Cry Baby: The Pedal That Rocks The World

Cry Baby: The Pedal That Rocks The World from Joey Tosi on Vimeo.

A film by by Joey Tosi.

Thanks to Tsahi Lazan for bringing this to my attention.

1969 Marshall Supa Fuzz

guitarz.blogspot.com

Cannot find any exciting guitars around lately, and had a little tech geek phase these last days, so I decided to go for vintage pedals, and was happy to find this Marshall Supa Fuzz.

There are some people out there who have the same kind of love and dedication to effect pedals that you have for guitars (I suppose so if you read this blog!) People who know everything about every pedals, upgrade them with mod kits and can debate for ever about why the one that makes Grrrkkkkrssfzzzz is better than the one that makes Grzzzzrrfffffrzzz, etc... 

Anyway, the Supa Fuzz is one of the first effect pedals ever released (this one is not from 1967 as it is listed on eBay though, this design came up only in 1969) and I don't have much more anecdotes (I could tell that Pete Townsend used one in 1968 but quickly shifted to a Fuzz Face, then an Univox, but this just tells that the Supa Fuzz was probably not the best fuzzbox of the time!) 

Bertram


Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

What the?????? The Destroyer

guitarz.blogspot.com:

While we are on an art theme, lets talk about art... and guitars. From the previous sorry attempt to something altogether much more interesting and I believe, more artistic on every level. If a guitar can be a work of art, I think this is one that deserves the tag.

This Guitar, The Destroyer, was built by luthier Mark Dalzell for the 2007 Jersey City Studio Artists Tour, which seems to be an "open studios" not a music tour.

Firstly, it looks amazing and secondly it looks like it was built by someone who knows what he's doing. He certainly does.

I'm going to list the features in Marks own words:

- Double neck 6-string guitar, 4-string mandolin
- Onboard digital effects Distortion, Chorus and Flanger
- Onboard analog "Theremaniacs" theremin
- Onboard chromatic tuner
- Scalloped brass nut on guitar and mandolin
- LED fret markers
- LED pickup indicators
- 1/4 scalloped neck on guitar
- 6-bolt neck
- Matching amplifier
- 60's styled chrome accents

It is well worth spending a little time checking out his Flickr stream to see some of his other creations, not to mention some spiffing shots of his Vermont 2009 golfing holiday. And don't miss the opportunity to check out his "Incredible Stupephone" on Youtube. It made my day and I hope it has the same effect on you.

David in Barcelona

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

This is a long one one one one ne ne ne e e e e e e

In a slight departure from my previous posts, I'd like to talk about a couple of things that interest me. Echo machines, an echo machine that's on eBay right now and eBay in general.

I've always been keen on echo machines and I've owned quite a few different makes over the years.

One of the great things about tape echo, apart from the sound quality, is being able to manipulate the tape for on-the-fly effects like grabbing hold of the tape guide, finger pressure to slow down the repeats or when it's recording (when you let go it speeds up). Great for dub effects and "experimental" music styles. The Echoplex goes one step further and incorporates a moving head which opens up a whole bag of possibilities. This video on Youtube shows it in action and you don't even need to plug a guitar in (that can't be right).

Anyone interested in the possibilities of the Echoplex only has to listen to John Martyn (Solid Air is a good place to start). It's hard to believe what he was doing in the 70s and it still sounds fresh today.

The down side of tapes is they wear out and start to get noisy pretty quick but even that can be a source of sound texture. The down side of those old machines themselves is the motors can be pretty noisy and earthing (grounding US) standards weren't so stringent in those days so it's not a bad idea to get an electrician to go over it as simply earthing it can cause a hum loop.

I was intrigued by this VERY-OLD-GUITAR-RECORDER on eBay as it was obviously not a recorder but a tape delay. Unfortunately the pictures were so bad and the description so scant that it seemed a dead end. Guitarz to the rescue. Gavin suggested it might be an Echoplex but it's not how I remembered my own one from years ago. Google to the rescue. A few minutes of Googling and the track was getting warmer. It was some kind of Echoplex but I couldn't find anything that looked similar. Photoshop to the rescue. A little enhancement with curves (Image > Adjustments > Curves) and a lot more detail was revealed. This has been modified and flight-cased (professionally?) to give a much longer loop and extra playback heads. Now I'm really intrigued but Google hasn't been able to throw any more light on it. Is this a standard mod (a kit?) because it seems pretty well done?

Can any of our readers shed some light?

As we are uncommonly fond of eBay and while we're on the subject, here are some of my eTips.

1. Put a few GOOD pictures of your offering. Especially important if you're not sure what that gizmo is yourself. There are a lot of generous eBayers out there who will offer information on your obscure or mis-titled treasure.

2. Describe it. Does it work? That's a good one, always works for me. If it's a guitar, the single most important and problematic to fix is the neck. Is it straight? and what's the action like? I am a lot less likely to trust something where they say "I'll let the pictures do the talking" and I'm especially suspicious of guitars which are "set up for slide".

3. Delivery. I know it's a fag taking stuff to the Post Office but if you live in Lower Uppington-in-the-Marshes, the chances of finding a buyer who can collect from you but only Wednesday mornings is greatly reduced. And, once you've dragged yourself all the way down to Post Office, there really isn't any difference sending it to another country. That will increase your selling chances greatly.

4. Do your homework and find out what's a reasonable price. One of the techniques that real auctioneers use to get a little competition going is starting off on an attractive price. If it's too high you reduce the chances of even getting started. There was Vox Organ Guitar sold recently after being listed three times. It went for a lot more than her BIN price in the first listing and there was a flurry of activity in the closing moments. The only thing she did was add a little more info and start off on a lower price. I know coz I was bidding for it and I gave her that extra info (see 1 above).

5. As much as you want to get the highest price for your treasure, what you paid for it has no relationship to what you can expect to get for it. There is a six month old guitar on eBay right now with a BIN price that's higher than the price (including delivery and guarantee) from both Thomann and Amazon.

Any more eBay tips?

David in Barcelona

guitarz.blogspot.com:Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Tempest Japanese Strat with built-in effects

guitarz.blogspot.com:
Remember the Fresher Straighter Japanese Strat-a-like with built-in drum machine? Well, here we have a similar guitar with built-in effects (sustain/drive, phase and auto-wah) this one bearing the Tempest brand. With a solid ash body and excellent build quality, this is one to look out for if you don't mind the bizarrely-shaped pickguard and all those extra controls.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Millennium #13 Prototype - aluminium body with on-board T-wah

guitarz.blogspot.com

Bertram is currently travelling and does not have internet access, but he wanted me to show you guys this intriguing Millenium lightweight aluminium-bodied guitar which features built-in Boss T-wah effects circuitry. Effects are engaged with a patent pending wrist-actuated switch, supposedly providing for quicker and smoother control than a foot-actuated pedal.

The body is arcraft-grade indestructible aluminium and is married to a hand-made mahogany neck with African ebony fingerboard and equipped with LSR lightweight locking tuners. The guitar weighs 7 lbs.

All in all, it's a very fitting guitar to show you on this, our 8th birthday!

G L Wilson (on behalf of Bertram)

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Vox Distortion pedal from the 1980s

guitarz.blogspot.com:
Blimey! I had one of these way back - it was my first ever FX pedal. Actually, I ought to still have it as I never remember getting rid of it. I think I'll raid my box of bits and pieces later and see if I can find it. I'm going to watch this auction. If it's really worth 99 quid, then mine will be going on eBay too.

I seem to remember it was a rather nasty distortion effect. Later on I used to use it in conjunction with a Boss Distortion/Feedbacker pedal to create my own hyper-distortion sound through a Vox AC30. That was a brutal sound!

G L Wilson

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Andy demonstrates his home-made rotary speaker

This is genius! Regular Guitarz reader, Andy Stone - he who built the "Les Pew" guitar, the Pew Bass, and this rather tasty 12-string electric amongst other guitars - has built this home-made rotary speaker as demonstrated in the above YouTube clip. Andy's a very resourceful chap, often building his various projects from whatever bits and pieces he has to hand. The rotary speaker includes parts made from Roses chocolate tins and an old school chair! That's some very inspired recycling going on there.