Thursday, October 16, 2008

New Boss Mods coming soon!

We are diligently working on the Boss SD-1 Overdrive Mod and the Boss TR-2 Tremolo Mod.

The Boss SD-1 Overdrive Mod will be an aggressive overdrive, more unorthodox than my Greenie overdrive. It isn't anything like the Boss BD-2 Mod since the BD-2 is strictly a gain pedal. This is more in the realm of a Ibanez Tube Screamer on major steroids...big, bulky and nasty overdrive. It will have a great focus for harmonics but its going to have a very aggressive tone structure that is very tube-like and on the verge of a fuzz. A very cool overdrive. Again, we don't want to be redundant. We won't make a pedal that sounds like another, especially one of ours. This one is definitely something different.

The Boss TR-2 Tremolo Mod isn't going to be anything "crazy" or out of the ordinary. It's going to be a pure Trem pedal. The Mods being developed are Modifications needed to HI-FI the guitar pedal and to give it some more boost in it. Some like to Mod this pedal to have more sparkle but that can ruin the overall sound and in the end it loses its feel as a Trem. I wanted this Mod to be as transparent as possible. Dig this one when it's done...

We are looking to have these done by the start of December. The latest would be the New Year.

-PepTone

Saturday, October 11, 2008

True Bypass Vs. Non-True Bypass (Boss or Ibanez)

My thoughts and notes on True-Bypass vs Non True-Bypass (i.e. Boss/Ibanez pedals):

This discussion can go on and on. Some who are highly technical and trained in the field say that you can't use anything but True-Bypass for your pedals and some say the Buffers in the Ibanez or Boss pedals help keep your signal drop from having a long pedal board. I think its a matter of both, use your ears and use your judgment. I think 10 Boss pedals in a row results in loss of tone yes but I also think the same of a line up of any pedals. After all of those short cable hook ups you will lose some tone and even then you need to have high-end cables as well with some hefty hefty high costs!

The point is you need to make the call and be particular on what you put on your pedalboard. The buffers in the Ibanez and Boss pedals are well....a buffer! I do have Boss and Ibanez pedals and I can notice a drop in tone with Ibanez more than Boss. I have a Ibanez TS-9 and AD-9 and there is quite a bit of a drop in the highs and overall tone when the pedal is in the chain, now these can be fixed but I don't even like their switching system to begin with so that's another story for another time...It would take more than three Boss pedals to hear the difference in my opinion but I can hear/feel a difference with one Ibanez when they are turned off.

One way you can have more Boss / Ibanez pedals is by using a True-Bypass Looper. Lets say I have two or three effects I always use together or use very seldom. I can toss them in the looper chain and my pedal board that was 10 pedals now is only 8 total:

10 total pedals minus 3 in the looper (from putting in the looper chain) and then add one because we added the looper. 10 pedals goes to 8...or you can toss 5 in there and make it 6 total pedals in the signal chain when all are off...get the point?

I will be making a Custom Looper for the PepTone Electronics Custom line. It will be a rather inexpensive way to handle the true-bypass dilemma and can organize that mess of a pedalboard! It helped mine!

Sunday, October 5, 2008

PepTone Greenie Overdrive!


http://www.peptoneelectronics.com for more info...

This is PepTone's Custom Overdrive guitar effect. Built with the TS-808 / TS-9 in mind but this goes further than ANY Tube Screamer Mod could EVER do, that is why I had to build this Overdrive from the bottom up. Many question if it's in the realm of a Fulltone FULLDRIVE 2 or the Keeley TS-9 Mod, my answer is simple. NO. Those are great pedals but are more dead on Tube Screamer tone. The Greenie CAN achieve that but goes beyond that...

PepTone WEBSITE DESCRIPTION:

Welcome To The PepTone Greenie

GREENIE: This was inspired by the family of the TS-808/Tube Screamer fame but I took it to another level by adding more clarity, gain, boost and some great overdrive/gain structure options.

If you are like me, you enjoy playing you overdrive pedals during live shows, leisure guitar time and studio/recording time. I have tried over a dozen overdrives (from cheap to boutique!) and not one of those pedals met all my standards/needs for all three scenarios.

CONTROL OPTIONS: The Greenie controls are basic but useful. You have the 3 way gain toggle, the 'Volume' knob, the 'Tone' knob and the 'Drive' knob as basic controls. I also added something special to the Greenie that helps make the overdrive push out and stand out on stage, this is the 'Bright' knob.

The Drive, Tone and Volume knobs work as you have normally experienced with any other standard tone, drive and volume knobs on other pedals. From there, with my addition of the bright knob you can really brown your sound or make is sparkle and shine, more than you would ever expect from any other overdrive pedal. The thing is something you want a smooth meaty tone but as you roll up on the tone for a bit more sparkle you loose the lower end. So keep the lower end on your tone and just add some bright to your sound!

This three way toggle switch doesn't necessarily change the sound of the pedal as much as how the pedal reacts to your picking and dynamics. So don't expect 3 totally different sounds, think more on the basis of dynamics. There is the more classic overdrive sound along with a grit boost and a silky creamy dynamic drive.

GETTING TO IT: If you want an overdrive pedal that dishes out enough options to keep you entertained but has a focus at the same time; this will satisfy you until your heart is content. If you are looking for a true overdrive with thick tone but the option of added clear highs, I am confident you will love the Greenie; and I stand by that.

TONE TIP: I was given a compliment on how using the bright knob turned up all the way in conjunction with the tone knob up all the way gives the pedal the classic "TREBLE BOOSTER" tone. I couldn't agree more, it is a blast! Again, I don't build pedals that sizzle or buzz, so even with the two knobs turn up all the way you get another great high quality sound from this pedal!