GEAR REVIEW
[ EMERSON CUSTOM: POMEROY / JHS PEDALS: RYAN ADAMS VCR | Phil Traina ]
• 4th Position: 1 x Silicon diode and 1 x LED
configured for asymmetrical clipping.
• 5th Position: 2 x LED configured for
symmetrical clipping.
pedal. Apparently, Ryan Adams had a bunch of
different pedals on his board that were used to
create his base rhythm tone. Each part of this
pedal is on a single knob and switch. The switch
is only to engage or disengage that portion of
The gain knob can go from boost settings to the pedal. The Chorus knob at 12 o’clock is very
saturated gain, and is very flexible. The overall reminiscent to an old CE-2. It can add just a little
master control tames or adds volume depending bit, or can be almost a rotary sound when dimed.
on where in the chain you decide to place the The one knob controls both rate and depth on
Pomeroy. a sliding scale as it’s turned. The reverb is very
80’s, in a good way, taking the hall style reverb
EMERSON CUSTOM: POMEROY My personal favorite feature is the clean blend. avenue, rather than a typical spring reverb we
$299 Street This allows you to blend in your clean signal see on so many pedals. Mr. Adams is known
with the Pomeroy’s overdrive. I found that it is for his Princeton Reverb amps, which is why he
almost like running a wet-dry rig. By adding in opted for a different style of verb in this pedal.
clean signal the clarity and note definition are The tone of the reverb is simple and good; it
accentuated. gives you the room feeling we’ve been talking
We are completely spoiled as guitar players in
this day and age. There are so many options
when it comes to great gear. Much of this
gear is built by smaller, dare I say, “boutique”
companies. One of these great companies is
Emerson Custom. I first found out about Mitch
Ingram when he started packaging matching
pots for rewiring kits. Then he came out with the
much noted EM-Drive. I reviewed that pedal a
couple of years ago. Now Emerson Customs
has released the Pomeroy OD/Boost. The
Pomeroy is an overdrive with an independent
boost. With that said, it really is so much more…
The overdrive distortion side has a very interactive
EQ, and the low, mid, and high control sweep
allows you to get drastic swings with your tone.
No matter which amp I connected to, I was able
to EQ it to sound great. The 6 position clipping
about. I like that the VCR doesn’t overthink the
The boost side has high and low settings with sound. The Boost side is great to balance out
which you can achieve up to 24db of boost. the overall volume when the modulation effects
Your amp will be hammered by boost. The LED are engaged. The VCR could replace 3 pedals
lets you know where your db count is at. on your board, depending on how you wish
to use it. I had so much fun playing this pedal,
The last, very useful feature of the Pomeroy and I’m sure you will too. Now I will go back to
is the insert on the back of the pedal. This playing Duran Duran covers all day.
allows you to insert another pedal between the
Pomeroy to meet or exceed my expectations
of a multipurpose drive/boost pedal. The sheer
number of tones you can coax from this pedal
will probably eliminate a drive or two from your
arsenal. Bravo Mitch!
www.EmersonCustom.com
control has so many different settings, you can
experiment for days.
JHS PEDALS: RYAN ADAMS VCR
$269 Street
Lets walk through the clipping positions from
Emerson’s site:
• 1st Position: 2 Germanium diodes configured
for symmetrical clipping.
• 2nd Position: 2 x S