Akai is taking a big step into the guitar effects pedal market with the announcement of their Analog Custom Shop line: a collection of 10 pedals that aim for ’boutique’ sound at an affordable price. Building on the success of the E2 Head Rush delay, the Analog Custom Shop pedals feature true-bypass switching and mirror-polished metal chassis at a price range from $100-$200.
The lineup includes some of the usual suspects: Compressor, Chorus, Flanger, Analog Delay, Blues Overdrive, and Phase Shifter. However, Akai has done a bit of tweaking to add extra versatility to the Tri-Mode Overdrive, Deluxe Distortion, Tri-Mode Fuzz, and Tri-Mode Distortion.
The ‘Tri-Mode’ pedals have a three-way switch that allow you choose which distortion circuit to use: flick the switch up for a diode circuit, down for an LED circuit, and the center position will give you a combo of the two. The Deluxe Distortion (pictured below) gives you additional tonal variety with a three-way EQ toggle, in addition to the adjustable frequency knobs, that shapes the input to the distortion circuit. Expect to see all 10 of these all-analog pedals available soon. –Mike Bauer
2 comments
Darsen says:
Mar 4, 2011
These pedals look almost exactly like Biyang pedals. Here is a link on Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&rh=n%3A11091801%2Ck%3ABiyang&page=1
Matt says:
May 31, 2011
They are the same as the Biyang pedals. And the GFS pedals. And countless other Ebay specials… my roomate has the delay, branded as Eagletone.
They sound decent, but the first one shipped with a broken switch, so they sent him another which lasted about 3 months.
http://www.guitarfetish.com/GFS-Guitar-Pedals-_c_207.html
http://www.amazon.com/Eagletone-Delay-Pedal/dp/B002LU18DA
They also have a DPDT switch so I don’t think they’re actually true bypass… don’t you need a 3PDT?