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Tom Guerra
Keeley Electronics Seafoam Chorus
Side Effects
Keeley Electronics Seafoam Chorus Price: $229 (list) Contact: www.robertkeeley.com In a world of proliferating effects pedals, discovering one that does what it promises well can be a rewarding discovery. Finding one that does what it promises and rewards experimentation with some unexpected sounds can invoke bliss. Housed in a small-footprint design and resplendently painted in…
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Tom Guerra
E.W.S. Little Fuzzy Drive
Tiny Footprint, Huge Sound
E.W.S. Little Fuzzy Drive Price: $160 (list); $130 (street) Info: www.ews-us.com. At 1.5″ x 3.5″, the E.W.S. Little Fuzzy Drive looks fun and toy-like, but, when plugged in, thoughts of cuteness disappear. Designed to use half the space on a pedalboard, the Little Fuzzy Drive (LFD) is sturdy despite is size, and is capable of…
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Tom Guerra
Sturdy and “Purdy”
Dashboards Pedalboards
Founded in 2010 by guitarist Ashley Dasher and based on his vision of the ideal touring pedalboard, Dashboards offers well-crafted, easy-to-use pedalboards. And they look sharp, too! With lightweight, yet sturdy, one-piece aluminum construction, they’re dressed up with a powder-painted finish and polished chrome handles. Our test pedalboard had an optional backlit logo, 1/4″ solderless…
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Tom Guerra
Goodtone Roadrage PD, Mad Professor Golden Cello
Secret Weapons
Goodtone Roadrage PD, Mad Professor Golden Cello Price: $155 Info: www.goodtone.com. Goodtone Amps builder Norm Matthews has a rep for building noteable guitar amps, and more recently he delved into effects pedals. Matthews’ first box is the Roadrage PD, a true-bypass, two-stage MOSFET-based unit designed to deliver neutral clean gain boost or overdrive. In other…
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Tom Guerra
Colby Dual Tone Booster 50
Double Versatile
Colby DTB50 Price: $3,800 (head); $750 (cabinet) Contact: www.colbyamps.com From 1978 through 2010, Mitch Colby helped Marshall become a preeminent name in amplifiers. He recently founded Colby Amplification, where he builds amps by hand, one at a time, and his first model, the Dual Tone Booster (dtb), was built in collaboration with Jim Weider, best…
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Tom Guerra
Brian Ray
From Blues to Beatles
Brian Ray spent the last 11 years playing guitar as Paul McCartney’s side man. While such duty would be a career topper for pretty much any player, Ray is also thrilled about his new band, The Bayonets, and his forthcoming signature-model Gibson. How does one get a gig with a Beatle? Well, the gig came…
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Tom Guerra
Paul Nelson
Main Man to the Blues Man
Paul Nelson is not only Johnny Winter’s second guitarist, but the blues icon’s musical director, producer, songwriter, and – many say – life saver. Fans who have recently seen Winter will attest to Nelson’s guitar prowess and ability to complement Winter. The resulting fireworks provide some of the best shows of Winter’s long career. The…
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Tom Guerra
Bare Knuckle Pickups’ PAT Pend, Flat ’52, and Mule
Bruising Tones
Bare Knuckle Pickups’ PAT Pend, Flat ’52, and Mule Price: $125-$340 Info: www.bareknucklepickups.co.uk. From the ever-expanding world of boutique pickups comes a builder out of southwest England who creates a handmade, hard-hitting alternative – Bare Knuckle Pickups. We received three sets of pickups from Bare Knuckle; the Mule (humbuckers), Blackguard Flat ’52 Series (for Teles),…
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Tom Guerra
Music Man Game Changer
Twelve Tons of Tone
Music Man Game Changer Price: $2,275 (street) Contact: www.gamechanger.music-man.com Since the introduction of the electric guitar, builders have sought ways to increase the variety of tones that can be had from an instrument; in 1959, Gibson created the Varitone circuit for its ES-345, and in the decades since, virtually every company has attempted some means…
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Tom Guerra
The Siegmund Doppler Vibe
The Faster We Go, the Rounder We Get
Siegmund Doppler Vibe Price: $495 Info: www.siegmundguitars.com. It’s been said that Buddy Guy was the first guitarist to put his instrument through a Leslie rotating speaker. Supposedly, this was done in a pinch after his amp crapped out during a 1965 session for Junior Wells’ seminal Hoodoo Man Blues, but the result was a fresh…
