The Five returns to WTDP? this week with a conversation with Sayer Payne, the pedal guru behind Minnesota-based Heavy Electronics – makers of such sweet stomps as the Ascend clean boost and the Grind Fuzz. Sayer started Heavy in 2007 with a goal to make high quality guitar pedals that delivered the goods without breaking the bank. Consistently judge to be some of the most rugged pedals in the business, Heavy has enjoyed good success that continues in 2009. We checked in with Sayer recently to see how he was faring in the snowy Minnesota winter. He’s keeping warm, and answering our questions, after the jump!

You might not be too familiar with Louisiana-bred Lizard Leg Effects, but if you’ve picked up a recent copy of Premier Guitar you know that word is spreading. Last month, the popular industry mag heaped praise on the effect maker’s Flying Dragon boost stomp, and this month one of the company’s logo picks adorns the front cover. WTDP? was able to sample a Flying Dragon a few months back, and whoa! It’s everything you’d want to add a little sparkle to your cleans or extra sizzle to you grit. We sought out Lizard Leg’s Steve Miller recently to give him a run at our five little questions… and Abracadabra! His answers will reach out and grab you after the jump!

My first exposure to Wattson Classic Electronics was their impeccable Superfuzz stomp – a reproduction of the Shin-Ei and Univox Super-Fuzz from the 1960s and 70s. Surfing the forums I began to hear a bit more about some other projects Jim and Chris – the brains behind the group – were looking into – including a Univibe repro. Chris’ recent announcement that Death Cab For Cutie guitarist Chris Walla was using the Superfuzz prompted me to ask him if he’d like to take a pass at our five little questions. He said yes. He says more… after the jump!

Brad Fee lives in the best of both worlds. As founder of Mojo Hand, he gets to guide the design and construction of some pretty sweet boutique effects pedals. As the man behind internet retailer Tone Factor, he gets to supply guitarists with boutique stomps from around the globe all while keeping first hand tabs on the competition. WTDP? met Brad at the recent Austin Pedalfest where he and his Tone Factor crew supplied many of the pedals that were sampled. We hooked up with him again at the Arlington Guitar Show and asked if he’d be willing to take a pass at our five little questions. See his answers after the jump!

Cruising the Summer NAMM show last June in Nashville, WTDP? met up with The Syle’s Bill York hanging out in the AMT Electronics booth. After we explained to him who we were, he ducked around the back of the display and produced two of his highly tweakable handmade stomps – the Faygun fuzz and Particle Distorter. We kept in touch with Bill after the show and recently talked with him briefly about a new pedal he is working on dubbed The Rub – a lo-fi modulator that sounds like a bad cassette tape or warped vinyl record. We also wanted to get his answers to The Five. Take a look after the jump…

When we fired up WTDP? earlier this year I found that lot of music equipment vendors call my neck of the woods home. Promark drumsticks is here, Diamond Amplification, Red Star cabinets, ElectroniX Effects… and XTS Custom Pedals. I met Greg Walton at the recent Austin Pedalfest and came to find out that XTS calls Deer Park, Texas home… about a 30 minute drive from WTDP? world headquarters in Houston. A cool fact? You bet… but not near as cool as the stomps Greg creates. The XTS pedals were some of the most popular test drives at the Fest. We had to know more, and Greg obliged. Check out The Five after the jump…

Word of mouth is a powerful tool when it comes to growing any small business, and the word is out on Mellowtone pedals – especially the Wolf Computer fuzz stomp. The Wolf Computer is a hairy, glitchy fuzz that can produce some very unique sounds ranging from growling fuzz to 8-bit video game tones that sound like they are coming from an old Atari 2600 that was fired up after spending a few hours at the bottom of a swimming pool. WTDP? called out to Mellowtone’s pedal guru Eric Edvalson to learn more about the company and, of course, to put him through The Five! He answers the call after the jump!

Indie pedal purveyors Barge Concepts offers an eclectic mix of stomps ranging from traditional compressors and boosts to the not-so-traditional, like the forthcoming Grinder pedal – an envelope filter that takes its cues for the vintage LoveTone Meatball. ‘Tools for the discerning musician’ is the Barge slogan… and that fits. The Barge stomps feel like tools – and are built like tanks. Top man Geoff Bryant and his crew continue to churn out some quality product at attractive prices. WTDP? recently hit up Geoff to take part in The Five. He tore himself away from the Grinder project just long enough to answer our questions. Read the results after the jump…

Never heard of Tortuga Effects? Well, let’s fix that shall we. Tortuga is the brain-child of Renton, Washington’s Matt Johnson and is the maker of a handful of really sweet stomp boxes. Don’t believe me? Do yourself a favor and (when you’re done reading this) go over to You Tube and search out The Cab’s Ian Crawford doing demoes of the company’s two fuzzes – Sasquatch and Hazy Fuzz Experience, as well as the Neptune opto-vibe pedal. You can also learn more over at Tortuga’s spiffy new website. Matt took time out from his workbench to talk with us about all the current goings on with Tortuga. Read the details after the jump.

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!

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!

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…

Welcome to The Five! – a new feature here at What’s That Dude Play? where we take five simple questions and put them to the men and/or women that make the pedals we all GAS for. First up is Source Audio’s Roger K Smith. We had a chance to meet Roger and his crew at Summer NAMM in June and got a first hand demo of the company’s innovated Soundblox stomps and uber-cool Hot Hand motion control device. If you haven’t seen this thing in action, you should hop over to their site and check it out. The verdict – good people… sweet effects. Enough of my yaking… over to Roger after the jump!