We are thrilled to announce that our Wave Cannon™ overdriver was named to Guitar World‘s Editor’s Picks for top ten pedals of the year. We sincerely thank the technical experts who generously shared info that helped usher its development, particularly Philip Ruetz in granting us permission to incorporate his circuit mod as our shape control, our friends and players who believed in us and gave us feedback to make it better, our friends Dru Cameron and Brenton Sadreameli for helping us make what was a cool-looking idea into a cool looking device, and Paul Riario and the editors at Guitar World for including us among such serious company. Seriously, Jeorge Tripps at Way Huge/Dunlop (winners of the #1 spot for their relaunched Green Rhino), Brian Wampler and Robert Keeley have forgotten more about effects than I may ever get to know.
Tech Editor Paul Riario listed us as #4 with the following high praise: “Overdrives and distortions can be guilty of sounding like one another but this is one pedal that I just can’t accuse of being derivative. A truly original gain pedal that makes you sound as such. Get it with the havoc switch option too. You’re welcome.”
I only wish to offer this caveat: in my mind, the Wave Cannon is derivative in that it is my tribute to my favorite op-amp distortions of the 1970s and ’80s, the special kind of rumble that these circuits can create, and what I wanted for myself. I’ve mentioned some of these before – Ibanez Sonic Distortions and Fat Cats, Proco Rats, grey DOD 250s, the first block logo MXR Distortion+ I owned – all of these pedals very much informed what we went for with Wave Cannon.
I think the same way about the art, music, film, and design that I love: when I hear “Wonderwall”, I also hear Billy Bragg’s “St. Swithin’s Day” and Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit”; when I went to see Drive, I could also see Mean Streets and Bullitt. Kill Bill recalls Bruce Lee’s Game of Death, and Apple’s designs echo the gorgeous work of Braun from the 1960s. None of this takes away from the beauty of what they’ve created – my Mac, “Wonderwall” and Drive create experiences for me that are unlike what their influences did, and it delights me when people tell me they found and used settings and sounds on Wave Cannon that they never would have dialed up on another pedal.
[Without reservation, I wholeheartedly agree with Paul’s recommendation of the Havoc switch!]
Today is a great feeling day, and I look forward to continuing our work with our team of good people at getting better and better at making the best pedals we can.
– Philippe