STOMPBOXES
A handy feature is that—once switched
on—the AGS stays ready to kick in when
you engage the Tone Hammer’s circuit.
And there’s an orange indicator light to
remind you of that. One thing to watch
for is that the Tone Hammer doesn’t have
a separate level control dedicated to the
AGS circuit.
that takes up a fair amount of real
estate—about the size of three MXR pedals side-by-side—but features an airy
layout, with three knobs on the upper left
side (Attack, Decay, Sensitivity) and three
more (Blend, Volume, Harmonics) on the
right side, plus a tiny High Boost switch.
Three footswitches—attack, Engage and
Decay—line the bottom of the pedal
and ultimately dictate how it is used. At
this pedal’s simplest moments (only the
Engage switch clicked) it acts as a com-pressor/sustainer, with the Harmonics
control adding a sweetening amount of
harmonic distortion to your signal and the
High Boost adding clarity and palpable
punch. While the compressor alone would
make this a good buy, it’s only scratching
the surface of what the Attack Sustain is
capable of.
Sustain is loaded with goodies, from the
side-chain input that can be used to externally trigger the effect to true bypass construction. Oh, and it comes with its own
power supply—a definite plus. If you’re a
nut for envelope effects, or you’re looking
to pick up a transparent compressor with
a few extra tricks up its sleeve, you need
this. – AM
It’s a sturdy unit that’s quality throughout,
right down to the convenient slide-out
battery drawer. The 18V Tone Hammer can
be powered three ways—two 9V batteries
(more headroom than a single battery), a
power adapter (but not the 9V wallwart
that runs the rest of your pedalboard), or
phantom power from the house PA. – DB
Buy if... you want a great compressor and
a bevy of cool envelope effects
Skip if... you don’t have the patience
to tweak.
Rating...
4.0
Buy if… you’re looking for a versatile outboard preamp or a quality DI box that’s a
good value.
Skip if… you want to toggle between
clean settings with EQ and an overdrive,
while keeping approximately the same
volume level.
MSRP $399
Pigtronix
pigtronix.com
Rating...
4. 5
MSRP $189
Aguilar
aguilaramp.com
Miscellaneous
Pigtronix ASDR Attack Sustain
Introducing the Attack Sustain, a pedal
Playing with the Attack knob will provide
you with a variety of reversed, swelling
sounds (vintage BOSS Slow Gear fans will
have a blast here); tweaking the Decay
knob opens up the possibility for stuttering, tremelo-esque effects. The manual
lists 12 sample settings that should keep
you busy, but this pedal has obviously
been designed for experimentation.
Because the attack/decay effects are
directly triggered by the incoming signal
strength, the Attack Sustain is extremely
sensitive to your playing style—it may take
a while to learn how to set the Sensitivity
knob accordingly, but once you crack the
code, it’s all golden.
In true Pigtronix style, the Attack
ISP Technologies G-String Decimator
From the original Rocktron engineering
team that designed the Hush noise reduction, ISP Technologies introduces the
Decimator G String Pedal. The Decimator
takes an innovative approach to noise
reduction. All other noise reduction
systems suffer from the same problem:
they always treat short, staccato notes
as if they’re the enemy. In a typical noise
reduction system, a threshold must be
set that immediately kills the unwanted
noise, yet it compromises the tracking of
both short staccato notes as well as longer, sustained notes. The Decimator uses
Time Vector Processing, which instantly
and accurately responds to all varieties of
note durations. It tracks the guitar signal
directly, and can be inserted into a series
effects loop or at the end of your chain of
badly behaved, noisy pedals.
The Decimator’s smooth chrome chassis is
perfect for those narcissistic guitarists out
there who will love seeing the reflection
of themselves in their pedal! It consists of
one threshold knob and an active/bypass
switch. Operation is as simple as turning it
on and adjusting the threshold knob until
no noise or hum is present. I wanted to
challenge the Decimator using my noisiest guitars so I chose both my Fender and
Squier Stratocasters with three singlecoil
pickups and plugged them into a variety
of dirty overdrive, flanger and multi-effects pedals, with the Decimator at the
end of the chain. The hum and buzz was
plentiful and annoying! I played a rhythm
guitar figure with some chord stops
