M
atthew Farrow has been in
the gear design business
since the late ‘90s—well
before the boutique boom
that sent the shockwaves of DIY upstarts
into motion. Matthew’s design
philosophy revolves around originality,
tonal quality and simplicity of operation.
With so many cloners and tone tweakers
putting new names on old circuits, it is
exciting to get acquainted with a sonic
scientist who’s cutting edge approach
carves out new niches in both the analog
and digital realms. Let’s pick that brain…
TONE REPORT WEEKLY: Great to
meet you Matthew. You are somewhat
of a dark horse in this boutique pedal
race, having designed well-known
units for the big boys in the past. I
know you cannot mention names, but I
imagine ideas for Alexander Pedals
must have germinated from your
commissioned work before
MATTHEW FARROW: Great to meet
you too! I don’t know whether “dark
horse” is the right label, but it’s true that
I have designed gear for other builders.
Sometimes I come up with an idea that
fits with another builder’s philosophy or
style really well, and other times the
designs are too good to let go! I am very
careful not to re-use or repurpose code
or schematics that I’ve done for other
companies, since it can potentially hurt
their business.
instantly familiar yet completely
unique.” Elaborate, if you will, on how
you achieve this delicate balance…
MF: Lots and lots of tweaking (laughs.) I
start with a general outline or plan, a list
of things I want the pedal to do. With
our DSP (Digital Signal Processing)based pedals I have a lot of flexibility
since I can make the controls do more
than one thing at a time, but I’m also
limited because I can’t add more pots or
switches, etc. It’s a careful process of
addition and subtraction, and I also have
to juggle the different modes available
on the pedal to make sure that they all
relate to each other. It’s a bad surprise if
the player flips that switch and the whole
thing goes to hell!
TRW: Admittedly, I am a delay junkie
and this is a great time to be one with
so many options on the market. Your
Amnesia hits the nail everyone else
seems to miss by emulating the most
TRW: I love your design philosophy of
creating “sounds that are both
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