It is able to function like a Steim crackle box. I really like this one with the many knobs and possibilities.

The Syle Velcro and Particle Distorter, endless possibilities for experimental shoegazers...

2009-02-14T07:05:00.001-08:00

How many sounds can fit in one box? The people at thy Syle must have had a lot in mind when they made these pedals. The boxes are all handmade, handwired en handpainted. The designs are original, not clones and they offer a lifetime warranty (they are not of our time). These are hard to get in the Netherlands, but I found these two and they sound wonderfull.

First the particle distorter. The most right footswitch (filter) only operates when the middle one (mass) is switched on and gives a lo-fi sound. The mass switch makes an extra circuit operant. The bypass switch gets you from clean to effected signal. You can get overdrive and distortion sounds out of this box, but also fuzzy feedback and strange robotic sounds. My bloody valentine sounds are all in this box. There is a possibily to swich to a square wave sound with a germanium transistor (the mode toggle switch). The pedal is already modded from the factory with a toggle switch for more bass and one for more treble.

Then the velcro. This does the sixties starving fuzz thing very well, but with the mash switch you can get a lot more sounds out of this box. The variation in sounds is great, it can sound from thinny nasty to thick en woolly. It can reacreate a lot of fuzz sounds, but can do a lot more. Most fuzz pedals are good in one thing, but this one covers them all and more in a great way.