Rothwell Hellbender

The Hellbender is a high quality guitar overdrive pedal, designed and hand made in the UK to give guitarists a touch responsive and dynamic distortion effect which will range from a very mild and subtle overdrive to a rich, saturated, singing lead tone. Unlike most distortion pedals available today the Hellbender uses more than one stage of distortion and more than one distortion mechanism. This gives a more realistic emulation of valve amp being driven hard. As you pick harder the different distortion mechanisms come into play to give your playing a much more responsive sound. The Hellbender is also capable of higher output than many other distortion pedals (up to 3.6 volts pk-pk) and even with the gain set to its lowest level where the sound is almost totally clean a healthy volume boost is achievable. The Hellbender is not a digital model of anything, nor does it claim to recreate the sound of any particular vintage or modern amp, and isn't designed to be used for recording direct into a mixer or computer. This overdrive is intended for use the old fashioned way - between a guitar and amp, either on stage or mic'd up in a studio. The guitar, pedal and amplifier should work in synergy to allow you to create your own sound. Any good guitarist's signature sound comes not only from their equipment but from their particular approach to picking, pick attack, pick angle, vibrato etc. The Hellbender will allow these playing subtleties to come through, enhancing the overall sound and becoming an integral part of the guitar/pedal/amp combination. (Beware of pedals which claim to sound like, for example, a 1969 Marshall, regardless of the amp it is fed into.)
The Hellbender can be used in several ways. When set for low gain and a relatively clean sound the Hellbender can give a harder rocking edge to an otherwise clean amp. The high output level available from the Hellbender also allows relatively clean, low gain settings to be used as a cleanish boost. (For a true, totally clean boost use the Atomic Booster pedal.) When used in conjunction with an amp which is already set for some distortion a slightly distorted boost from the Hellbender will give a volume lift and create more distortion without completely overiding the existing tone.
At high gain settings the distortion available makes singing lead tones with enhanced sustain possible. The volume control can be set so that it lifts the output level to push an already distorted amp into very high gain territory. This combination of pedal distortion, signal boost and amp distortion can be balanced to create the right blend of saturation and dynamics. The Hellbender features true bypass switching. This leaves the guitar completely isolated from the circuit when the unit is bypassed so that your raw guitar tone is not affected in any way.
In stock now. Please contact Tym guitars for more info and prices.

The WMD Super FatMan

The Super FatMan is the evolution of the FatMan envelope filter with the features that filter geeks want most. This is the end all envelope filter pedal.









Features:
* Fat & Warm Pure Analog Circuitry
* 12 Filter Frequency Ranges
* Tweakable Filter Feedback
* LP/BP/HP Filter Modes
* Reverse Sweep
* Tweakable Attack Speed
* .07 to 8 Hz Tri/Square LFO
* CV/Expression Pedal Input
* CV/LFO blendable with envelope
* RGB LED shows ENV and LFO
* Wet/Dry blend in or out of phase
* Epoxy paint base and silkscreen
* Standard 9V Power Jack
The Controls. The FatMan's controls are intuitive and effective in sculpting incredible filter sounds.
Attack - Adjusts the speed of the filter, and how fast it responds to transients in your playing. Fully slow opens the filter like a nice sweep on the wah pedal. Fully fast will open and close the filter nearly instantly making the attack of each note very pronounced. Fast attack will also move the filter around during note bending and the beating of slightly out of tune notes for spaceshippy sounds.
Threshold - Adjusts the volume sensitivity of the filter. Turning it up causes the filter to begin working sooner and at lower levels. This sets the depth that the envelope reaches and how quickly it starts to decay.
Sweep Up/Down Switch- Controls where the filter starts and moves to. When in "up" mode, the filter starts at the lowest frequency and as volume increases, the frequency moves up. When in "down" mode, the filter is at its max frequency for the range and moves downward as the volume increases. Down acts as a tone compressor.
LFO Speed - Controls the speed of the Low Frequency Oscillator, from about .07 Hz (about 14 seconds) to 8Hz. Slower settings produce killer synthy filter sweeps, faster settings give you tremolo or vibrato like sounds.
LFO Depth - Attenuates the LFO signal to control how subtle or pronounced you want the LFO to work on the filter.
LFO Shape Switch - The LFO will run in Triangle Mode, (always smooth up and down) or Square Mode (full up or full down with no inbetween). Triangle is great for sweeps and more subtle sounds. Square is great when the Depth is turned down and blended with the envelope to produce delay like stuttering in longer notes. To turn the LFO off, put the switch in the middle position (useful when using an expression pedal).
Source - This controls how much of the envelope follower is blended with the CV/Expression Pedal input or the LFO. Some very nice sounds come from the careful setting of this control.
Range - This rotary switch selects between 12 distinct frequency ranges, controlling the frequency of the filter. The lowest setting goes down to 20Hz and provides movement in the sub-bass frequencies. The highest range tops out at 7kHz. Each range has its own sound and response characteristics.
Feedback - This controls how much of the filter is heard at the output. Higher settings produce a sharper resonant peak while lower settings flatten the filter out and make it far more subtle.
Filter Mode: LP/BP/HP Switch - This switch selects between the different filter modes. Low Pass mode cuts frequencies above the filter point, producing classic filter tones. Band Pass is more like a traditional wah pedal outputting only the frequencies directly around the filter point. High Pass cuts all frequencies lower than the filter point and creates some very nice tones without any bass.
Blend: wet/dry - this blends your dry signal in with the filtered signal. It can help retain your original tone and add just a little filter, or get just the filtered tone. Use in junction with the Filter Phase switch for increased tonal possibility.
Filter Phase Switch - This flips the phase of the filtered signal for the blend control. Having an in phase signal adds the frequencies together producing more bass and a more subtle sound. Out of phase subtracts the frequencies from eachother and produces sharper sounds.
Bypass - The stomp switch is wired true bypass so only wires touch your tone when the Super FatMan is disabled.
Internal Gain - There are two trim pots inside the pedal that control the gain of the wet and dry signals before they are blended. They will be set to unity from the factory, but can be changed if desired.
RGB LED - The indicator LED on the Super FatMan is now a multi color (red/green/blue) type that has allowed us to provide visual feedback on how the pedal is working. The LED will light up Blue when the Super FatMan is engaged. The RED part will show the speed and mode of the LFO. The GREEN part will show what the filter is doing (envelope, and LFO). Besides being a cool looking flurry of colors, the LED will help you set the controls to get the sound you want faster.
CV Input - This jack allows you to use a standard expression pedal (stereo plug) to control the filter position, or blend it with the envelope and LFO. It provides power to the expression pedal. This can also be used with 0-5 volt CV sources. For +-2.5 volt (moogerfooger and modular gear) CV, a special adapter is required to convert the voltage levels, available from WMD for $30.

In stock now. Please contact Tym guitars for more info and prices.

Brisbane bands you should see and/or hear part 1

Part 1 : No Anchor



Noisy, bassy, drummy, yelly, bassy, noisy, great live, nice guys = No Anchor.
Their site.

Diamond J Drive MK III

The Mk3 evolution of the J-Drive integrates even more functionality and tonal variations into the combined drive and clean boost concept.

In the clean boost section, the Mk3 has an independently switchable clean boost consisting of a Vishay JFET and BJT clean boost.
Borrowing from the limited edition J-Drive TR, we've also added a cool transformer output stage to the overdrive section - it has a wonderful smoothing effect on the upper mids and highs, placing an inductive source impedance at the amps input as a guitar's pickup would (but at a lower output impedance so it works great into other pedals as well as amps).
Our 'Close Asymmetry' overdrive circuit utilizes a Schottky barrier diode for smooth asymmetrical clipping - which combined with the transformer output gives a liquid smooth sustain with punch. The 'Warmth' control offers a unique tonal control adding low end gain while simultaneously cutting top end- perfect for warming up a bright amp or guitar. We've also added a toggle switchable high frequency shelf filter to add extra 'bite' when needed.

- true bypass signal path for both the clean boost
and drive sections
- discrete clean boost circuit with JFET input/BJT
amplifier
- premium audio components, including 2% polypropylene capacitors, 1% metal film resistors and a Burr Brown OPA2134 opamp
- post-volume control overdrive transformer output stage
that smooths upper mids and highs
- 'Close Asymmetry' Schottky diode clipping circuit
- switchable highpass shelf filter for additional 'bite',
implemented without additional active components
- battery or standard negative tip 9V DC adapter operation

In stock now. Please contact Tym guitars for more info and prices.

New Tym T shirts

Well, Tones done it again folks.
Here's the 2 new Tym T shirts. These are available in the shop from today.
The first is the Big Bottom T shirt. It has the Big Bottom logo on the front and for the first time on one of my T's, it doesn't have the typical oval logo on the back.
The Tym guitars Big Bottom V2 has been designed to give bass players more options for effects pedals and sounds over the original Tym guitars Big Bottom.
The idea behind this great pedal is to split the signal coming from your bass guitar and send the mid to high frequencies through an effects loop to any guitar effects pedals, while keeping your bass frequencies clean. This eliminates the loss of bottom end that bass players would normally experience when using guitar effects pedals. You get a clean BIG BOTTOM and an effected main signal.
Designed in conjunction with and used by the late Dean Turner of Australian band Magic Dirt and completely handmade on site at Tym guitars, this pedal is unique and a must have for bass players who use effects of any kind.













The second new T shirt is for my line of valve amps, the Supertone series. These are currently available in 40 and 100W with 20W out soon with more to follow. These are all hand made at the TMI workshop in Brisbane. The 40W is 2x6L6 or KT66 with 12AX7 preamp. The 100W is 4xEL34 output stage with 12AX7 preamp. The 20W is 2x6V6 with the same preamp stage as the ST40.

The T shirt has the Supertone logo on the front and the usual oval logo on the back.
Both these new T shirts and many others Tym T's are available now at $20 ea. Click HERE to see the others currently in stock.

Please contact Tym guitars for more info.

Black Cat Effects

BOUTIQUE GUITAR EFFECTS
Made in the USA since 1993
After production was discontinued in late 2007, Black Cat is back…and better than ever. Using the same great designs by Fred Bonte, this next generation of Black Cat Pedals has received a super-boutique makeover:

* high-quality components and PCBs
* top-notch build quality with consistent production
* eye-catching graphics and deluxe packaging

Not everything has changed, however — Black Cat Pedals are still individually hand-wired and made in the USA. Black Cat users have included Eric Johnson, Billy F. Gibbons, Trey Anastasio (Phish), Scott Henderson, Steve Lukather, Michael Landau, and countless others.

Tym guitars will have stock of these great pedals very soon. I had heard of Black Cat but when Dinosaur Jr toured recently J was raving about the Black Cat Superfuzz. He likes the new one better than his old Black Cat Superfuzz for some reason and thinks it's the best of any re-issue he's tried.

In stock now. Please contact Tym guitars for more info and prices.

Zvex Mastotron

The Mastotron is a new, heavy silicon fuzz design that includes a couple of unusual features... source impedance control, subs control, and pulse width control. It works equally well with bass and guitar, and can easily be interfaced with digital devices like recorders as well as keyboards. Let’s go over the complete set of controls:
RELAX/PUSH: This knob introduces source impedance to the signal going into the Mastotron. When fully up, the signal goes in raw... when turned down, source impedance is added as needed to “soften” the input for active pickups.
FUZZ: This wide-range knob lets you set just how fuzzy your Mastotron™ gets.
PW: Pulse Width control. You can swing this from square wave on the left to narrow pulses on the right.
TONE: This shapes the treble without sacrificing the heavy subs.
VOL: Output volume.
SUBS Switch: “2-1-3” Lets you set how much sub content is in your fuzz. It’s pretty dramatic... 3 is huge, 2 is medium, and 1 is absolutely none left. Totally twinky. Try 1 with the tone turned down!

In stock now. Please contact Tym guitars for more info and prices.

Amp and speaker cab impedance matching

I get asked this question A LOT, so here's a relatively easy explanation of how to plug your amp into your speaker cab.

Electronic amplifiers pump electric currents into loudspeakers in a way similar to a water pump pushing water through a hose. The pump expends energy to creates pressure, and the water moves under the force of that pressure. In an amplifier, the pressure corresponds to voltage, and the water flow corresponds to current.
But you know that if you step on the hose that the water flow lessens. If you crank up the pump (or open the faucet) the water flow increases. Want even more water flow? You might need a bigger hose. There is a concept of flow capacity when we consider the hose, and that is related to impedance.
It's easy to see that a smaller hose restricts, or impedes, the water flow. In the same way, a cable, amplifier or speaker has an impedance, though it is not quite so cleanly analogous to the diameter of the hose. Here's where we depart into the void.
Impedance relates the ability of an electronic component or system to carry current. The lower the impedance, the less the current is impeded, and the more current can flow.

Impedance Matching
Impedance is very important when one is trying to move as much power as possible from an amplifier to a speaker. This is actually true of any mechanical or electrical source and load.
It turns out that the maximum power is transferred from source to load when the two impedances are equal. For example, an amplifier with an 8 ohm output impedance will put the most power into an 8 ohm speaker.
That's why it is important to load your amplifier with the proper impedance. Too low a speaker impedance will cause the amplifier's output current to increase, and the voltage to drop, resulting in less power output to the speaker, and more heat dissipated in the amplifier.
Too high a speaker impedance will lower the output current, also reducing power output.

Your amps output jacks should be labeled with their output impedance (or Ohms) and your speaker cab should also be labeled. Some amps are hard wired i.e. old Fenders while some have switches or plugs for changing the jacks to different output Ohms. If they are not you can measure your cab with a multimeter set to resistance. This will not measure exactly i.e. 4 Ohms but more likely 3.6 or 4.2 etc. The amp is a little more complex. You need to disconnect your output transformer to measure the loads on these, or look up a reputable site with details of your amp. DO NOT just assume and plug anything into anything.

Remember to ALWAYS use a proper SPEAKER CABLE for connecting the amp to cab. DO NOT use a guitar cable as I've seen many people do. A speaker cable is 2 core of exactly the same size and impedance. A guitar cable is a shielded single core so one wire is higher impedance than the other. Using a guitar cable can seriously damage your amps output transformer.

The Marshall Guv'nor

The Guv'nor was a brilliant effort to create a full-featured overdrive pedal worthy of its Marshall heritage. Personally named by Jim Marshall himself, "The Guv'nor" is British slang for "The Leader," or a musician's expression in the UK meaning "The Ultimate." Solid state technology was used to "unleash a stunning variety of the best-sounding classic and contemporary distortion sounds known to man," according to an article introducing the Guv'nor in the Vol. 6, No. 1 issue of Marshall Law issued in 1989. Everything is housed in a tough, steel-reinforced case.

CONTROLS
1 GAIN - This controls the intensity of the drive and will provide a stunning range of overdrive selections. Lower settings will give a simple volume boost, while advanced settings will provide screaming solo sounds.
2 BASS - Controls the lower frequencies giving a range from thudding, heavy rhythm, to tight and punchy solo response.
3 MIDDLE - This control provides the key to an unbelievable range of distortion tones. When backed off, the sound is smooth and fat for more lyrical blues/rock playing styles. Increasing the contour changes the character of the mid response and enhances the treble and bass frequencies.
4 TREBLE - High end response control which tailors the attack and enhances the harmonic content. All three EQ controls are truly interactive, letting the player dial in anything from hard-driving, modern Marshall distortion, to the sweet, syrupy sustain of classic Vintage models.
5 LEVEL - Provides control of the overall level and amount of boost.
6 SWITCH - On/off switch to bypass or activate the pedal with indicator LED to show the status.
INPUT JACK - For connection of the cable from the guitar. Use a mono 1/4" cable (shielded).
LOOP JACK - The FX loop output allows linking to to other pedals using an optional "Y" cable, with the Guv'nor acting as the master switch for the whole effects chain. The "Y" cable needed is a TRS (tip-ring-sleeve) 1/4" type at one end, splitting into a pair of mono 1/4" cables at the other.
MAINS ADAPTOR - Input for a 9 volt DC mains adaptor.
OUTPUT JACK - For the connection of the cable from the pedal to the amplifier input socket. Use a mono 1/4" cable (shielded).

We have a vintage Gov'nor in stock NOW at Tym guitars.

Rothwell Switchblade

The Switchblade is a heavy/modern rock distortion pedal featuring three stages of distortion with carefully designed filtering before, between and after each stage to sculpt the sound and control the way each stage adds to the distortion. The bottom end of the spectrum is full and weighty with enough definition for every note of a chord to play its part. The top end cuts through without ever becoming fizzy and the midrange is slightly scooped to give a great tone for rhythm playing.
However, there is a wide range of gain on offer and the lower gain end of the spectrum is great for less extreme music styles. The available output is also high so that even with the gain turned down low enough to be almost clean there is still enough volume available for the pedal to act as a booster. This means the Switchblade can be used to add distortion to your sound (anything from mild to fully saturated), boost your level, or a combination of the two.
This is all achieved in a compact pedal with very low background noise levels, low battery drain, and true bypass switching. The circuitry uses a unique blend of distortion devices and is assembled by hand using top quality components and chassis mounted knobs and sockets (as opposed to circuit board mounted) for the ultimate in long term reliability.
As with all Rothwell pedals the design is original (we don’t do clones or repros) and is derived by a painstaking process of careful calculation, computer aided simulation, trial and error and ultimately rigorous appraisal by professional guitarists.

In stock now. Please contact Tym guitars for more info and prices.

Zvex Super Hardon VEXTER series

The famous Super Hardon boost is now available in Vexter series.
The Vexter series differs from the Handpainted version in that it has a silkscreened enclosure and a shorter warranty period. This effectively lowers the price point, and makes both production easier for Z.Vex and allows the effect to become more accessible to musicians.
The Vexter Super Hardon contains the same circuit as the original pedals, with the inclusion of modern touches such as an indicator LED and DC power jack for powering the fuzz with an adapter.
See my previous post about the Super Hardon for more info. These pedals are IN STOCK now. Contact Tym guitars for more info and prices.

Tym strings

We have added Phosphor bronze acoustic strings to our range of quality USA made strings. These are in 12-53 and 13-57 gauges and still at an AMAZING $10 a pack.

In our never ending effort to offer more to our customers we have great quality USA made strings under the Tym brand name starting at $10 a pack, less with quantity orders. These are imported and made into packs of common gauges but we can do custom gauges on request.
We currently do 9-42, 10-46, 10-54, 11-48, 11-52 and 13-56 in nickel electric guitar all for $10 a pack and 45-105, 50-110 in nickle and 45-105 in stainless for bass at $30 a pack.

In stock now. Please contact Tym guitars for more info or orders.

Yamaha SBG500

While the SG 30/35/50/70/90 and eventually 175 from the early to mid 70's held sway, Yamaha designer Yojirou Takabayashi and his staff went to work improving the guitar's design. The results were the SG-2000, SG-1500, SG-1000, SG-700 and SG-500, introduced to the world in July of '76, at the height of the "copy era" (typically, the model number is engraved on the truss rod cover).
Yamaha was definitely pursuing its own vision, so it's no wonder the SG-2000 was greeted so enthusiastically.
The SG-2000 employed the basic look of the SG-175, combined with both subtle refinements and some bolder new ideas. Instead of carved solid mahogany, the SG-2000 had a carved, mildly figured three-piece maple top, with the grain of the center section set perpendicular to the sides. Instead of a set neck, it featured a three-piece mahogany/maple/mahogany laminated neck-through design conducive to greater sustain. The body wings consisted of a "sandwich" of laminated mahogany.
In order to further enhance sustain, the SG-2000 had a brass block under the bridge.
Replacing the flat back of the SG-175 was a contoured back with a scoop out of the top waist to increase playing comfort. The head of the SG-2000 featured the now-standard double-dipped shape, with five-ply binding, a block lettering logo, and a fancy three-piece floral inlay. The 22-fret ebony fingerboard was bound with mother-of-pearl split-wing inlays. The top also featured five-ply binding.
In '79 or so Gibson began to object to Yamaha's use of the SG prefix. Gibson had already gone through the copy challenge of Ibanez in mid '77, so their objections may have even begun before that. In any case, in 1980 Yamaha changed the name of the guitar to the SBG-2000. The name was not changed in Japan.














The SG-1000, which was the second-in-line model in Japan, had some significant differences. From a distance it looked almost the same as the SG-2000 (including gold hardware), but with a bound rosewood fingerboard, "clay" split-wing inlays, and "only" triple binding. The top was a single piece of maple, without the perpendicular centerpiece, and was unbound. Instead of being a neck-through, it was set-neck with solid mahogany. Also, it did not have the brass sustain plate under the bridge.
The SG-1000 was equipped with slightly different electronics; the pots were wired such that when the volume pot was rolled up to 10, the tone control was bypassed - the equivalent of the slider switches on '60s guitars. These came in cherry sunburst or brown sunburst.

The SG-700 and SG-500 were almost identical to the SG-1000, but without the special wiring circuitry. These had slightly less fancy headstock inlays, dot inlays and chrome hardware. The SG-700 had an unbound maple top made of several pieces of maple and came in cherry sunburst and brown.
The 700 had traditional black plastic pickup covers with only one row of poles exposed. The SG-500 came only in opaque colors, black and cherry. Pickups on the 500 were exposed black or cream humbuckers. The SG-700 appears to have bit the dust with the SBG change in '78 or '79. The SG-500 likewise disappeared at this time, though it returned in '81 or '82 as the SBG-500.

We have a beautiful, all original example of a Yamaha SBG500 with original hardcase here at the moment. Please contact Tym guitars for more info and price.

Tym Supertone 100

After the development of the Lemon, which was an almost exact clone of a late 60's/early 70's 0R@NG# I was fascinated by this circuit and what it could do without the modern restrictions like "can I get these made in China as cheap as possible" or "I can save a dollar by getting crappier transformers"
The Supertone 100 is very similar to the Lemon in most respects. It is essentially based on the same amp using many of the same components. I did however get my original vintage Parmeko transformers from my old M@T@MPs reverse engineered by AVAT (Australian Valve Audio Transformers) in Melbourne at great expense as these were my favorite sounding transformers from any of my vintage amps of these two brands. The transformers were unwound, measured, tested and re-assembled and clones made using better quality steel and wire. The results are amazing to say the least.

The other section that has undergone some mods is the tone stack. Although I LOVE these original amps in every form I own them in, the tone sweep can be a little ......... non responsive on some. After going through the tone stack and fine tuning the bass and treble sweeps I am happier with these than some of the original amps. It is difficult because these amps are SO sensitive to what's put into them i.e. humbuckers, single coils etc and the FAC (Frequency Analyzing Control) completely changes how the amp reacts in each position.

I wanted this one to look "a little less" like what the circuit is based on and more Tym and it will be available in the standard Supertone 20/40 style shell with grill cloth as well for people who would prefer that more "vintage" look ? My friend Tone did another great job in doing up the face plate artwork. The "production" ones will be engraved trafolyte (a 2 or 3 layer Laminex type material) done on CNC and can be done in picture frame or standard head shells.
Inside the heart of this amp is, as with all Tym amps, THE BEST quality components money can buy. From the completely hand made premium steel transformers to 1% metal film resistors, RS and Wimar caps, Alpha pots, Belton sockets and Cliff jacks. This one has JJ EL34's but I tried Mullard, Winged C and Svetlana among others and found them all to be great with slightly different break up when pushed hard. My vintage amps behave the same way when pushed with these brands.

I have added cooling vents in the steel laser cut chassis around all the power valves and the back and production models will have a top vent in the shell. These things get HOT when pushed. The Tym ST100 has 4, 8 and 16 Ohm speaker outputs and runs just over 100 Watts before clipping.

These will be available for order soon as there is a waiting period to get the transformers hand made and we are currently engineering new transformers for the ST20.

Redwitch FUZZGOD II

Fuzz God II - the insane silicon brother of Germanium Fuzz God.
It's wilder, it's crazier, it's the loose cannon sonic brother that you wouldn't introduce to your girlfriend, cause you know he'd try his luck with her.
Fuzz God II allows you to create fuzzyness of epic proportions (think red seas parting, burning bushes, pillars of salt etc).
From your classic fuzz tones of the sustaining, soulful, singing kind through to those of utter chaos - encompassing suboctave madness, parasitic sustain and out of control fax machine dial lunacy.

Red Witch Fuzz God II Features:

* 9v dc
* Volume controls output signal
* Fuzz controls amount of fuzz
* Wrath - depress lightning bolt to engage wrath for utter fuzz sickness
* Sputter – smooth to ragged ripped speaker
* Treble boost control
* Oscillation

In stock now. Please contact Tym guitars for more info and prices.

Zvex Box of Rock

The Box of Rock is Z.Vex Effect's first "distortion" pedal, highly specialized to simulate the "everything on 10" sound of a classic Marshall JTM45 non-master-volume amplifier. You may use the Box of Rock effectively with many different amplifiers, but to get the sound I heard when I designed it, try it through a Marshall at least once. You may use your guitar's volume control to adjust for the exact amount of distortion you need, all the way down to very clean and clear with most drive settings. You will notice the words "distortron engine" on the Vexter version of this pedal (no, that's not a misprint) on the pedal. This is what I named my distortion circuit... call me crazy. On the hand-painted version, the stomp switch on the right is labeled "ROCK" instead, because our paint brushes are too wide for so many small letters.

The Box of Rock also contains an extremely high-headroom, unity-to-50X gain booster with nominal input impedance and low hiss. It is very similar to the SHO boost circuit, with refinements to make it sound more like a standard amp input and less glassy. The boost channel can be used alone or in conjunction with the "distortron engine" channel. The boost channel follows the distortion channel so that the distortion is able to hit your amp harder (at a higher volume) when both switches are engaged, for boosting solos and what-not.
Look out when boosting what-not. 8^)

The Controls:
Drive: Sets the amount of distortion. Start around 1:00 o'clock.
Tone: Adjust for treble content. Start around 2:00 o'clock.
Vol: Adjust for distortron engine volume level. Start around 9:00 o'clock.
Boost: Sets the boost level, which is engaged with the left stomp switch. Start around 11:00 o'clock.
The Drive and Boost controls are based on my original Super Hard-On gain control, so they may crackle when turned. This is perfectly normal.

In stock now. Please contact Tym guitars for more info and prices.

Seppuku fx Mind Warp

Seppuku effects are locally made in Australia. The Mind Warp is an extremely variable vibrato/chorus effect. But unlike most other chorus effects the Mind Warp has a very natural and warm sound. With the LFO Speed turned back you can achieve very slow dreamy modulation all the way to over the top weirdness when turned up. The depth knob allows you to control
how far the pitch shifts. it can be set to be very faint, or as weird and out of tune as you'll ever need, far beyond the range of conventional vibrato effects. The warp knob allows you mix your clean signal with the modulated signal to create chorus effects. The LED allows you to visualize when the effect is on and pulses to the LFO speed.
In stock now. Please contact Tym guitars for more info and prices.

Road Rage pedals

Road Rage are located in Canada and hand make effects loopers of the best quality we have come across at GREAT prices.

If you love vintage gear you'll know the biggest problem with vintage effects, as well as most new effects, is that they are not true bypass. What does this mean? Well it means a lot, if your pedals are not true bypass your guitar signal is still being directed through part of the circuit in each pedal you have plugged in, each circuit is taking away some of your original signal, in other words...
you are losing the tone and volume of your favorite guitar and amp when the effects are off and remain in your signal chain. The best solution to eliminate this problem is to use Road Rage True Bypass Effect Loopers. A Road Rage TBEL will keep the pedals out of your chain until you need them. The difference in your sound is incredible!









They have experimented by building several types of true bypass loopers, trying different wire, jacks, enclosures, etc.. When they got the wiring and components to the point where it sounded the most transparent, they thought it would be shame just to use the same old style of enclosures so they set out to design their own. After an extremely long time and an unwavering dedication to our vision, they came up with what I personally consider the best built and the coolest looking Loopers, A/B's, DIY Boxes and Kits. All RRPG pedals are hand-built one at a time by myself with great pride and care.

Contact Tym guitars for more info and prices.

Ronsound Stone Machine

The FLAGSHIP of the RonSound line. Do you want a GREAT octave-up sound? The Stone Machine is a hot-rodded reissue of the Foxx Tone Machine with the added feature of footswitchable "Octive". Also has controls for Volume, Sustain, and Tone. The hot-rodding allows even better "Octive" sound than the original!!
These pedals are IN STOCK now. Contact Tym guitars for more info and prices.

Electro Harmonix

Electro-Harmonix is a New York-based company that makes high-end electronic audio processors. The company was founded by Mike Matthews in 1968. They are most famous for a series of popular guitar effects pedals introduced in the 1960's and 70's including the GREAT Big Muff distortion sustainer.

Electro-Harmonix was founded by Mike Matthews in October 1968 in NYC, USA. Himself an R&B keyboard player, he had traded his passion of music for a job as a salesman for IBM in 1967. Shortly afterwards he realized that his job at IBM no longer suited him, and he was interested in trying once again to make career for himself as a keyboard player. Partnering with an acquaintance of his, Bill Berko, an audio repairman who claimed to have his own custom circuit for a fuzz pedal, they jobbed construction of their new pedal to a contracting house, and began distributing the pedals under a deal with the Guild Guitar Company. Fuzzboxes were in demand following a trail of hits involving their sound, including "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" by The Rolling Stones two years prior, and recent popularization of Jimi Hendrix. The latter connection resulted in the pedals being branded the 'Foxey Lady'.

Following the unexplained departure of his partner, Matthews was introduced to inventor and electric engineer Robert Myer through IBM colleagues. Together the two began conceptualizing a circuit designed to emulate Jimi Hendrix's use of a distortion-free sustain. While testing a prototype of the Distortion-Free Sustainer pedal, which Matthews did by simply plucking the strings of an electric guitar, as he did not play guitar, he noticed another small box connected to the prototype. When asked, Myer explained this box was a line booster, designed to boost the guitar's passive signal to an appropriate level for the prototype. Matthews listened as the guitar's volume increased greatly as the booster was turned on, and asked Myer what was involved in manufacturing the pedal. The pedal consisted of a simple circuit and used just one transistor(This would later become know as the Linear Power Booster (LPB-1), a pedal still manufactured today.Shortly afterwards, Matthews founded Electro-Harmonix to produce this and other pedal designs throughout 1960s, 70s and early 80s.

The first Electro-Harmonix product was the Axis fuzz pedal, which was also sold under the name "Foxey Lady" for the Guild guitar company. While working with Bob Myer on the early Big Muff design, Mike Matthews used a booster circuit Myer had incorporated into the design and marketed it as the LPB-1 or Linear Power Booster in 1969. This massively boosted a guitar signal to provide gain by clipping the signal, dramatically changing the sound. The new device provided a raw distorted sound, full of sustain and harmonics. Several similar devices followed such as the Treble Booster and Bass Booster. The new devices were extremely popular with guitarists.

Electro-Harmonix stopped making pedals in the mid-1980s, and in the early 1990s started selling vacuum tubes re-branded with their name for guitar amplifiers, which they had also been making since the 1970s. However due to demand, and the high prices guitarists were paying for old 1970s pedals on the vintage market, they reissued the more popular old pedals in the mid-1990s, the Big Muff Pi and Small Clone included. In 2002 they started designing new pedals to add to their range. Company policy is that all reissued effects remain as close as possible to the original, vintage designs. This means however that casings, knobs and especially the old-fashioned mini-jack power plug are not up to modern-day standards. This all changed in 2006 with their smaller and more standardized "micro" and "nano" effect lines.

Silvertone amp in case guitar

THE AMP: One of the most eye catching features of the student set is that the amplifier is built into the top-half of the hard-shell guitar case. The first one, the 1448 series, was a simple 3 watt amplifier with 2 tubes plus 1 tube rectifier, 5-in speaker, and one gain control. In 1963, the 1449 series (later renamed 1457) was released, featuring a 5 watt 3-tube (with 1 tube rectifier) amplifier, with 8 inch speakers, control for volume (gain), tone, tremolo (speed and strength), 2 inputs, and one foot-switch. The front end of the case has its top half covered in cloth for the speaker. In 1966, the amp-in-case comes with both the non-tremolo version 1451 (modified from 1448) and tremolo version 1452 (modified from 1449). Electronically they are identical, but the speakers are moved to the opposite lid.
The case is 39x15x3 inches.
When the guitar is stored inside the case, with the speaker cloth facing upward, the guitar neck would sit on the left side of the amplifier.

THE GUITAR: When first introduced in 1962, the 3/4-sized guitar had a double cutaway semi-hollow body in a shape similar to the well known Fender Stratocaster. The body was composed of a poplar center block and frame with Masonite top and back. It came with a single lipstick pickup at the "middle" position, controlled by a volume and tone knob. The poplar neck was fitted with a Brazilian rosewood fingerboard, and only had 18 frets. The neck connected to the body with three bolts.
By Fall of 1963, there was a two pickup model available. The new model 1449 was the same as its predecessor, but equipped with 2 lipstick pickups and a 21 fret neck. Eventually the semi-hollow guitar models were replaced with solid-body design similar to Danelectro's Dane line.

We have an amazing, all original example available for sale. Contact Tym guitars for more info and prices.

Zvex Distortron

The Distortron is the gifted little sister to the Z.Vex “Box of Rock”. It is highly specialized to simulate the “everything on 10” sound of a classic Marshall JTM45 non-master-volume amplifier. You may use the Distortron™ effectively with many different amplifiers, but to get the sound I heard when I designed it, try it through an old-school non-master volume Marshall at least once. You may use your guitar’s volume control to adjust for the exact amount of distortion you need, all the way down to very clean and clear with most drive settings when the gain switch is set to “Lo.” Let’s go over the controls:
DRIVE: Sets the amount of distortion. Start around 1:00 o’clock.
TONE: Adjust for treble content. Start around 2:00 o’clock.
VOL: Adjust for output volume level. Start around 9:00 o’clock.
GAIN Switch: “Lo/Hi” lets you choose standard “Box of Rock” gain level or a slightly boosted level.
SUBS Switch: “2-1-3” lets you choose the full “Box of Rock” sub amount (3) or two different lower levels of subs depending on your amp’s needs.
DRIVE: The Drive is based on my original Super Hard-On gain control, so it may crackle when turned. This is perfectly normal. That’s why it says “Crackle Okay” by that knob.

In stock now. Please contact Tym guitars for more info and prices.

Seppuku fx Digital Pitch Modulator

The Digital Pitch Modulator uses an 8-bit digital chip to create octave up, octave down, fifth note, ring mod, arpeggio and bit crusher sounds and blends them with analog fuzz to make truly crazy and unique effects, for guitars, synths, or anything you can plug into it.

CONTROLS:
• Oscillator frequency: Controls the pitch of the ring mod sound. Turning it back lowers the fidelity. When all switches point up it controls speed of arpeggio/pitch jump sound.
• Digital/Analog Blend: Blends between modulated sounds and analog fuzz.
• Toggle switches: Control the pitch. Different combination's make different pitches, and when all point up it arpeggiates.
• Master Volume.

In stock now. Please contact Tym guitars for more info and prices.

Ibanez AD9

Ibanez AD9 Analog Delay Pedal
The Ibanez AD9 Analog Delay Effect Pedal uses a compander with pre- and de-emphasis for an exceptionally clean delay. Time and level controls allow mixing between dry and delayed signals. Repeat control lets you adjust the number of repeats without runaway. 2 outputs enable dry and delayed signals to be routed separately.



Ibanez AD9 Analog Delay Pedal Features:

* Exceptionally clean delay
* Time and level controls
* Repeat control
* 2 outputs for separate routing of dry and delayed signals

The AD9 features 10-300ms of analog delay

We have second hand units available at Tym guitars.

Octave Multiplexer. Analog Sub-Octave Generator

Get down! Generates deep, phat bass tones one octave below the notes you play. Two separate smoothing filters enable you to tailor your sub-octave signal to the exact bass sound you desire, separating the Octave Multiplexer from other octave devices. Run your vocals through it and sound just like Ike Turner. This is a monophonic device and works only on single notes.
The Electro-Harmonix OCTAVE MULTIPLEXER is the result of many years of engineering research. To get the best results from it please put aside an hour or two for practice in a quiet room…just you, your guitar and amp, and the OCTAVE MULTIPLEXER.

The OCTAVE MULTIPLEXER produces a sub-octave note one octave below the note you play. With two filter controls and a SUB switch, the OCTAVE MULTIPLEXER allows you to shape the tone of the sub-octave from deep bass to fuzzy sub-octaves.
-CONTROLS-
HIGH FILTER Knob - Adjusts a filter that will shape the tone of the sub-octave’s higher order harmonics. Turning the HIGH FILTER knob clockwise will make the sub-octave sound more gnarly and fuzzy.
BASS FILTER Knob - Adjusts a filter that will shape the tone of the sub-octave’s fundamental and lower order harmonics. Turning the BASS FILTER knob counter-clockwise will make the sub-octave sound deeper and bassier. PLEASE NOTE: the BASS FILTER knob is only active when the SUB switch is set to ON.
SUB Switch - Switches the Bass Filter in and out. When SUB is set to ON the Bass Filter and its corresponding knob are activated. When the SUB switch is set to OFF, only the High Filter is active. Turning the SUB switch on gives the sub-octave a deeper, bassier sound.
BLEND Knob - This is a wet/dry knob. Counter-clockwise is 100% dry. Clockwise is 100% wet.
STATUS LED - When the LED is lit; the Octave Multiplexer effect is active. When the LED is off, the Octave Multiplexer is in True Bypass Mode. The footswitch engages/disengages the effect.
INPUT Jack - Connect your instrument to the input jack. The input impedance presented at the input jack is 1Mohm.
EFFECT OUT Jack - Connect this jack to your amplifier. This is the Octave Multiplexer’s output.
DRY OUT Jack - This jack is connected directly to the Input Jack. The DRY OUT jack gives the musician the ability to separately amplify the original instrument and the sub-octave created by the Octave Multiplexer.
9V Power Jack - The Octave Multiplexer can run off of a 9V battery or you can connect a 9VDC battery eliminator capable of delivering at least 100mA to the 9V power jack. The optional 9V power supply from Electro-Harmonix is US9.6DC-200BI (same as used by Boss(tm) & Ibanez(tm)) 9.6 Volts DC 200mA. The battery eliminator must have a barrel connector with center negative. The battery may be left in or taken out when using an eliminator.

ToadWorks MEAT and MEAT Jr

ToadWorks MEAT Jr is a compact fat boost, designed for maximum versatility at the lowest cost. Like it's big brother MEAT, MEAT Jr has been tested with a wide range of guitars and amplifiers; low output or high, solid state or tube, MEAT Jr provides all the beefy goodness your rig needs.
The fat is phat, and the clean is pristine. In Clean mode, MEAT Jr is the perfect linear boost, putting out exactly what was put in, without the slightest change to your tone. ToadWorks MEAT Jr is a quick and easy approach to fat and clean tones. With MEAT Jr, you get all the Fat, with none of the weight.
ToadWorks MEAT Jr is a Fat Boost effect designed to provide a fat, warm boost, or a crisp, clean boost. Like it's big brother MEAT, MEAT Jr is perfect for simple solo boost, fattening up your tone while maintaining unity gain, or overdriving your amp input so hard it bleeds. MEAT Jr is the perfect linear boost, featuring ultra-low noise and the perfect amount of switchable low end.
The stomp switch turns the effect on and off, the Tone switch enables the fat boost, and the Level knob controls the overall boost level.
MEAT Jr features a true-bypass circuit, so you can cut out the fat without sacrificing tone. Each pedal is carefully manufactured by hand, using only the finest components.

ToadWorks MEAT is a dual boost effect, designed for maximum versatility with minimum tweakage. MEAT has been tested with a wide range of guitars and amplifiers; low output or high, solid state or tube, MEAT provides all the beefy goodness your rig needs.
Every combination of guitar and amp will have a slightly different eq, output, etc., and the sound will always vary to some degree, so expect the unexpected. ToadWorks MEAT is a unique combination of Fat and Clean boosts, and you're the chef - keep the fat, or trim it off.

These pedals are IN STOCK now. Contact Tym guitars for more info and prices.