Guitar Toys For Christmas
Fender EOB I know Radiohead are like marmite but Ed O’brien’s new signature Stratocaster is more like cake. Everyone loves cake. Everyone would love this guitar. A built in sustainer pickup on the neck with adjustable built in feedback tones (all built into the guitar, oh yes!!) A single-coil sized Duncan JB Jr. humbucker pickup on the bridge which, as it says on fenders website ‘offers giant tone’ and at the centre there’s a Texas special single-coil middle pickup which ‘adds extra spank to the traditional Fender sound.’ This guitar looks beautiful…. please Santa!
MXR Carbon Copy Deluxe MXR’s Carbon Copy is one of the best delay’s I think I’ve ever heard. It has a lovely analogue crunch. It sounds like mmmmm… but not only this but the deluxe offers a bright tone setting and a really nice modulation setting to give a great washy / warbley tone and lots more features. It’s very nice.
Blackstar HT-Dual Distortion If you’ve got a good amp then who needs a distortion pedal right? TRY THIS PEDAL, MY GOD IT’S LIKE THE WARMEST SMOOTHEST SOUND IN THE WORLD! It has a built in tube, in the centre of the pedal, under that metal guard, making everything sound warm and pretty. You might think this is just a metal brand, but no it’s very diverse. I love these pedals and I’m in an indie band. This Blackstar pedal in particular has two channels, one for clean/ crunch and one for more drive (playing face melting solo’s basically). Blackstar, as you may know was originally made up of a few ex employees of Marshall who decided to start building their own amps after frustrations at Marshall, and with the knowledge that they could make brilliant sounding amps. They’ve done it well and the HT pedals are great.
Infinite Jets Resynthesizer by Hologram Electronics. Okay, this is a bit out there, not to everyone’s taste but I like it so if you’re reading this you’re going to have to take my word for it! I could give you an in depth explanation of what this pedal, but instead I’ll just say that it does some crazy stuff to your guitar and makes it sound synthy, mashed up and just generally really cool. I haven’t actually ever tried this one, but I really want to. It looks like it’s so, so much fun!
Pedaltrain (multiple sizes) Now that I’ve forced you into buying every pedal under the sun you’re going to want to take them to your next gig and try them out right? Well, you need something to set them up on quick and easily. In other words you need to spend another chunk of money on a pedal board! Although there are lots of other and cheaper alternatives, I highly recommend Pedaltrain. They’re reliable, sturdy, often come with a box to carry them round in, and some even have a little compartment for a multi-power supply (have a google of fuel tank power supply).
I guess all that’s left to say is… Santa, I’ve been very well behaved this year…
