Canadian Musician - September/October 2020 | Page 22

ROAD TEST Diamond Pedals Comp Jr., Memory Lane Jr. & Nine Zero Two Effects By Omar Shabbar I think it’s safe to say that we’re living in the golden age of guitar pedals. It feels like if you can dream up a sound, you can find a pedal for it, and find it in your price range. While the pedal market is largely dominated by American companies, there are a few Canadian pedal makers who are really holding their own in this rapidly-growing category. One of my all-time favourites is Diamond Pedals, based in Dartmouth, NS. I recently had the chance to play a few of their pedals, and here’s what I found: Comp Jr. Compressor Compression is Diamond’s bread and butter and the CPR-1 (Comp Jr.’s predecessor) put Diamond pedals on the map for a lot of people. The Jr. is a bright yellow, standard single-switch pedal with top-mounting jacks that runs in true bypass. It has three knobs: compression, volume, and EQ. I’m someone who is easily confused by studio compressors but this pedal is laid out exactly like your other gain pedals, which makes it easy to dial in the perfect amount of compression. I will admit that I don’t use a compression pedal live; I don’t like the way it feels and it’s just not my cup of tea. While this pedal didn’t convert me to a comp player, I do love the way it can drive a gain pedal or lead channel of an amp. I can see why this pedal has ended up on so many boards and has been such a big success for Diamond. Memory Lane Jr. Analog Delay I have played the Memory Lane Jr. before and I can safely say it is my favourite delay pedal… of all time. (Well, at least top three.) Just like the Comp Jr., this all silver, two-footswitch analog delay is extremely intuitive. There’s an on/off switch, tap tempo, delay knob, feedback knob, mix knob, and a mod knob, which adds a lush warble-y feel to the delay trails. There’s also a time subdivision switch, which allows you to switch between three divisions and a “variable delay time” that produces those great pitchshifting sounds. You can plug-and-play with this pedal no problem, but if you want to dive deeper, there’s a ton of customization available by holding down switches or adjusting dipswitches inside the pedal. You can switch between true or buffered bypass, cut or add delay trails, enter kill-dry mode, and enter double time. Controls aside, it sounds incredible. It’ll give you those quick slap-back delays to round out your sound, a nice pronounced short delay to thicken your solos, all the way to lush shoegazing delay that washes over you. It’s pure analog delay goodness. Nine Zero Two Overdrive Named after Diamond’s Nova Scotia area code, this drive pedal is the one that surprised me the most. I had never played any of Diamond’s overdrives so I didn’t know what to expect, and the sea foam blue/green chassis made me think it wasn’t going to suit my sound. As they say: don’t judge a book by its cover. I was very wrong. It, like the Comp Jr., is a standard, single foot-switch pedal with top-mounted jacks. Just as you’d expect, there are three knobs: gain, volume, and tone. What makes this pedal so great is the wide range of tones. If the gain is around 9 o’clock, you’ll get some light to mid overdrive that, to my ears, sounds like a Blues Driver with a little bit of that Tube Screamer mid bump. It’s perfect for indie and blues. At noon, you’re already in distortion land and from here on up, it sounds like a saggy saturated Rat: lush, silky drive with some bite. I normally gig with an overdrive and a distortion/fuzz but I think this could easily replace both of those pedals. The tone knob is really interesting as well. I hear it more as a treble knob because as you turn it up, you don’t lose that thick low end. The sign of a good drive pedal is the amount of tones you can get out of it and this pedal has that in spades. On top of the Comp Jr., Memory Lane Jr., and Nine Zero Two, I’ve had the chance to play Diamond’s Tremolo and Vibrato and I’ve noticed a few things that all of these pedals have in common. They’re all analog and true bypass, though some will allow you to switch to buffered bypass. The design is sleek and simple and always features a quirky solid colour. The pedal itself is a rock. From the chassis to the knobs, switches, and jacks, it’s as rugged as anything you’ll see on the market. You don’t need to use a manual or spend a whole lot of time with these pedals to figure out how to get your desired sound out of them and, most of all, they sound incredible. MEMORY LANE JR. DELAY COMP JR. COMPRESSOR NINE ZERO TWO OVERDRIVE The fact that they’re made in Canada isn’t the reason I’m always recommending people check out Diamond Pedals; it’s just the cherry on top. Omar Shabbar is a gigging musician based out of Toronto. He’s also an onsite guitar tech at The Root Down Studio (www.therootddownstudio. com) and a self-proclaimed gear head. In the rapidly changing industry of modern guitar gear, Omar attempts to discern innovation from distraction. Check out his YouTube channel, featuring dozens of gear reviews and performance clips, at YouTube.com/OmarGearReview. 22 CANADIAN MUSICIAN