Industry | Consumer electronics |
---|---|
Founded | 2009 |
Founder | Douglas Castro |
Headquarters | Finland, Helsinki |
Products | Effects pedals, amplifiers, cabinets for bass |
Website | http://www.darkglass.com |
Darkglass Electronics is a bass guitar equipment company based in Helsinki, Finland. Darkglass was founded in 2009 by Chilean engineer Douglas Castro. [1] In 2014, Darkglass was bought by Korg. [2]
The Darkglass product line includes several bass effects pedals, including Overdrive, [3] Compressor [4] and Fuzz. [5] The company also manufactures amplifiers and cabinets.
An effects unit, effects processor, or effects pedal is an electronic device that alters the sound of a musical instrument or other audio source through audio signal processing.
Vox is a British musical equipment manufacturer founded in 1957 by Thomas Walter Jennings in Dartford, Kent, England. The company is most famous for making the Vox AC30 guitar amplifier, used by The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, The Yardbirds, Queen, Dire Straits, U2, and Radiohead; the Vox Continental electric organ, the Vox wah-wah pedal used by Jimi Hendrix, and a series of innovative electric guitars and bass guitars. Since 1992, Vox has been owned by the Japanese electronics firm Korg.
KORG Inc., founded as Keio Electronic Laboratories, is a Japanese multinational corporation that manufactures electronic musical instruments, audio processors and guitar pedals, recording equipment, and electronic tuners. Under the Vox brand name, they also manufacture guitar amplifiers and electric guitars.
Boss is a manufacturer of effects pedals for electric guitar and bass guitar. It is a division of the Roland Corporation, a Japanese manufacturer that specializes in musical equipment and accessories. For many years Boss has manufactured a wide range of products related to effects processing for guitars, including "compact" and "twin" effects pedals, multi-effect pedals, electronic tuners and pedal boards. In more recent times, Boss expanded their product range by including digital studios, rhythm machines, samplers and other electronic music equipment. They also are now manufacturing solid-state amplifiers and speaker heads such as the Waza and the Katana. Both feature multi-effects units meant to emulate Boss' classic effects pedals.
Electro-Harmonix is a New York City-based company that makes electronic audio processors and sells rebranded vacuum tubes. The company was founded by Mike Matthews in 1968. It is best known for a series of guitar effects pedals introduced in the 1970s and 1990s. EHX also made a line of guitars in the 1970s.
The Ibanez Tube Screamer is an overdrive pedal made by Ibanez. First developed by Maxon as a competitor to the Boss OD-1, it was sold outside of Japan under the Ibanez brand and became popular among guitarists for its characteristic mid-boosted tone and amp-like distortion. The Tube Screamer has gone through multiple iterations since its debut in 1979, notably the original TS808 model and its successor, the TS9. Many guitarists have used it to create their signature sound, and it is considered one of the most successful, widely copied, and modified overdrive pedals in the history of the electric guitar.
The Fuzz Face is an effects pedal for electric guitar, used also by some electric bass players. It is designed to produce a distorted sound referred to as "fuzz", originally achieved through accident such as broken electrical components or damaged speakers.
Distortion and overdrive are forms of audio signal processing used to alter the sound of amplified electric musical instruments, usually by increasing their gain, producing a "fuzzy", "growling", or "gritty" tone. Distortion is most commonly used with the electric guitar, but may also be used with other electric instruments such as electric bass, electric piano, synthesizer and Hammond organ. Guitarists playing electric blues originally obtained an overdriven sound by turning up their vacuum tube-powered guitar amplifiers to high volumes, which caused the signal to distort. While overdriven tube amps are still used to obtain overdrive, especially in genres like blues and rockabilly, a number of other ways to produce distortion have been developed since the 1960s, such as distortion effect pedals. The growling tone of a distorted electric guitar is a key part of many genres, including blues and many rock music genres, notably hard rock, punk rock, hardcore punk, acid rock, grunge and heavy metal music, while the use of distorted bass has been essential in a genre of hip hop music and alternative hip hop known as "SoundCloud rap".
The Vox Continental is a transistorised combo organ that was manufactured between 1962 and 1971 by the British musical equipment manufacturer Vox. It was designed for touring musicians and as an alternative to the heavy Hammond organ. It supports drawbars in a similar manner to the Hammond, and has distinctive reverse-coloured keys. The sound is generated by a series of oscillators, using a frequency divider to span multiple octaves.
Multivox was an American-based synthesizer company since the mid-1970s until the 1980s. Originally it was founded in the mid-1940s as the guitar and amplifier manufacturing subsidiary of Peter Sorkin Music Company, a New York-based retailer/wholesaler. Then eventually it established separate corporate identity, and after the close of Sorkin Music in the mid-1970s, it continued in existence for fourteen years, according to the Blue Book of Guitar Values. In addition to synthesizers, the company marketed several effects pedals. These included the Big Jam series guitar effects line.
Blackstar Amplification is a British company that produces and manufacturers guitar amplifiers and effects units. The company was founded by a group of ex-Marshall employees, most notably Bruce Keir, who became technical Director at Blackstar, and former Chief Design Engineer at Marshall, Ian Robinson. In 2009 the company began operations in the United States. The majority of the research and development for Blackstar is carried out in the UK. Blackstar is endorsed by major artists like Ozzy Osbourne, Neal Schon, Opeth, and Richie Sambora of Bon Jovi. Blackstar has been consistently ranked amongst the best amplification brands by leading guitarists. Bruce Keir died in September 2021 at the age of 60.
BJFE Guitar Effects is a company which manufactures effects pedals for use with instruments such as an electric guitar. These pedals are commonly used by guitarists to modify the sound of their guitar before it reaches the amp. The company is located in Sweden, and was founded in 2000 by Björn Juhl. "BJFE" stands for Björn Juhl Förstärkarelektronik. Pedal types include distortion, overdrive, "vibe" (vibrato), compression, and equalization (EQ). Due to the limited production and handbuilt nature, these pedals are considered "boutique" guitar effects.
Keeley Electronics is an American manufacturer of effect units for electric guitars. The company, founded by Robert Keeley and operating from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, started with the Keeley Compressor pedal along with modifications for effects by Boss and Ibanez.
Monotron is the collective name of a series of miniature monophonic analogue synthesisers produced by Korg, a Japanese manufacturer of electronic musical instruments. There are three models in the series: the original Monotron, the Monotron Duo and the Monotron Delay. The models share a minimalist set of synthesis components, consisting only of a voltage-controlled oscillator, voltage-controlled filter, a voltage-controlled amplifier and a low-frequency oscillator.
Fuzz bass is a style of playing the electric bass or modifying its signal that produces a buzzy, distorted, overdriven sound, as the name implies. Overdriving a bass signal significantly changes the timbre, adds higher overtones (harmonics), increases the sustain, and, if the gain is turned up high enough, creates a "breaking up" sound characterized by a growling, buzzy tone.
The Korg CX-3 is an electronic clonewheel organ with drawbars that simulates the sound of an electromechanical Hammond organ and the Leslie speaker, a rotating speaker effect unit. The CX-3 was first introduced in 1979.
JHS Pedals is a guitar effects pedals manufacturer with headquarters in Kansas City, Missouri.
Tim Lefebvre is an American bass guitarist. Both as a session musician and band member, he has worked with a wide range of musicians, including David Bowie, The Black Crowes, Elvis Costello, Sting, Empire of the Sun, The Sleepy Jackson, Wayne Krantz, Patti Austin, John Mayer, Jovanotti, Chuck Loeb, Mark Guiliana, Jamie Cullum, Chris Botti, and Knower. A member of the Tedeschi Trucks Band until 2018, he also performed on film and television soundtracks, including Ocean's Twelve, The Departed, Analyze That, The Sopranos, and 30 Rock.
Neural DSP Technologies is a Finnish audio equipment manufacturer founded in 2017 by Douglas Castro and Francisco Cresp. Headquartered in Punavuori, Helsinki, the company is best known for its flagship guitar amp modeler, the Quad Cortex, and for its amp modeling audio plug-ins that create computer-based virtual amplifier and effects modelling suites. The company is considered a leading developer of guitar signal processing technology.