What are your four ‘must-have’ pedals? That is what we ask our guests to share with you in our Four On the Floor podcast segment.
John makes some SERIOUS tone machines for your pedalboard. He also happens to be studying some mind-melting science that may allow us to access a fifth dimension…or something like that. If you are not familiar with Electronic Audio Experiments do yourself a favor and check him out. He gave us a fantastic interview too! You can hear the episode for yourself right here. Check out John’s choices for his Four On The Floor.
1. Klon – KTR Professional Overdrive
“It’s a classic for a reason. I didn’t really get it until I started playing really high powered tube amps when I couldn’t get them to drive hard enough on their own. If you don’t want to get booed out of a club for making peoples eardrums bleed then…. you know, people make fun of it but that is what the whole transparent overdrive thing is for. This was the same thing that Bill Finnegan was going through when he designed the original Klon Centaur. The pedal to me makes the baseline guitar tone. It is the canvas that you can paint on. Its the no nonsense-sounds good with everything-every amp-every guitar-every mix-pedal. It’s classy, it’s iconic and you are supporting the guy who builds it which is cool.”
Check out the Klon – KTR Professional Overdrive
2. Smallsound/Bigsound – Buzzz Octave Fuzz
“The buzz is an apocalyptic chainsaw. It is based on the classic super fuzz but has a lot of the mods it has acquired over the years. you can dial the octave in and out, dial the scoop in and out, there is a gain range and you can make the voltage starve. so you can do the dying battery thing or do the full-on scooped out, shreddy, octave fuzz. It’s amazing, and through a loud dirty amp it sounds like the end of the world!”
Check out the Smallsound/Bigsound – Buzzz Octave Fuzz
3. Moog – Moogerfooger MF-104M Delay
“This is my desert island pedal. Delay is my favorite effect and this pedal is the one. I run delay on everything and this one allows me to do long delays, slap delays and crunchy lo-fi stuff too. You can use the LFO mode to get really weird or you can do a really nice pitch vibrato. It also has its own onboard gain and you can get it to clip. It is very musical and plays well with other pedals. its just awesome, It is perfect.”
Check out the Moog – Moogerfooger MF-104M Delay
4. Caroline Guitar Company – Meteore Lo-Fi Reverb
“This is a pedal that never fails to inspire. I really like clangy, metallic guitar sounds, with bitey harmonic content… so much so that you start to get string noise and pick noise that adds to what you are doing. The Meteor is the reverb version of that, and of course, you can overdrive it as well. That is a theme that I love with pedals that don’t normally distort. This distorts gracefully and adds to the whole. It sounds great with other pedals, It sounds great with a dirty amp. If you take the meteor and crank the drive and then run it into a dirty amp, it reminds me of the old Fender spring reverb unit, but you are not limited to the spring. You have an expansive modern voice selection of reverb, and you also have the Havoc switch where you can just go crazy if you want. It does it all and its great.”
Check out the Caroline Guitar Company – Meteore Lo-Fi Reverb
Huge thanks to John for being a guest on our show and please check out Electronic Audio Experiments. We wish him continued success!