My poor old Micro Amp
MXR MICRO AMP
Simplicity is everything when it comes to a pedalboard. Yeah, I keep telling myself that, yet my board keeps swelling like a silicon valley suburb in a tech boom. Knobs everywhere, stereo I/O, toneprint usb ports, etc. etc. But at the center of all of it (well, to be precise, usually just after the tuner) is my oldest, trustiest standby, the MXR Micro Amp- one knob, one switch, that's it. Well, that and a sticky miasma of spilled beer and sweat, mixed with the syphilitic grime of the dive bar stages of the greater West Coast. I've beat the shit out of this box, mashed it a few thousand times under combat boots, tossed it in countless vans, gear boxes, and the occasional accidental curbside gutter. Still, it lives.
Besides being virtually indestructible, the Micro Amp is also super versatile. No, it's not a distortion pedal (as the guy who sold it to me on Craigslist remarked disappointedly.) Rather, it's a gain boost pedal that makes pretty much anything you run through it sound better by driving it harder. And yeah, I know there are a ton of clean boosts out there, and no, I haven't tried them all. But give me a tube amp and a telecaster, put the Micro Amp in between them and I almost (ALMOST) don't miss my other pedals. I say "almost" because while the MA makes a tube amp saturate and sing all on its own, it also makes other pedals sound better. Place it last in the line up to keep a strong signal across a long chain of effects. Put it in front of a tube screamer and you get creamier and screamier. Sneak it behind a Big Muff and you get a little extra volume boost that helps the muff cut a bit better during solos. Stomp it on and off as a momentary feedback generator when squishing your single coils through a DynaComp. Use it to open walnuts at Christmas. It excels at all these tasks and more.
Cons? Barely. If anything, I'd complain about the fact that for some incomprehensible reason, MXR continues to put the 9v jack on the side of the pedal next to the input jack, which makes connecting cables a huge pain in the ass. But other than that, I have no gripes (which, if you know me, is some kind of small miracle.) So if you're looking for a gain boost box that seems to pop up on everyone's board eventually, go grab the MXR Micro Amp... Jack White and I can't BOTH be wrong, right?
-J
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Simplicity is everything when it comes to a pedalboard. Yeah, I keep telling myself that, yet my board keeps swelling like a silicon valley suburb in a tech boom. Knobs everywhere, stereo I/O, toneprint usb ports, etc. etc. But at the center of all of it (well, to be precise, usually just after the tuner) is my oldest, trustiest standby, the MXR Micro Amp- one knob, one switch, that's it. Well, that and a sticky miasma of spilled beer and sweat, mixed with the syphilitic grime of the dive bar stages of the greater West Coast. I've beat the shit out of this box, mashed it a few thousand times under combat boots, tossed it in countless vans, gear boxes, and the occasional accidental curbside gutter. Still, it lives.
Besides being virtually indestructible, the Micro Amp is also super versatile. No, it's not a distortion pedal (as the guy who sold it to me on Craigslist remarked disappointedly.) Rather, it's a gain boost pedal that makes pretty much anything you run through it sound better by driving it harder. And yeah, I know there are a ton of clean boosts out there, and no, I haven't tried them all. But give me a tube amp and a telecaster, put the Micro Amp in between them and I almost (ALMOST) don't miss my other pedals. I say "almost" because while the MA makes a tube amp saturate and sing all on its own, it also makes other pedals sound better. Place it last in the line up to keep a strong signal across a long chain of effects. Put it in front of a tube screamer and you get creamier and screamier. Sneak it behind a Big Muff and you get a little extra volume boost that helps the muff cut a bit better during solos. Stomp it on and off as a momentary feedback generator when squishing your single coils through a DynaComp. Use it to open walnuts at Christmas. It excels at all these tasks and more.
Cons? Barely. If anything, I'd complain about the fact that for some incomprehensible reason, MXR continues to put the 9v jack on the side of the pedal next to the input jack, which makes connecting cables a huge pain in the ass. But other than that, I have no gripes (which, if you know me, is some kind of small miracle.) So if you're looking for a gain boost box that seems to pop up on everyone's board eventually, go grab the MXR Micro Amp... Jack White and I can't BOTH be wrong, right?
-J
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My aesthetically-enhanced, well-abused Chopper with random knobs
VISUAL SOUND "GARAGE TONE CHOPPER"
So, I really want to go back in time and be a fly on the wall of whatever godforsaken focus group ok'd the design elements of the "Chopper" over at the now-defunct Visual Sound (now called Truetone). Not only did this pedal have the dumbest name ever, but it also came exclusively in sparkling pink. And I'm certainly no fan of color-based gender-role construction, but for fuck sake... people can see me on stage.
Notwithstanding these travesties, the Chopper is a fantastic tremolo that you should seek out from the depths of your preferred used-gear distributor before they all disappear. In fact, despite the fact that they never really got a feel for designing or marketing their products in an attractive manner, Visual Sound actually made some pretty great pedals, especially the V3 series, including the Route 808 OD which I'll review at some point. The Chopper is the only box in the Garagetone series that I've owned, but despite the low price of these pedals, the rest seem to have been highly-regarded as well. But back to the Chopper...
The Chopper has pretty basic controls, and that's what I like about it best. These include Speed and Depth, which control the rate and volume of the effect respectively, and the strange and marginally useful Wave knob, that more or less adjusts the shape of the effect, from "roundish" to "Squarish" I guess. I find it's most useful set at the rounder end of the spectrum, as the square end thins the sound a bit too much. The Speed and Depth controls, however, are really broad and useful, and can be dialed in from a long, gentle wave to a buzzing, fast staccato with a lot of variation in between. A little red LED flashes in time with the rate setting, which is actually pretty great when using the Chopper in the studio, as it helps sync the rate to whatever BPM you've got dialed in for the drummer. The pedal does have some noticeable boost in the high-mids, but this seems to actually compliment the trem effect, since it makes it cut in the mix a little more when it might otherwise get lost especially with a more drastic depth and slower rate setting. Overall, it just sounds different than any trem I've used, more unique, and very vintage 90's, which is kind of my thing, obviously.
I've loaned this pedal out to a couple buddies over the past couple of years, and both times it's resulted in them either conveniently forgetting to return it for long periods of time, or sniffing out one of their own on Evilbay. For a while, my lead guitar player was legitimately debating whether to spend 50 bucks on a NOS Chopper or 200 on a Strymon Flint (he bought a Flint, which is a fantastic pedal, obviously, but he still steals the Chopper sometimes.) I don't see a reason to own any other Trem at this time, and I have to admit that I'm pretty attached to this pedal- it's in every chain I put together, from my Telecaster rig to my Acoustic set up.
Cons? The box feels a little thin (like one of those RatShack project boxes) and the 9v input jack is a little sketchy as it fits too loosely. The knobs fall off if you kick them hard enough. I've had to take the thing apart a few times to tighten jacks and pots, but again, I got it brand new back in the day for no more than 50 dollars, so some maintenance is probably in order from time to time. Basically, if you plan to turn it on by leaping from a monitor, be prepared to re-build it after the show (oops.) Still, I ain't killed it yet.
You can check out the original specs and a bunch of other out-of-production VS pedals at http://truetone.com/garagetone-tremolo/
-J
So, I really want to go back in time and be a fly on the wall of whatever godforsaken focus group ok'd the design elements of the "Chopper" over at the now-defunct Visual Sound (now called Truetone). Not only did this pedal have the dumbest name ever, but it also came exclusively in sparkling pink. And I'm certainly no fan of color-based gender-role construction, but for fuck sake... people can see me on stage.
Notwithstanding these travesties, the Chopper is a fantastic tremolo that you should seek out from the depths of your preferred used-gear distributor before they all disappear. In fact, despite the fact that they never really got a feel for designing or marketing their products in an attractive manner, Visual Sound actually made some pretty great pedals, especially the V3 series, including the Route 808 OD which I'll review at some point. The Chopper is the only box in the Garagetone series that I've owned, but despite the low price of these pedals, the rest seem to have been highly-regarded as well. But back to the Chopper...
The Chopper has pretty basic controls, and that's what I like about it best. These include Speed and Depth, which control the rate and volume of the effect respectively, and the strange and marginally useful Wave knob, that more or less adjusts the shape of the effect, from "roundish" to "Squarish" I guess. I find it's most useful set at the rounder end of the spectrum, as the square end thins the sound a bit too much. The Speed and Depth controls, however, are really broad and useful, and can be dialed in from a long, gentle wave to a buzzing, fast staccato with a lot of variation in between. A little red LED flashes in time with the rate setting, which is actually pretty great when using the Chopper in the studio, as it helps sync the rate to whatever BPM you've got dialed in for the drummer. The pedal does have some noticeable boost in the high-mids, but this seems to actually compliment the trem effect, since it makes it cut in the mix a little more when it might otherwise get lost especially with a more drastic depth and slower rate setting. Overall, it just sounds different than any trem I've used, more unique, and very vintage 90's, which is kind of my thing, obviously.
I've loaned this pedal out to a couple buddies over the past couple of years, and both times it's resulted in them either conveniently forgetting to return it for long periods of time, or sniffing out one of their own on Evilbay. For a while, my lead guitar player was legitimately debating whether to spend 50 bucks on a NOS Chopper or 200 on a Strymon Flint (he bought a Flint, which is a fantastic pedal, obviously, but he still steals the Chopper sometimes.) I don't see a reason to own any other Trem at this time, and I have to admit that I'm pretty attached to this pedal- it's in every chain I put together, from my Telecaster rig to my Acoustic set up.
Cons? The box feels a little thin (like one of those RatShack project boxes) and the 9v input jack is a little sketchy as it fits too loosely. The knobs fall off if you kick them hard enough. I've had to take the thing apart a few times to tighten jacks and pots, but again, I got it brand new back in the day for no more than 50 dollars, so some maintenance is probably in order from time to time. Basically, if you plan to turn it on by leaping from a monitor, be prepared to re-build it after the show (oops.) Still, I ain't killed it yet.
You can check out the original specs and a bunch of other out-of-production VS pedals at http://truetone.com/garagetone-tremolo/
-J
