1- Studio Quality analog delay

It is often referred to analog delay as low-fi tone. It’s a mistake. While it sounds less bright than crispy analog, a pro quality analog delay must satisfy all fidelity exigence of a working musician. In the old days, you could bet there was a difference between cheap plastic analog delay pedal and big bucks studio rack. I remember a Dynacord studio analog delay —one of my fave— costed the price of 2 stratocasters ! This is what we did in the PRISONER delay : thanks to its high quality N.O.S. BBD chips, the PRISONER offers 0.3 seconds of pure hi-fi analog delay… but there’s much more…

2- Dry guitar tone when the effect is on

As you must know, when you stomp on a delay box, you hear the wet AND the dry guitar tone. What you absolutely should know is that in digital delay, even the DRY tone is digitalized, which means that how good the delay is, the dry tone which mixes with it is lousy. Try your main digital squeeze with all delay down and compare it with your original guitar tone. You will see what I mean. Of course, no such thing with the PRISONER : the dry tone in the mix is exactly your guitar tone. Believe me, this makes a huge difference and this is part of why we still want analog delay in our computerized world.

3- Modulation !!!!

This is the PRISONER forte. When meeting Steve Morse for the MERCER BOX 2, I noticed he was using an old digitech rack crap. I asked him why, the answer was clear : modulation delay. Having your echoes mixing with your —good— dry tone and then going into chorus gives you a 3D tone no other effect can give you in monophony. And analog pro tone completes this picture for total heaven.

4- Magic Effect level knob

Just like in the MEISTERSINGER,  crazy tones can be musical thanks to this magic knob . Adjust your most out-of-this-world fave setting and then use it with parsimony with the EFFECT LEVEL knob to achieve tonal expertise.

5-Video demo

The post Prisoner appeared first on Jacques Stompboxes.

DOUBLE HI-GAIN DISTORTION CIRCUIT
– First circuit is modelled on classic ’70s metal distortion modded Marshall amps type. This circuit is only adjustable with the LEVEL and FUZZ knobs.
– Second circuit is an extended ultra high-gain modern distortion , with adjustable low end — WINGS –, mid boost — FANGS– and treble bite — RADAR. This dangerous circuit shares with the ’70s the LEVEL and FUZZ knobs.
-An unique MIX knob let you MIX & MORPH the 2 circuits for an incredible array of tones from past to future metal.

ULTRA PRECISE ACTIVE EQ

All the secrets of a good metal tone lies in precise equalization. This is why the 3 actives controls are fully effective in ALL positions, thus allowing a perfect taylored tone with any guitar/amp couple

Ok, maybe she’s in her forties now, but it’s not too late to impress the girl next door.

This preset makes you save $1500 and the drag to tune an extra string.

This preset makes you save $100 and a pedal space on your rack.

This preset makes you save $50 and 2 hours at a romantic restaurant.

Even your best friends won’t recognize you with that ugly haircut, tattooes and piercing–unless you put your glasses back on.

« Ich glotz TV!!! » —Nina Hagen first LP tone

This only because it’s too loud and will destroy your hearing. Nothing to do with « Elisa ».Really.

Yes, this preset is yours .You can write your own settings directly on your computer screen, or carve it with a strong knife.

Here is a video presenting the Batfuzz !

The post Batfuzz appeared first on Jacques Stompboxes.

1 – 100% discrete circuitry : No op-amps !
2 – Handmade using large circuit board avoiding parasite capacitor effects
3 – High-end transistors with carefully controlled data from Philips and Fairchild
4 – Selected and hand-measured passive components.
5 – NOT-A-CLONE : Completely new circuit architecture created from scratch

1- Transistor v/s op amps

2- The 70/80 control

low GAIN – high 70/80  = Classic creamy overdrive

high GAIN – low 70/80 = Hendrian low fuzzface overdrive tone

3- The HB/SC control

Of course, this very useful control can also be used to give the desired body a trebly pick-up . Don’t miss the special treat of a bass-beefed-up telecaster treble pick-up this function can achieve, even in low gain / clean boost settings.

4- From clean boost to raging overdrive

5- Paraphernalia

6 – Video Demos

First Electric Sheep endorser : Joe Bonamassa !

7 – Suggested Settings

The post Electricsheep appeared first on Jacques Stompboxes.

1 – Three Fuse Blowers in 1 compact pedal

Further than its distinctive own growl, The FUSE BLOWER II ‘s three distortion engines allow any classic vintage distortion tones as well as modern « shredding » solo sounds.  Versatility and personality can at least live in peace in a compact pedal. Each EQ knob is a FUSEBLOWER voiced differently:

This 3 different distortions can be set independently one from each other, thus allowing any tailored combination. Yes, you will spend more time finding your own signature tone but now with the fb2 will eventually let you perform distortion sculpting as an art form as opposed to factory presets. Be unique.

2 – Dynamics and reactivity

A distortion pedal must follow the guitar signal , in order to react to the guitarist playing shades. A simple test is to lower the guitar volume and observe if the distortion amount decrease accordingly. The FUSE BLOWER II excels in preserving the original tone of the guitar pick-ups as well as the sound of the amplifier it is plugged in, unlike many effects which  give the same tone on any gear.

3 – Analog technology and noise ratio

Using old time analog technology ,The FUSE BLOWER II insures nevertheless a noise ratio compatible with modern digital recording, giving electric guitar takes the authenticity they badly need.

J.Mascis about the FB2 :
‘Hi Jacques I have been using the fuseblower in front of my early 70’s big muff when I want to punch things into total fuzz.
I have all knobs all the way up and use it while the big muff is also on.  It cuts through so I can play solos with maximum fuzz.
Nice work J’

4 – Road test

Before public marketing, the FUSE BLOWER II has been tested on tour by European professional guitarists, already users of JACQUES STOMPBOXES hand-made FUSE BLOWER, under special no-mercy stage abuses. The optimal results allow a 3 year no-questions-asked  10 days replacement warranty .
Stay tuned and thanks again to all of you who have made all this possible.

5 – Audio demo
Here are the settings used in the soundclips page :

Phone BBC to know if they still broadcast live shows featuring rockstars on exotic drugs. Buy your sidemen oversized afro wigs. During the show, never close your mouth and do not open your eyes unless there is danger of physical damage to the audience.For  hero status, thumb your low E string and tooth your B string.

Well, it is always useful to get this boogie tone in case too many empty beer bottles are flying by your nose. Maybe your rendition of  beautiful Chopin preludes was not what these overweight cowboys had in mind after a hard day at work. Do not be stubborn and start « Sweet home Chicago » right away.

A border-sexed wriggling lippy singer is trying to steal your thunder? No sweat. Dial in this classic tone and hit five strings major power chords boldly. Focus on the drunk groupies waiting in your private jet for better angst.

It is time or never to free all these tapping chops you have been hiding in your closet for years. This wailing sustain gives you the gut to affront the guitar intelligentsia mockery with foolish pride. Anyway,when you are at the restaurant with your favorite guitar hero, choose tofu steak over fatty burgers to maximize your credibility.

Search your friends’ attics for non-working tranny amps and rotten Korean axes in order to perform economic amp bashing . Buy blank score sheets to make believe you are writing a rock opera. Try to find a healthy enough singer to last until he can get casted in a wacky sci-fi TV show. Contract tinitus in the process.

6 – Video demo

The post Fuseblower appeared first on Jacques Stompboxes.

1 – The flanging effect
It is not quite clear who invented the word flange for this wonderful effect. Peter Sellers during the Goon show or Lennon at the BBC recording ?  The effect itself was invented by BBC sound masters who put their greasy fingers on the rim ( flange ) of one of the tape reels of the simultaneous tape decks playing the same recording. This resulted to a sweeping effect we all know and adore. Thanks again to all these great guys and girl.

2 – BBD chip
Once again, the superiority of analog delay chips to produce this time based effect is easy to prove : the BBD chip retains the sounds in its guts of caps and resistors much more naturally than any coding digital chip that have to translate it in computer language.
Just observe the right return to vinyl recording in hifi these days and you’ll understand why analog will always sounds better than digital encoding, no matter how many Hz and bits you will align in our musician front.
You can see on the picture the vintage mutron that has inspired me all along this creation process of a holy grail flanger, not counting how hard it was to find it on the vintage market !

3 – The J.S.Bach effect
Nevertheless, you will still have to inbreathe musicality to sound circuitry whatever electronic base you put in an effect. This is performed only by trying and listening.
ALL components affects the way your signal is processed and it’s only when you explore all possibilities BY EAR that you reach the supreme goal : Great Music Tone.
This is what I did with the KAPELLMEISTER, sparing no effort in choosing all components in the signal path in order to achieve a standard.

4 – And now, let’s crank this amp up !
During all these tests, our beloved KAPELLMEISTER was tested both with great clean tube amps ( ’65 deluxe reverb , Hiwatt Custom 100 heads, etc…) AND raging overdriven legendary amps ( ’68 Marshall plexi, JMI top boost Vox ac30, etc….), because it is a very crucial point on a flanger.
Good flangers must sound good with distortion, letting you enhance your soli with swirling rotating effect, a la EVH.
And the KAPELLMEISTER excels in this exercise. Satisfaction guaranteed.

5 – Audio/Video demo

The post Kapellmeister appeared first on Jacques Stompboxes.

1 – My observations on the leslie effect

My first instrument was the organ. This vocation came mostly because of Jon Lord’s skills on Deep Purple LPs that gave this old instrument a real rock status and a complete new tone fitted for the music I loved — and still love. Of course I could not afford an Hammond organ and the real Leslie cabinet to go along, but I could play on Italian wanabes like the one on the picture. I joined then the Yamaha organ school and switched to Yamaha organs which were very good instruments and their own rotating cabinet really impressed me. When describing this incredible rotating sound, one thing came to my mind : it was clear that I could hear something different on the treble frequencies than on the bass side : in fact, the system was completely different on both side. While treble went though a real rotating speaker, the rest was sent to a regular speaker which had a rotating baffle in front of it. This simple idea gave birth some years after to my Spin Acher pedal.

2 – Double trem and beefy preamp

My first leslie pedal, The Spin Acher was based on this simple idea : If I cut the musical instrument audible band in two and send each half to a different tremolo while keeping the tube-like boost of a leslie amp , I could be close from the real thing . And this was true . Of course, no Doppler effect here , but this two trem tone going at the same time really made the trick in mono, which has always seemed to me a much better solution for the working musician. So 10 years after the 1st release of the Spin Acher I had to come out with an ultimate factory version of one of my fave pedal ever.

3 – The ultimate version

Here are all what you will find in the KASHMIR pedal :

• Common settings SYNC ON or OFF
• LEVEL : The level on the KASHMIR has been conceived to allow you not only to set the overall volume but also to boost the effect signal in order to slightly overdrive your amp just like a tube leslie cabinet
• WAVE : You can choose from square wave to get a chopped extreme tone or sine wave for a smooth effect
• SYNC ON : With the SYNC switch set on ON, the KASHMIR will behave like an usual tremolo pedal.
  Set the speed of the effect with RATE 1 and the emphasis with the DEEP pot.
  You now have the choice between two different effects : TREM for classic Fender amps tremolo or ROTATE for a unique Univibe tone with the TREM/ROTATE switch at hand.
  Remember to use the LEVEL to give strengh of your effect and the WAVE switch to give it the flavor you want
• SYNC OFF : ONLY WITH ROTATE ON.
  Directly inherited from my handmade SPIN ACHER pedal, the KASHMIR relies on a simple idea to mime a leslie effect :
  Treble and bass frequencies have their own settings now, just like a leslie cab has a two way system.
  You can now set different rates on treble and bass frequencies for a dramatic 3D effect while performed in mono.
  Best leslie effect will be achieved with SYNC OFF , ROTATE ON, WAVE on square and different RATE value for the 2 bands.
  You can model your own cabinet with both rate settings and adjusting depth and volume.

4 – Jacques SI.RE.T. switching system

This new pedal comes stock with my new SI.RE.T. switching system (SIlent RElay True-by-pass) which is the switch any pedal user has always dreamt of : Real True By-Pass switch AND 100% quiet switching.

Satisfaction guaranteed.

5 – Audio/Video demo

The post Kashmir appeared first on Jacques Stompboxes.