MI Pro

Release Date	Out Now
Vendor	Blackstar, Rothwell, Westside, Roland, JHS, Marshall, Sound Technology, Line 6

SECTOR GUIDE - Guitar Effects

Technology has come on a long way since Leo Fender made everything louder, and as time has moved on, the guitarist’s hunger to expand the sonic palette has never waned.

Fortunately, there are plenty of manufacturers out there ready and willing to push the boundaries of guitar effects. A quick scout around the set up of many of the guitar bands clogging up the charts will reveal banks of effects units – you only have to look at Alex Turner and Jamie Cook of the Arctic Monkeys for proof, both big fans of the humble effects pedal – and it would seem that their youthful acolytes are following their lead.

The market is currently buoyant, with everything from cheap as chips sub-£50 units to top of the range boutique products providing credible sounds for musicians eager to carve their own niche in a point in time where soundalikes are a definite no-no.

The individual styles of many guitarists in the current crop of indie pop scamps, be they the Pigeon Detectives or the Twang, whilst perhaps not making the most innovative music, can all acknowledge the importance of a guitarist keen to make the most of what is on offer in the glass cases under the counter of shops across the country.

As with any sort of gear, the weirder, rarer or more individual and hard to find a unit is, the more prized, which has meant that smaller manufacturers are able to flourish alongside the bigger boys with some success.

New kid on the block Blackstar’s range of pedals is a great example of just how highly prized innovation and flexibility in an effects unit are amongst the guitar playing community. The HT line of pedals has proved an immediate hit, with sales steadily climbing since they were unleashed on an unwitting public in July.

As the first products to be released by Blackstar, pressure was on the company to prove it could live up to the claims of high quality, original products it had been making – a test it passed with flying colours. “The first products to come out were the HT pedals, our range of five valve overdrive pedals, which have one of our new patented features on, a tone shaper,” says Blackstar sales and marketing director Paul Hayhoe.

“We’ve had some great reviews and have won some awards in the industry, and they’re really starting to sell through now.”

The main feature on the HT pedals is a patented ISF control, which, as Hayhoe explains, allows guitarists to shape their sound to a degree not readily found elsewhere. “The reason that a Marshall sounds like a Marshall or a Fender sounds like a Fender is inherently due to the electronic values in the tone controls, which is the main shaping of the sound.

“What we’ve done with the ISF is continuously vary those values. On one side, it’s like a Fender network, whereas on the other it can sound like a Boogie. Instead of saying to people ‘this is what your sound is going to be’ and locking in those values, we have a completely new way of doing it that varies those values.

“When you turn that knob, all those in-between channels that no one has ever had before are made available. The bass middle and treble are still completely interactive, so it works like a normal tone network, and it’s all very natural, there’s no digital modelling involved, and it’s an analog way of doing it.”

With the HT pedals even being used by the likes of Gil Norton in the studio, it looks like we’ll be seeing a lot more of them on the boards of those in the know.

Another British manufacturer building a formidable reputation is Rothwell Audio Products, an electronics specialist of the highest calibre that has garnered a number of rave reviews and impressive sales since the launch of its boutique pedal range in the spring of 2007.

Keen to establish a genuine British alternative to the masses of American and Chinese pedals on the market, Rothwell’s original designs and high quality, hand built pedals have proved a word of mouth sensation.

“There’s now a market for boutique pedals, which there never used to be,” says founder Andrew Rothwell. “People are prepared to spend a bit more money to get something that is more individual from smaller manufacturers. I don’t think there are many UK-based British manufacturers that are serious contenders really. It seems a bit exotic to get something imported from the USA that’s not all it’s cracked up to be. We want to offer a UK alternative, and I think we’re doing that.”

Good sales of products such as the Hellbender distortion pedal have given the company confidence to expand its ranges next year, with a Leslie simulator, a compressor and an auto-wah all planned for 2008. “If you get the reputation as being one of the best, then you’ve made it,” adds Rothwell. “Word of mouth and reviews, as well as hard work have all helped us.

With individual stomp boxes, the market is doing better than it ever has been. When the multi effects units came in, people thought it was the death knell for the single stomp boxes But there has been a swing back to single stomp boxes as people generally think they sound better.”

As some of the new names in British effects start to establish themselves a reputation, Morley has already built itself a loyal following and a huge worldwide fan base thanks to doing what it does – in the main, face-meltingly effective volume, wah and distortion pedals – extremely well.

Favoured by bedroom heroes and genuine stadium-straddling stars alike, Morley is a well respected brand thanks in main to its refusal to stay still, as it has continued to innovate and expand its product ranges. The Volume Plus, for example, which landed in 2007, can be used as a standard volume pedal, or as a rhythm/lead switch, with an audio taper for smooth volume controls (or fancy, violin-like swells for the classical musician waiting to burst out). Versatile, multi-purpose, hardwearing and very good at its job, it’s this type of well-thought out product that has ensured Morley continues to be known as one of the premium US pedal manufacturers.

Over at Roland, things are as busy as ever, with Boss pedals continuing to fly out. “It’s been a pretty good year,” says product manager Kevin Steel. “The GT8 has been doing extremely well, and always seems to do well, thanks to being easy to use and having some good features. The Loopstation, the RC20, has had a great few months.

“We held a competition with a final in London, and it was amazing to see what some of the entrants came up with using the pedal.”

Favoured by the likes of KT Tunstall (whose virtuoso use of the RC20 on Later with Jools Holland catapaulted her to fame), the Loopstation has become a must have for solo players keen to create a bigger sound without enlisting the help of a band, as well as loop-loving guitarists.

Elsewhere, other long-standing favourites are continuing to sell well, alongside new innovations such as the Fender ’59 Bassman and ’65 Deluxe Reverb pedals. “It was a bit slow for the Fender pedals first of all,” says Steel. “People were a bit surprised by them and didn’t know what to make of them, but they’re doing really well now. They’re quite unique, there’s a lot of pedals out there, with new products springing up every month, but they’re very good and are selling through well.”

“The RE 20 is also doing very well,” continues Steel. “The Kaiser Chiefs are using three at the moment, although they’ve painted them all white. We had a chat with them the other day that will be going on the website, and we’re working on getting more named endorsers. “

Marshall’s line of easy to use pedals, now with eight variations including the RF-1 Regenerator modulation pedal and BB-2 Bluesbreaker, continue to sell through well, remaining popular with those who favour straightforward effects with a reassuringly dependable name on the casing. Reliable and with a huge number of features that provide great value for money and a decent array of on-board options, Marshall has hit a rich seam of interest with their pedals and looks set to maintain a strong presence in the effects market in 2008.

JHS has a staggering array of pedals across its product ranges, including the ever-popular retro stylings of Danelectro, the historic and world-renowned Jim Dunlop wahs and the mighty MXR. With Zakk Wylde enjoying widespread notoriety for his extreme playing methods, his pedals are selling through brilliantly, as his inimitable style catches the imagination of a thousand imitators.

His signature MXR pedal is one of the cheapest in the MXR range, and is a hugely versatile overdrive unit with a wide range of applications. A thick, singing lead tone, with simple controls and an indestructible casing make it perfect for the sort of crunching sounds favoured by both the man and his legion of fans alike.

Digitech is another manufacturer constantly looking to innovate and address the issues that affect guitarists in live situations. The popular RP series of multi-effects and amp modelling processors pack in a hefty amount of processing power alongside simple controls, allowing easy access to the capabilities of the units without overly complicating matters for guitarists who simply want to make lots of the right sort of noise.

The RP250 adds an expression pedal and is the best seller of the range, whilst the RP70 and RP90 have been recently launched to replace the entry level RP50 and RP80.

Another big hitter in the effects world, Line 6 has grown to be one of the biggest and most widely used names in effects, and with good reason. Hugely varied products with mind boggling numbers of applications, at home, on stage and in the studio, the days of Line 6 products being largely absent from the live arena are long gone. “We’re having a good year, we’ve had a lot of strong releases,” says Line 6’s Nick Boggon.

“Things like the Pocket Pod have worked really well, as they’re portable and great for practice. NAMM is going to be fairly quiet for us, as a lot has come out in the last few months. We’ve pretty much had a product release every month, but the second half of next year there’ll be a lot more coming out.

“It’s a good time for guitar effects at the moment, and knowing what we have coming out we’re confident for 2008.”

The ToneCore series has proved extremely popular, thanks to its modular design, whereby interchangeable effects can be swapped around within a dock unit, that allows those on a budget to build up a whole range of effects from distortion to chorus and flangers without having to shell out huge amounts for individual whole pedals.

As one of the few areas of the MI market that is currently ticking over very nicely, guitar effects is a mind bogglingly broad area for any retailer to cover effectively. It would seem that as long as word of mouth is heeded, and customers are listened to, stocking choices are fairly straightforward; trends in pedals are directly linked to the types of music that are selling well.

Whilst bone-crushing metal and British wall of sound pop will probably always have a large following (and a dedicated bunch of guitarists continuing to snap up those same, steady selling pedals), the more esoteric musical changes that occur less often can prove just as fruitful to the MI retailer with an ear to the ground.

Jack White suddenly fancies using an octave pedal? Alex Turner gets all technical with his phasers and flangers? Expect a swarm of gear hungry youngsters keen to replicate the sound.

The beauty of pedals is that for any affectionado, finding newer, more exotic or simply stranger pedals to mangle tunes with is a never-ending quest. Every guitarist of every level can find some use for at least a couple of pedals, and with so many picking up instruments at the moment, it would be a short sighted dealer indeed who neglected that glass fronted cabinet nestling under the counter.