We all love our transistors; after all, they were the backbone that powered the very first effects pedals, and remain to this day invaluable and indisposable in all fields of electronics. Myself, and many of my fellow brothers in tone have talked ad nauseum about the different types of transistors used throughout the years in countless effects pedals, so today I’m going to stick to talking about something that’s a relative newcomer in the world of effects pedals: the transformer. Transformers were the precursors to transistors when talking about audio. In a very basic sense, they were used to keep the audio “clean and consistent,” so to speak, by providing power to the circuitry from the mains, and by isolating ground noise or interference. They were also used to help boost signals between different circuitry to help keep gain levels consistent. While they were bulky, expensive, and somewhat impractical, many transformer-based equipment in the pro audio world is heralded as being colorful and “vibe-y.” I would be lying to you if I told you exactly why and how this works, but I do know that the “human element” (winding inconsistencies, specific frequency “favoritism,” and distortion when driven) makes transformers very similar to the happy accidents we love in our field, such as pickups, tubes and the like. While they have been used in amplifiers since the earliest days of their inception, only very recently has the pedal market caught hold of this new way to color tone and produce a fat distorted sound in a stompbox. Since this is still a very new concept, there aren’t many transformer based pedals out on the market, and I am going to give a taste of what these blocks of metal and wire can do to one’s tone.
JHS Colour Box
When the JHS Colour Box first landed, I will admit I was one of the first ones to initially shrug it off as yet another cheap gimmick promising “the tone” that we’re all so feverishly searching for. However, when I first started my research, the Colour Box was usually the first to come up. Being a studio owner for the past couple of years, I have also drooled over the console behemoths of yesteryear, lying at the heart of some of the greatest recordings of all time and some of the most famous studios in history. The Neve 1073 is one such console, considered by many to be the pinnacle of analog soul. With an incredibly impressive track record on some of the greatest records of all time, this legendary console is the definitive unobtanium of the pro audio industry. Many builders throughout the years have cloned just about every section of this console, from the preamps down to the EQ, but JHS has taken a unique approach by bridging the gap between my two major GAS perpetrators. JHS has not only given us a top-of-the-line pedal, it has provided us with a quality, studio-ready 1073-style preamp for a price not even Chinese manufacturers can beat. JHS really thought of everything when assembling this mojo-laden machine, as it included XLR inputs for mics, allowing colorful recordings. And of course, at the heart of this wonderful box lies the Lundahl LL1578 transformer, for all the warmth and meaty fatness that only a quality transformer can provide.
Bogner Wessex
One thing I really love is going into an old antique store and looking at vintage electronics. Back in the day, many large consumer electronics pieces had wood paneling or wood design, because they were originally intended to be living room pieces. People had to warm up to the idea of electronics back in those days, so I believe the wood aesthetic really helped people warm up to the ideas of these new-fangled entertainment machines, back in the early days of televisions and radios. While this may have been phased out (I’m still waiting for a comeback), the thing that really caught my eye about the new line of Neve-assisted Bogner pedals (other than the name) was the alluring wood veneer on the front of the “deluxe” version of the pedal. While this seems like a standard overdrive (albeit with a pretty design), at its heart (and it seems like Bogner doesn’t want anyone to forget it by plastering it on the front of the enclosure) lies a custom designed mini-transformer designed by the godfather of analog consoles himself, Mr. Rupert Neve. The Wessex is the third in the line of this Neve and Bogner partnership, and has an incredibly glassy and fat tone that players would be hard pressed to find even in the most boutique of boutique pedals. It seems that the transformer adds an almost 3-D quality to the drive; a very unique sonic characteristic imparted by the wonderful transformers at the heart of these vintage-inspired boxes.
Tychobrahe Octavia
While this pedal isn’t necessarily an overdrive (depending on the individual’s definition) this is a classic transformer-based design that I felt needed to be included in this list. The Tychobrahe Octavia was Hendrix’s weapon of choice in many of his classic recordings, and featured a transformer at the heart of its design. Many modern clones of the Tychobrahe are found everywhere, and one is smattered all over Gary Clark Jr.’s discography, most notably on the massive riffs and searing solos found on “When My Train Pulls In” and “Bright Lights” from Black and Blu. I’m not an electrical engineer, so my guess is as good as anyone’s as to why the Octavia circuit features a transformer. I can only guess that it was used because of the scarcity and limitation of other electronic components at the time Roger Mayer was designing it, but I do know one thing. At the heart of those massive Hendrix or Gary Clark Jr. tones if you pay close attention, you can hear the thump and fatness that the transformer implies on the circuit. This is a classic transformer design that not many will notice straight away, but among builders and electronically-inclined guitar players, the character that the transformer gives the circuit is undeniable, as opposed to its transistorized cousins.
Bogner Harlow
Yet another Neve-based transformer pedal in the line from Bogner, the Harlow is a compression-boost pedal that is based around the big, fat, and warm sounds that classifies these Neve based stompable beauties. This time around, instead of giving an overdriven tone from the get-go, the Harlow imparts a very even and colorful clean boost, with a metric crap-ton of character. It has tons of gain on tap, and can push the preamp section of any guitar amp into natural distortion with ease. The Harlow features a lovely Bloom feature, which is essentially a very warm compression, kind of like a cross between the best parts of optical and FET based compression. The notes really jump out of the mix and it gives a lot of balls to chicken pickin’ tones that very commonly suffer from being too thin. This is a real man’s compressor, paired with a powerful boost that’s very hard to beat.