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. Dr. Z is a giant in the amplification world and his pedal selections reflect what he uses to test his hand-built amps. If you are not familiar with Dr. Z Amplification 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. DR. Z – Z-Drive Germaninum/Mosfet Overdrive
“It’s a two-channel pedal. Jamie’s Stillman from Earthquaker and I put it together and it’s a nice drive pedal. It has an active EQ so there’s treble, middle, bass and there is gain and level for the two channels. One of the channels has germanium diodes so you know, it kind of has that Centaur kind of action happening where it’s kind of a nice overdrive pedal and not so much of a distortion pedal. And on the other side is an op-amp so it does have quite a bit of drive or distortion. It works great with my amps!“
Check out the DR. Z – Z-Drive Germaninum/Mosfet Overdrive
2. Strymon – Flint Tremolo/Reverb
“I love this pedal. Being an amp designer, trying to build reverb circuits and into amps you know—I used to have a full head of hair before I designed my first reverb. The reverb tubs are just such poor quality nowadays and to try to find a good one is tough. Making a good sounding built-in reverb is difficult but not impossible of course, but keeping the consistency is the goal so I just plug the Flint into it. When I test my amps, I kind of use the Flint as kind of my basis to see how well the effects loop is working in that specific model. And it’s just great. You know, and I love the trem, the three selections of different reverb types is very nice, very natural. It’s just an excellent design. Probably the best reverb pedal that I have found and having a nice trem along with it is certainly a plus.”
Check out the Strymon – Flint Tremolo/Reverb
3. Dallas Arbiter – Fuzz Face Silver
“It’s actually a germanium fuzz face pedal and it’s one that I’ve just always loved. It seemed like in the days that I collected them, the silver ones always sounded the best for some reason or another. I don’t know why though, maybe it was just in my head. The silver ones were always cool—you were able to dial that pedal in to just give you kind of a moderate kind of boost or slight overdrive that was very natural sounding. Or you can drive it and get that clipped fuzz tone from satisfaction or whatever or you can get a heavy saturated Hendrix like fuzz sound out of it. I liked its versatility and I liked it as a precursor to the simpler overdrive pedals that came later on. The germanium fuzz face has always had a special place in my heart.”
Check out the Dallas Arbiter – Fuzz Face Silver
4. Earthquaker Devices – Tone Job
“God is it a great pedal! Jamie designed this pedal to go at the end of your pedalboard as kind of a catchall active EQ pedal that allowed you to adjust your overall tone before it goes into your amplifier. And, and It is just such a great sounding pedal, even by itself. To me, it was just such a great shaping device to give just a little bit overdrive and then tonal control of treble, middle of bass, and just in such a correct amount. So, you know, you can either use it at the end of your pedalboard to kind of do a final adjustment to your sound or, just as a standalone, kind of a nice little lead boost. Believe me guys, you pick up a Tone Job and I think you’ll be impressed.“
Check out the Earthquaker Devices – Tone Job
Huge thanks to DR. Z for being a guest on our show and please check out Dr. Z Amplification. We wish him continued success!