Resurrected from a state of limbo back in 2018, since then Teisco has been going from strength to strength in the pedal scene. Started in Japan back in 1948, Teisco was known as a maker of innovative and unusual electric guitars, basses and assortment of musical products. Teisco was a key part of an electric music innovation movement in the sixties, along with the likes of Danelectro, Hagström, Supro, Magnatone and Kay.
While the first iteration of Teisco was known for its quirky and outrageous designs, in this new era Teisco’s offerings capture the same bold and boundary-pushing designs of the past, while making great guitar tones available at an accessible price point.
Teisco pedals make a striking first impression with their sleek, stylish, and dare we say, distinctively timeless aesthetic. But it’s how they’re made and how they sound that truly leave a lasting impression. Take a closer look and you’ll see the thought and diligence that have gone into these spunky pedals – the baseplates of all Teisco pedals have a textured finish that functions to provide a better surface for Velcro adhesives. The rubber feet at each corner can be prised out to reveal the recessed screws that hold them together, making them equally at home on the floor or velcro-ed on a pedalboard.You may not see these small, thoughtful touches written on any spec sheet, but players of all kinds will appreciate them. And of course, the quality doesn’t stop at the bold and quirky enclosures – solid miniature toggle switches, heavy-duty foot switches and sturdy knobs are a standard affair with all modern Teisco pedal line.
Teisco made its long awaited comeback with three highly acclaimed stompboxes – the Teisco Delay, Boost and Fuzz – during their initial relaunch, and earlier this year dropped three new pedals at the NAMM Show. Check out our IGTV video when our roving reporter dropped by their booth!
Teisco Overdrive Pedal
Tired of overdrives that add unwanted colouration to your base sound? A bona-fide transparent overdrive, the Teisco Overdrive is a deliciously golden-orange stompbox that does exactly what you’d want it to do – adding “oomph” to your signal without tinting your tone with undesirable sonic artifacts.
The heart of the Teisco Overdrive consists of a low-gain circuit, optimised to unleash the harmonically rich details and dynamics of your playing. The Teisco Overdrive goes one better by incorporating a KICK switch – a switchable mode that “kicks” up the gain and turns this pedal into a juicy medium-gain dirt box.
Like any respectable overdrive, this pedal comes with a two-band EQ that allows users to tweak the amount of low- and high-end response in their signal – allowing users to shape their tone from anywhere between Eric Clapton’s classic tones in his Cream days and the singing shrills found on Stevie Ray Vaughn’s records.
Teisco Distortion Pedal
Based on the classic grit you’d find on classic British valve amps, the Teisco Distortion delivers creamy high-gain tones that would not be foreign on classic rock and metal records. For the ultimate in tone-sculpting capabilities, this pedal employs an intuitive five-knob layout. The Gain and Level knobs control the amount of saturation and overall volume respectively. The Tone knob is a one-stop avenue for your high to low-end frequency shaping while the Presence control offers upper mid-range frequency control to help your guitar signal be more or less apparent in a mix as desired.
The Distortion’s More knob functions as a gain boost, which can be toggled via a secondary footswitch. Players can either opt to use this function as an independent boost to bump up your amp’s clean signal or take the Distortion’s clipped sound into even more extreme territories for solos and squeals. If you’re a big fan of harmonically-complex and creamy tones, look no further than this purple powerbox.
Teisco Interface Pedal
As guitar players and manufacturers adopt the utility and functionality of modern digital tech, we’re seeing innovations that democratise the creation of music at a scale never seen before. Teisco’s Interface Pedal is an extension to that shifting paradigm. The brand’s first venture into utility devices, the Interface Pedal is a nifty recording interface that puts the power of a digital audio workstation (DAW) at your feet.
What’s the benefit of doing so? Well, the Teisco Interface Pedal allows you to unify your go-to studio plugins with any of your favourite pedals, giving you a huge array of possibilities for (silent) recording and live shows. The Teisco Interface Pedal features two mono inputs and two outputs for stereo recording and multiple routing permutations. The pedal-based interface features independent gain and volume controls and is compatible with devices that run on Mac, Windows, iOS or Android. The Teisco Interface Pedal comes standard with a sample rate of 44.1kHz, a bit depth of 16 bits in addition to offering true bypass switching and supporting the convenient USB-C connection. It also supports connections with major DAWs such as Cakewalk by BandLab, Logic Pro X, Pro Tools 2018, and many more. A truly ingenious invention, this pedal’s versatility and sheer utility is a godsend for players looking to expand upon the tonal realms of their sound.
Teisco has been steadily adding great pedals every year since they’ve been back. With a design ethos that looks simultaneously to the great circuits of the past and the innovations of the future, we are really looking forward to their 2021 release.
Check out our full range of Teisco gear here.
