If not for the kindness of these strangers, maybe this pedal still gets made — but it’s not nearly as interesting or good. Scroll over the text for links.
Our distortion pedal would not exist if not for the fine, public work of Jack Orman. His ‘muzique’ blog and site are an essential part of learning how to cook your own circuits, his lab notebook is in my bookmarks, and he has often answered to my stray musings and obvious, dumb questions with patience and viable solutions.
Another vital resource for us was R.G. Keen and his GeoFEX site. Knowing a little bit about what he’s talking about, it almost feels unfair that Visual Sound has this guy in their corner. Thankfully, he still shares some great ideas with the rest of us. I guess it must be his commitment to raising the state of the art for the entire industry. His “circuit debugging” page could double as a guide for how to fix your life – be calm, thorough, deliberate, and not too hard on yourself.
The Wave Cannon™ would not exist at all if not for the trailblazing op-amp fuzzes and distortions of the 1970s and ’80s that inspired it: the DOD Overdrive 250, MXR Distortion +, Proco Rat, Ibanez/Maxon SD-9 Sonic Distortion, and Boss DS-1 among others. Our product is not affiliated with any of these companies or makers. In my mind, the people responsible for these pedals discovered America, and our first product represents my attempt to find a home on that frontier.
Years ago, Philip Ruetz of Ruetz Amplification posted a simple yet highly versatile mod to an op-amp distortion circuit. This idea is the basis of our “Shape” control on the Cannon. While everybody borrows and applies ideas they find on the internet, I could not in good conscience market our product without first asking permission, and then after receiving his blessing, giving credit where credit is due.
And last but not least, Beavis Audio Research inspired all kinds of breadboarding, crazy ideas, and rethinking of what really mattered to me when I put together these circuits. Plus, huge praise for the test rig. I’d be lost without it.