Guitar World - 2008 - Lizard Leg Effects

SOUNDCHECK
the gear in review
Buddy’s
signature
polka dots
cover the
glassy black
wah and
custom
rubber
footpad.
BUDDY LOVE
Dunlop BG-95 Buddy Guy Signature Wah
BY ERIC KIRKLAND
B
UDDY GUY IS one of the original
wild men of the guitar, a true
living link between modern
rock and Delta blues. This Grammy
Award–winning Muddy Waters disciple, former Chess Records artist and
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee is
the man who served as Hendrix’s primary influence and who Clapton once
called “the best guitar player alive.”
Guy’s credentials also include recognition as one of the first blues players
to recognize the wah’s potential and
master it as a vocal instrument. His
new Dunlop BG-95 Cry Baby Signature Wah was one of the most talked
about wah pedals at the January 2008
NAMM show, and after months of anticipation, I have finally had a chance
to give it a thorough test.
FEATURES
ONE LOOK AT those polka dots and you
know whose wah this is. Hearing it tells
you just as much—after all, Dunlop has
built custom Cry Baby wahs for Buddy
since the late Eighties. As part of the
custom mods, Dunlop developed a special circuit that combats the nastiest of
Chicago’s well-known Radio Frequency
Interference (RFI). This is so effective
that Dunlop now employs it as a standard part of all Cry Baby circuits.
The wah’s meaty tone and long
throw is designed around a Dunlopexclusive red Fasel inductor, a Hot Potz
potentiometer and a set of midrangeexpanding resistor values. A sidemounted “toe” switch allows players to
find their own favorite midrange peaks
with either the howling Buddy Guy
mode or a bottom-rich Deep setting.
PERFORMANCE
THE COMBINATION OF an extremely
wide midrange and a long sweep
results in a wah with absolutely no
“dead” spots. The BG-95 would be
compatible with all kinds of tones,
from spanking clean to excessive
high-gain. Bass notes are dense and
full, and the highs are round rather
than piercing or noisy. The quack is
strong but less exaggerated than the
Hendrix wah’s sharp snap. In the
Buddy Guy setting, the wah makes its
most exciting tones through an airy
upper midrange. It sounds more like
a long moaning “waaah” than a baby’s
head-splitting cry. Deep mode uses
thick low mids to create a throaty language of “wow” and “whoa” sounds,
which gives low strings and detuned
guitars a fresh voice.
The “toe” switch lets
you select Guy’s custom
tones or a sultry Deep
mode.
DUNLOP BG-95
BUDDY GUY SIGNATURE
WAH PEDAL
LIST PRICE: $365.55
MANUFACTURER:
Dunlop Manufacturing,
Inc., jimdunlop.com
FEATURES AND
CONTROLS: Sidemounted “toe” switch
selects between the
Buddy Guy mode and a
bellowing Deep mode
CONNECTIONS: In
mono, out mono
CIRCUITRY: Analog,
with true bypass
POWER: Nine volts from
battery or adaptor
ON
DISC
THE BOTTOM LINE
BUDDY GUY’S FANS are likely to find
that this wah’s glowing tones and motif satisfies their quest for the dream
wah, but rockers and metalheads are
also well advised to sample this wah’s
chunky tone. This is one of those
exceptional instruments that offers
something for everyone. ✺
BUZZ BIN NEW, HIP AND UNDER THE RADAR
MILLER’S TIME
Lizard Leg Effects Flying Dragon boost pedal
SCORES OF DESIGNERS
have tried their
hand at creating a
clean boost pedal.
Computer specialist
Steve Miller built his
unique solution into a
pedal called the Flying
Dragon. A generous dollop of epoxy
conceals the Dragon’s
core components, but
the circuit’s massive
capacitors hint at the
pedal’s huge dynamic
capacity. Ultra-neat
wiring and outstanding craftsmanship
162
demonstrate Miller’s
talent and passion for
perfection. There’s no
battery option; the
current of a Boss-style
nine-volt power supply is required to light
this lizard’s fire.
The Flying Dragon’s
performance is dictated largely by the
strength and style of
the incoming signal.
With passive singlecoils and moderately
powered humbuckers,
the Dragon boosts the
signal with the clarity
GU I TA R WOR L D
of a forensic microscope. Active pickups
and hot humbuckers
can excite the Dragon
into boutique-quality
overdrive that’s on
par with the superdefined gain found in
some of the world’s
most expensive amplifiers.
All types of
stringed instrument
players are flocking
to this new pedal,
because whether you
dial in a transparent
volume increase or
use it to accelerate the front-end
distortion, the
Flying Dragon
leaves your instrument’s base
tone, and its
feel, unchanged.
—Eric Kirkland
LIZARD LEG EFFECTS
FLYING DRAGON BOOST
LIST PRICE: $179.00
(shipping included)
MANUFACTURER:
Lizard Leg Effects,
lizardlegeffects.com
PRO
CON
VERSATILE AND SMOOTH;
DUAL WAH SETTINGS
LEDS CONFUSINGLY
STAY LIT WHEN WAH
IS BYPASSED
PLAYING
THE
MARKET
CONFESSIONS
OF A VINTAGE
GEAR WHORE
RARE SPARES
A 1961 Gibson ES-350
Byrdland PAF pickup,
yours for $1,895
IF YOU HAVE even one beloved vintage guitar,
you’ve probably had to buy original parts for
it at one time or another. You know the story:
you bought an amazing 1967 ES-335 from some
dude on eBay who swapped out the original
top-hat knobs for speed knobs and cracked one
of the pickup rings. Or you need some original
spacers for your 1957 Telecaster.
For years, collectors in this situation had to
cross their fingers and pray that the original
parts they needed would eventually turn up.
But as the vintage guitar market blew up over
the past decade, a few enterprising individuals began foraging for New Old Stock parts
and harvesting everything but the finish from
beat-to-death and modified-beyond-salvage
guitars. As a result, it’s now possible for an
eBayer to find virtually any original part he
needs from any model or year of standard
production model guitars.
One of the best-stocked sellers I’ve found
is the eBay store The Parts Drawer (user name:
thepartsdrawer). Among the items being
offered at press time were the wiring harness
from a 1957 Les Paul (complete with pots, caps
and jack, $1,795), a 1953 Telecaster/Esquire
bridge with saddles ($2,395), a harmonicastyle bridge for a 1972 SG ($39), the Bakelite
backplate from a 1955 Stratocaster ($379), a
Fifties-era Epiphone New Yorker pickup ($299),
and many other mouthwatering delicacies, including pickup spacers for a ’57 Tele ($199). All
of the store’s items are offered at Buy It Now
prices, eliminating the nail-biting countdown
that usually accompanies auctions.
Of course, prices like these might make
you think your vintage guitar is worth more in
parts than in completely restored condition.
And you might just be right. —Curly Maple