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.

Introduction
There is a big difference between classical and rock music. I once asked a pro classical pianist friend of mine, Helene, to play the 19th Goldberg variatio for me. She never played it before, and could not remember it. So, she just grabbed the score, put in on her piano, and within 3 minutes, she could play it in a wonderful way for my greatest pleasure.
What if I have asked for « Foxy Lady » ?.
When it comes to modern music, no matter how good you are at reading scores,
you’ll go nowhere without a complete knowledge in tone.
You can play Bach on any instrument but in case of rock music, tone is part of the music itself.

The MERCER BOX 2 contains all my knowledge in distortion tone and will transmit it via its outstanding controls.
Featuring the widest distortion tonal range ever achieved, from CLEAN to the HIGHEST GAIN, and performing the BEST CLEAN-UP of all time, the MB2 will change your perception of guitar tone forever.

1 – The tone of distortion
I handcraft distortions, and have been doing this very peculiar electronic experimentation since 1973.
When I came to mass production, my idea was to benefit from the comfort of high-tech manufacturing while keeping the handcraft tone.
In the case of the Mercer Box 2, never before has a stompbox benefited from the best of both worlds.
Using discrete components for tone and hightech components for non-tone, we merged my best handmade designs into a coherent electronic device.
Its tone is based on my best handmade Mercer Box which emulates the heavenly union between perfect fuzz pedals and raging plexi 100watters.
The resulting complex interaction, known as the best guitar tones ever heard by human ears is now available in a modern compact stompbox.
If you think this is exaggerated, you should have seen the look in Steve Morse’s eyes when he played it… and Steve even asked me to autograph the MercerBox2 #1 for him.

2 – Controls
You could expect an unusual concept like the Mercer Box to act differently.
Of course, every Mercer Box potentiometer has its own tropism, a goal where it aims.
HATE introduces an immense low rage, while lack of LOVE takes off the harmonics and gain.
BLOOD brings intense life and FUZZ brings in distortion with no limits.

LOVE & FUZZ , The two gain controls of the Mercer Box work as pushing on the brakes and the gas at the same time : that ‘heel toe’ method transfers the distortion weight for different tones.

But none of these parameters act alone : they all depend one from the others.

« I am not a number..I’m a free man ! »

4 – The Mercer Clean Tone
The Mercer Box is one of the rare high-gain distortion pedal to offer a clean tone, not to say the only one.
Directly inherited from my handmade Mercer, it is a stronger, warmer, yet clear tone,
when compared to by-passed tone.
Very reminiscent of the best tube amps and so addictive, you could let the Mercer on all the time.
Or buy a second Mercer Box for distortion.

The eyes of vision : PHILIP K.DICK (1928-1982)

• *It is worth noting that the Mercer Box first appeared in Philip K.Dick 1964 short story ‘The little black box’.

The post Mercer Box 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.