PRODUCT REVIEW
Lush Puppy
(Stereo reverb with delay)
In terms of spatial possibilities, the Lush Puppy is
a monster. As more of a dedicated reverb pedal,
the Lush Puppy also throws into the mix a high-quality delay circuit, with just enough delay time
to really make the guitar tone soar. Mix adjusts
both the reverb and delay signals in tandem
with the unprocessed tone. Size either squeezes
the reverb down to miniscule, or opens the
roof to massive, expressive reverberations. The
simple 500ms delay can be engaged separately,
and is adjusted by a lone Delay control. Finally,
the whole shebang is capped off with a Big/
Small switch, which gives the player the option
of setting the reverb effect’s width. And the
tone! The tone is smooth, smooth, smooth, and
sat nicely in the effects loop of a Mesa Boogie
Rating:
Lush Puppy
you want to create the sound of
vast expanses.
Buy If...
Skip If...
you’re a complete sucker for
spring reverb.
Kilpatrick Audio
Street $249
kilpatrickaudio.com
Click here or use a
mobile device to
read this QR code
to hear sound clips
of the pedal in
action at
premierguitar.com
ONTHEWeb
Electra-Dyne half stack. In comparison to surf
guitar, which has utilized spring reverb superbly
for decades now, the Lush Puppy has more a
plate-reverb flavor. This is certainly not a dipa-ragement, as I love a huge, expansive tone as
much as the next guitarist—but I can’t deny how
much I love the sound of a spring reverb when
smacking the strings really hard. A little more
touch sensitivity could be had in the Lush Puppy,
but it is one of the best sounding reverb pedals
that I’ve played in a long time.
Vibro Man
(touch-Sensitive tremolo,
Vibrato and Vibrating Filter)
I’ve saved the best for last. The Vibro Man,
Kilpatrick’s multi-function modulation powerhouse, is a doozy. A total of three effects lie
within its chassis, and there’s not a weak one
in the bunch. A Vibrato/Filter depth adjust
starts off the gamut of controls, followed by
Speed and Tremolo depth. The Vibrato and
Filter are engaged by a Vibe/Filter switch, and
a Touch footswitch activates a touch-sensitive
mode. Using a PRS Starla, some of the coolest
modulation effects that I’ve achieved came
from combining the Tremolo and Vibrating
Filter effects. The filter has almost an envelope filter-quality to it, but not as extreme as
a dedicated pedal for that purpose. The filter
jumps through the instrument’s frequencies as
notes are played, and some intense tones can
come from this effect with the Touch mode
turned on. Playing around with this setup
for a while just solidified the thought in my
mind: “No matter how much you’d like to cop
Prince, you’re still not that good.” The tone
of the tremolo effect was set at a perfect area
of not too soft, but certainly not too choppy.
It would have been nice to have a separate
tone control for the tremolo, but with all of the
other options available to me at the time, it
was hardly an afterthought.
the Final Mojo
Kilpatrick Audio’s four releases are all very
impressive, with the Vibro Man certainly
being the stellar standout. Each has its own
weakness, but their strengths far outweigh
anything that I could find—in every aspect
from the excellent tone to dual outputs on
each unit, to the easy access battery door—
note to pedal manufacturers: it’s 2010... every
pedal should have a door like this, or something equivalent. Apart from the Vibro Man’s
ability to create otherworldly filtering, all are
very complimentary to the guitar tone, sitting
very nicely as a backdrop to the core dry signal. I was thoroughly impressed by how well
the original tone stayed intact when the pedals were engaged.
Rating:
Vibro Man
you have a desire for a vibrato with
a huge range of tones.
Buy If...
Skip If...
a simple, one trick vibrato is
in order.
Kilpatrick Audio
Street $249
kilpatrickaudio.com
Click here or use a
mobile device to
read this QR code
to hear sound clips
of the pedal in
action at
premierguitar.com
ONTHEWeb
[What’s this? See page 8.]
