GEAR REVIEW
GOODWOOD AUDIO JUNCTION BOXES | Michael Hodge
KEY FEATURES New Generation of Junction Boxes DMS™ Dual Mode Summing
Ground Lift, Phase, Master Mute & More
Problem Solvers for All Pedal Boards Custom Wired Pedal Boards
If you are searching for the ULTIMATE tone and pedalboard, this review could be a game changer. This month I’ m excited to show you several magical boxes you never knew you needed, but once you get them, you’ ll never be the same.
The Interfacer, Underfacer, Output, Isolator, Audition, Buzzkill, and a remote switch RMT.
BACKGROUND Way down under in Sydney Australia, are a couple tone gurus, Grant and Mikey. They have a unique full service pedal board company called Goodwood Audio. These guys build the coolest custom pedal boards via the mail for top players anywhere in the world( several of them worship guitarists). You send them your dream board specs, and then they assist you with a custom layout. They wire it up virtually with same size pedals, and mail it right back to you! You can also send them your own pedals and switchers, but the virtual way saves a ton on shipping. The good news is, these guys also sell their specialty Junction boxes that do things Pro guitarists need, and now you can get your hands on them too.
Goodwood is still the best-kept secret here in the USA. They have a few dealers and the buzz is growing among the ultimate tone junkies. Their unique Junction Boxes are rock solid, featuring Burr Brown Op Amps, and highquality jacks & switches that are built for abuse. At first glance, you might be confused on why you need them, what exactly do they do or how they work. If you’ re like me, once you get the“ aha“ moment it’ s all so obvious. For instance, how do I run my stereo rig into a mono amp?
INTERFACER / UNDERFACER w / DMS Dual Mono Summing is pure genius! These are the two flagship units. They’ re meant to be first and last on your board.
The difference is that the Interfacer goes on top and Underfacer goes underneath the pedalboard. The Interfacer has both Buffered and Passive inputs with a Mute / Sum switch, w / LED on top. The Underfacer has a buffered input and because it’ s under the pedal board, it uses the RMT Remote switch jack for Summing & Mute. Both also have a TX( transformer) version that adds an audio transformer for Ground lift and Phase. The Fuzz output goes into the Buffered input of Underfacer. The Underfacer mono out goes to a BOSS ES-8 switching system with loops for all my pedals. Then the Stereo Out from the ES-8 goes back into the Underfacer Stereo input. The Underfacer stereo out goes to my stereo amp setup. For the studio I also take the buffered Tuner out straight into my ProTools rig.
The Underfacer allows your stereo rig to be summed in mono. This is a huge problem solver when you only have one amp. Or if one of your amps dies in the middle of a gig, you can quickly switch to mono. I hate having to unplug a bunch of cables when I go mono. Underfacer gives you the option of two identical Summed Mono Outs so you still get all your panning delays etc but summed in mono. It’ s a must have when you play live. I also really love it in the studio when I want to stack two mono doubled tracks. It’ s amazing. I tried another thing, where I played a part with mono summing on the verse & went true stereo for the Chorus. If you run a mono pedal board or a two amp setup with one amp wet and one
66 June 2018 WorshipMusician. com