Diamond Guitar Pedals, from Halifax, Canada, are an example of the awesome guitar effects builders coming from the land of True North Strong and Free. Again, reputation precedes them, having released a number of outstanding designs led by the desirable Memory Lane Delay pedal. Having created a number of excellent modulation designs, such as the Halo Chorus and Tremolo, it is no surprise that this Fireburst Fuzz/Distortion retains the same complex tones and flawless design.

I picked this one up from Dave at Bondi Guitar and Sound Gallery. He has an excellent collection of pedals in hos store and this one was no exception. After repairing a sticky switch, I couldn’t help but admire the PCB layout; all of the components neatly aligned, trimmed and taut wiring, clearly the work of an obsessive-compulsive personality

The build quality really matches the design as low-end driver morphs from a complex fuzz to tight distortion with a literal flick of a switch. The mid-boost switch fills out the frequency spectrum tapered by the Baxandall Bass/Treble tone stack. It really fills in the lower and upper mids, and provides great harmonics reminiscent of a full, thick distortion. I really admire the thought behind this design proving great ideas provide great tone.

Frantone are now a company dealing with custom-ordered pedals, boosting the value of older pedals such as the Brooklyn. I received this one dead after the wrong power supply fried a few components. Opening it up, the internal build is excellent with a great relay switching design. After replacing the said components, the pedal roared back to life.

For an overdrive, it definitely has a lot of fuzz gain on tap – reminiscent of the Skreddy Screwdriver Overdrive. This overdrive, like the Skreddy, sounds as though its lineage has evolved from the Big Muff design, especially the interaction of the tone stack. But this pedal is very touch-sensitive and responds beautifully to the dynamic changes with pickup selection. It can be a clean, open boost or a rich, complex fuzz with loads of volume to boot. This one’s a keeper!

Malekko are one of the most innovative pedal manufacturers around today. With a small stable of products, their quality and performance are up there with the best. One of the most highly anticipated releases was this one above: The Ekko 616 Analog Delay. This small footprint pedal provided everything a classic modulation delay could do – subtle chorus to wild vibratos, 600ms of analog delay, and selectable buffered or true-bypass all running off 9V.

However upon release, a small number of units had incorrect parts that produced a heavy distorted repeat signal and a smaller regeneration range leading to fast oscillation. Although the problem was quickly fixed for future production runs, a small number still contain this incorrect parts.

I fixed this one for a local Sydney guitarist after contacting Josh at Malekko. He has sent me kits to repair any other malfunctioning 616′s for anyone in Australia/New Zealand. If you do have a faulty 616, drop me or Josh an email and I can offer this repair free of charge.

Once fixed, the pedal was back to its finest, with smooth warm decays and haunting modulation - a serious contender as best analog delay on the market. Stay tuned in 2010 for the Ekko 919… this Ekko’s big brother. Here is a demo of the Malekko Ekko 616 Analog Delay, courtesy of Pro Guitar Shop:

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I received this Green Russian Big Muff for repair not too long ago. This exact pedal was mine for a long time before I moved it on. It has some cool mojo with its chipped tank exterior and big silver push-button on/off switch. This pedal was the inspiration behind my cubisteffects T-34 Bass Big Muff mod as it holds so much of the guitar’s bass frequencies while thickening up with its characteristic smooth fuzz tone.

I replaced the in/out jacks with some 21st century Neutrik jacks. I also printed up some new Russian-esque Volume, Tone and Sustain labels as the originals had been chipped off many moons ago. But once inside I couldn’t resist taking a few pics for old times sake. Note the original Russian capacitors and transistors that give the pedal its unique, and sought-after, tone.

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Analog delay pedals have become a staple to many musicians’ arsenal. They are known for their rich, warm repeats that adds some space to a wide range of tones from fat synth lead lines to echoing guitar solos. This tone is highly sought after for its vintage vibe, and differs from digital delay in providing a “natural sounding echo” with each repeat getting darker and darker, until fading away. This effects has several uses over a range of delay times from doubling (or thickening) to slapback (one quick short repeat for a reverb-like effect) to delays up to 500ms. Another feature of analog delay is its ability to self-oscillate -that whirring, spaceship sound that has been used in many recordings in the past. By turning the repeats to maximum, the delays continue to build and overlap into a blur of sound that many musicians manipulate to form textures or soundscapes.

The Ibanez (and Maxon) AD-9 have been adopted by pedal modding gurus, Keeley and Analogman, as a re-issue worth modification. These re-issues sound great when compared to the originals and are half the price new compared to buying originals on the second-hand market. However, analog delay junkies tend to obsess about their tone, and true bypass is a good option to preserve your guitar to amp sound. Keeley/Analogman would add true bypass to these pedals by installing a secondary footswitch on the pedal. Keeley goes one step further by using the original momentary switch to make the pedal self-oscillate providing a very flexible and neat delay.

I got this Ibanez AD-9 up and running after having had a power problem. After repairing the problem and changing the power filtering caps, I modded the pedal ”Keeley/AM-style” with a 3PDT for true bypass*, a bright waterclear blue LED replaces the stock LED and the original switch also triggers the pedal into self-oscillation by holding down the switch.

*The method I used to TB disengages the Dry Output. This isn’t necessary but I found it easier to do.

This demo is courtesy of guitargear.com.mx. It shows the warms sounds of the AD-9 and the cool oscillation switch mod.

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This Electro Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man arrived at my door looking like the road-worn beast you see above. This big box analog delay is a favourite among many musicians and this one has seen a gig or few. But when opening it up, I also realised it had seen the rough end of a soldering iron. Some PCBs and pedals (especially Electro Harmonix ones) are very fragile and do not like too much heat. If you do not have good soldering (and as important, de-soldering) technique, too much heat will inevitably be applied. Tracks will be lifted with no solder flowing through the component holes. This poor DMM had burn marks, cold solder joints and globs of solder on the PCB. One of the best tutorials I have seen for soldering and de-soldering is from the guys at Make Magazine. A worthwhile 19 minutes to brush up on your soldering skills. Just excuse Joe’s inability to correctly pronounce the word “solder”

On this pedal, true bypass was attempted, although the indicating LED was wired in reverse and some foam was stuck to the board to hold some wires in place. Unfortunately, the rich, warm echoes of this pedal were distorting badly so a re-calibration was required. The re-calibration involves finely tuning five trimpots with the aid of a function generator, oscilloscope and a good set of ears. At least I have two of those.

After fixing as much of the previous damage as possible, an input gain reduction mod was done to reduce the clipping of the first stage of the pedal. Sadly it wasn’t a completely happy ending. The BBD chips were the culprits of the distortion and are hard to replace, and it could only be re-calibrated to 75% working order. But still, hidden amongst the burn marks and solder globules, were the dark, haunting vibrato repeats of the Deluxe Memory Man, keen to hit the road for a while yet.

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I had a really cool fuzz pedal on my bench not too long ago – a Monsterpiece PNP Silicon fuzz. What I appreciate in the pedal is opening it up and seeing the wiring as neat as a new pin. Solid core wire running in parallel to the jacks and pots (as shown right) really shows the care and effort Monsterpiece puts into his pedals. This one is a simple two silicon transistor fuzz (2N2907) that sounds so raw and gnarly. This was an early 2006 version, but the newer pedals have a Bias control now, regulating the voltage supply to the collectors of the transistors.

When Monsterpiece (aka duderanimous, aka Richard) started making these pedals, he put them up for sale on the Harmony Central forum. After a few years and a growing word-of-mouth reputation, he has expanded his line to include a number of different fuzzes. They include the NPN and PNP (polarity of transistors) fuzzes, the Classic (Fuzz Face inspired), The MK series I-III (Tone Bender interpretation), an Angry Dick and Monster Drive Booster.

Find a list of happy customers here at Harmony Central and check out his MySpace page for sound clips. Ordering can be done through MySpace as well.

Below is a demo of the Monsterpiece PNP Silicon Fuzz.
Clip Details: Epiphone Sheraton> Monsterpiece PNP>Boss RC-50> Marshall JCM600
Settings: Rhythm played with bridge pickup (V:5 o’clock) and PNP (V:12 o’clock, F: Max, Bias: 12 o’clock)
Lead with bridge pickup (V:Max).
Recording: SM57 > Mbox2 > Reaper

Monsterpiece PNP Silicon Fuzz
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One of my favourite pedals I have had for awhile now is the Shin-ei Companion FY-2 Fuzz. The FY-2 was sold under a number of brand names, such as Jax, Apollo and Kimbara but was designed by the same company that made the Univox Super-Fuzz.

This fuzz pedal is not for the tone enthusiasts. It manages to create a sound more similar to a construction site than a musical instrument. It can definitely be categorised at the opposite end of the spectrum of the many, many boutique overdrives in the market. The fuzz can be described as a violent splutter rather than a long, sustained overdrive output.

This pedal currently populates the board of Radiohead bassist Colin Greenwood and can be heard on bass lines from tracks such as Exit Music (For A Film) and Myxomatosis. The pedal has also been an instrumental sound on The Jesus and Mary Chain’s Psychocandy.

These Japanese fuzz pedals were discontinued in the ’60s and have become a highly sought after dirt box, in part for its NPN Silicon 2SC536F transistors, and for the passive mid-scoop between the fuzz-generating circuitry and output level control. These features fuse together to give the notorious “chainsaw cutting a beehive” sound.

Here’s a quick demo of the FY-2.
Clip Details: Fender Jazzmaster > FY-2 > Boss RC-20XL Looper > Marshall JCM600
Guitar Settings: Rhythm played with volume knob turned down. Lead with volume knob maxed.
Pedal Settings: [FY-2] Volume set to Max, Fuzz to 2:00.

Shin-ei Companion FY-2 Fuzz

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IVL and Digitech no longer collaborate on the Whammy and the re-issue WH4 is criticised for its inferior tracking and added ‘glitchiness’. In my opinion, the Whammy II does track better and has a ‘thicker’ sound but only Whammy aficionados would be able to tell the difference in a live or recorded setting.

This Whammy II came in with a crackling input jack. The chassis had began to rust on the inside and metal flakes were all through the pedal. A thorough disassembly, clean and touch-up of solder joints brought it back to full working order. Unfortunately, there was an issue with random LEDs turning on with each bank selection, but this is a programming issue – well outside my knowledge. The pedal still sounds great, regardless of what the LEDs tell you.

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Unfortunately some of the toughest pedals to bring back to life are digital pedals that no longer power up. This is due to incorrect powering such as too much voltage or the use of a power supply of incorrect polarity. This Boss DD-20 Giga Delay is one such example. There was no power or audio signal but on closer inspection no ICs or voltage regulators were damaged. A replacement of a SMD protection resistor resurrected the pedal with a flurry of flashing lights. This one is a success!

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