The Five: Creation Audio Labs’ Sarge
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WTDP? met Gary ‘Sarge’ Gistinger at Summer NAMM in Nashville this past summer. Sarge and his company Creation Audio Labs was one of the ‘first adopters’ of our little site and was even kind enough to invite us to their party at the show… which was first class, by the way. The company was unveiling their Holy Fire overdrive at the show… and if you haven’t heard it, you need to check it out. We reconnected with Sarge and his crew recently and asked if he’d be up for a little round of Q&A. He was game. See how he reponded to The Five after the jump!
Marc over at Skreddy Pedals has unveiled a deluxe version of his popular Screw Driver dirt pedal. The new version finds the trimpots moved to the top of the stomp that sports all the same components and promises the same marriage of sparkle, grit and growl that the original Screw Driver is known for. The Screw Driver Deluxe boasts five knobs – Brilliance, Volume, Gain, Sharpness, Pre-gain. Build time for the stomp is about three months, and Marc is taking orders with a 50% deposit of the $235 sticker price. Head over to the Skreddy Pedals website to hear clips of the famous Screw Driver.
Just a bit of info I thought was kind of cool given the eminent re-launch of Jeorge Tripps’ Way Huge pedal line. Jeorge updated his MySpace site earlier this month with the final serial numbers for the vintage line of Way Huge stomps that were built between 1992 and 1999. The pedal he made the most of during the run? – The Green Rhino Overdrive II at 414. The smallest run of any single Way Huge pedal? Ten. That was the Sasquatch fuzz. For more on the breakdown of Way Huge vintage pedals, surf on over to the company’s MySpace site. The Dunlop-distributed ‘new’ wave of Way Huge stomps are expected to be in stores as soon as next month!
Corby at OceanEFX sent a note out saying that November is the targeted launch date for his new Ocean Vibe pedal. The launch is a little later than anticipated due to the increased popularity of the company’s Pearl Drive stomp now that blues master Joe Bonnamassa is using one. Keeping up with Pearl Drive orders has been priority one. The company also plans to discontinue its Comp Box and Rockin’ Horse stomps in the near future. The Comp Box is a Ross compression clone, while the Rockin’ Horse is a high-gain distortion pedal. The duo also is the company least popular stomps as far as sales are concerned.
Canada-based Empress Effects came onto the boutique stomp scene in mid-2006 with the launch of its Tap Tremolo stomp. Earlier this year, the group released the Superdelay – a pedal I had the opportunity to spend some time with recently… and I approve! Empress is the brain-child of Steve Bragg, who formally launched the brand in 2005 looking to build quality, creative tools for guitarists at reasonable prices. WTDP? struck up an e-mail conversation with Steve recently and asked if he’d be willing to answer our five little questions. He was good with that. See his heartfelt, honest waxings after the jump!
A pedal party, an effects extravaganza, a stomp soiree… call it what you will, but this weekend’s Austin Pedalfest 2008 was a sight to be seen and a good time for all pedal geeks and geekettes alike. Put together by a group of regulars to The Gear Page – lead by Mullet Kingdom – the pedalfest was the third meeting of its kind in as many years. Big props the crew from Louisiana-based Tone Factor that brought several dozen pedals for all to sample – and buy! It was a unique opportunity to sample a range of boutique stompboxes that you just can’t stroll into your local guitar shop and try out. Check out the photo gallery from the event after the jump.
While she’s been the guitarist for the King of Pop on two world tours and she’s toured with incomparable guitar wizard Jeff Beck, Jennifer Batten has spent a lot of time recently devoted to her solo multimedia shows and supporting her latest CD entitled ‘Whatever’. A master shredder in her own right, you might best know Batten for her blazing, finger-blurring rendition of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s ‘Flight of the Bumblebee’. WTDP? caught up with Jennifer on the road in Texas and talked with her about her current guitar rig, the new CD and what she’s currently spinning on her iPod.
Wilson Effects has posted a new You Tube video demoing its Lavender Lush chorus pedal. The pedal sports three control knobs – rate, depth, and level. There is also an A/B toggle switch to change the depth of the chorus. The 100% analog chorus also has true bypass. There are additional sound clips of the pedal on Wilson website – where you can also now place your order for it. The Lavender Lush chorus is priced at $175. Check out the video demo, which showcases the pedal played with an American Strat into a Marshall JCM 2000 clean channel, after the jump!
Our friend Bill checked in recently with a bit of an update on the goings on at The Syle – makers of some of the most unique sounding stomps around. He let us know that he will soon we will be releasing The RUB – a vibrating, warbling selectable tape or vinyl-like lo-fi filter with ‘tons’ of options and controls. He added he is hoping to have it out by the end of October. The company is taking pre-release orders for the pedal now. Bill added he also is working on a bunch of other new modulation and filter effects including a phaser, vibrato, frequency modulator and a new envelope/dynamics filter as well as a whole line of lo-fi effects, line selectors, effects loops, mixers, etc…
Dallas-based ProTone Pedals makes more than effects – they make little boxes of art. While the guts of each ProTone stomp provides a first-class effect, the enclosures boast some of the coolest pedal graphics around (most courtesy of artist Felix LaFlamme). Trending more towards high gain, rock-friendly stomps, ProTone recently completed work on the highly-anticipated Jason Becker Perpetual Burn pedal – a modern take on a classic Marshall sound. Founder Dennis Mollan recently took time out to talk with us about what’s happening at ProTone. We thought it was a good opportunity to run ‘The Five’ past him. Here’s what he had to say…
Earthbound Audio Effects is tweaking its popular Supercollider stomp by integrating dual oscillating feedback loops within the circuit. OSC 1 creates huge signal saturation as an additional boost and also creates an oscillation tone when the note decays or nothing is being played. OSC 2 is a slightly different feedback loop that includes a threshold knob that controls how quick a note decays into oscillation. Both oscillation switches can be used at the same time for even more textures. A soundclip of the pedal – currently called the Supercollider Beast – is available on the EAE’s MySpace site. The stomp can be pre-ordered for $175 through mid-October, then the price goes to $200. 
New Hampshire-based pedal-smiths MythFX has unveiled its new Minotaur distortion/overdrive pedal. According to the manufacturer, the stomp can produce a mild crunch to a high gain distortion while preserving the dynamics of your playing. The multi-gain stage design has a high impedance input that preserves the harmonics of the natural guitar tone and brings a clarity to the sound that is lost in many high gain pedals. The controls include pre-boost, gain and master volume knobs, and a 3-way toggle switch that enables Silicon, Germanium, or Bypass clipping modes. The pedal is available in black and gray. The Minotaur carries a price tag of $139.95.
Hello everyone… just a little update from Houston. It looks like we’ll be getting more than we bargained for as Hurricane Ike washes ashore later tonight. We were hoping for the classic ‘northerly jog’ of the storm’s path a la Rita in 2005, but that’s looking less likely by the minute. We will most likely lose power overnight, so updates to the site may become fairly sporadic after this. I was here for Alicia in 1983 and I don’t remember that being too much fun. Hopefully we won’t be down at all, but most likely we will be cut off from the ‘net for a couple of days. We’ll post when we can!
Denmark-based T-Rex Engineering is now shipping its Twister stereo chorus/flanger combo stomp to stores. The pedal boasts a mono output for running through an amp on stage, and stereo outputs for the studio or live stereo setups. In chorus mode, the Light/Heavy switch lets you quickly switch between two classic variants of the chorused sound, while the Tone control lets you take some of the top off for a more subtle effect. Knob controls on the pedal consist of Depth, Level, Regen, Tone and Rate. Check out T-Rex’s website for sound clips of the Twister.
Pedal guru Devi Ever has released a new, environmentally-friendly version of the popular White Spider fuzz stomp. According to Devi, the redesign features a 100% recycled aluminum enclosure and earth friendly artwork. The new artwork is by Brazilian artist Diego Medina. The White Spider pedal features include volume, texture and input knobs and an oscillation toggle switch. The new enclosure is as long and wide as the previous White Spider enclosure, but it is a tad taller. The new ‘green’ White Spider is available now and carries a price tag of $195.