Pigtronix Philosopher's Tone Micro

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WALRUS AUDIO & PIGTRONIX
122
GUITARIST MARCH 2017
VERDICT Quality and versatile compression that’s
delivered in a functional format
VERDICT Easy to slip onto your ’board, this is a great
utility pedal for more than just compression
Walrus Audio says that its Deep Six is an
1176-inspired studio-grade compressor in
stompbox form. The range of compression
here runs from just keeping levels
consistent to a pretty heavy clamped-
down squash, not dissimilar to that
achieved by an MXR Dyna Comp. The
Deep Six, however, is much more versatile
than that type of two-knob compressor
in that, besides the standard controls to
set the output level and the Sustain knob
for the strength of the compression, it has
an Attack knob. This sets how quickly the
compression kicks in, allowing shaping of
the front-end of the note envelope, while
also having a notable effect on the top-end
tonal content under heavy compression.
There’s also a Blend control, so you don’t
have to have the full signal compressed
but can create parallel blends, keeping a
more natural guitar sound yet with extra
tightness and sustain. Those combined
controls deliver compression to suit a
myriad of guitar and bass tasks.
[TC]
Pigtronix has now managed to condense
its Philosopher’s Tone into a micro-sized
pedal that should please anyone looking to
conserve pedalboard space. While losing
the Grit knob of the original, there’s still a
Blend knob, which means you can add in
gradual amounts of compression in parallel
with your dry signal, right up to a fully
compressed signal. There’s also a Treble
control with cut or boost at 2kHz, which
is useful if you want an EQ shift with no
compression, and really helpful for dialling
in an altered tone with compression.
The compression here doesn’t get as
full-on squashy as some but is a natural for
clean sustain, and there’s loads of headroom
via the volume knob to drive your amp
harder. With that combination of boost,
compression and extra top-end, this pedal
has a role to play beyond just a compressor,
notably as a tone conditioner/driver that
can elevate your sound for solos.
[TC]
ORIGIN: USA
TYPE: Compressor
FEATURES: True bypass
CONTROLS: Level,
Sustain, Blend, Attack,
bypass footswitch
CONNECTIONS:
Standard input,
standard output
POWER: 9V DC adaptor
(not supplied) 8.9mA
DIMENSIONS: 74 (w) x
121 (d) x 58mm (h)
FACE bvba
[phone]
www.walrusaudio.com
ORIGIN: China
TYPE: Compressor
FEATURES: True bypass
CONTROLS: Volume,
Sustain, Treble, Blend,
bypass footswitch
CONNECTIONS:
Standard input,
standard output
POWER: 9V DC adaptor
(not supplied)
DIMENSIONS: 42 (w) x
94 (d) x 44mm (h)
JHS
01132 865 381
www.pigtronix.com
WALRUS AUDIO
DEEP SIX £185
PIGTRONIX
PHILOSOPHER’S TONE
MICRO
£139
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GIT417.peds_wal.indd 122 1/26/17 10:17 AM