So far 2013 has been a fantastic year for us and I believe the global economy is on the up and up. We’ve been lucky enough to have in and sell a bunch of beautiful pre CBS Fender instruments, 60s Vox AC30s, a plethora of stunning and clean Blackface era Fender amps, some of the finest Gibson Custom Shop instruments I’ve laid eyes on, and even a pedal or two. Some of these amazing instruments and pedals have gone to local Seattle-ites and some have gone in a box halfway around the globe to a new, welcoming home. Speaking of pedals, this year we have been fortunate enough to team up with some of the coolest and most innovative brands in the pedal industry such as JHS, Catalinbread, Earthquaker Devices, Walrus Audio, and most recently Fuzzrocious. I am absolutely honored to carry these brands in our store and love turning our customers onto cool new companies that they may not have heard of yet.

If you’ve been in the shop in the last few months I’m sure you have met Chris Thomas, our guitar tech. Chris hails from Blue Springs Missouri and moved out to Seattle late last year. He got his start at Seuf’s Gutiars in Independence Missouri and since starting at TRG has honed his skills and gets to work on some really cool guitars. Since Chris has joined the TRG team, we are now offering guitar repairs at very fair rates. Need a set-up or tone suggestion? Stop by and have a chat with Chris, he loves to talk guitars!

So what lies ahead for TRG in 2013? As more and more cool guitars and amplifiers make their way in and out of the shop it has become apparent that we are quickly running out of floor space in the store. Fear not, we will continue to find nooks and corners to display each piece and maybe at some point we will end up in a larger store-front in West Seattle….Ya never know! Later this summer we will be expanding our normal hours of operation, so if you’ve had a tough time catching us while we’re open I can assure with our new hours you should be able to stop in and check out a cool guitar or amp, no problem. Word on the street is that we have a 1953 Fender Esquire and 1952 Gibson Les Paul coming in soon so keep your eyes on the website.

Again, thank you for a fantastic 2013. We’ve had the pleasure of doing business with some outstanding people all over the world this year and I greatly look forward to continuing to find, and sell some of the finest guitars and amplifiers Seattle has to offer.

Stay gold,

- Frank gross

In addition to being used as a straight delay, straight reverb, rhythmic delay, modulated delay and old school tape-style echo, the Disaster Transport SR can also be used to create a wide variety of wild sounds ranging from warped records, clanging flange, smooth chorus, echoed out squalls and various other-worldly effects that will blow your mind, man. If you are a fan of old school tape delay and crazy lo-fi sounds, you will get hours of enjoyment every time you plug into the Disaster Transport Sr.

Hand made one at a time in sunny Akron, Ohio USA.
Delay A Controls

Time- Controls the delay time from about 30ms up to 600ms.

Repeats- Controls how many regenerations of the signal there are. This ranges from one single repeat through an endless wash into self oscillation. This can also be controlled via an expression pedal. The Moog EP-2 is recommended.

Mix- Level control for the wet signal. Unity is around center, anything above is boosted. Boosting this works great when using a distorted signal. Please keep in mind this is a gain control, a bit of hiss is normal when it’s above unity.

Depth- Controls the intensity of the modulation. From no modulation to all out seasick pitch bends.

Rate- Controls the rate of the modulation. The LED for delay A flashes in time with the modulation to visually show where the rate is set.

Bleed- This feeds delay A into delay B, post reverb (see block diagram for vi- sual explanation). Use this control for series or series/parallel operation to create rhythmic repeats, extra long delay time or an all out echo wash. This can also be controlled via an expression pedal. The Moog EP-2 is recommended. When using the bleed, experiment with the repeat controls on each delay line. Try using them in different settings, both together and individually, for different timing and textures.
Delay B Controls

Reverb- ontrols the amount of reverb added to the input of delay B.

Mix- Level control for the wet signal. Unity is around center, anything above is boosted. Boosting this works great when using a distorted signal. Please keep in mind this is a gain control, a bit of hiss is normal when it’s above unity.

Repeats- Controls how many regenerations of the signal there are. This ranges from one single repeat through an endless wash into self oscillation.

Time- Controls the delay time from about 30ms up to 300ms.

What’s new in the Dirty Little Secret:

• The DLS now offers two distinct voicings, “Super Lead” and “Super Bass” switchable via an internal slider switch.

• Completely redesigned full three-knob treble-middle-bass tone control complement that reconfigures for each mode setting.

• We’ve also added an internal presence trimmer that allows you to fine-tune the presence of the pedal precisely to your guitar and amp combination.

• The gain range is much wider and even more responsive to pickup types, playing dynamics and instrument volume knob!

The “Super Lead” mode expands the range of the DLS MkII with more gain available and more control over your tone sculpting with the addition of the midrange control without losing any of the touch-sensitive dynamic qualities that made the MkII so great to play – in fact, those qualities have been enhanced. The gain range now goes from classic plexi all the way to modified JCM800 levels and can get even more raw and open than any previous DLS. This mode was voiced specifically to make humbucker-equipped guitars really rock with clean to scream all from the twist of your guitar’s volume knob.

The “Super Bass” mode is a new voicing that gives you the tone and gain structure of a Marshall Super Bass (which is very similar to a JTM45 or JTM50/100). This mode was voiced to really hone in on that elusive in-between “not quite clean, not quite dirty” response that old tube amps were so good at getting. And it was specifically voiced to make fuzz pedals sound great (especially two-transistor based fuzzes like the fuzz face). Plug a Strat into a Fuzz Face into the new DLS in SB mode and you’ll see what we mean!

The Montavillian Echo utilizes the PT2399 chip, one of the more common delay chips used in modern delays, however, rather than slavishly following the datasheet, we threw it out and ventured out on our own, using our ears to guide us, and what we achieved is a fantastic sounding delay, with a slew of sounds in a small, easy to use footprint.

The Montavillian Echo is a “companderless” echo… This is a critically important part of the Montavillian Echo’s character. So many companded echos have unattractive repeats, they sorta bubble, chirp, and become messy as the repeats get quieter… The effect ruins the illusion of SPACE and ambience. The Montavillian has no compounding, therefore the echos trail off almost forever over the horizon, disappearing into the ether rather than crash landing back to earth. The resulting echos function to provide a sonic soup, a bed of ambience to play over. The illusion of space and size that the Montavillian provides, makes it one of the few stompboxes that comes close to those big old tube echos.

Headroom and stacking abilities, often short comings of echos. We’ve run the Montavillian into all of our amps clean and cranked (Hiwatt, AC30, 5E3, Super Reverb, Blues Jr. etc.) we’ve also stacked it before our dirt pedals. We’ve even slammed it with numerous fuzzes and overdrives. The Montavillian handles it all with no effort. Should you need even more headroom the Montavillian can be run at 18V.

Don’t be fooled by the simple 4 knob arrangement. Each knob has a great amount of range, making this seemingly simple delay very versatile.

The “TIME” knob allows for a wide range of delay times, ranging from around 60ms all the way up to over 600ms max time.

The “CUT” knob is a really neato control that I haven’t seen before on an echo. It’s function is to sweep from about 400Hz to about 1500Hz, lowpass filter… When the knee sweeps to the high side it gives a nice little bump in the mids right before the subtle fall off. Tuning this knob allows you to sweep from old school BBD dark filtering to a clear repeat. It gives you the power to adjust your echoes so that they sit in the mix perfectly against your dry signal. This control also functions to EQ the tonality of self-oscillations.

The “MIX” knob is traditional in the way it mixes into your dry path the amount of echo. What is not traditional the amount of boost it permits you to add… So many echo pedals out there you can hardly tune the repeat to unity with the gain. This is not at all the case with the Montavillian Echo! You can make your repeats much louder than the dry signal. This comes in really handy for short repeats for a dramatic doubling effect as well as self oscillation freakouts.

The “REPEATS” knob feeds signal from the output of the delay line to the input. This control allows for a single repeat all the way to self oscillation.

The Catalinbread Echorec has 12 programs which allow for all combinations of the 4 delay heads (something the original was never capable of.) The original also has a fixed speed, and thus a fixed delay time, while the Catalinbread Echorec can go from 40ms-1000ms. The repeats give you the ability for a single repeat or can go into spaceship feedback. The tone control is very useful, able to be tonally flat or dark and resonant on one side or bright and bubbly on the other. The mix allows for 100% wet or dry signal. Inside the pedal you have the ability to run in true-bypass or trails mode, as well as a trimmer for gain and modulation.

Not only is the Catalinbread Echorec extremely versatile in its controls, the audio path was designed to be big, lush, and even more dynamic in its feel than the original. We’ve always designed pedals with this thought in mind, and continue to make effects that are extensions of your instrument rather than mere boxes at your feet.

Available in S, M, L, XL, XXL

Price includes shipping to the lower 48. International shipments will be more.

Attn (Attenuate)
This control should normally be set full counter-clockwise. For best tone
and response, only attenuate when you’ve got the Gain and Body knobs
really cranking and need to reduce the output some.

Gain
This control increases the gain for more fuzz, harmonics, and uppermidrange
frequency boost. It is voiced to be usable throughout its range
from minimum all the way to maximum.

Body
This control increases the bass response as well as making the octave more
prominent. Like the Gain knob, it also increases output and harmonic
content. Technically, it is a negative-feedback loop with variable frequency
response. But let’s not dwell on technicals…. this is another MOAR knob!
To get the best feel for what this knob does, set it at minimum and then
slowly bring it up as you thump the low E string on your guitar. You’ll
hear (and feel!) the low end thump increase as you turn up the Body.

At Catalinbread we love the RAH performance, but we hadn’t considered the possibility of capturing it to put into a pedal… One day our friend Charlie got ahold of Catalinbread’s chief circuit designer Howard Gee to ask if we could do it. Charlie said that he’d been trying to get this tone for years and told Howard, if anybody could do it would be Catalinbread. Having proven his ability to capture the essence and experience of famous amplifiers, Howard began experimenting with what is now the RAH.

This overdrive effects pedal features the specific three-knob tone circuit straight from the custom “Jimmy Page” model Hiwatt. Like most traditional amp EQ circuits, the knobs are interactive, meaning turning one can alter the behavior of the other. The magic is getting the Mid and Bass controls dialed in together. Tweak those until you get the right tone for your guitar and amp. You’ll notice that the Treble knob is fairly subtle, adding a bit of bite as it is turned up. If you scoop the Mid and turn up the Bass however, the Treble knob will seem a lot more active.

The RAH is designed to deliver guitarists an incredible dynamic range that responds to picking hand and/or volume knob. Like a good amplifier the RAH is VERY uncompressed, which means there is little to “hide behind”. This pedal is for players who appreciate the rewards and experience of a WIDE dynamic response. Plug the RAH into a clean(ish) tube amplifer, leave the pedal on all the time accessing clean tones by rolling back your guitar’s volume knob, or turn it on and off as your “gain channel”. We’re including a HERCO pick, use the nubby edge for chirpy articulation.

The Callisto’s small size and elegant, versatile feature set make it a great addition to any pedalboard. The Callisto is powered using a 9v negative tip DC power supply or 9V battery, is true bypass, and integrates various highest quality components to achieve the best tonal response possible. Catalinbread utilizes an old school MN3007 bucket brigade chip, just like early chorus pedals, and uses an audiophile Burr Brown OPA2134 chip in the audio path to give the Callisto a natural feel and dynamic playability.

Features:
• Optical compression with complete control over Tone, Attack, Release, Level, Sustain/Compression, and Ratio.

• Powered by a standard 9v adapter and internally boosted up to 18v for more precision, dynamics, and headroom.

• Handmade with high quality metal film resistors, capacitors and an audiophile grade OPA2134 opamp.

Time: Controls the delay time, from 0ms to nearly 2000ms
Repeats: Controls the regeneration of the delayed signal. Also acts as a enhancer for the reverb. In reverb mode this will control the thickness, decay, depth and overall nature of the reverb.
Reverb: Controls the reverb mix
Mix: Controls the over all level of the effected signal
To use as a reverb only, turn the time control all the way down and adjust the reverb and mix controls to taste. In this mode, the repeats control can be used to enhance the thickness, decay, depth and overall nature of the reverb. With the reverb control at it’s maximum setting, the repeats control will gradually overload the effect at higher settings.

To use as a delay only, turn the reverb control all the way down and adjust the time, repeats and mix controls to taste.

The joystick controls make the Janus a great option for guitars, vocals, keys, or tracks.

Up: Level control for the octave up.
Down: Level control for the octave down.
Choir: This control takes a mix of the octave up and octave down setting and regenerates it. The end result is an additional 2 octaves up, 2 octaves down and direct signal with a slight delay that adds a “church organ” like feel. This control only works if the octave up and octave down are in use.
Direct: Level control for the analog dry signal.
Tone: Low pass filter for the wet signal, counter clockwise rolls off the high end.
Lag: Delay control for the wet signal. Full counter clockwise is minimal delay, delay time increases as it rotates clockwise.

Specs:
-NOS PIO (New Old Stock Paper In Oil) capacitors
-Handwired Construction
-Quality High Tolerance CTS Pots (Hand Metered & Matched)
-Durable Turquoise powdercoated finish
-Davies knobs
-USA Switchcraft jacks
-3PDT True Bypass Footswitch
-Hand picked and matched parts for tone and durability
-Power: Standard 9 volt DC power supply with a negative center 2.1mm barrel, NO internal battery option.

* There is no audible difference between the hoof pictured and the previous gold box version. The circuit is EXACTLY the same.

Like all analog octave effects, there are some basic rules to follow that will get you the most enjoyment from your Bit Commander. Use the neck pickup and play single notes. The best tracking occurs from the 7th fret up on all the strings. Below the 7th will still track but there will be occasional glitches and stutters. The lower the note, the harder it is for the Bit Commander to register. The use of Bass and lower registers on keyboards will yield unexpected, sometimes pleasing, sometimes disgusting results. These are not mistakes or flaws, it is the nature of analog octaves.
Controls

Sub: Two octaves down level
Down 1: One octave down level
Up 1: One octave up level
Base: Squared input signal level
Level: Master volume
Filter: Tone control, more highs clockwise, more warmth counter clockwise

Analog, true bypass and hand made one at a time in the republic of Akron Ohio.

The most famous pedal in the world, no really…. The TS808 Tubescreamer Overdrive, created by Ibanez/Maxon, has seen many revisions throughout the years, but we believe that the original 808 version stands the test of time. The Tubescreamer has literally been cloned, copied, modified and tweaked beyond belief for one reason…it rocks!

This is the EXACT same 808 in our Sweet Tea and Double Barrel that we have been making for several years! Check out those demo’s for some examples of this pedal in action. The only difference between the JHS 808 single pedal and the Sweet Tea/Double Barrel is that the JHS 808 single pedal can run at 18v.

This is our replica of the original version based on the original 808 with the only difference primarily being our custom 3 way gain toggle that let’s you choose from stock (down), boost (middle) and crunch (up). Made with high grade components, true bypass switching, high quality construction and the sacred JRC4558 chipset covered in the dust of unicorn hooves. We are convinced that this screamer replica does what it should better than anything on the market.

With the gain below 50% it is a low grit overdrive that even Hendrix would be proud of. When you get into the upper half of the gain knob you will find a new world of natural, crunchy bite that just can’t be found anywhere else. Max it out and you will be in high gain, overdrive heaven. The Presence knob lets you roll of the perfect amount of shimmer for an unprecedented compatibility with almost any amp. This unit can cover a lot of ground and we can almost guarantee that you won’t be adding this one to your “unusable dirt box list” that you’ve accumulated over the years.

Mini Foot…Big Fuzz.

The JHS SuperBolt overdrive pedal, at its heart, is a discreet circuit, designed to emulate the tone and character of the 1960’s-era Supro® amps. From its touch-sensitivity to the way the pedal sags with tube rectifier color at higher gain settings, the SuperBolt will give any guitar rig a versatile and useful new set of tones, reminiscent of some of the greatest sounds ever recorded. With 3 simple knob controls named Volume, Tone, and Drive, you will have the ability to make any guitar rig drip with vintage soul and attitude that no pedal has ever delivered- until now.

To understand how the SuperBolt operates, let’s begin with the Drive knob. As you turn up the Drive, it’s like turning the volume knob on one of these small-box vintage amps; the more you turn it up, the dirtier it gets. Next, the Volume knob acts like what some would call a master volume. None of the vintage Supro® amps had this control, but it works perfectly for letting the SuperBolt get the dirty cranked-volume tones with the Drive knob and then backing down the loudness factor with the Volume knob. The third knob is the Tone control, fairly true to the designs in many of these vintage amps. Our Tone control will serve as a breath of fresh air to all of you who are tired of the unusable and treble-ridden tone controls out there. All the way up, it is a biting and sharp tone that is extremely usable and easy on the ears; all the way back, you will find a dark but well-focused range of tones, useful for jazz and more subtle styles.

The Hi/Low toggle switch lets you toggle between Hi and Low gain settings, much like the High/Low input jacks found on many of the amps of the 50’s and 60’s. In the down (Hi) position, you’ll find huge amounts of headroom, more upper mids, more available dirt, and the most rock and roll that the pedal can offer. In the up (Low) position, cleaner sounds are available and a slightly darker and more mellow tone. The SuperBolt runs on a basic 9v supply, but internally it converts that 9v to 18v, for massive punch, headroom, and its overall powerful character. Do not attempt to power the SuperBolt with a 18v power supply.

You will notice that the overall tone is open and full, without the compression found in many overdrives on the market. It will compliment a more compressed drive beautifully, and it stacks well with everything we have tried- and we’ve tried a lot. If you love boosting your amp into natural overdrive, you have never heard anything do this like the SuperBolt. It will literally make any amp into a fire-breathing dirt machine. If you want a classic tool for your guitar rig that can handle any style you throw at it, the SuperBolt is for you. We believe this is a truly unique pedal in a world full of overdrives; get a taste of something different today!

We start by giving you an extra LED for the rate speed that stays on even when the pedal is in bypass. This allows a constant monitor on your speed. The next thing we do is add a second footswitch that allows you to alternate between two independently controlled speed knobs! This is like having two tremolos in one enclosure. The knobs are located over a third LED that is always on as well. When the LED is red it means you have the red speed knob activated and when it’s green… You guessed it; you have the green knob activated.

On V2′s you will see a small red switch inside the pedal on the circuit board. Flip this switch down for slower speed ranges or keep it up for the stock speed range.

As you may already know, almost every boutique overdrive on the market is a modified Tubescreamer of some sort; we have decided to take a different approach.

The Morning Glory is a very transparent tone-shaping tool that is the result of several years of building, gigging, tweaking and improving on the original Marshal Bluesbreaker design. We improved vastly on the BB while maintaining what made it a great pedal in the first place. It now has around 4X more headroom, 2X the available gain, and a more useful tone control. The “Bright Cut” toggle allows the perfect level of EQ for your rig.

You will notice immediately how touch sensitive and dynamic the feel of this pedal is. The frequencies are perfectly balanced and the tone knob reacts as a high frequency roll off. The drive allows you a huge range of tones from “little wing-ish” chime to classic rock era bite. If you’re a Strat player, this pedal will bring you sounds that you may have thought impossible. If you like the Les Paul, get ready to discover a new pallet of sounds that you won’t be able to live without.

With enough clean headroom to be used as a boost as well as a hefty amount of drive, this may be your go-to pedal for good.

As you may have guessed by our suave design, we based this comp off of a certain vintage design made famous back in the day. Most compressors you see are based off of the Ross/MXR design that yield very squashed high end and a lack of upper end clarity and definition. The Pulp n Peel is not. With the PnP you will find that your guitar’s natural color and attack stay in place instead of being forced under a hard and un-transparent squash. Another advantage is its low noise floor and super headroom that allows it to be used as a boost in front of or behind your favorite overdrive/distortion or fuzz. The PnP excels in the fields of blues, jazz, funk and classic rock because of its natural transparency and cooperation with single coils as well as humbuckers. The controls are as simple as it gets with compression, volume and a clean blend knob to dial in your original untouched signal. The idea behind our design is that you will never want to turn it off, and if your looking for the perfect “leave-on” compressor that will make your rig sound like a million bucks, then look no further. Once you have experienced what it does to your rig, you will never be the same.

The gain knob has an unbelievable range of overdrive to head-on heavy grind and the tone knob actually has a solid range unlike many distortions on the market. The additional presence knob adds a versatility and tweaking ability that transforms any amp into a fire breathing monster! Big classic distortion tones are what this box is all about. If you need a high gain but “realistic” sounding pedal then look no further!

This super small 1.5″x3.5″ booster can do what needs to be done no matter what the task. If you need a little magic in your life, look no further!
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Many of the guitars we’ve acquired this year have come from all over the world, from collectors, musicians, friends, and other shops. One of my favorite things about this job is taking an instrument that someone is getting ready to move along and putting it into the hands of someone who will love, cherish, and most importantly make music and art with it. Make no mistake, the guitars that are worn and played are the ones with life, miles, and songs in them. Those are the ones used to make that next big song, or used to record the record that will break a band. As much as I love clean & mint examples, I really love the ones with battle-scars and stories to tell.

In October we took a huge step and opened a showroom storefront for Thunder Road Guitars in the heart of West Seattle, WA. This was my ultimate plan for the company, but I really did not see it happening so fast. To say the least I am grateful for each and every person who has stepped foot in our store, bought a guitar from us or sold us a guitar, checked out our website, or liked us on Facebook. Without you none of this would be possible. I am ecstatic to see what 2013 and the years to come will hold for us, and am even more excited to see what guitars will come our way this next year – and I can’t wait to put them in the hands of a new owner.

Thanks for a great 2012,

- Frank Gross, owner and founder of Seattle’s Thunder Road Guitars

Features:

True-Bypass
Built-In Noise Reduction Circuitry
Fully Adjustable Volume Gain and Tone
100% Lead-Free Silver Solder
Silver Mica Caps (for cleaner highs)
Built-In 9V DC Battery Back-Up Connection(not recommended)
Locking 9V-AC to DC Power Jack (twist-lock)
Ultra Rugged Die-Cast Aluminum Chassis
Long Lasting High Quality Pots
Solid Chromed-Brass Knurled Knobs (w/pos. indicators)
Hand-Wired Using Silver wire with Teflon jacket

Includes:

30-Day Money Back Guarantee
100% Lifetime Warranty

Available in S, M, L, XL, XXL

Price includes shipping to the lower 48. International shipments will be more.

The Wampler Pedals Nirvana gives you those tones and gives you that feeling. The fat, wet and lush tones you want but just don’t seem to be made anymore in a unit that offers you variation, flexibility and control.

With the added option of switching to vibrato mode, this is so much more than just a chorus pedal. It’s a piece of history in a pedal.

Each of the voicings (Chorus or vibrato) has the option to be switched to three different depth levels so you can control the amount of chorus/vibrato exactly. Each mode, coupled with the depth and rate control, allows you to find the perfect amount of chorus or vibrato. This is what sets this pedal apart from the others, so many pedals do not have that control – they just lay it on you. Couple this with the sensitive level and tone controls and you have the exact sound you want, the sound you have heard before but never been able to find.

Wampler Pedals Nirvana, so much more than a chorus pedal.

It differs from the Pinnacle in that it is a tighter distortion, more like pre amp tube distortion where the pinnacle is a bit looser, more like power tube distortion. This difference, although hardly noticeable to your average person, is hugely important when looking for “that” sound, Never before has a pedal given that high gain tone that would appear to be pre-amp driven and power-amp driven.

I’ve noticed that some guys like play their distortion pedals that emulate Marshall tones THROUGH a Marshall. Let’s be honest – I can play a chorus pedal through a Marshall and get a very “Marshally” sounding chorus pedal… In my opinion this isn’t a fair or accurate representation of a pedal. Because of this, I record my clips and videos through everyday affordable guitars and amps in order to be as accurate as possible.

Brian Wampler is a confirmed tone fiend. He has to be, to make the kind of excellent sounding and great playing pedals Wampler Pedals is known for. He knew that his work on the Black ’65 would need to be followed up by another pedal to make the classic Fender® amplifier inspired Wampler Pedals family whole. When you go back in time, past the era that inspired the sound of the Black ‘65, you find yourself in the land of tweed, where raw, driven sounds offered guitarists new possibilities that they had never heard before, sounds that have found their way onto historic recordings. Creating a pedal that could do for the tweed amps of the mid to late 1950s what the Black ’65 does for its amps would not be an easy process, but Brian has never shied away from a challenge!

Enter the Tweed ‘57, a pedal inspired by historic Fender® amps and their magic tone, a pedal which offers a wide palette of sounds and includes several features that you’ve come to expect from Wampler Pedals as well as some surprises Brian’s cooked up just for this pedal! With a full three-band EQ voiced carefully to let you get a wide range of tones from your amp, the Tweed ‘57 is not limited to trying to achieve one particular sound. And thanks to the fantastic “Input Simulator” switch, you’ve got flexibility and control just as you’d expect on an amp from that period, with Normal, Bright, and Linked input options that cooperate with the EQ and gain adjustments to give you control that is easy to use and rewarding to play with. The pedal’s dynamic response is extraordinary, and the overdriven tone is amazing.

Play the Wampler Pedals Tweed ‘57 and you’ll understand exactly what inspired Brian to create this pedal, with a sound so characteristic and raw. Worked to perfection for his setup and yours, we bet after you experience this pedal’s historic rhythm and timeless, leaping-off-the-frets lead, you’ll be grinning, too.

Everything was great until his tech at the time, Chad, mentioned to Brian that Brad still was not quite settled on the overdrive sound he was getting from his live rig… could Wampler maybe look at making a pedal …??

Brads requirements were quite “simple”… it needs to be clean but get crunchy with some “beef” to it. It needs to have a fluid tone when soloing. I needs to add a little hair to the tone but then but then has to be able to give flat out ball busting gain, oh… but please do not wreck the tonality. It needs to have everything, in a pedal format, but do not make it sound like a pedal…!

Over a period of months, Brian made some circuits and sent them off, there were a couple of “tweaks” here and there to be made and then finally, when official “proto #2” landed it went straight into the live rack and out on the H20 world tour.

That prototype has now been made into the Brad Paisley signature “Paisley Drive” and goes with Brad wherever he goes. When you see Brad live, or performing live on the TV, and you are blown away by his overdriven tone, it’s the Paisley Drive.

The truly great thing about this pedal is that it’s not only Telecaster style guitars that it works so well with, it brings the best out of your Strat or anything you may have loaded with humbuckers. You no longer need to have individual pedals for your guitars; the Paisley Drive will make each one sing.

The inbuilt tonal controls, the presence and mid contour switches, will make this pedal the single most versatile and complete overdrive pedal you have ever owned. In fact, we believe it might be the last one you ever buy…

Brad Paisley:-

When I was growing up and learning how to play guitar there wasn’t a guitar shop in West Seattle or anything remotely close to resembling and music store. In fact the closet thing to it was a pawn shop. For as long as I can remember I always thought this area of town needed a guitar store. The musician community out west is thriving and there are tons of us over here. I guess what I’m trying to say is I am floored that there is finally a guitar shop in West Seattle and am grateful to be the fellow behind it. Stop in and see us! 3916 California Ave SW Seattle, WA 98116.

We soft open tomorrow at 10am and will be open 10am – 6pm throughout the week leading up to our grand opening Friday November 23rd.

I am thrilled to announce that next month Thunder Road Guitars will be opening the doors to our new showroom in the heart of West Seattle. If you’ve done business with us this year you probably know we have operated Thunder Road Guitars mostly online, selling instruments to folks all over the globe. This has been a blast and we’ve had the pleasure of meeting some really cool guitar fanatics, but we haven’t done a whole lot of local business. Come mid November Seattleites will have the opportunity to get the full Thunder Road experience at our showroom, where we will showcase our fine vintage and used instruments!

Opening mid November our showroom will carry a hand picked selection of fine vintage and used guitars and amplifiers, as well as new boutique guitars, amplifiers and effect pedals. We will also carry a fair selection of quality and high end accessories. Our showroom address is 3916 California Ave SW Seattle, WA 98116 and we are located a few blocks north of the West Seattle Junction. Our showroom hours will be Wednesday – Saturday 10am – 6pm and by appointment Sunday – Tuesday. The idea behind our “by appointment” days is to give local customers a chance to test drive a piece of our inventory with the store to themselves and our undivided attention. We feel this will be a great way to check out an instrument you’ve been longing for in a quiet and un-interupted environment.

Fear not out of state and international customers, our website and web presence will stay the same, as well as our 8 days a week mentality. We will continue to promote heavily online and next year we will be making some fantastic website renovations geared towards making it even easier to buy a guitar from us and to see the piece you’re looking at in as much detail as possible before buying.

Thank you so much to everyone for your support this year. If you would have told me a year ago that we would be moving into a new storefront after only 10 months of being in business I would have thought you were crazy.

Here’s to many more years and many more guitars.

- Frank Gross

In the last few years I’ve noticed a sort of resurgence in the support for locally owned businesses in my community and a bunch of new businesses opening up in the city, Thunder Road Guitars being just one of them. A few cool guitar shops, repair shops, record stores, and guitar builders have sprung up recently and I think it’s a great thing to see people do something they love and be able to work for themselves. In my business people would call this “competition” but I really don’t look at it like that. In reality with how online trade works today, the internet makes running something like a guitar shop or a record store a worldwide market. I’m assuming some of you reading this have bought a guitar from Thunder Road, and probably live in another country than the US. It’s safe to say we do a large amount of international business and we love it! Being able to ship a guitar halfway around the globe to someone and have them love it, enjoy it and make music with it is one of the best parts of this job and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

All in all I’m proud to say I live in a city that supports small business so much and I want to say thanks to the folks that help us keep doing what we love.

Click the link below

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uZ9_R_vJ7Q&list=UU2iIOD5kDL4ygBzyI_-VWRQ&index=8&feature=plcp

Moving on, I wanted to take a moment and talk about some really cool things we have in stock. The other day I un-covered a one owner 1976 Fender Telecaster Deluxe that is in fantastic condition. This thing looks like it was hardly played and is really a fantastic example of a 70s Tele Deluxe. The Wide-Range pickups that made the Deluxe, Custom, and Thinline famous really help bring this guitar to life and show you that everything Fender did in the 70s wasn’t all bad. This my friends, is a good one!

I’ve always been a fan of master volume Marshalls from the late 70s and early 80s. Right now we’re lucky enough to have 2 in stock. A ’77 JMP 2203 100 watt, and a’84 JCM 800 2204 50 watt. I say this all the time, but these amps really sound like nothing else. Many have tried to come close, make clones, etc etc. But nothing sounds like a master volume Marshall 2203 or 2204. They just have an unmistakeable sound and vibe. I love them! Get em while their here!

The weird ones, the weird ones! I have a soft spot for these Silvertone, Kay, Danelectro, and Harmony guitars and amplifiers from the 50s and 60s. Right now we have some really cool ones in stock, my favorite being the 1962 Silvertone 1429, which is a sunburst hollow-body beauty with 3 pickups, an on / off swich volume and tone for each pickup, and enough vibe to kill Chuck Norris. This thing is cool and sounds like nothing else. Don’t miss this one.

Anyhow, thanks for taking the time to read my rant. Have a great day friends, and play some guitar!

We were nearing the end of a six week run on the road and preparing for our album to hit stores in a month. The last date of our tour was in Montana and unfortunately I cannot recall the town, but I can guarantee it was small. At this point we didn’t have an album in stores and basically were playing anywhere, any chance we got. So it’s safe to say we played A LOT of small towns. But honestly, those shows were always the funnest and rowdiest. Some of the best shows I’ve played across America were the back-road VFW halls in Wyoming and 200 capacity venues in Illinois. Generally these places were only big enough to pack in a giant group of music lovers as eager to hear something new as we were to play rock shows and wake up in a new town everyday.

Anyhow, back to our story. So, we had just wrapped up our last show of the tour and were getting ready for the 12+ hour trek home to Seattle. I’m not sure how, but I got roped into doing the first shift of our long drive. On into the night we went. A few hours had passed and by this point it was well past midnight and we were speeding down a two lane highway in the backwoods of Montana, heading for I90. At this point everyone was asleep except for me and our singer at the time who was riding shotgun. We were discussing how great the tour had been and our overall excitement for the album release. Then out of nowhere appeared the biggest animal…… Well, I think I’ve ever seen.

Out of the woods and straight ahead of stood a moose as tall as our van and trailer and as wide as the two lane highway. This thing was HUGE!! I starred at it in amazement of how large this creature was, and knew if I didn’t slam on the breaks, or at least slow down this animal and us were going to collide. Luckily, we were able to slow down and honk our horn enough for this beast to leave the road and scamper off into the darkness to hang with his moose buddies.

Thankfully, both the moose and the band made it out alive, but I’ll never forget that tour, and the creature from big sky country that could’ve prematurely ended our fun of driving our the country playing shows, slinging CDs & t shirts, and some of the best years of my life.

“In 1972, when I was 16yo, Led Zeppelin came to Melbourne, Australia where I live. I had camped out to get tickets and the concert was at an arena called Kooyong Stadium. That morning, before the gig, I heard a song on the radio that just blew me away. I knew it was Zeppelin but didn’t clearly hear the title after the song had finished. I wondered if they would play it at the concert that afternoon. The tickets I had scored were five rows from the front and dead center, so I guess I had the best you could get. Zeppelin opened the gig with the Immigrant Song and then they proceeded through their early hits. Half way through the gig it started to rain and there was concern about all the electrical gear, so they did an acoustic set under cover until the rain stopped. When the rain stopped Robert Plant said to the audience that the band would now play a few songs from their new album. Because the set had been acoustic and the stadium was outdoors, the noise level in the crowd was very low. Jimmy Page started to play the intro to the new song and I leaped into the air and shouted at the top of my voice…….” Beauty….Stay Away From Heather” Being so close, he heard me……like about 1000 other people….He looked down and pointed at me and said “and this is our new release called Stairway To Heaven”. He smiled and said it slowly so that I would get it right in the future. I remember feeling like such an idiot and all the guys I went to the concert with gave me hell for years. Occasionally the story still comes up when we get together.

Cheers,
Clyde”

Later on when I got my start in vintage and used guitars I worked at a shop here in Seattle that had a booth at the guitar show every year. It was always a blast and you literally never knew what you were going to see. Whether it be another dealer with a table filled with 50s Strats or an elderly couple walking around with a cool brown Gibson Cali-Girl case looking for top dollar for their instrument from Gibson’s golden era. The shows were always a ton of work, but always a lot of fun.

2012 being Thunder Road Guitar’s first year in business it is also our first year as a dealer at the Seattle Guitar Show and I couldn’t be more excited. To have grown up going to these, and working many of them at another store, and now having a booth for my own store is really a cool thing for me and the crew. I couldn’t be happier and I’m quite excited for the show this Sunday. Hope to see ya there!

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On Wednesday I get a call from a customer who is looking to sell an “old Vox guitar”. I figured, “hey, I like old Vox amps, and their guitars are interesting, let’s take a drive to see what this fellow has”. So, off I went and after a ferry ride and another 70 miles in the car I arrived to see this Vox. Upon opening the case I realized I had a 60s Vox Ultrasonic on my hands and my eyes couldn’t believe what I saw. It looked like a 335 with a giant headstock, Bigsby like tremolo, and BUILT IN EFFECTS. That’s right, this bad boy had built in fuzz, wah, tuner, bass / treble boost, and a repeater (which sounds like tremolo). At this point I wasn’t really sure what to think. I just knew I had to plug it in. So, I plugged it in and ran it through it’s paces, and to my surprise the effects all worked and actually sounded really, really cool.

At this point I knew I HAD to have this in the shop. It was just too cool to pass up. After a long trek back to TRG headquarters I got photos together and listed this Ultrasonic and the website. Within an hour I had tons of interest and eventually a buyer. To me this shows that even the odd and funky ones have fans, and some a cult following. Honestly, sometimes these guitars are more fun to have in the shop than the more common stuff. Right now this Ultrasonic is on it’s way to France, but I’ll never forget the tones this instrument produced and sure hope to get another in the store at some point.

“I’m fond of telling this story from my early days in London…..1966, and I was only sixteen and playing in bands while I was at college. I was a paperboy back then to make ends meet. One late afternoon I pushed one through a letter box of the Catholic Chaplaincy hall. A band were rehearsing inside, and an incredible sound came through the letterbox. I sat there on my bike for a half hour, holding the letterbox open, transfixed by the incredible guitar sounds coming through it. The door eventually opened, taking me by surprise and me and the bike and all the papers fell into the room. I sheepishly apologized to the guy and asked him who had been playing. It was a band called John Mayalls Bluesbreakers and he was rehearsing for their first gig with a new guitar player. A 19 year old called Eric Clapton! I had to race away as papers were getting late. I don’t know it you ever heard the album from this period. We call it the Beano album! Fabulous stuff. I saw Cream many times, both before and after they made it huge in the US. Eric was good, but he was never as dynamic as that rainy afternoon in Soho, a bit of a life changer for me. I knew then what I wanted to do with my life”

When On the last Day was wrapping up the tail end of our first European tour it was looking like the US tour we had lined up directly after arriving back in America was shrunk down to a few weeks on the road, which sounds nice after 90 plus days straight on tour. But we had a record to promote and any chance to get in front of people we had to take. Originally we were going to fly back to Vermont (where our van was covered in snow) from Amsterdam where the European tour ended and hook up with another tour. But those plans got botched and the US tour ended up getting pushed back a few weeks. So, when we arrived back in good ole’ America we jumped in the van and started our LONG trek back to Seattle from Vermont, keep in mind after a 12 hour flight from Europe.

A day or so went by and I couldn’t sleep at all. I never was that great at sleeping in the van and I had too much on my mind. Regardless, we powered on through the snow in January on I90. On the 2nd day or so day I got a call from a fellow who was in charge of booking bands for a large stadium festival that would be hitting Seattle in just a few days asking our band to open it. Play in front of 10,000 people? Sure!! So we continued on, going faster and faster, trying to get home to play this show. Well, we made it home late the night before, drove straight through with no sleep, just rotating drivers. 3000 miles.

The day of the show was like a haze. I had lost track of the last “full” night of sleep I got. But none of that mattered, and it never did. The only thing on mind was stepping out on stage in front of a sea of people and playing my guitar. At that time in my life I lived for that moment, that moment right before the first song kicks in. I ate and drank that moment. The show went on, we played, we rocked, and we jumped back in the van.

You remember that “other” tour I mentioned at the beginning of this blog? Well, it was supposed to start on the east coast, where we would be when arriving back from Europe, but due to it getting pushed back it would be starting in Florida. So, the night of the big show in Seattle before the last chord echoed through the stadium we packed up the van, filled up the tank, said goodbye to our friends and family for another 4 weeks and drove straight to Florida. By this point I was borderline going crazy from the lack of sleep. The days it took us to get to Florida was again a blur. I would fall asleep for 10 or 20 minutes and wake up, pound some coffee, drive for 4 hours, sleep, stare out the window, eat crappy fast food, repeat. Then one day around 5 or 6am we crossed the state line into Florida, the sun was shining and I knew the next month of my life would be filled with rock shows, long drives, late nights, and experiences I’ll never forget.

Enter the weird ones. You know, the Silvertones, Danos, Airlines, etc. I think many of these guitars are cool in their own right, and if set up well can make a fantastic alternative to your 50s Fender or Gibson and at a fraction of the price. Just like any brand there are good ones and bad ones, but I feel that if you find a “good” one it can really make all the difference and make you fall in love with a guitar that may never have been on your guitar radar.

Tonight I’m playing a show with my  Seattle styled Grunge band Torch Burner and I will be setting the ’56 Junior and the ’65 ES335 on the guitar stand and let them sit this one out. In their place will be a 1964 Silvertone 1457 Dual Pickup. This guitar has been in the shop for a little over a week and blows my mind with the tonal options, playability (yes playability), and vibe.

If you walk into a music store and by chance see an old Airline or Danelecro sitting on a stand don’t pass it up. Treat yourself and give it a whirl. I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.

Another example. I listed a beautiful and rare Telecaster on my site earlier this week. To make a long story short it got snagged up real quick. But to my surprise it was purchased by a fellow in the UK. We talked on the phone for quite some time. He told me stories of him playing in bands when he was a young bloke and all the guitars he had come across in his many years of playing and collecting. The man had some stories I tell ya!

These situations and experiences really make me love what I do. The fact that I can communicate with a customer half-way around the world and hook them up with a guitar they will love, play, and cherish is amazing and makes coming into the office worth it everyday. So, whether you’re right down the street from me, or in Australia THANK YOU! Thank you for the support and your business. Keep an eye out in the next few days, we will be listed some fantastic guitars!

The air was cold and stale in the van and all I could see out the window was white. We we’re heading down I-90 leaving Missoula MT and heading towards Billings for our show that evening. I found myself staring out the window, wishing that the copies of our EP we sent out to labels would gain some interest. You see, at this point we were still 100% DIY. We paid for the recording, bought the van, put the gas in the van, printed our shirts, etc. We did it all. So daydreaming of someone coming along to help wasn’t uncommon at this point in my life. As I continued to stare off into space I heard from the back of the van a large crashing sound and before my eyes could believe what was in front of me I saw one of our trailer tires flying down the road racing the van. Well, we quickly pulled over to find our trailer missing a wheel! Wow, right? a whole wheel broke and came flying off the trailer. We waited for an hour or so for a tow truck to show up and eventually were towed back to Missoula. We decided it would be in our best interest to try and sell the trailer to friends of ours in another band for parts and buy a new one. This was the first tour we had done that we were able to do a little better than break even on. So we took some cash and bought ourselves a big, brand spankin’ new trailer from a dealer in Missoula. We signed some paperwork, handed over a big wad of T-shirt money and on our way we went. Back on the road to Billings will zero time to spare.

As the day went on it became more and more clear that we weren’t going to make it to our show that evening unless we did 80 the entire way, and even then we would only make it just as we we’re supposed to hit the stage. Eventually the sky became dark and it ever so slightly began to dust a little snow. Not a lot of snow, just a little. So we continued to power on, now into the night. Faster and faster we drove and the closer we got the worse the snow got. But at this point the roads were still drivable, there was still traction. I began to worry a bit, but figured since we spent any profits from the last tour on proper snow tires we would be fine. And right there, before I knew it the snow and ice went from bad to absolutelyfuckingawful! You literally couldn’t see anything out of the windows, and everything went black. The driver lost control and we began swerving back and forth, desperately trying to gain control. The problem was (on top of the white out we were speeding in) that the big, bad trailer we had just purchased weighed a ton, enough to force the van into a 180 turn on the freeway at 60 miles per hour. At this point, everything for me was slow motion. I knew we were now facing the other direction and the trailer was in front, van in back, speeding down the freeway. But I didn’t know what was to come of it. Would we crash and all die? Is this my last 15 seconds on earth? Will we hit anyone else? These were some of the thoughts that raced through my head as we spun in our van and trailer on the freeway and rolled our van into a ditch.

So we crashed. In a ditch in Montana. Fuck! Right? At this point everyone in the van was silent, and luckily no one was seriously hurt. A couple of cuts, some bruises, but nothing bad. Finally the silence was broken and from the back of the van I hear “good thing we bought snow tires”  with a sarcastic touch. We were lucky. Too lucky. That accident should’ve have seriously injured one or all of us, yet everyone walked away.

The moral of this story is that snow tires won’t save you in a white out and don’t roll your van and trailer over in a snow storm hours after dropping a wad of cash on a new trailer.

In between tours I always found myself working at a guitar shop, whether it be a cool vintage shop or a chain store. It was something I knew I had a love and passion for, just not something I saw myself doing full-time quite yet. You see, I grew up around guitar shops. As a kid my dad and I would drive around to all the guitar shops in town and check out their treasures. As a young teenager I eventually began working in one. I learned quite a lot from the man who owned that store, and can say he is one of my best friends to this day.

So, my crossroads in life led me to pursuing another dream and opening Thunder Road Guitars (named after Jersey’s finest). I was at a point in my life where I was ready to try something new, and so far things have been absolutely incredible. I invite you to check out my guitars and enjoy the website!

Thunder Road Guitars T Shirt.

Available in S, M, L, XL, XXL

Price includes shipping to the lower 48. International prices can vary.

Available in S, M, L, XL, XXL.

Price includes shipping to the lower 48. International prices can vary.

Available in S, M, L, XL, XXL

Price includes shipping to the lower 48. International prices can vary.