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It’s been a while since we’ve done a pedal feature
in a big way. I know that there are a few of you out in our customer base
who really enjoy my anecdotes, enthusiasm and humor when describing the
pedals that we feature. Many of you have approached me in regards to new
installments of “Mike’s Excellent Pedal to the Metal” adventure. So here
you go…this for all the pedal pushers out there who have been patiently
waiting for a fix of Mike “Metal” McAvan’s guitar effect anecdotes.
As you all know, we are currently having a pedal clear-out
sale where we are wanting to clear out the generic brands that the bigger
stores carry and bring in some more boutique and hand made pedals. It’s
not that we feel that they are “junk” or unusable…it’s in fact the opposite.
There are some great bargains to be had for some amazing pedals. With the
success of Keeley Electronics, Carl Martin and Diamond pedals, we feel
we ought to concentrate more hand built custom pedals that everyone hears
or reads about but can never find. The Twelfth Fret has always stood for
innovation and evolution. As a younger player, I remember coming to the
Twelfth Fret to see and hear the latest and coolest products…it’s how I
discovered THD amps and my beloved Demeter Fat Boost control in my ESP
Custom Strat. Today, it’s my pleasure to carry on this tradition and bring
the customer the coolest, hippest and most sought after pedals out there.
I hope that you all enjoy these write ups as much as I enjoyed sampling
the goodies and disturbing my pesky neighbors with gargantuan guitar tones.
So many pedals…so little time!!!
‘Nuff Said,
Mike “Metal” McAvan
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| The Quicksilver Delay
is one of the smoothest yet complex sounding delays that I’ve heard in
a longtime. I can’t say enough good things about this pedal. It features
a larger chassis design for clearance on cluttered pedal boards and boasts
up to 1.2 seconds of delay time. It also features goodies like a feedback/fx
loop to effect trails and delayed signal. There is also a handy expression
control jack (note: the connector for the expression control must be a
stereo connector or TRS style) for controlling delay times.
The switching is straightforward with an
on/off switch and a mode switch that allows you to go toggle between short
and long delay modes. Other interesting “surprises” are the ability to
hook up a volume pedal to the “feedback loop” and control the repeat rates
via the volume pedal. Also by adding a compressor or an overdrive pedal
to the loop, a player can create some truly psychedelic soundscapes by
accentuating the feedback/trails.
The modulation delay in this unit is truly
amazing as well and recalls the classic Andy Summers/Johnny Marr tones.
True bypass keeps it lean and clean and believe it or not, it will run
off of a single 9 volt battery, but like most delays…not for very long. |
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| The Cobalt Overdrive is a complex sounding
unit that retains the original tonal quality of your guitar. Its
true bypass design and discreet yet powerful circuit ensure quiet operation.
It features a very high impedance input stage that guarantees maximum headroom
and uncolored operation. The curious looking “Bias” control adds
dynamic control over headroom, compression and “crunch”. It allows you
to simulate a power amp style “sag” and to other extreme, a defined crunchy
break-up. It also works great for bass as an overdrive to achieve those
killer King’s X bass tones (refer to King’s X –Faith, Hope Love cd…it’s
a must hear!!!). |
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| The Mule is a mild overdrive
whose timbre sits nicely in “Tweed-land”. It’s very similar to a little
Fender Champ cranked up. It’s a very focused overdrive with some very cool
Fender like overtones with a true bypass design that will keep your tone
transparent. All this in a hardworking hand built pedal and no need to
dangle a carrot in front of it to get a great tone! |
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Mojo Hand Pedals
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| The Copperhead pedal
is a simply designed low gain overdrive pedal that really works without
cheesing out your sound. It features two channels that are totally independent
or can be used together. The basic tone is reminiscent of a Fender 65’
Reverb brought to the brink of a Texas style barbecue. The two channels
keep the pedal versatile and utilitarian, while the true bypass switch
keeps everything crystal clean when the pedal is off. The Copperhead also
works great as a dual voiced gain boost similar to our beloved Keeley
Time Machine Boost. Snake charmer not included. |
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| The Liquid Sunshine really made
us take notice. It is a very simple design using Jfet circuits to produce
a very natural “Class A” styled overdrive. You’d swear that you were plugged
into a Matchless or a Bad Cat amp! The dual cascading drive knobs allow
a player to hone in on real tones rather than just gain boosting and fuzzing
out. Also on board are an internal Bass and Treble control tp work with
your amps characteristics. This pedal reacts well with a booster on the
front end (see Catalinbread Serrano Picosso). The result is an incredibly
dynamic pedal that oozes Class A attitude while retaining transparency
and low end definition. |
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| The Stupid Box is a thick
and versatile distortion. Low gain to medium gain is this pedals specialty.
With 5 internal controls (Pre-bass, Pre Treble, Bass, Mid-range, and a
Smooth/Crunch switch), it is a “tweakers” dream pedal! From SRV to AC/DC
this pedal will please even the most diehard purest. Amazingly, this pedal
sounds great at practice volumes as well as full-on stage volume. Thick,
juicy Marshall JTM 45/Plexi tones are in there as well as subtle crunch
tones. The 3PDT switch keeps the true bypass function clean and unaffected
when the pedal is turned off. Gain control via your guitar's volume knob
allows for some dynamic textures and semi-clean sounds. |
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| The SubDecay Blackstar distortion
is a high gain distortion that works great on a clean amp. The distortion
is thick, full of sustain and is optimized for hard rock and metal sounds.
The comprehensive and simple tone control as well as dual gain controls
allow for some serious tone shaping. The pedal also feature a 3PDT switch
for true bypass. The cascading dual gain control are put through mosfets
and Jfets to create a true, defined amp like distortion. Plugged through
the clean channel of my trusty VHT Pitbull 5012, it really kicked
some serious behind. Not only that, it seemed to have a ridiculous amount
of headroom, unlike most metal/high gain pedals. Palm muting is a dream
with this pedal. The pedal even responded to volume knob manipulation to
achieve lower gain settings without “mushing out”. You'd swear you were
running a high gain amp. The sound is very reminiscent of a Soldano SLO100
overdrive and will no doubt surprise even the fussiest of shredder’s. |
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| Catalinbread Super Charged Overdrive |
| “Yeowza!!!” is the first “word” that comes to
mind when you first plug this bad boy in. Extremely versatile, this pedal
will inject a serious dose of testosterone into your guitar sound. From
mild to obliteration ... this is just what the doctor ordered. The lower
gain settings are a medium overdrive sound while the higher gain modes
will have you quoting Black Sabbath riffs from the Ozzy era ( with exception
to anything after Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath). The Super Charged
Overdrive is exactly what it claims to be and sounds like a mutant
cousin of the BOSS DS-1 and a Pro-Co Rat on steroids playing a game of
Russian Roulette with a Chandler Tube Driver. True bypass keeps this bad
boy in line and transparent when the effect is disengaged. This one has
quickly become a shop favorite. |
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| The Silver Kiss mkII
is low/medium gain overdrive that features a 3 band graphic EQ and also
works great as a gain booster. The pedal features a true bypass switch
as well as some of the coolest graphics ever. The tone is reminiscent of
a classic Tube Screamer with more girth and transparency. It works amazingly
as a straight up distortion effect but also has the gain boosting ability
to take a crunch tone of an amp and take it on a voyage much like Dante
Alighieri’s in the Divine Comedy. |
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| Catalinbread HyperPak Dirty Channel |
| The HyperPak Dirty Channel
is the perfect match for a clean amp. Despite it’s remarkable size (or
lack there of…Grant, behave!!!), it actually produces a muscular and huge
sounding distortion. It very similar in tone to a BOSS DS-1 and a MXR Distortion
+, but cleans up very well with volume knob manipulation. It also features
true bypass and is so darn cute!!! |
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| Catalinbread Serrano Picoso |
| The Serrano Picoso is a straight
up boost pedal designed to take up minimum space on a cluttered pedal board.
This little wonder provides 30db (insert devilish grin here_______)! It
works great as a buffer or a line booster as well. The true bypass design
keeps it discreet and transparent. Plug this pedals into the front of an
overdriven amp and watch the room explode!!! |
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| Catalinbread Semaphore Tremolo |
| The Semaphore Tremolo pedal is
a well-designed tremolo pedal that really works without cheesing out your
sound. It has the abilitly to achieve shimmery and watery smooth trem effects
as well as aggressive “hard chop” sounds. It is extremely quiet, transparent
and doesn’t produce any harshness or brittle tones like most of its competitors.
It’s comprehensive control layout makes for easy tweaking and versatility
without any of the hang-ups that most trem pedals suffer from. You also
won’t be able to resist its cute, compact chassis and layout. |
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| Catalinbread Ottava Magus |
| The Ottava Magus is not for the faint of heart.
It is truly a disgusting sounding pedal that’s cool because….well…just
because. It is foul, over-the-top, offensive and in dire need of an exorcist.
This is definitely the “get-even-with-the-heckler” pedal to have on your
pedal board. Just the name, “octave ring multiplier” invokes fear into
the hearts of banjo players and acoustic guitarists. This pedal has to
be heard to understand the depths that it goes to. For some reason, I find
it soooo cute and can’t help but love it…purple knobs and all! |
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