People, and by people I mean non-guitarists, wonder about the amount of overdrive pedals on the market, seemingly growing like mushrooms after a wet winter. Ah, but like mushrooms, each type has a distinctive flavor and effect. Earthquaker Devices new Special Cranker sounds like no other, so if you feel like there is a particular piquancy missing from your tone palette, this might be the answer. For specs, click on the ad to the right.
I am aware that “ultimate” is like “unique.” Something either is or it isn’t in both cases, making “third ultimate” ridiculous. I just like having fun with the click bait concept. Also apologies to the manufacturers of the pedals for taking so long—life intervenes.
This roundup leans heavily on classic, less extreme fuzz, though with three octave fuzz boxes in the mix there are plenty of strange sounds available. This time we tackle two multi-sound EarthQuaker units, two Electro-Harmonix pedals, and one each from Crazy Tube Circuits, Keeley, Joe Gore, JHS, MXR, and Fender.
This year marked the first year NAMM’s summer display of goodies for guitarists (and other musicians) was housed in Nashville’s new Music City Center. It will also go down in SNAMM history as the “The Pedal Show”—it seemed like every other booth housed a plethora of effects pedals for guitar!
