HEADSMASHER CENTRAL

We still service/repair and mod valve amplifiers in the North Devon area. Give us a call. If your treasured amp sounds crap then we can sort it.

HEADSMASHER pedals and pedal mods. The difference with HEADSMASHER is we use very high quality components in all our pedals and pedal mods. Whereas some pedal makers/modders will use a cheapy component costing less than a penny we use high quality and sometimes expensive components to ensure amazing tone. We clean and laquer the board after all mods to ensure reliabilty.

In most pedals there are electrolytic capacitors. They are cheap and may do the job ok but have a very big problem; electrolytic capacitors have a liquid inside them that by design will dry up after 6-10 years. They will still work but nowhere near like they are supposed to. If your pedal just dont sound the way you remember it did all those years ago then it needs the electrolytics changed or here at HEADSMASHER if posible we will get rid of that electrolytic for a better components that will never wear out!

Here at HEADSMASHER we did consider selling our mods to pedals as kits. We decided against it because inside pedals there is usually a printed circuit board. To mod a pedal you have to remove certain components and no matter how good you are it's really difficult to do with solder braid or one of those solder suckers ! We hear of so many pedals that get broked because people burn out the board with their soldering iron trying to get a component out. HEADSMASHER use a spescially designed solder remover that doesnt seem to be for sale anywhere anymore.. If you just gotta have a go yourself then make sure you are using a soldering iron around 20-25watts and practice on an old pedal first at removing components.

TEACHING YOUR GRANNY TO SUCK EGGS!

How to get a great tone using a FUZZ. Use a tone from your amp that is pretty clean or just starting to break up and have your guitar volume up full, set the fuzz control low and then using the footswitch on the pedal set the volume control of the pedal so there is hardly any difference between the pedal when its on and off. Then using the fuzz control set your ideal lead tone adjusting the contour and bias controls on the pedal until you get a lovely creamy lead guitar tone. Then experiment by rolling back the volume knob on your guitar slightly and you will discover lovely shimmery clean tones that are even better than your amps own clean tone, this is Hendrix/early Zeppellin teritory! Thus at your fingertips is an awesome cleanish rythmn tone and a great lead tone with the required bump in volume to cut thru. Once set you can then use the volume control on your amp if you need to compete with a drummer who just gets louder and louder as the gig goes on! Watch old footage of Hendrix, Page or any 70's guitarist and you'll see them useing their volume control rather than stomping on a box when the solos come around! It is well worth experimenting here as there are a whole bunch of tones inside a well made fuzz pedal, more than any other pedal i have ever used.

Fuzz pedals and wah wahs are notorious for not working well together, it's an impedance mismatch. I have never been fond of fitting a buffer so i can use a wahwah with a fuzz, do what Mr Jimi Hendrix did and stick another pedal between the wah and fuzz and hey presto it all works great! From your guitar go straight into your wah (fitted with true bypass of course) then plug into a univibe or another overdrive/distortion pedal and then into your fuzz. this arrangement will give you a whole plethora of usuable tones and is a nice simple setup with the added bonus that you're wah will wah!

Valve amps are an investment in tone. They have the best tone but it comes at a price. Power valves wear out at around 100-150 hours of usage. pre-amp valves should go for around 300 hours. electrolytic capacitors inside the amp last for 6-10 years. If you consider yourself a guitarist and want great tone stay on top of your gear and look after it. Ok i know there's people out there who have amps that have had the same valves and caps in for 40 years, fact is that amp aint gonna sound anywhere near as good as it could. old worn out caps and valves will still work, just like bald tyres on a car will still go round! If your amp aint got great tone to start with no matter how many pedals you stick in front of it it will still sound poo!

It is a bona fide FACT that when you buy that old awesome legendary amp or pedal from ebay if it hasn't been serviced within the last ten years then you are gonna have to spend some money geting the electrolytic capacitors changed at the very least to even stand a chace of getting great tone.

Valve amps sound their mightiest awesomest god fearing best when serviced well and when pushed reall hard up over half and near to max on the volume control. A plain and simple fact. So if you only gonna play in your bedroom then get an amp around 1-5 watts. If you doin pub gigs and band practice get an amp around 20-40 watts. If you playing large venues then go for the 100 watt rigs. Nothing as silly as the bedroom player with a massive 100 watt double 4x12 rig that he just cant use! Dont let the salesman hoodwink you! Wattage is weird, what you should know is that a 10 watt amp is HALF as loud as a 100 watt amp!

Now this one is really simple but sooooo important. Hendrix used fender amps in the studio and marshall amps when playing live. Jimmy Page used small supro amps in the studio, he even plugged staight into the mixing desk for blackdog, no amp at all. but he used marshalls and vox ac30's for his live work. If you're trying to nail that "Little Wing" tone then get a fender amp, a strat and a fuzz box. You will have a hard time trying to get it with a 100 watt marshall and a boss ds-1. The point here is there isnt one amp and one set up that will do it all, if you wanna be a serious player then not only will you need more than one guitar you will need more than one amp. What painter only has one brush and one colour?

Speakers matter greatly. A 97db rated speaker will sound half as loud as a 100db rated speaker. A 3db jump is percieved by our ears as double! Thats why a vox ac30 which had blue speakers in it sounded so loud, the speakers had a high db rating. Now this can be useful if you have a loud 100watt amp and dont want too much volume but crave the overdriven sound then get lower db rated speakers so you can turn the amp up more but the volume at the speakers is less!

Headsmasher still mod and repair valve amplifiers for the people who want great tone and wish to look after and care for their amps and coming soon the HEADSMASHER guitars fitted with HEADSMASHER pick-ups.

CHECK BACK OFTEN AS NEW STUFF BEING ADDED OFTEN AND CHECK OUT ALL HEADSMASHER ASSOSCIATED MUSIC HERE AND ALSO CHECK OUT HATCHER AMPS, THE KOOLEST AMP MAKER OVER THE POND IN THE STATES

The HEADSMASHER TELE.

A players dream. We use the finest parts just like everything else here at HEADSMASHER and that includes hand crafting these guitars loosly based on 1950's specs complete with 45mm thick swamp ash bodies, maple necks that are a dream in the hand, vintage CTS pots and four way selector switch for maximum tonal options. Fitted with HEADSMASHER hand wound pick ups and available in any configuration you wish from standard single coils to twin humbucker custom style.The whole guitar is artificially aged to look the part right down to slight checking on the cellulose laquer but not so much that it's down right worn out from playing! That part is left up to you! Each guitar is made one at a time to order and once order and details have been confirmed will take approx three months until delivery. Limted introductory offer of £1000 which includes a tweed hard case and free UK mainland delivery.

Click the sound samples to hear just how lush they soundthrough a Fender BluesDeluxe!

First position bridge pick up

Second position bridge and neck pick up

Third position bridge and neck pick up

Fourth position neck pick up