Effects - Distortion
Zvex Fuzz Factory
Type of pedal : Extreme fuzz pedal with built in compressor and gate.
Controls : Vol, Gate, Comp, Drive, Stab.
Used by : Page Hamilton ( Helmet, David Bowie ), Spiritualized, Matmos, Matt Bellamy ( Muse ), Trent Reznor ( Nine inch nails )
Description : This is one of my favorite pedals. It is built and designed by Zachary Vex. It is a really sinister and extreme sounding fuzz. Using two new old stock germanium transistors and containing both a compressor and a gate this pedal is really in a league of it´s own. It has a kind of musical noisy ness to it that I haven´t really come across in any other distortion unit. Controlled chaos or whatever you want to call it. I have also realized the hard way that this pedal isn´t for everyone. Some guitarists can´t seem to get into it at all. I use it on almost every project I record…Obviously not on every track because of it´s very clear pesence. It will make it´s own space in the mix. It is like a really obnoxious funny drunk guy at a party…He is kind of irritating and a bit too loud…but the party would be so much more predictable and boring without him.
I really like using it doing simple one note guitar lines or doing bendy riffing stuff with it. It really adds a sort of gritty closeness…Sounds great with a bit f slapback echo going into the uzz Factory to add some bathroom tile-ness to it.
I have used this only on guitar…I haven´t really felt the need to use it on anything else. I can imagine it sounding good on analog synth leads as well…but I would probably use an amp sooner than plugging in the Fuzz Factory. I tried it once on a drummachine but between the gate and the compressor I was more or less left with a bunch of chirps, squeels and buzzes. And the bass drum turned into a very rhythmic fart….
Late note : I actually have used it on the Jen organ on a Reminder track…I think it was a late tune on the last sessions. What the Fuzz Factory did was just thinning the sound out but giving the organ a stronger sonic frame which made it possible top keep it lower in the mix but maintaining it´s character.
Roth Händle moments with the Fuzz Factory :
Geller : Judas ( Main riff )
Ludvig Andersson : Fallen man
Nanook of The North : The Explorer
Sansamp GT2
Type of pedal : Guitar distortion with amplifier simulations.
Controls: A simple eq (high & low), volume, distortion and then the different amp simulations.
Description : this was one of my super gadgets for a long while…I used on almost everything except…. electric guitar which it is made for.
This is supposed to be an amp simulator…I think that Tech 21 was the first company who started to explore the idea of amp simulation and built a couple of high priced rack units. Units that became used by people like Mitchell Froom and Tchad Blake. Later on the development obviously went towards software and plug ins with the same functions and then of course the different types of pods and virtual amps.
I boroughed this from a music store a couple of months before starting work on the Deadwood Forest album Mellodramatic and it became quickly a very handy tool in shaping sounds. I started using it on almost everything and both me and Andreas (Andreas & Jag, Geller) became very fond of how it sounded on vocals and on keyboards…but as I said in the introduction we could never use it on real electric guitars. It always sounded just flat and strange. Maybe it had something to do with how we played or the settings we used by we just couldn't make it work. On the other hand I have never been a big fan of big crunchy chord guitars.
But for me the biggest use of was to take real drum loops and just pull them through the GT2 to get some grit and dirt into them.
Last summer (2003) I used actually used the GT2 live with a guitar on the Änglagård live shows doing a really low droney industrial thing with an E-bow and the multiplay delay using the GT2 with most bassy distorted sound possible.
Sadly enough during an outdoor gig in the south where he skies opened and it just poured down rain over our backline the GT2 has never been quite the same. I think it just needs some plain old TLC. The annoying thing is that it sounds weird and superdistorted unless you mess with the plugs and all instead of just being dead which is easier to accept. I guess there might have been some moisture in there somewhere.
Kendricks Buffalo Pfuz
Type of pedal : Fuzz and gain pedal (built in Pflugerville, Texas ! Doesn't it feel good to just say the word Pflugerville ?)
Controls: Gain & Volume and then on/off for both.
Description : I came in contact with this pedal while recording with Texan band Deadwood Forest. The drummer in the band Andy McWilliams worked at the guitar amp company Kendricks. I think everyone in the band had and used one…For a long time this was my favourite bass distortion pedal. For some odd reason I haven't used on guitar too much. Possibly on some Devi song. We have used it on Hugo Törntorps (Celestine) Bergman Klavinett for some fuzzy edge. It works either as a Fuzz pedal or just boost/overdrive unit. Very transparent and solid.
It is a really heavy and reliable pedal that probably can take a good beating on the road. I have never had any problems with it. We used it live with both Andreas & Jag and Pineforest Crunch.
Danelectro Bacon & eggs
Type of pedal : Small distortion pedal with 2” speaker
Description : For a long period of time I have been slightly obsessed with the size of sound. Engineer Pontus Olsson once said during a Pineforest Crunch Mix that mixing is all about making two liters of water fit inside a 1 liter container. I wish that I had the ability to do that…a lot of the times it feels like end up with more than two liters at the end. But this pedal really comes in handy. It is a small distortion pedal but the distortion all depends on how loud of an input you give it. The most interesting thing though is the little crap speaker on it. It works ( when you mic it ) in effect as a really thin and effective eq…But it also adds unintentional resonant notes if you push a very high frequency instrument like a glocken spiel or an acoustic guitar through it. A glockenspiel can turn into a Las Vegas balalaika. Drums get completely squashed and messy ( perfect for the weird middle eight perhaps ). I have used this a lot together with the Korg Monopoly to give it more of a crunch and weird guitar styled distortion. Also I have used with twangy guitars with a bit of slapback ( Nanook of the Norths song the Explorer is a good example )
I have a couple of different other toy speakers and hearing aids that I use to add more room to a sonic environment or simply to change and give sounds more edge and/or character.
Stephan in Blanc, guitarr - bacon and eggs. Hold the spam.
Nobles Bass distortion
Type of pedal : Bass distortion with EQ.
Controls: Distortion, Volume and then EQ (low, mid, high)
Description : A couple of years back the music store Jam must have made a terrible mistake while ordering. Because all of a sudden these distortion pedals cost 170 kronor (less than 25 dollars), new. This might sound like a reasonable price for those little toy-ish Danelectro pedals but this pedal has seen a lot of usage at Roth Händle.
As usual it hasn't been used too much for its designated purpose but for other things. I was playing with Andreas & jag and Reminder at the time of the Nobles pedal blow-out at Jam and there always seemed to be a need for added bass distortion. I used on the Oberheim DX live and I know that Tobias Ljungkvist (bassplayer of Reminder) used it on the Taurus pedals live to give a more exaggerated distortion. Distorting bass live always seemed to be a problem. My two main bassplayers, Mats Lundgren and Tobias seemed to be alternating between three pedals a Dod Bass grunge (sounded decent enough but broke in no time), The Buffalo Pfuz (still works and still sounds great) and then the Nobles Bass distortion.
But I must admit that my favourite use of the Nobles always was using it on a miked potdrum live with Andreas & jag. No mid…just high and low and loads of distortion. It could make the potdrum sound like the drummers of Burundi playing Einsturzende Neubauten covers. Extremely dark, heavy and unique.
We used on drums as well but not to the same extent as the potdrum. On the Pineforest Crunch song “ Queen of the 90´s “ (available to download from the site) the whole second verse is just the bass drum mic going through the nobles. Generally it sounds wonderful on bassy rhythmic stuff…like bass drums.
One interesting detail is that there is an output for a remote…which I find slightly odd considering the fact that isn't that big to start with and that a remote pedal would probably cost more than the nobles…
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