What are your four ‘must-have’ pedals? That is what we ask our guests to share with you in our Four On the Floor podcast segment. Tom is a bit of a unique pedal builder in that he doesn’t build from a need to make a guitar sound, but to create a sound that he just wants to hear. If you are not familiar with Cooper FX do yourself a favor and check them out. He gave us a fantastic interview too! You can hear the episode for yourself right here. Check out these choices for his Four On The Floor.
1. TC Electronic – Ditto X2 Looper
“I like the second footswitch for all the effects you can add to it. You can do that reverse thing you can do to slow down to stop. I use that pedal all the time just because when I’m testing something, it’s wildly impractical to have a guitar in your lap layer plugging in and plugging out. So I’ve got the Ditto X 2 constantly going when I’m testing pedals. When I sit down and play music, it is always through the Ditto. I just love layering, you know, a little guitar here, a little guitar there, when you’re messing around with it for a while you can get lost that one pedal.“
Check out the TC Electronic – Ditto X2 Looper
2. Montreal Assembly – Count To Five Delay
“Montreal Assembly is one of those companies that I’ve always looked up to. They do the coolest stuff and they did it way before anyone else is doing weird stuff. Like, man, it was probably like eight years ago, I got this NASA attribute, which was like an arpeggiator pedal they put out. And that was wild, but at the time and still would be wild. The Count To Five is special. I think it marks a really important moment in guitar pedal culture. Maybe it’s kind of this instance where you say, okay, this is a really weird effect and this is really becoming something people want to use. I mean, you just see how wildly popular it was and just so unique from the way they market, the way they, they sell. The way I do things, a lot is owed to that pedal and the style it sparked. So that’s a really important pedal for me. Aside from being so interesting and fun to mess around with, it’s just an important part of me.“
Check out the Montreal Assembly – Count To Five Delay
3. Dr. Scientist – The Atmosphere Reverb
“It’s one of those pedals when you first get it, it’s just beautiful and you’re just like wowed by the quality behind it even before you plug it in and they just make fun pedals. That’s kind of the magic behind Dr. Scientist. For example, on this pedal, It’s got this screen and you hold a button down and you turn on a game to play on the pedal. I don’t know how useful that is– probably not useful, but it’s just fun and it sounds great. It’s got so many features! it’s something that I really look up to and strive to make something like, and Ryan from Dr. Scientist is a buddy of mine and he’s so cool. He’s so open and I was sharing ideas and I think that’s kind of his openness with me has helped me be open with other people and share ideas. And I think that that’s really important, especially in some way creative where we’re all kind of hobbyists and this industry. ”
Check out the Dr. Scientist – The Atmosphere Reverb
4. Chase Bliss – Thermae Analog Delay / Harmonizer
“I know it’s not really considered a pedal but I really liked using a reverb unit, it’s been a staple in the rig. I’m kind of just a purist in that way I guess. Uh, I really love the sound of them. I’ve got a Princeton reverb and old silver face and, you know, I haven’t really found anything that I like better. I think only the Fender Reverb unit has just that super wet splashy, just, you know, ricochet off the wall sound, and that’s the sound I really like, kind of like it’s going to explode.“
Check out the Fender – Chase Bliss – Thermae Analog Delay / Harmonizer
Huge thanks to Tom for being a guest on our show and please check out Cooper FX We wish him continued success!