120 PREMIER GUITAR NOVEMBER 2009 www.premierguitar.com
or more sustain for singing leads. We need
one overdrive for a chunky rhythm, an “
amp-like” mild OD, buffered clean boost, a nice
smooth distortion, an old school germanium
fuzz, another fuzz that’s a little more wild …
and that’s just for our 30-watt/single-coil rig.
We need a whole other set of pedals for our
50-watt/humbucker rig.
The Internet continues to play a large role
in influencing and informing the choices and
decisions of today’s guitarist. We live in an
age of information overload, where information about any topic imaginable can be found
literally at the tips of our fingers (whether
or not that info is accurate is another story).
Gear-centric Internet forums and bulletin
boards are even more popular and diverse
then ever. Harmony Central and The Gear
Page continue to top the list of busiest bulletin boards, with Harmony Central boasting
an astonishing 200,000+ membership, and
almost 52,000 members at The Gear Page.
That’s a lot of gear talk!
There are plenty more active gear forums out
there, with memberships ranging from a few
hundred to several thousand. So you can just
imagine the enormity of useful and interesting info being exchanged among members.
There’s also a lot of bunk and off-topic nonsense, and you may have to weed through a
lot of it to get to what you’re looking for. And
unfortunately, there’s plenty of erroneous
information as well, along with no shortage
of misinformed individuals all too willing to
share their opinions with anyone they think is
listening. But hey, that’s the internet. With a
little common sense, and a healthy skepticism
for hype, reliable info is available to anyone
who’s willing to put in a little footwork.
Notes From The Underground
In preparation for this piece, I posted
some questions on a few of the online
guitar forums that I frequent, asking the
forumites (as the registered members are
known) various questions to help describe
the current stompbox scene. There were
a lot of great replies and a number of
astute observations from players who
are immersed in the pedal world. The
commentary quickly revealed a couple
of recurring themes that demonstrate a
paradox of sorts. First, there was praise for
the variety and quality of today’s offerings,
as well as the abundance and availability
of information about the products. At the
same time, there was a sense that this has
perhaps resulted in having too much of a
good thing. The statements below are a
reflection of the first sentiment:
“I honestly think it’s better than ever right
now. You have a ton of variety to choose
from, high quality builds, innovative new
stuff, etc. More info at your fingertips than
ever before to make informed buying decisions, and the forum system to connect
directly with manufacturers. This is the golden age people, seriously.”
From my personal stash: Z.Vex Box of Rock, Klon Centaur, custom Analog Man King of Tone, Hermida Zendrive, Landgraff Dynamic Overdrive, Paul Cochrane Timmy.
