• Limited Edition Volcano – Reverend Guitars has busted out with a new Limited Edition of their low-cost, award winning Volcano––the aptly titled Volcano H90.

They’ve apparently swapped out the neck humbucker for a vintage-voiced P-90 (a GFS Mean 90 to be exact) dressed in a traditional humbucker form factor. Guitars are signed on the back of the headstock by Reverend President Joe Naylor. Strictly limited quantities available, and list price is running $769.

• Eastwood Tuxedo Copper – And while we’re on the subject of P-90s, Eastwood this week announced the addition of a new color option for its dual P-90 Airline Tuxedo model hollowbody.

The guitar, which is a tribute to the ’50s-era Kay Barney Kessel, is now available in Eastwood’s popular new Copper finish (see the high-res photos here.) Street price is still $849.

• EH Micro POG Demo – Last but not least, Dave Weiner has posted a new video demo of the Electro-Harmonix Micro POG over on YouTube, and it gives you a pretty good idea of what this diminutive pedal really has to offer.

I don’t know about you, but I particularly like what EH’s latest polyphonic octave generator can do with arpeggiated chords… super sweet.

Still, there’s something strangely, sadly ironic about producing a frighteningly expensive guitar replica for a guy whose musical persona* eschewed all things commercial, and I have to wonder who exactly the Steve Jones Les Paul Custom is going to be marketed towards––aging punks? Seems like an unlikely match.

Anyway, enough gawking––built as a painstaking re-creation of Jones’ white mid-’70s LP Custom, the guitar features a carved maple top decked out in appropriately aged yellow finish, aged gold hardware, and a pair of pin-up girl decals to boot.

Specs include a single-piece mahogany back, single-piece mahogany neck (24 3⁄4“ scale length,) ebony fretboard with 22 frets, pearl block inlays, Shaller M-6 tuning machines, and a set of Gibson’s 496R & 498T humbuckers.

Oh yeah, and the pickguard has been removed to match the original… comes with a certificate of authenticity, and of course a hardshell Custom Shop case. No official word yet on pricing.

*See Sex Pistol Confesses: ”I’ve Always Hated Punk!“ ;)

Total build time for me was about three hours. In comparison, I spent at least five hours soldering together the mighty TriBooster. Oh yeah, and BYOC just dropped the price on this kit by $10… it can now be had for $59, which you will agree is an absolute steal once you’ve heard this thing in action.

Populating The Circuit Board  OK, so let’s get down to business. First thing is to print up the full PDF directions from BYOC. You’ll want to keep the Parts Checklist handy, because it describes in detail what each of the components looks like, and if you’re like me you wouldn’t know a resistor from a diode if it bit you on the @$$.

This step is particularly easy––there are comparatively few parts to solder to the board, but don’t be in too big of a rush. The first step––installing the resistors––is probably the easiest one to screw up.

I say that because the resistors are absolutely tiny, and you can only tell which one is which by deciphering the miniscule color-coded lines on each component (left) and cross-referencing to the checklist. Take your time… I installed one of them wrong, and discovered that there is little I like less than de-soldering a tiny resistor from a printed circuit board (PCB.)

With the resistors in place, follow your printed instructions from BYOC, and in no time you will have your PCB almost completely populated. It should look something like the photo below right.

Installing The Hardware  OK, so now it’s time to install the jacks, potentiometers, and footswitch. This is pretty basic stuff, and if you follow the diagram in your instructions it should be fairly easy sailing.

The input and output jacks, and the footswitch can all be tightened in pretty good, but I wouldn’t tighten down the pots or the power jack too far yet… you may find that you need to adjust them when it comes time to wire everything up.

With everything in place you should be staring at an aluminum chassis that looks at least somewhat similar to the photo on the left here.

Wiring Her Up  As it turns out, this is the tedious part. You really need to take your time here, and make sure you understand the process BEFORE digging in. De-soldering ain’t not fun, so take a good look at the directions, run it through in your mind, and take a look at the photos to get an idea of how this is done.

Real estate is at a premium inside the OptiComp’s little chassis, and that means things can get pretty tight, and more than a little nerve-wracking when sticking a hot soldering gun in there. Just take your time and give it your best. I think this part took me about an hour.

OK, so here’s the BYOC Optical Compressor in all its full glory, right before you slap on the back plate and fire her up…

Hopefully, between the well-written directions from BYOC, and the photo here, you can pretty much make out how this thing goes together.

As you can see, the wiring gets pretty crazy, and it really is pretty tedious, but it’s also a fun challenge to get things soldered together without burning a hole through that purple insulation or accidentally melting the face of your printed circuit board.

Me, I kept the the tedious part interesting by watching (or more correctly listening to,) Futurama re-runs on Comedy Central… but that’s just me.

If all went well you should be able to plug a chord into the input jack, hit the footswitch, and see that lovely little LED light up. If all didn’t go well, the pedal will self-destruct in exactly 45 seconds… tick, tick, tick  ;)

Plug It In!  So there you have it… screw the backplate on, install the little rubber feet and control knobs, and you’re pretty much ready to rock.

Personally, I absolutely love the sound of this pedal… it’s fairly transparent, but even just a few minutes with this thing will show you why many guitarists absolutely can’t live without their compressors.

It may be a subtle effect, but it really does sweeten-up everything just right. Build Your Own Clone has definitely done it again…

I’ll try to post some sound samples ASAP.

Enjoy The Squeeze!

If you’ve ever wanted to build your own pedal then I highly recommend you join me on this adventure. The complete kit from BYOC will set you back $69.99, and with their well-written directions you don’t need to be able to read schematics or have the engineering chops of a rocket scientist.

Besides the kit, all you really need are patience, very basic soldering skills, and a few simple tools:

1. Soldering Iron - decent quality, probably $20 - $30 from Radio Shack or the like.
2. Solder - a roll of medium duty resin-core solder, not too thin, not too thick.
3. Desoldering Braid - an easy way to clean up minor screw-ups.
4. Wire Clippers - something small for getting into those tight spaces.
5. Heat Sink - may not be necessary for this project, but good to have just the same.
6. Power Source - 9v battery, or ac adapter with 2.1mm ‘center pin negative’ powerjack.

If you decide to follow along, make sure you’ve purchased the right kit––BYOC sells three different compressors. I’ll be building the Optical Compressor: it’s supposed to be a simple build, and the sound quality is getting good reviews from other BYOC users.

I ordered mine last night, so I’ll probably start posting my progress next week, along with photos and basic directions. You’ll want to print up the full PDF directions from BYOC, though, so you can really follow along.

Oh yeah, I also picked up a few replacement knobs from Small Bear Electronics… I’m not a big fan of the small ones that BYOC is currently shipping with their kits, so I thought I’d grab something a little more to my liking. Small Bear’s got like 40 different styles of knobs, so you’re bound to find something over there that you like.

Alright, that’s it––next step, populating the printed circuit board.

You can check it out in all its gut-wrenching glory over on Ibanez’s official Steve Vai Jemini page. Of course, you should never judge a pedal by its color.

Coming from a fairly small boutique effects shop––Love Pedal––these babies aren’t easy to find at your local “big box” guitar retailer, so taking one for a test drive is an impossibility for most.

Of course, you could always take Summers’ word for it (and I’m tempted to,) but if you’re averse to throwing down some $230 for what could end up being just another slightly-tweaked TS clone, well, you’ll definitely want to keep an eye out for a demo or two.

Anyway, here’s a short but sweet demo of the Love Pedal Eternity Overdrive, which I stumbled onto this morning. Oh, and here’s the review that GP did back in Sept, ‘07.  Ciao!

M. Leonhart is at it again… this time getting deep (and I do mean deep,) into the workings and wonders of the new Electro-Harmonix Stereo Memory Man with Hazarai. A nice in-depth look at what this pedal can do, but definitely not for the faint of heart…

Adding to the current frenzy for retro guitars, VOX this week pulled the veils off two classic reissues––the Limited Edition Mark III, and Limited Edition Teardrop Bass… two true icons of the ’60s.

Sticking with VOX’s goals to continually innovate, the new instruments apparently stay true to their early rock-era lineage while being enhanced for playability and better specifications to boot.

The Specs  Built in the USA, the VOX Mark II will sport a sculpted body of Aspen (there’s something you don’t see everyday, folks,) and will boast a Maple neck, compound radius Rosewood fretboard with 22 Medium Jumbo frets, dual vintage style singlecoil pickups (Alnico,) chrome pickguard, 6 inline tuners, and a fixed bridge.

The VOX Teardrop Bass will be built in Japan, and is expected to feature a carved Maple top & veneer, Mahogany back & sides, flame Maple binding, mahogany neck (770mm Scale Length,) Rosewood fretboard with 22 frets ad “zero fret,” VOX Custom stoptail bridge with cover, Gotoh tuners, 3-way pickup switching, and Volume & Tone controls.

Pricing and availability are yet to be announced…

As with Leonhart’s earlier video demos, you’ll probably either love this one or hate it, but either way you have to admit the guy is doing some of the most creative work in stompbox demos on the web today.

You’ll need decent speakers in stereo to really appreciate what this pedal can do. Chorus, Flange, and lots of other good stuff. All packed into an industrial strength Electro-Harmonix chassis.

You can catch my earlier coverage of the Stereo Electric Mistress here… enjoy!

» Win A Patriot Black & Kustom Amp - The good folks over at Michael Kelly guitars are giving away one of their new Patriot Black six-strings, along with Kustom’s cool new ‘66 DART Amp (yep, decked out in old-school “Tuck ‘n Roll.”) The Patriot Black is spec’d out for high-gain mayhem, with a pair of Rockfield Fat Ass Humbuckers, coil-tapped Volume & Tone knobs, strings-thru-body design, and a Tonepros bridge. Sign-up here.

» ProTone Sneak Peek - Oh yeah, and ProTone Pedals has been dropping hints about their latest stompbox creations, the Dead Horse Overdrive and Optic Tremor––if you’re lucky enough to live in the area you can check them both out at this weekend’s Arlington Guitar Show, but for the rest of us here’s a look at the Dead Horse anyways… no real word on specs, but ‘ya gotta love the design.

As a dyed-in-the-wool Electro Harmonix fan I came about this close to purchasing the POG on numerous occasions, but the unit’s sheer size and prize always kind of stopped me in my tracks.

Still, the dream of pounding out some badass organ parts on my guitar never really went away, so I’ve been keeping an eye out for a decent demo or review of the new Micro POG in the hopes it could really live up to its predecessor.

As it turns out, the pedal appears to be a perfect match for my pedal board, and the price, while not unsubstantial (hovering just over $200,) makes the unit dangerously attractive. Check it out…

I’d been in the market for an envelope filter for more than a few months when Godlyke approached me about reviewing their new Guyatone Optical effects pedals… so needless to say I just couldn’t resist taking them for a test drive.

For those of you who aren’t already acquainted with this latest line of effects from Guyatone, the Ultron Auto Wah and Ultrem Tremolo are hybrid analog/digital stomp-boxes that promise the warmth of a 100% analog signal chain paired with the the accuracy and versatility of digital controllers… I’m happy to say they deliver decidedly well on both fronts.

Designed in part by renowned engineer Hideko Shimizu––who unfortunately passed away before the Optical Series reached its final design stages––the pedals were initially meant to be simple vintage-style optical effects (think Mu-tron III) but luckily for us, the “Opticals” would ultimately become high-end units capable of far more in the way of great guitar tone than their venerable predecessors could have ever dreamed of.

Ultron Optical Auto Wah  Picking up where the Mu-tron III left off, and then just running with it, the Guyatone Ultron is one seriously dangerous envelope filter––while many auto-wah type effects are built to do just one thing well, the Ultron is an entirely different kind of animal… it’s absolutely loaded with sonic possibilities.

In fact, the list of features is so incredibly long that at first glance the pedal can seem almost daunting in its options, but I found that spending just a few minutes with the included manual got me fully acquainted with the Ultron’s basic control layout. In no time at all I was creating very memorable tones, from classic wah-wah effects to downright spacey experimental stuff.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have an expression pedal on-hand to test out the Ultron’s “Pedal Wah” functionality (yep, it can function as a traditional, if highly tweakable, wah pedal,) but the other two effect types––Touch Wah, and Wave Wah––worked flawlessly, and offered the kind of variables you’d usually only expect from a rack-mount unit.

Exactly what kind of variables? Well, you’ve got access to Low-Pass, High-Pass, Band-Pass, and Notch filter effects via a rotary dial, not to mention a Threshold control, Frequency control, Peak control, and three top-mounted dip switches, which include a Range switch (M, H, and L,) Drive switch (for switching the travel direction of the wah effect,) and a TAP/PDL switch for adjusting the Speed ratio in Tap mode, or the Volume curve when using an expression pedal.

As if that weren’t enough, in Wave Wah mode (which produces effects via the Ultron’s digital oscillator) you’ve got access to not only six different wave forms––allowing for an incredibly wide range of tonal possibilities––but also a highly accurate tap-tempo mode, which makes syncing-up envelope effects to the tempo of your tunes a real breeze.

Where the Ultron really shines though is in Touch Wah mode… this is the classic Auto-Wah effect, which produces envelope filtering based on your picking attack.

Needless to say, any effect that varies its parameters based on your own playing dynamics is going to take some time to master, but trust me when I say it’s well worth the effort… the Ultron easily produces the kind of squashy, rhythmic wah effect that would make any funk aficionado smile.

I particularly enjoyed experimenting with the Ultron’s Drive switch––in UP mode it offers straight-up traditional wah functionality, but in DOWN mode you can coax your guitar into all kinds of crazy space-age lounge tones circa the 1970s. Mmmm, this is really good stuff.

Of course, Guyatone has armed the Ultron with True Bypass circuitry, ensuring your guitar’s tone will stay pristine when the effect isn’t in use, and like its sister pedal the Ultrem, this bad boy is packed into a truly road-worthy chassis––the pedal was definitely built to last.

Overall, the Guyatone Ultron is easily one of our favorite envelope filters to-date––with a 100% analog signal path, and a staggering number of customizable parameters on-board, the Ultron truly brings new meaning to the word versatile. If you’re in the market for an auto-wah that’s head and shoulders above the rest, you’ll definitely want to give the Ultron a look.

Ultrem Optical Tremolo  Of course, the Ultrem is no slouch either… just as loaded with options as the Ultron––and capable of actually syncing up to its sibling pedal via those digital oscillators––the Ultrem offers all the old-school analog tremolo you’ve ever dreamt of, along with a host of new options you didn’t even know you wanted.

In fact, in spite of its numerous options, I think you’ll find that once you’ve got a hang of the Guyatone Ultron pedal you’ll have no problem at all finding your way around the Ultrem––both boxes are built around the same hybrid analog/ditigal technology, and both boast very similar control layouts, so while they produce vastly different effects, your skills at tweaking one pedal should easily translate to mastery of the other.

Once again you’ve got easy access to six different wave forms, multiple tremolo effects modes (Wave Tap, Momentary Wave, and various Expression Pedal modes,) and numerous other options, including tap-tempo, Pan and Blend switches, and the incredibly cool Saturation knob, which allows you to dial in a bit of distortion to better emulate the tonal characteristics of classic tube driven tremolo units.

Added extras include both Mono & Stereo outputs (a must-have for truly great tremolo effects,) and like the Ultron, a big, bright red LED display. Oh yeah, and there’s an Expression Pedal input jack for bringing control of your Ultrem’s parameters right to your… toe tips?

Tone-wise the Ultrem is an absolute no-brainer––if you’re enamored at all with vintage-style tube amp tremolo you’ll be more than satisfied with what the Ultrem can do for your guitar’s tone… not only does the Ultrem bring authentic optical tremolo to any guitar player’s rig, but the wide array of wild tremolo effects that it offers will keep even the most die-hard gearhead happily tweaking knobs and switches for weeks to come.

Final Word  All in all, it’s easy to recommend either of Guyatone’s Optical Effects Pedals––by themselves, the Ultron and Ultrem are very formidable stompboxes, but side by side I’d say they’re as close to an unbeatable pair as you’re likely to find.

Early on I was told that Guyatone’s pedals were all about warm, organic, analog tone, and I have to say that I wasn’t at all disappointed… these are great pedals, with gorgeous tone, and either one would make a worthy edition to your effects arsenal.

Now check out these sound samples––

EGR Sound Samples
Recorded direct via Line 6 GearBox

• Ultron - Talking Slow
• Ultron - Kinda’ Jazzy
• Ultron - Reverse Wah
• Ultrem - Distorted Sweep
• Ultrem - Picking
• Ultron & Ultrem - One-Take Spacy

While the two products have entirely different form factors, it appears that both the POD X3 and POD X3 Live share a common set of digital models for tweaking your guitar’s tone, including a whopping 98 different stomp-box and studio effects models, 74 amplifier models, and 24 cabinet models.

As if that weren’t enough, for this latest batch of PODs Line 6 has included a full 28 bass amplifier models, 22 bass cabinet models, and 6 vintage and contemporary microphone pre-amps.

Other stand-out features include: a new and improved LCD display that allows you to visualize your entire signal chain on just a single screen (a first for the POD family,) dual tone modeling for splitting your guitar’s signal into two different amp/effects chains or processing two signals at once (vocals/guitar, guitar/bass, etc,) and of course full USB 2.0 connectivity, as well as S/PDIF output for sending an ultra-clean signal to your DAW.

If you check out Line 6’s website they’ve got a pretty decent video demo to give you a better picture of the POD X3 line in action (though I’ll warn you it’s hella’ slow to load.)

The POD X3 is expected to sell for a street price of around $399, while the POD X3 Live while fetch just under $500.

Both effects boast a 100% analog audio path with custom-built photo couplers, while simultaneously offering the kind of extreme precision parameter control that only a digital device can really pull off.

Looks like fun… keep your eyes peeled for the full reviews, including sound samples and of course more photos. Both posts should go love in another week or so.

Oh well, it’s got to be done. The key here is to take your time. If you’re going to make a mistake building the Tri Booster this is where you’re going to do it.

Luckily, once again BYOC’s diagram is pretty easy to follow, and even taking it slow you should be able to get your pedal all wired-up in less than an hour. Make sure you keep a 9v battery handy just to make sure that none of your creative wiring is going to get in the way of installing that battery.

Installing The Germanium Transistor

OK, so here it is: the last piece to install!

The Germanium transistor should have three different leads: what are known as the emitter, the base, and the collector. You’ll know the collector because that side of the transistor will be marked with a dot.

Follow the diagram in your official BYOC Instructions pdf, and you should be able to quickly get your transistor installed––you my need to clip the leads from the transistor a bit to get a nice fit, but what you’re aiming for is enough extra lead in the “base” lead so that you can easily bend the transistor down until it is parallel with the circuit board (upper right corner in photo.)

Solder that bad boy into place and you’re done with the build!

Testing And Biasing  Well, it’s time to plug your new pedal in and see what it can do. I personally prefer 9v batteries, but if you purchased an AC adapter you can use that as well.

Flip your chassis over (don’t screw the back on yet,) plug a 1/4” guitar cable into the right side (input) jack, and test that your LEDs are working. If your build was successful you should be able to produce three different colors depending on your settings.

With the rotary switch turned fully clockwise you should get a red light––that’s the Germanium Boost.

With the rotary in the middle position you should get a blue light––that’s the Linear Boost.

And with the rotary in the full counter-clockwise position you should get a green light––that’s the Clean Boost.

In Germanium Boost mode the tiny toggle switch at the top of the Tri Booster will give you three different tonal boost options: left is “Full,” right is “Mid,” and center is “Treble.” (Full is my favorite.)

Flip your chassis back over, and with a very small phillips head screwdriver you can bias the Clean Boost setting by adjusting the trimpot (bottom right corner of the installed circuit board.)

Turn your amp down to a low volume, turn up the volume on your new Tri-Booster pedal (left knob,) and then strum your guitar hard––adjust the trimpot until you get a good “clean” tone that you like (don’t tell anyone, but I actually adjusted mine kind of dirty, and it sounds sweet.) The effect of adjusting the trimpot is pretty subtle, so don’t worry if you don’t hear a huge difference… just find a sound you’re happy with.

Assuming everything is working well, screw the bottom onto the chassis, and then carefully place the rubber feet that came with your kit.

Final Word  You’re done! You’ve built a badass boost pedal with nothing but your two bare hands (and a little help from Build Your Own Clone.) I’ll have a full review of the TriBooster in the next week or so, including sounds samples, but for now, suffice it to say I am VERY HAPPY with this kit––the build was fairly painless, and the finished product is easily one of the best boost pedals I’ve had the pleasure to play.

Installing The Transistors & Capacitors 

If you check out Step 7 in the official PDF instructions you’ll see that our next move is to install two of our transistors (the BS170 MOSFET, and the 2N5088) into the PCB. All you have to do is follow the diagrams, and make sure you get the transistors in going the right direction––pretty basic stuff.

Step 8, installing the ceramic disc & film capacitors isn’t any more difficult, though it is considerably more time consuming. These babies aren’t polarized, so they can go in either direction. In my kit the ceramic disc capacitor was a tiny round orange unit (towards the upper right in the photo,) though the directions from BYOC state that this may very.

Either way, once you install this capacitor your board should look something like this photo… at this point we’ve invested a lot of time and effort into this very small piece of machinery––here’s hoping we did it right, eh?

Installing The Rotary Switch  Now’s where things get a bit more interesting. Before we install the rotary switch into the circuit board we need to set it so that it will only turn to three different positions.

Take the bolt and the first serrated washer off of the unit, and you will find a second washer with notch poking out of it. Just lift the washer a bit and you can turn it until the notch falls into the slot marked “3”––you’ve just successfully set the switch for three positions.

To actually install the rotary switch we need to flip the unit over. Line up the marked prongs on the back of the switch with the marked diagram on the PCB and insert the unit (top left)––double checking that you’ve got the prongs in the correct holes.

Now solder. Simple as that. At this point it should look something like the photo on the right.

Loading Up The Chassis  Excellent––now we’re ready to move on to Step 10––installing our hardware into the chassis. This step is pretty much self-explanatory: we’re going to flip our chassis over so we can get to the insides, and then just start loading up and bolting on the various pieces of hardware listed in the diagram.

Caution: One thing I learned the hard way is that if you install the AC Adapter Jack in the exact manner suggested in the directions, you simply won’t have enough room in the chassis to fit a 9v battery. Grab yourself a battery, just for checking the fit, and you should find that you can rotate that AC Adapter Jack enough for the batter to easily fit. Now tighten the plastic bolt.

With the hardware installed we need to start wiring it all up. Take a good look at the diagram for Step 11. The easiest way to do this step is to just set your PCB into the chassis upside down exactly matching the diagram (you aren’t connecting it or anything––just set it in there gently,) and then cut three pieces of wire from the spool included in your kit and attach them as shown: from the A100K pot to the three connectors on the PCB.

With the PCB still sitting in the chassis, move to Step 12 by inserting the LED into its slot on the PCB, with the longest lead going into the hole marked “C.” DO NOT SOLDER just yet.

Installing The PCB  For Step 13, loosely mount the small three-way toggle switch to the chassis, and then carefully flip the PCB over into its final position at the top of the enclosure. Take your time, and guide the toggle switch into its place on the PCB, while simultaneously fitting the LED into its hole on the chassis, and of course the rotary switch as well.

This all sounds fairly difficult on paper, but in practice it’s actually pretty easy. To their credit, the PCBs from Build You Own Clone seem to be perfectly designed and sized, and you should find that everything fits together quite neatly.

With these pieces all mounted, finish tightening up the bolts on the toggle switch, and then flip the chassis back over and solder the LED and the toggle into their places on the PCB.

At this point your kit should look something like the photo on the right… woohoo, you rock!

It’s time for another break, so head down to the local pub, order yourself a fat pint of beer (I’ll take a Guinness Stout, thank you,) and get someone to pat you on the back for the hard work you’ve just finished.

We’re heading into the home stretch.

Would have been nice, though, if they’d varied their demo beyond that rhythmic chunking––I would have liked to hear what the Germanium OD could do with some slow blues lines and maybe a few power chords.

But while the Brown Sugar Vibrato and Peligro Fuzz both sound like fun pedals for analog-effects fanatics, to my mind the new Flying Eye Envelope Filter is where the gold’s gonna’ be.

Auto-Wah Goodness  Of course, I’m a bit prone to falling in love with new envelope filters (EMMA DiscumBOBulator? Mmmmm,) but what struck me about the Flying Eye is that like the EMMA its got some cool Reverse Sweep capabilities as well, which should add a whole new layer of 70’s lounge tone to an already classic effect.

Unfortunately, ProTone’s Brown Sugar Vibrato––a Brownface vibrato simulator––appears to still be in Top Secret mode, but you can catch demos of the Flying Eye and Peligro Fuzz over on the ProTone Pedal YouTube page.

I don’t know how it went unnoticed––wrapped in black & white snake print it’s one of the more striking stomp-boxes I’ve seen in quite some time––but when I stumbled onto it yesterday I thought I’d better let the cat (er, snake) out of the bag.

The Specs  Apparently housed in a tank-proof steel chassis, the Viper boasts two basic modes, the classic Leslie Rotating Speaker effect, and of course straight-up Vibrato, while controls include Depth, Speed, and Level––all via old-school chicken head knobs––allowing you thoroughly tweak your sound while still keeping things simple.

For extra voice control there’s a screwdriver-accessible Trim switch mounted to the back of the unit.

Unfortunately, it appears to be too early for sound samples from T-Rex (I’ll post some when they become available,) but Guitar Buyer Magazine got an early look at the pedal and gave it four out of five Gold Picks (PDF doc.)

According to their review, points were docked for the Viper’s insatiable need for power… this beastie just won’t run on batteries––ac adapter required.