Guitar Effect Pedals

Like a lot of players, I thought power attenuators were a bad thing because of the color they added to an amplifier’s natural sound. My opinion changed when I sat down with a AirBrake power attenuator built by Dr. Z. Although Dr. Z builds this unit,the technology is actually licensed from Ken Fischer of Trainwreck fame. I bought this unit in the summer of 2003 for use in my home studio so I could crank up a number of amps that sound their best when pushed hard. I’ve owned and tried a number of other amp attentuators over the years (including the Marshall Powerbrake and the excellent THD Hot Plate), but this unit is certainly one of the best.

The Dr. Z AirBrake is a dream for using tube amps in project recording studios or smaller live venues where pushing the volume to “11″ may not be an option. This unit gives you virtually all the sonic characteristics of the power tubes pushed to the brink, but at any volume you want.

Although the Air Brake is great for typical rock amps like Marshalls and Mesas, I’ve gotten some fantastic tones out of Fender amps like the Deluxe Reverb and the Super Reverb with this unit. Most of the recording I did with this unit was with a THD UniValve and a Dr. Z Mazerati head (see my other auction) with great results. Surprisingly, even though the UniValve is a low-wattage amp, running it full out with an EL34 power tube is REALLY loud into 4×12 cab - the Air Brake worked just like a master volume to get that amazing tone at any volume. Note: Yes, the UniValve does have a built-in attenuator, but it really colors the tone, IMHO. The Dr.Z Air Brake is clearly superior.

For amps under 100 watts, you can attenuate the output all the way down to 1 watt. It’s very simple to use too - just use a speaker cable from the amp and another to the speaker cab. The main Attenuator dial does the major volume reduction and the Bedroom Level dial lets you fine tune the output. In summary, easy to use - sounds great! What more could you ask!

The Ibanez Tube Screamer is a distortion effects pedal produced by Ibanez. It is one of the most famous overdrive pedals, and is named for the fact that its light distortion is similar to the sound given by overdriven tube amps. The pedal can be used on a solid-state amp to try to mimic the sound of a vintage tube amp, although many guitarists prefer to use it to push a tube amp’s preamp tubes into an overdriven state. The classic Tube Screamer sound includes a “mid-hump,” which means that the circuit accentuates freqencies between the bass and treble ranges (mid-frequencies). Many guitarists prefer this sort of equalization, as it helps to keep their sound from getting lost in the overall mix of the band.

The pedal was produced with many variants. The early incarnations of the TS-808 and TS-9 are the most sought after by collectors, due in part to the fact that Stevie Ray Vaughan is known to have used them as part of his signature sound. Other variants, including the TS-10, TS-7, and TS-5 are less collectible, but contain a nearly identical underlying circuit.

The TS-9 and TS-808 pedals have been reissued, but not all of these reissues are using the same parts (chips) that helped to shape the famous tubescreamer sound. Some musicians are having a technician perform modifications to the circuit to improve the sound. In addition, a number of other effects manufacturers make versions of the Tube Screamer circuit, including Maxon (who produced the original Tubescreamer pedals for the Ibanez brand in the seventies and early eighties). In addition, many of the most highly-regarded overdrive pedals, both mass-manufactured and boutique, owe their heritage to the Tube Screamer circuit.

The Tube Screamer has a drive knob, a tone knob, and a level knob. The drive knob controls distortion, the tone knob adjusts the amount of treble in the sound, and the level knob controls the output volume of the pedal.