Ed

As a guitarist I think one thing that we all can identify with is idolizing a guitar hero as a kid. We all had em without a doubt. They shape the way you view music, the way you play, and maybe even down to the type of guitar you play. But when it comes to playing guitar there are a lot of guys out there trying to emulate the tone of their guitar heros. People have been trying it for decades for example when it comes to Angus Young from AC/DC, or Tony Iommi from Black Sabbath for sure. Now if you were anything like me, or the fine folks at Lone Wolf Audio, you were trying to emulate the tone of the late, great Frank Zappa. Now with that being said, that's not an easy thing to do whatsoever, considering how much of a tone revolutionary Frank really was. He was on the cutting edge of guitar technology in his day, making it even more complicated to duplicate his tone. That is until now. Lone Wolf Audio now brings you, THE INSIDER. The Insider is a harmonic overdrive that not only enriches your tone, but really adds flavor to your sound. Or if you wanna just sit around and recreate the entire "Shut Up and Play Yer Guitar" series yourself you can with this bad boy. With a switch to raise or lower the gain, or use the middle position to boost the whole signal you have some serious options at your fingertips. You have knobs for Level, Sweep, Gain, and Distortion here with the ability to make some truly funky noises with this one too. So check this one out for a truly one of a kind pedal in a world that has brought us a lot of the same recreations, Lone Wolf Audio truly has an original creation on their hands with this one well worth a purchase. It's one of my favorite pedals I own and it's not going anywhere anytime soon as far as my pedal board is concerned.

In the world of guitars and guitarists there are pedals that have changed the game so to speak and have become legend. Pedals like the Klon Centaur, the Big Muff, Fuzz Face, and the Tube Screamer. But in the world of metal music, Boss' HM-2 has become legendary through the years and became the standard for metal guitarists along with the ProCo Rat in the world of distortion boxes. Fast forward to just a couple of years ago, when Joe Anastasio at Lone Wolf Audio basically figured out a way to not only improve the HM-2 model, but he blew the original out of the water. Basically the Left Hand Wrath is a modernized version of the famous HM-2. The Lone Wolf Audio site explains: "The midrange has been decoupled from the high control, and an added presence control has been added a heavier mode is on the 2nd footswitch. Also added has been a 3 way clipping toggle featuring vintage Japanese diodes used in the MIJ HM2, no clipping, and a hybrid pair of vintage germanium diodes for a softer yet still aggressive tone." So if you have used or owe your metal tone to the HM-2, you owe it to yourself and your ears to grab a Left Hand Wrath. It'll take you into a whole new world of metal, ripping crazy riffs, and blowing the other metal guitarists off the stage.

Through the years there if there is one thing guitarists seem obsessed over is recreating the tone of their favorite guitarists. Very few have been as copied and studied than Black Sabbath's legendary guitarist, Tony Iommi. For years guys have been trying to nail down his signature sound by doing things like oddly tuning their guitars, modding amps, and it's basically created it's own submarket in the world of guitar effects as well. If you've been one of those guitarists seemingly searching to the end of the earth to figure it out, look no more. Through the years people figured out the key components to that classic Iommi sound, which was a custom-tuned Rangemaster based boost combined with the pre-amp section of the Laney Supergroup. The folks at Caitalinbread have managed to put those exact things into this very pedal. Prior to purchasing this one I had heard that the pedalheads at Caitalinbread were aiming specifically for the tone Iommi had on the "Past Lives" Sabbath live record, in that they wanted the tone to be super responsive, LOUD, and to give you the guitarist that huge sound that you want! The details here are what is really impressive about the pedal. You can adjust the RANGE dial to adjust the amount of treble boost you want added to your guitar, which changes the responsiveness of the pedal, allowing you to have more control with adjusting your volume on your guitar. For me, this is key because it puts adjustments in your hands while you're playing, which is a win/win in my book. Also, to achieve that classic Iommi tone in the past, you would've certainly bothered your neighbors or loved ones cranking that amp to crazy levels, but with the Caitalinbread Sabbra Caddabra, you can keep everyone happy with acceptable noise levels, as well as yourself ripping some of those classic Sabbath riffs!!!!!!!!

There are GIANTS in the world of overdrive pedals, such as the TS-9, TS-808 and the like. If I told you there was one on the market that could do everything those two do and more, it would be pretty cool. Well that's exactly what Earthquaker's Palisades is. It's extremely versatile, contains and additional buffer, and basically gives you an A/B type deal with your overdrive. Also turning on everything at once gives you kind of a stacking effect, which I also thought was cool. So if you have multiple overdrives on your board and it's killing your space, this is the way to go. It's basically 2 in one, but with the ability to change up what those two overdrives are as needed. This has been the main overdrive on my board since I got it. Recommended.

Now when it comes to power supplies, what is there really to say? Does it provide power and is it reliable? Yes and yes. But to me, the big selling point to this one is not only does it have 9v and 18v plugs, but you can also adjust the wattage of each level. Why would you want to do that? Have you ever played a Big Muff or a ProCo Rat with a battery that's dying? Well to get that sound, you can just turn down the voltage to get something similar. Considering this has 8 9v slots on top of the volt adjusting, it justifies the price to me. Not to shabby at all for $150 brand new. You won't be disappointed.

What is there to be said for the original Crybaby that hasn't already been said? This one is a classic for a reason. Honestly a staple on many guitarists board because of the sheer manipulation of tone it gives. Not just for making waka waka noises, you can use it to boost leads, or just change the sound of your guitar with a simple stomp and wiggle of your foot. From rock n roll to metal, punk, hardcore, and just guitar shredding a cry baby is a must for any pedalboard. It has 100k ohm Hot Potz potentiometer that gives it that wah sound, and a die cast casing that allows for some seriously rough treatment as well.