REVIEW > TOTALLY WYCKED AUDIO
Rating:
guitar wept, cried, howled, moaned, sang,
and screamed. And hanging out in the range
of these more aggressive settings makes it
a breeze and a joy to get abundant musical
feedback—especially with a whammy bar.
It’s also easy to set the Triskelion to take
advantage of a guitar’s given strengths.
Setting the Energy to about 12 o’clock, and
sweeping through the Variant Mass control
enabled me to hone in on the harmonic
sweet spot of a guitar or pickup and boost
it—making it a delight to generate pinch
and tap harmonics, as well as coax overtones from chords.
When you’re ready to forego any sem-
blance of restraint, maxing out the Energy
and Amplitude knobs will take your playing
into interstellar regions. But even at these
extreme settings the signal, which constant-
ly teeters on the edge of feedback, is lush
with harmonics and rich with character.
From John 5 noise-tones to Dave Navarro
leads to dark, beautiful Santana-style sus-
tain, the pedal is graceful and at home
when heavy. It will drag you and your gui-
tar happily screaming in pursuit of lingering
notes and harmonics. Best of all,
the expression pedal gives you a sense of
control in these extreme settings.
The Verdict
Any good pedal complements your playing, allowing you to preserve the mojo you
worked hard to call your own. The Triskelion
does all that. But I’d argue it improves your
playing too. It is very forgiving, even as it
leads into radical territory where it beckons
you to cut loose and be expressive.
As a reviewer, I feel obligated to find
something that needs to be improved
upon—some flaw or unfulfilled wish. I’ve
looked up and down the TWA Triskelion
and listened all over, and I only found
one—a second footswitch to turn amplitude
on and off would be seriously cool. TWA
did an outstanding job in delivering a pedal
that is beautiful and dangerous in both
looks and tone. At 350 bucks, you’ll pay for
that power to express. But if you’re unafraid
of getting outside the tone box you’re accustomed to, the dividends this pedal pay on
that investment are potentially hefty.
Buy If...
you want your tone (both clean and
dirty) to smoke and stand out, and
you’re down with screaming, howl-
ing, crying guitar sounds.
Skip If...
you hate filters, wahs, and feedback
in all their forms.
Totally Wyked Audio
Street $349
godlyke.com
or use a mobile device to download
audio clips of the pedal at
CLICKHere…
premierguitar.com/may2011
146 PREMIER GUITAR MAY 2011
Guitars,
Banjos,
Mandos
& Ukes
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– Tim Brookes, Guitar: An American Life
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