Pedal Boards of The Stars - Michael Landau

Michael Landau is a killer guitar player with amazing tone. Check out his solo album "Tales from the Bulge" or his work with Karizma. Here's what he uses on his current board:

• Maxon SD9 Sonic Distortion (for heavy distortion)
• Roger Mayer Voodoo 1 (for light distortion)
• Boss Volume Pedal
• Roger Mayer Voodoo Vibe
• Geoffrey Teese "Real McCoy" Wah Wah
• DLS RotoSIM - A rotary speaker simulator. For years he has been using the Arion SCH-1 Stereo Chorus to get a Leslie sound, but this seems to have been replaced with the $299 RotoSIM.

The other units on the left side of the board are channel switches for his amps and he also has a Boss tuner.

Recommendation: Ernie Ball Earthwood Acoustic Guitar Strings

Strings are often overlooked by guitar players. This is surprising because I think different brands differ considerably in tone and feel.

I've been through a lot of different sets over the years searching for the ultimate acoustic tone and these strings give the best tone per dollar in my opinion. They're incredibly vibrant and resonant and really bring out the natural tone of your acoustic. I play a Fender f-65 (made in Japan circa 1980) and these strings make it sound better than any other that I've tried.

First I went with a lighter gauge, but found that the medium lights are the best as they deliver smooth and rich bass tones as well as a nicely balanced treble. These are highly recommended and typically retail for around $5 a pack so they are also quite cost effective. Don't be afraid to check 'em out.

Product Review: Danelectro CV-1 Vibe

I was quite impressed by the Danelectro CF-1 Fuzz so I decided to check out the Cool Cat Vibe, which at $69 MSRP is the most expensive pedal in the range. I happened to find a mint condition CV-1 on eBay for only $33 and could not resist. But really, how good could it be at this price? The surprising answer is very good indeed.

As with all pedals in this range, the controls are on the back face of the unit making them a little challenging to access. And like its brothers and sisters, this pedal is true bypass and comes in a strong metal casing – a vast improvement over the previous plastic encased “deli” range of pedals. This particular unit sports a cool ‘50s sea foam green color, which I quite like.

Despite the placement of the controls – Mix, Intensity and Speed – they are fairly straightforward to use and offer up a wide range of tones. The mix control is particularly useful as you can mix your dry signal and the effected signal to taste. One big plus is the variety of different sounds you can get out of this pedal – regular vibrato, phaser-like swooshes and swirly chorus – so it is very versatile. It will definitely put you into Hendrix, Trower and Gilmour territory if desired.

As you would expect at this price point nothing is perfect and it does have some issues. First, it takes a second or so for the effect to engage after you have stepped on the pedal - not a big deal to me. Second, there is a significant volume increase when the effect is on when typically modulation pedals are a little quieter than your normal signal. And while the CV-1 is true bypass and quiet when not being used, it does affect your tone a little when engaged. You'll notice it takes off some high end giving a more compressed and richer tone. That I can live with, but the volume boost is so large it makes the pedal all but unusable unless you are recording and have your levels all set. As a result, the CV-1 did not make it onto my main board even though I liked its versatility and the sounds I could get out of it.

I did an A/B test to compare this with what I consider to be the best vibe on the market: the KR Products Mega Vibe, which costs around $300 if you can even get hold of one. The Mega Vibe was certainly more transparent and authentic – you can replicate Hendrix almost exactly. However, the CV-1 was certainly in the ballpark and could get you perhaps 75% there. So considering the $60 price tag I do think this represents great value for money. For a more affordable vibe that doesn't break the bank I think the Voodoo Lab Micro Vibe is the best value for money at around $130.

In conclusion, the CV-1 Vibe is not going on my main board, but it is a lot of fun to play around with so I am keeping it as a back up and for recording situations.

Product Review: DOD FX20 Phasor

The two classic 1970s phasers are the Electro Harmonix Small Stone and the MXR Phase 90. While I like both of those units, they have a very distinctive and not particularly subtle sound. I wanted something a little different and less intense. I was so impressed with the dirt cheap DOD FX65 Chorus I have that when I saw this phaser at Daddy’s Junky Music in Boston – DOD calls it a “Phasor” – I decided to add it to my pedal collection.

Let’s get the obvious out of the way first. This is one boring, ugly looking pedal. Obviously not one extra cent or brain cell was expended on making it look attractive to potential buyers. But once you get past the dull gray appearance, the sound is full of life and color.

Produced between 1980 and 1984, this is a simple four-stage phaser . . . sorry phasor . . . like the MXR Phase 90. However that’s where the similarity ends. This has a very subtle, watery and shimmery sound that adds no distortion to your signal like some phasers. There are only two controls, speed and regeneration, but with a fairly wide range you have enough of a soundscape to get a lot of different tones. My favorite setting is with Speed at 10 o’clock and Regen at 11 o’clock. This delivers a wonderfully warm and rich phasing sound with both clean and distorted channels – just enough to know you have the effect on, but not enough to completely smother your tone. Perfect.

There are some basic design flaws with this pedal that are common to this style of DOD pedals. The battery compartment has a removable plastic cover and probably 90% of pedals from this era come without the cover (including mine). The on/off footswitch is also not up to Boss standards, although I haven’t had any issues with this aspect.

If you are looking for a subtle phaser full of analog warmth, you could do a lot worse than the DOD FX20 Phasor. Like the FX65 Chorus, it’s another overlooked bargain from DOD that can be had for between $20 - $50.

Product Review: Boss ME-50 Multi Effects Pedal – The Smorgasbord

Putting together a pedalboard of effects is not quick or cheap. You have to work out what effects you want and then decide among myriad vendors for each type of pedal before buying and trying. This can take months. Or longer.

Then again, you could just buy the Boss ME-50.

The ME-50 includes a wide variety of different effects in one fairly easy to use unit for under $300. Basically it’s a stompbox on steroids. What you get is 10 EQ presets, 22 distortion types, 11 modulation types, 11 delay types, and 6 expression pedal effects. This smorgasbord of effects also includes a compressor and noise gate as well as some more esoteric effects like a ring modulator, octave up/down, harmonizer, and acoustic simulator. As usual with Boss, it is built like a tank.

The good news is that while Boss has pretty much delivered the kitchen sink of effects pedals, it sounds surprisingly good. The disortions are decent and varied, if not a little raspy, which I find typical of most Boss boxes. While they don’t measure up to boutique units, they are quite acceptable and useable.

The modulation channel is also decent, giving you a wide tonal palette to play with including chorus, flanger, phaser, tremolo, Uni-Vibe and a rotary effect. Because of a lack of real estate you don’t get all the controls you would if you were to buy individual modulation stompboxes, but you can still coax out some respectable sounds.

The delay channel is the standard Boss offering and gives you plenty of options from short slap back to 2000ms. One big plus of this unit is the expression pedal. You can select from six different settings including a ring modulator which was a lot of fun and a really, really nice wah.

Boss also provides a number of preset tones that are actually quite good although navigating through them is a little cumbersome and something that may be a challenge in a live situation, especially if you want to use two or more different presets on the same song. Presets can be edited if you want to add your own although there are only 30 slots available so you would have to delete one of the factory presets to add one your own.

I had a lot of fun with this unit and it’s a great option if you want to go to rehearsal without dragging your main board along. With a headphone socket and controllable output, this unit is also an ideal practice buddy. Interestingly, spending some time with the ME-50 really helped me work out what effects I liked and used and which ones I didn’t. That was invaluable because from there I was able to research and confidently purchase the individual pedals I wanted for my own board. This alone saved me many hours and a lot of money buying and trying.

The main compromise of the ME-50 is that sometimes you might want to layer multiple effects, say chorus with tremolo or stack two types of distortion. Unfortunately you can't do this as you can only have one effect from each bank running at the same time. Also I’m not 100% convinced it is gig worthy although some players do use this very unit live including Fareed Haque from Garaj Mahal.

Overall, the Boss ME-50 gets two thumbs up from me – one for the variety of decent sounds provided and one for value. Above all, it’s especially useful for those that want to build their own pedalboard, but are undecided about what types of effects to purchase for it.

Product Review: Danelectro Cool Cat Fuzz - The Unfuzz

I’m on the waiting list for a KR Products Gypsy Fuzz. Based on my research it sounds absolutely killer and exactly what I want for $170. But I’ve been waiting and waiting and waiting.

So to give me some fuzz tones in the interim I went looking for a good and cheap fuzz pedal and decided to give this unit a try. Some of you may know about the heated discussions online that allege Danelectro has copied the interior workings of some popular boutique pedals for its Cool Cat line. Supposedly the Transparent Overdrive is a copy of Paul Cochrane’s Timmy and the Cool Cat Fuzz is a copy of the $325 Frantone Electronics Peach Fuzz. Interesting that they picked a peachy/orange color. Is Danelectro trying to tell us something?

For $35 including delivery from Musician’s Friend I decided to check it out.

The unit seems well constructed and build quality is far superior to previous Danelectro pedals. It has a die cast metal housing and is true bypass for starters. The controls are on the back face of the pedal which doesn’t bother me, but I could see how this could be a problem, especially if you were playing live as they are hard to see and adjust. So how does it sound?

In a nutshell this is a very nice distortion pedal, but a poor fuzz. It is very quiet when not engaged, but it has a huge boost even at 12 o’clock so you will have to ratchet the volume control down considerably. What’s really important though is that it delivers a rich, luscious and deep distorted tone somewhat reminiscent of the Mesa Boogie Rectifier amps. I really liked the tones I could get from this box, but unfortunately I could already get them from my amp, my MIJ Boss DS-1 and my Timmy. What I wanted was that classic, wet and splattery Fuzz Face tone that completely overwhelms your speakers. Unfortunately in this critical area, the Cool Cat fell short.

For $35, this is no brainer if you are looking for rich, heavy distortion. However, if you are looking for classic ‘60s fuzz tones, look elsewhere. I am very impressed though with what you get for your money so that has got me interested in checking out the Cool Cat Vibe.

Product Review: Danelectro Mini Modulation Pedals

I landed a selection of Danelectro mini pedals from eBay recently for $56. I wasn’t seriously interested, but I have read quite a few positive comments about them so for that price I could not resist the opportunity to check out the tones.

What you get is essentially a mini board of modulation pedals in a custom carrying case with power supply and cables included. The “grab and go” convenience is quite compelling when you don’t want to drag a big expensive board across town to rehearsal or to a gig at a beer chugging frat party. Of course as any guitarist knows, it’s all about the tone regardless of how convenient the set up.

Based on my gear and my ears, here are my opinions of the effects:

Milk Shake Chorus – Does the clean '80s Police sound quite well, but it is not articulate enough to get a rotating speaker/Leslie simulation. Overall it is reasonable, although a bit too “seasick” sounding for my tastes on all settings and it can get metallic quite quickly. There is a volume boost when engaged. Verdict: 5/10

Hash Browns Flanger – Another volume boost when engaged, but overall this is a pretty good Flanger. The sound has some analog warmth to it, although the pedal is somewhat limited in what it can do so don’t expect the diversity or control that a Boss BF-2 provides, for example. Verdict: 6/10

Pepperoni Phaser – I didn’t like this pedal at all. It has a one-dimensional sound that is a vague representation of a real phaser and delivers a huge treble boost when engaged. Verdict: 3/10

Chicken Salad Vibe – This pedal surprised me . . . but not in a good way. I’ve read a number of positive reviews of this pedal on guitar community web sites, but it just didn’t do it for me. Again, it sounded like a vague representation of a Vibe without really capturing the essence of what a quality Vibe is all about. I won’t be swapping out my KR Products MegaVibe any time soon. Verdict: 4/10

Tuna Melt Tremolo – Of all the Dano pedals this was the best by far. It has a very warm and organic sound and can get you that clean Fender amp tremolo sound with ease. I prefer the soft setting to the hard “choppy” setting by far. I currently use a Voodoo Lab Tremolo on my board, which I think provides a bit more control and subtlety, but for the price the Tuna Melt represents outstanding value for money. Verdict: 9/10

Tuna Melt aside, I was disappointed in these pedals. Instead of letting your natural guitar tone shine through they cover it in a not very subtle or controllable effect that vaguely replicates different flavors of modulation without nailing any of them well. Other than the Tuna Melt, I would save your money and wait to buy better effects in each genre – or even the new Cool Cat Danelectro pedals, which come in a metal case and are true bypass.