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Stompbox Playlist | Halloween 2019
There’s really no shortage of songs out there for a Halloween playlist; after all, ghouls, and various other dark forces have been inspiring songwriters since well before recording equipment was even invented. The trick is, at least from our perspective, is avoiding all the novelty numbers (sorry, Bobby “Boris” Pickett and Warren Zevon) in favor…
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Scream for Me — An Ibanez Tube Screamer Playlist | Stompbox Playlist
Since its introduction in the late 1970s, the little green stomp box known as the Ibanez Tube Screamer has been responsible for a whole lotta glorious noise. Certainly, there are crazier overdrive pedals on the market, but the Tube Screamer continues to be mainstay in the effects arsenals of guitarists everywhere, and with good reason.…
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Take Me to the Next Phase. Part 1 | Stompbox Playlist
From the early 1970s up till today, the phase shifter (a.k.a. phaser) pedal has been a crucial modulation tool for the professional guitarist. Often erroneously confused with flangers, phase shifters operate on a similar principle — i.e., combining the incoming signal with a slightly delayed version of the source. But where flangers alter the timing…
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Forever Flanged: 10 Great Flanger-Powered Tracks | Stompbox Playlist
Discovered by Les Paul in the late 1940s, flanging — the “swooshing” sound caused by mixing two identical recordings together while one recording is slightly relayed — really came into vogue in the late 1960s, when psychedelically-inclined artists like The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, The Small Faces, The Nazz and The Status Quo employed it to…
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Kicked by Santa in the Jingle Bells | Stompbox Playlist
Listen, we feel your pain: ‘Tis the season to be inundated by Christmas music, and it’s gotten to the point where you can’t be in a public place for more than five minutes without being subjected to Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You” or some soulless skim-milk cover of Donny Hathaway’s “This…
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Wild Wah-Wah Workouts | Pedal Playlist
Given how many guitarists have a wah-wah on their pedal board, it’s kind of funny to consider the fact that the wah wasn’t originally meant to work with a guitar. Essentially a foot-controlled roll-pass filter that sweeps the peak response up and down, the first Vox wah pedal was originally marketed to wind instrument players…
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10 Talk-Box Tunes | Pedal Playlist
Ever since the electric guitar was invented in 1931, players have been trying to make their instruments “talk” — but some musicians have taken a more literal approach to that concept than others. In 1939, steel guitarist Alvino Rey combined a carbon throat microphone with his electric steel guitar to create a “singing guitar” effect.…