We will be vending at EarthQuaker Day! In Akron Ohio!

It’s the first in-person EarthQuaker Day celebration since 2019. Vendor, pedal clinics and more. And let me tell you, there is one heck of a line-up. for the clinic/demos. For starters,  harpist Emily Hopkins and EQD Founder Jamie Stillman!

We’ll be brining some of our favorite effects, focused heavily on Massachusetts based builders. If you are in the area c’mon by. It’s a free event. Plenty of effects-centric fun for all!

Reinventing classic fuzzes and forging original designs from salvaged and up-cycled components. Aisha & Fiona are two female artists at the heart of California based LOE Sounds. We are very happy to be able to share their work with you.

JHS pays tribute to the Lovetone Big Cheese.

From the JHS Website:

The Cheese Ball has your standard Volume, Gain, and Tone knobs found on most distortion fuzz boxes, but comes with an extra mode selector knob that gives you four different overall tone and gain selections.  In the “off” position, the Tone knob is disengaged, giving you a bright and trashy fuzz/distortion sound. In the “1” position you have a mid-scooped sound that will give you a Big Muff style buzz for a rounded sound reminiscent of fine mozzarella that sits just right on your pizza but doesn’t get in the way. The “2” position is a mid-boost sound that will cut through a mix like a hot knife through Velveeta. Finally, the “3” position gives you a biting, gated fuzz tone that, when cranked, spits, spats, and bites like gorgonzola naturale.

Join Beats By Girlz as they celebrate the launch of their Boston chapter on Thursday, April 21st at The Record Co. This open house will include live music from 1800shortking and dolltr!ck, tours of The Record Co. and Beats By Girlz workshop demos, pop-ups by ARPS4ALL Project by the Alan R Pearlman Foundation, Stompbox Sonic (That’s us!!!), Women In Music Boston and GRCB, plus a live panel at 7:00pm moderated by Victoria Wasylak (Vanyaland) featuring DJ Slick Vick, DJ WhySham, and Michele Darling (Berklee). All are welcome to join us, please bring proof of vaccination.

Beats by Girlz is a non-profit that has over 35 chapters world wide. That exists to help close the gender gap in music and technology for women, girls, and gender-expansive people. Learn more at on their website and follow us @beatsbygirlzboston and @beatsbygirlz.

We are very excited to be vending at the Music Collectibles Extravaganza in Boxborough this coming April.

Stompbox Sonic will have a booth Saturday & Sunday (April 9th & 10th).

So many great guests and vendors. Personally, we can’t wait to catch a screening of the Fanny documentary.

Check the event website to purchase tickets and for more info on the line-up.

Records, 45s, LPs, CDs, Video, Posters, Books, Magazines, Cassettes, Memorabilia, Collectibles

Guitars, Drums, Keyboards, Synthesizers, Pedals, Amps, Gear, Pro Audio

This event will feature Celebrities signing autographs, offering photo ops and Karaoke (each for a fee),

plus musical performances and other music programming.
CELEBRITY GUESTS SIGNING AUTOGRAPHS!

It’s all going down at the:
Boxboro Regency Hotel
242 Adams Place
Boxborough, MA 01719

We here at SBS hold Tym Guitars in very high regard. Owner Tim Brennan has excellent taste in music and musical gear. He also does a lot to create a vibrant, welcoming community. And from time to time he makes pedals celebrating his favorite artists. This is the second signature pedal of his that we have in the reference library (check out the Teenage Fanboost). This is from a run of 20 pedals celebrating Dylan Carlson, the guitarist/songwriter behind Seattle drone legends Earth.

Below is an essay from the Tym website recounting the story behind this pedal.
Dylan Carlson signature distortion
Tim Brennan August 04, 2017

A few years ago I was fortunate enough to meet Dylan Carlson when he toured Australia and played an instore in my shop. I honestly didn’t know what to expect when I first met him. As he stepped out of the van in front of the shop he looked slightly … intimidating. The reality couldn’t have been further from this assumption.

We hit it off instantly and sat out the back of my shop before the instore and talked about music and him driving around in the Melvins tour van with Kurt and gear, and, music. The instore was …. amazing and we stayed in contact after the tour.

Tym Guitars Online

When he toured a couple of years later he asked to do another instore before Earth played. I had loved the first one SO much and there was no way I was going to say no to a friend playing in my shop.

The second instore was, magical. Dylans solo stuff is just him on stage with a guitar, a couple of pedals and an amp. He doesn’t sing so it’s all instrumental and during this set I felt a compelling sadness during one song and found myself with tears welling up. I think Dylan is that special.

After that instore Dylan bought a guitar from me and gave me his guitar he had used for the instore, the guitar he played in Earth. I didn’t want to take it but Adrienne said “he wants you to have it”
Needles to say it’s a cherished item for me.

After that tour I made Dylan a pedal to say thanks for everything he’d done and for changing my life. Dylan is a big fan of MXR stuff and I made him one of my Tymexars with a three way mini toggle for germanium, silicon or no clipping to give him a little more option. I had emailed Tony and asked if he could do me some artwork based on the tattoos on Dylans hands and he sent this Engine of Ruin back, named after an Earth song.

Tym Guitars Online Tym Guitars Online

So, it’s with GREAT pleasure that I announce the new Dylan Carlson signature distortion.

Made in conjunction with Dylan this is the same Tymexar based on two of my favourite vintage units without the three way switch as Dylan mainly uses the silicon (my favourite) setting which gives more output and a crisper distortion.

This uses the same 741 IC I use in the Bob Mould Beauty & Ruin with 2 slightly different cap values. It’s a full sounding distortion with great clarity.

Tym Guitars Online

It works well with Dylans style of drone strings and adds sustain when the distortion knob is wound up. It cleans up well with the volume high and the distortion down or clean it up with your guitar volume.

Kurt Ballou (God City/Converge) has taken the Abominable Hellmouth (a version of the tube screamer) and tweaked a lot of the parts values & added some stuff including his own Brutalist JR circuit that is controllable while the effect is on via a 2nd footswitch. This is the all new version 2.0 with an updated circuit to reduce noise and further dial in the sound Kurt was looking for.
NEW FOR 2021: BOTH FOOTSWITCHES ARE NOW CLICKLESS!

We added some very cool items to our Reference Library this year. Some brand new and a couple vintage finds from long ago. Several effects like the Roland Space Echo and Lovetone Doppelganger had been alluding us for decades but are now home in the collection.

While the Korg Miku remains the most requested item (and for good reason) we are certain that these will bring a smile to those that give them a try.

Here is a  small sample of this year’s additions:

• Abominable Electronics Hellstache Overdrive (a collab. w/ GCI)
• ARP Odyssey – Korg Reissue
• Keeley – Loomer Fuzz/Reverb
• Blackcat Guitars – Rangebooster
• Lovetone
  • Doppelganger -Phase/Vibrato
  • Wobulator -Tremolo/Pan
• Native Audio Wilderness Delay
• Roland RE-201 Space Echo
• S&K Bodybreaker Distortion
• Universal Audio Golden Reverberator

These were the most sought after effects here at Stompbox Sonic in 2021:

1. Longsword v4.5: Distortion from Electronic Audio Experiments
2. Astral Destiny: Octal Octave Reverb by EarthQuaker Devices
3. Hizumitas: WATA Fuzz from EarthQuaker Devices
4. Hypersleep v2: BBD Reverb courtesy of Electronic Audio Experiments
5. Martyr Box: 2-stage gain device by Nerdknuckle Effects
6. Afternealth V3: Otherworldly Reverb from EarthQuaker Devices
7. T-120: Videotape Echo by Demedash Effects
8. Li’l Fella: Overdrive/Distortion from Fuzzrocious
9. Thought Forms: Runway Feedback/Oscillations by Midfi Electronics
10. Sunlight: Dynamic Reverb from Old Blood Noise Endeavors

In crunching the numbers we found people are quite fond of the pedal builders here in Boston, MA as well in Akron, OH. EarthQuaker is based in Akron while Electronic Audio Experiments, Nerdknuckle, and Midfi are all based in and around Boston.

You all have a particular attraction to reverb and fuzz/distortion. In fact, 50% of all effects we sold this year were reverbs.

We look forward to all the music you will create with these effects in the year(s) to come! Stay save & make some noise.

2021 has reached it’s end. A lot of really good music was released this year, While there wasn’t time enough to explore it all a decent amount was heard by us. Below is a collection, in no hierarchical order, of the music that accompanied and resonated with us during the year.

Albums, EPs, and Singles:

Amythyst Kiah: Wary & Strange
Rob Noyes: Arc Minutes
Low: Hey What
Dinosaur Jr: Sweep It Into Space
27: A Billion Searchlights
Damon & Naomi: A Sky Record
Rhiannan Giddens: They’re Calling Me Home (With Francesco Turrisi)
Chris Brokaw: Puritan
Colleen: The Tunnel and the Clearing
Dean Wareham: I Have Nothing to Say to the Mayor of LA
Nightspell: “Pegasus”
Thalia Zedek: Perfect Vision
Sue Bell: Wild At Heart
Emma Ruth Rundle: Engine of Hell
Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit:  Georgia Blue
Doug Tuttle: Pinecone
Converge w/ Chelsea Wolfe: Blood Moon I
Leah Callahan: Short Stories
Marissa Nadler: The Path of the Clouds
Constellation Myths: Everything and Time
Piroshka: Love Drips & Gathers
Noveller: “Red Room”
Violet Nox: Whispering Gallery
Boris: “Reincarnation Rose”