Year: 2014

Line 6 M5 Stompbox modeler
Price: $279.99 (retail)
Info: line6.com

Have you ever thought, “Maaaan, I wish I had that [fill in the blank with the name of that rare vintage stompbox], but I can’t afford it. Dang!”

It’s a common malady.

Enter the Line 6 M5. Simple in concept – sort of a “secret weapon” that can conjure more than 100 classic stompbox sounds, it isn’t intended to replace your pedal collection, but rather to serve as a go-to box that delivers rare/little-used effects in a pinch.

Offering a huge menu of sounds, unlike the M5’s Line 6 big brothers, the M13 and M9, this box provides only one effect at a time. There are 20 echoes, 20 modulations, 20 fuzz and distortion units, and piles of compressors, reverbs, and filters. What there aren’t are cheesy combinations of overdrive/reverb/echo or chorus/compressor/reverb. Rather, the M5 endeavors to give the user one effect at a time without silly algorithm mixes.

What sounds will you find in this sturdy little unit? Within the delay section, there’s the expected Echoplex pre-set… But there’s also the super-rare Binson Echorec (as used by Syd Barrett and David Gilmour on early Pink Floyd recordings), and in the “mod” department, there’s a UniVibe, a Jet Flanger that sounds like a vintage A/DA, a Leslie simulation, and various Mu-Tron, MXR, and Ibanez phasers. If you’re into the dirty stuff, look for the ubiquitous Fuzz Face and Tube Screamer sounds, along with the less-common Colorsound Overdriver, Vox Tonebender, and weird-ass PAiA Roctave Divider. And there’s even a Tap-Tempo button so you can make any time-based effects groove with the rest of the song. Or, plug in an expression pedal to stomp on everything from wahs to pitch-shifting effects.

Guitarists will further appreciate the user-friendly manual, which includes photos of all the classic pedals that Line 6 modeled for the M5.

To get going, plug in (input and output jacks can be run in mono or stereo) and take a look at the bank of six knobs; in the uppermost left is one called Model Select, which allows you to pick the effects family you want – Delay, Modulation, Distortion, Filter, and Reverb. Then, twiddle the remaining five to see which parameters you can adjust on the LCD display. Find a sound that you want to save? There are 24 user spaces. Other goodies include a built-in tuner and a True-Bypass model when you don’t want to hear any artifacts from the M5 in your chain (or use DSP bypass if you do).

Using a variety of amps, we ran the M5 through its paces and were impressed overall; naturally, the better your amp, the better the M5 will sound. The unit is absurdly easy to use despite having five unlabeled knobs – when you plug it in, you’ll see how they control parameters like Speed, Mix, and Drive. All the effects sounded full and accurate – that Binson Echorec nails that ’60s Floyd sound. You may be especially blown away by the Filter and Reverb sections. In the former you’ll find otherworldly effects and synth sounds that’ll make your guitar sound like it’s from the other side of Pluto. The reverbs are cool, as well, from the traditional ’63 Spring to the amazing Octo, which, with the Mix parameter cranked up, makes a guitar sound like orchestral strings.

With more than 100 models, it’s super-versatile. And if you break down the price per effect, well… you do the math!

This article originally appeared in VG December 2011 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

ZT Amplifiers put their name on the map four years ago with the compact Lunchbox solid-state amp. Now they continue along the road less traveled with the Extortion Expressive Distortion. For a departure from tonal convention the pedal features an analog overdrive that can be used on its own or enhanced with a digital signal processing (DSP) circuit.

Housed in a white metal chassis, the true-bypass Extortion offers impressive variability with just a few controls. The Level, Tone, and Drive controls are active once the hard-click Bypass button is depressed, and the Spectral DSP is merged with the signal by way of its own dedicated switch. Staring up from the center of the box is a figure fashioned on the howling character in “The Scream,” Edvard Munch’s quintessential work of Expressionist art. So … is the pedal expressive?

ZT’s unique approach to distorted voices is based almost entirely on EQ contouring, which starts with the analog circuit’s Tone control. Rather than sweeping bass and treble like a conventional tone knob, this one functions more like a graphic EQ. Mids are cut to the left of 12 o’clock (where the EQ is flat) and boosted to the right, with different high- and low-frequency settings on independent curves around the dial.

Depending in part on how the tone is set, the quality of the Drive control can be flappy like a Fuzz Face, edgy like an ’80s Marshall, hollow like an overdriven AC30, or more subtle like a soft gain – with a half-dozen variations between each. The boutique analog overdrive that ZT mentions is likely in there with a little tweaking.

Without the DSP engaged, the last stop before the signal heads out to the amp is the Level control. But stomping on the Spectral DSP bypass changes everything, adding a sweepable filter both before and after the analog circuit to create a genuine hybrid overdrive – or, as ZT calls it, “an analog/digital mutant.” The unusual function of this DSP algorithm filters just the distortion without affecting the EQ of the guitar signal. Rotating the Spectral DSP knob counterclockwise essentially broadens the low end of the distortion while a clockwise turn sharpens its high end, so it’s something like the filter in a wah pedal except that it sweeps only the distortion.

By selecting a contour with the Spectral DSP knob, a player can hone in on a specific distortion frequency to lend more thud to a thumping rhythm or more edge to a searing lead. For direct access to the entire range of the Spectral DSP, an expression pedal can be plugged into the pedal’s Control input, allowing for some pretty sick tones (in a good way), from a distorted horn to something akin to ring modulation to more nuanced effects like softened upper frequencies that shave the cutting edge off of high notes. Other stompboxes may provide the flexibility to dial in a variety of distortions, but none enable a player to vary them on the fly quite like this.

While the Spectral DSP gets all the cachet, the pedal’s secret weapon is really the Tone knob. The way the available tone contours interact with the Drive control deserves some time and attention. Once a sound is established between these two parameters, the Spectral DSP provides a good time by again multiplying the variables. After testing the Extortion with a handful of rigs, the strongest tones – with a hard leading edge for attacks and a fat back end – were best suited to metal and thrash, though there’s something here for anyone willing to stray off the beaten path.

There is a squash factor to consider with the Extortion. In more settings than not, it can squeeze and narrow tone like many other distortions do, but some tweaking of the Tone and Spectral DSP controls recovers desired fundamental qualities while distorting different guitars (particularly if the Drive isn’t set too high): a PRS is still creamy, a lightly overdriven Tele still has snap, and a Les Paul on the neck pickup is still nicely rounded. The pedal also provides a host of interesting things to do with a deliberately squashed tone. In the right hands, ZT’s Extortion can expand the available palette of distorted tones and radicalize a player’s sound.

This article originally appeared in VG October 2013 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

Peavey Vypyr VIP2
Price: $199.99
Contact: www.peavey.com

For more than 40 years Peavey’s ongoing evolution while building guitars, amps, and pro audio equipment has attracted some big names in the music industry. Adding to their substantial amp roster is their latest offering in the category of modeling amps. Peavey calls the Vypyr VIP 2 “The world’s first Variable Instrument Performance amplifier.” It’s a live-performance rig and USB-compatible recording amp that enables guitarists to plug in an electric guitar, acoustic guitar, or bass. It also offers some of the most widely used guitar effects and amp simulations.

With Peavey’s TransTube analog circuitry, the VIP 2 features 36 onboard amp models (including six bass models and six acoustic). It also has 36 different effects, 10 of which are instrument models, and real-time global reverb and delay controls. (A Looper requires a Sanpera or Sanpera II foot controller.)

The instrument input has a bank of four button-accessed presets: Electric 1, Electric 2, Acoustic, and Bass. Users can save settings by holding the button until the LED stops blinking.

In addition to bypass, the Inst/Stomp encoder knob has Acs 1/2 (acoustic 1 and 2), 12Str/7Str (12-string and seven-string), Res/Sit (resonator and sitar), Vio/Syn (violin and synthesizer), and Bari/Bss (baritone and bass) settings. Stomp functions include Tsc (overdrive), Fuzz, Slap (slapback delay), Slice (fast or slow on and off settings), Uvb (rotary speaker), Rmd (ring modulator), and Wah (auto), as well as a vibrato and analog (clean) boost.

The Amplifiers (amp encoder) knob accesses amp models. Each has three channels: low gain, medium gain, and high gain. The amp models are British (British classic combo), Butcher (British classic stack), Classic (Peavey Classic series), XXX (Peavey XXX), 6534+ (Peavey 6534+), 6505+ (Hi-gain), Budda (Class A low-wattage combo), Twn (Classic California Clean), Trace Acoustic (acoustic guitar amp), Ecous (Peavey acoustic guitar amp), Trace Bass (bass amp), and Peavey Bass.

Farther down the panel, the Effects knob offers Tremolo, Octaver, Phaser, Rot. Spkr. (rotary), Reverse, Pitch Shftr (pitch shift), M.O.G. (Monophonic Octave Generator), Flanger, Comp, Env. Filter (envelope filter), and Chorus. The Pre-Gain knob doubles as an editor for Parameter 1 of the selected Stompbox or Effect. The Low encoder knob controls the low EQ adjustment and doubles as an editor for Parameter 2 of the selected Stompbox or Effect. The Mid encoder adjusts the mid EQ and controls the number of delay repeats. The High encoder fine-tunes the high EQ and the delay level. The Post-Gain controls the individual preset volume as well as the amount of reverb. Last, there’s a Master Volume, Looper indicator, Tap Tempo button for delay, a USB record out, an Aux input, and an out jack (headphones or record).

Armed with a Fender P-Bass, a boutique “superstrat,” and a Breedlove acoustic, it was time to get busy. At 40 watts, this 1×12 combo is light, loud, and sturdy. Punching through the presets elicited Van Halen crunch, Edge-like affected cleans, rugged blues tones, and an assortment of synths, reverse guitar, and chimey 12-string patches.

The quality of the tones was inspiring. The air moves like it does through a raging Peavey 6505, but the amp models and the effects offer an experience similar to hearing those sounds coming through a studio monitor. Gig-wise, all these features are overkill (though it’s still a solid amp for small to medium venues), but just right for recording. Acoustic guitars came alive with nifty EQ settings, and in electric guitar mode, amp tones were consistent regardless of volume level. The bass presets were perfect, and although the 12-string simulations left something to be desired, they can be used in other creative ways.

The resonator is realistic, the baritone patch is gratifying, and the violin and synth will lead to long-term noodling. All sounds were easy to edit, and the computer easily detected the VIP 2 as a recording device. The USB port can also be used to download firmware updates.

The VIP 2 is a sweet recording amp for electric, acoustic, and bass. The amp models are close enough, and the quality of effects and recording functionality make the VIP 2 tremendous fun at an affordable price.

This article originally appeared in VG October 2013 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.