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Supercool Pedals has unveiled the tenth pedal in their lineup: the Triniphase – a bold, all-analog phase shifter inspired by the technical legacy and cassette-futurism aesthetic of a golden TV age.The Triniphase is a thoughtful and calculated approach to a classic and revered modulation effect, offering complex and organic analog phase modulation with a unique and intuitive control scheme.The Triniphase offers expertly crafted replications of some of the most sought after vintage and modern sweeping phase effects, but what sets the Triniphase apart from its peers are the tactile controls of the RGB buttons that invite users to mix colors and sounds to spawn new and complex pitch and phase modulation adventures. The Triniphase highlights include:Unique sounds including classic phase sweeps, rotary-style univibe oscillation, formant-like voice effects, manic vibratos, and more4-stage and 8-stage phase effects (via RED/DEPTH switch)2 unique LFO modes (via GREEN/LENGTH switch)Phase-based pitch shift mode (via BLUE/MODE switch)RESO knob for aggressive or subtle feedback control of phasing effectRATE knob for a wide control of phasing effects from subtle sweeps to near self-oscillationAll-analog signal path and controlEye-catching nostalgic design inspired by the legacy of the Sony TrinitronTrue Bypass switching with standard 9v center negative power supplyDesigned and assembled in CanadaThe Triniphase is the 10th installment in the Supercool pedals lineup with a street price of $219 USD, and is available for purchase with worldwide shipping through www.SupercoolPedals.com as well as in select independent retailers.

Fat envelope and wah sounds are made even wilder with the help of an expansive octave effect that can be used in tandem or independently from the filter.For those that haven’t delved too deeply into the subject or the sounds, envelope filters can seem a little loaded, stylistically speaking. Used well, they add bounce, joy, or even menace to a guitar or bass. Used wrong, they sound horribly corny. Used unconventionally, though, they can radically reshape guitar tones in surprising ways. Leveraging how they reshape tone with picking dynamics, for instance, is a great way to bust out of a box. They also pair well with distortion, fuzz, delays, modulation, and more (though if you aren’t willing to dig for gold in these combinations the results can confound at first). Tsakalis Phonkify X FINAL VIDEOThe Tsakalis Phonkify X, an evolution of the original Tsakalis Phonkify, is, in part, a great envelope filter for the way it smooths the path to the outer edges of the effect’s potential. It’s got great range, which is enhanced by effective mix, gain, frequency, and Q controls. Using those controls together in the right combinations also makes the Phonkify X sound fat where other envelope filters can sound narrow, thin, and not terribly nuanced. (An internal voltage doubler that increases headroom is another contributing factor.) And with an octave section that can span corpulent and piercing regions of the sound spectrum—and be used independently or with the filter—the Phonkify X is a trove of powerful, odd, and uncommon guitar sounds, and a true provocateur for those in a rut.Clarity, Body, and BrawnOne of the Phonkify X’s great strengths is the extra mass and air in its range and how easy it is to find it. As far as envelope filters—which can be counterintuitive to many players the first time out—go, the Phonkify X is very forgiving and responsive. The same qualities make it a great pair for radical or merely fattened fuzz and drive tones. Sixties-type germanium fuzzes coax fiery Hendrix- and Ron Ashton-isms that you can also utilize in traditional sweeping wah fashion if you add an expression pedal to the mix. It also sounds amazing upstream from a dark smoky overdrive that can blunt the sharpest filter edges while adding ballast and attitude.The octave effect is great on its own, too, not least because you move between deep octave-down settings and reedy high tones. The VerdictThe latter can be a bit cloying and full of digital artifacts in some applications, but when the low octave content is used to temper that tendency, or dial it out entirely, you can summon very organic, complex, and rich tones that can be made rumbling and earth shaking with distortion or drive, or reshape the pedal’s filtered tones if you add it back in the mix. (An additional switch also enables you to situate the octave before or after the filter.). Together, these two effects that blend so seamlessly are a formidable combo.

To all the amps I’ve loved before—PG editorial director Ted Drozdowski’s odyssey through the world of amplification.Amps are the mouthpiece through which the language of electric guitar tone is spoken. That makes them profoundly important. Since our gear theme this issue is amps, I’ve been obsessing about my own amp history. Amps can be part of a lifelong sonic odyssey. Here’s my journey.While I’ve had some sweet ones over the years, my first amp was a mistake. I’d gotten my first electric guitar, a ’70s Strat, and I needed to plug it into something. I found an affordable new JMF Spectra 60-T, which had reverb, channel switching, and gain/master volume, so it seemed versatile and cool in blonde Tolex. I owned it for a year and was never happy with its buzzsaw distortion or plinky cleans, but concede that I was likely the reason it never sang like any of the guitars I heard on recordings or stages. I sold the Spectra to a violinist, who sounded awesome through it, and used the money to bump up to a black-panel ’66 Fender Twin Reverb.Now, that amp gave me a toehold on the tones of my blues idols, or at least a pinky grip, given my minimal skills. I picked up a used MXR Distortion+ and soon played my first gig. As I was leaving the stage after my second performance, a friend, Dennis Keller, who co-owned Cambridge Music in Cambridge, Massachusetts, grabbed me and said, “You need a Marshall.” Luckily, my wife, Laurie, overheard him, and bought me a 1972 50-watt Super Lead head for my birthday. (Yes, she is special!) I immediately picked up a matching-year 4×12 and an obsession was born: I started playing through two amps, switching between the Twin and Marshall for clean and distorted sounds, alienating sound engineers from that day forward.The sonic expressionism of alternative rock/grunge really spoke to me as a songwriter and noisemaker, even though my deepest interests were in traditional American music and psychedelia. So I beefed up the double-amp setup after seeing my favorite band of the era, Catherine Wheel, take new Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifiers straight out of boxes and onto the stage at Toad’s Place in New Haven, Connecticut, where we were lucky enough to open for them. Such depth and power. Of course, I scored a Trem-O-Verb model, and ran it in parallel with my Marshall head through a pair of 4x12s. I used the Marshall au naturel and gussied up the Mesa with the fairly extensive pedalboard I’d built up. This was not a practical rig, but it was magnificent, and the Twin was relegated to the studio until I sold it a few years ago.“I owned it for a year and was never happy with its buzzsaw distortion or plinky cleans, but concede that I was likely the reason.”After the band I was in imploded, I trimmed back to the Marshall and a 2×12, and there I stayed as I played in both a psychedelic rock band called Devil Gods and transitioned into playing blues seriously, thanks to discovering the sounds coming from North Mississippi artists R.L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough. In Scissormen, I was committed to taking that rusty trad sound, which I considered the aural equivalent of Zen poetry, into the present. As I extensively toured the U.S. and, occasionally, Europe, I scaled back to an Epiphone Valve Standard combo until, in about 2010, the great documentary filmmaker Robert Mugge, who is a friend and a fan of Scissormen, decided to make a movie about me and the band, BIG SHOES: Walking and Talking the Blues. I had to game-up my sound again, and added a hand-me-down Peavey combo and, for the film and soundtrack, went back to playing in stereo, which I still do today. In subsequent years, I sometimes paired the Epiphone with a ’64 Supro Tremo-Verb Laurie had inherited, or the Marshall with a 1×12, or an Orange Micro Terror, which I contend is a cross between Chihuahua and werewolf.When the Epiphone expired, I determined to get a nice boutique amp and finally, really define my sound. I auditioned over a dozen makes and models and bought a used Carr Vincent, which I like to think of as a super Fender. The random pairing continued with happy sonic results until 2022, when filmmaking entered again. This time, I was about to make a movie I created and crowdfunded that features my current cosmic roots band Coyote Motel. I thought The River: A Songwriter’s Stories of the South—a musical cultural history—would be a defining work as a musician and journalist. And it is. So, I needed an amp as harmonically rich and present as the Vincent. With consultation from Steve Carr, I acquired a Telstar. To my ears, the pairing, audible in all 10 of the film’s musical performances, is what I’ve always been looking for but I didn’t necessarily know it.That’s the thing. Anyone’s amp odyssey is evolutionary, intensely personal, and sometimes accidental or motivated by circumstances. Mine may be over. But I’m not ruling out modeling or, really, anything. Today, my amps make me very happy. And I hope yours do the same!

PG contributor Tom Butwin features the all-new Hotone Verbera. The dual-engine reverb pedal blends IR realism with algorithmic creativity and adds the ability to clone your favorite reverb effects. Hotone Verbera Convolution Reverb Pedal

Verbera Convolution Reverb Effects ProcessorEver imagined your sound echoing through a sold-out stadium? Or reverberating off the metallic walls of a NASA spacecraft hangar? What if your guitar fell into a cosmic white hole… or drifted through the vaulted ceilings of a centuries-old cathedral?Welcome to Verbera — where imagination meets reality. This is not your typical software convolution plugin. Verbera is a standalone, hardware-based convolution reverb pedal — with Instant IR loading, stunning tweakability, and boundless sonic range. Whether you’re recreating iconic spaces, vintage hardware, or crafting otherworldly reverbs never heard before, Verbera gives musicians and engineers a powerful new tool for both live and studio setups.

Surf’s up—it’s summertime. On this episode, we’re talking about the most legendary, well-choreographed, reverb-drenched surf rockers of all time, the Ventures. They not only created the template for instrumental guitar music, they influenced just about every classic rock guitar hero you can think of. And their catalog is truly epic, so where do you get started? That’s what we’re discussing. From “Walk, Don’t Run” on, the Ventures made a splash. Let’s look at their hottest hits, and maybe a few odd choices along the way.Thanks to our Sponsor, Traveler Guitar!Listeners of the pod can save 15% off anything at TravelerGuitar.com when they use code 100Guitarists at checkout

Co-designed with low-end professor and tone connoisseur Ian Martin Allison, the MXR Bass Synth will turn your bass into a filthy funk machine, delivering a range of monophonic synth tones that call back to hits from Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Parliament Funkadelic, and more. This pedal is ready made for intergalactic grooves, capturing vintage analog-style vibes with killer tracking and sustain to serve up thunderous sub-octave, expressive envelope, and lush modulation effects with the flexibility and control that modern players demand. A full, player-friendly suite of controls allows you to shape not just the aforementioned effects but every other detail of your bass synth tone: blend dry and wet signals, sculpt filter sweeps from rubber-band bounce to syrupy slow-motion, adjust filter cutoff and resonance for extra punch, switch between triangle, sawtooth, or square waveforms, and add harmonically rich oscillators for more complex textures.Or you can skip straight to the groove with eight presets that Ian crafted, inspired by iconic tracks from Michael Jackson, Herbie Hancock, Peter Gabriel, and more. And for tone chasers who love to dive deep, the Bass Synth offers advanced parameters, stereo capability, and flexible rig integration to take your sound anywhere you want it to go.Whether you’re replicating pop hits in a cover band, holding down the low end at church, or touring the world, this pedal gives you instant synth bass magic. Get down on the one with the MXR Bass Synth. “Over the years, I have tended to make synth sounds either with individual pedals or with blocks in a multi-FX unit, and while those sounds can be super cool and get close to legit synth sounds, the MXR Bass Synth gets closer and, in some cases, even totally indistinguishable from an incredible keys rig,” Ian says. “We worked tirelessly to make this thing as perfect as we possibly could—to tweak every single parameter, to get every aspect of how the knobs turned and what effects they controlled just right—and especially the latency and tracking. I wouldn’t relent until we got it perfect. This is perfect.”MXR Bass Synth highlights:Intergalactic grooves and vintage analog-style vibes reminiscent of your favorite funk hitsDesigned in collaboration with Ian Martin AllisonThunderous sub-octave, expressive envelope, and lush modulation effectsKiller tracking and sustainEight different presets to plug you straight into the grooveThree different waveforms, additional oscillators, tap and expression control, and moreAvailabilityThe MXR Bass Synth is available now at $269.99 street from your favorite retailer.

Carcass make the ultimate comeback with Surgical Steel.
The post Carcass – Surgical Steel appeared first on Decibel Magazine.

Hear Euro doom crushers Anchorite lay the lumber on new single, “Devil on the Throne,” featuring a guest solo from Michael Denner (ex-Mercyful Fate).
The post Track Premiere: Anchorite – “Devil on the Throne” appeared first on Decibel Magazine.

“Before, it was me just trying to beg the world: ‘Please listen to me. Please look in my direction, I make music and I promise it’s good enough for you listen to,’ and now we truly have an audience.”
The post Interview: Kaonashi Talk Touring, Songwriting and New Album, I Want to Go Home appeared first on Decibel Magazine.