We’re going local on this In The Spotlight with Tim Crowe of crowe.effects! I met up with Tim at the Western New York Guitar Show back in Spring, 2017. The experience of meeting up with a local pedal-maker and the idea of starting this interview series left me with no choice but to ask for Tim’s participation. He was more than happy to answer a few questions, here’s what he had to share:
[Mimmo]: How would you tell the story of crowe.effects?
[Crowe]: About 10 years ago, I bought a mod kit for a BOSS Blues Driver. It took me forever to get the thing working, but I had a great time figuring it out. It was a definite learning experience. After my band, Well Worn Boot, decided to call it quits a couple years ago, I decided to delve a little deeper into pedal building, modding, etc. A few months after I started building under the name crowe.effects, I found out a friend of mine, Nik, was also building some stuff. We decided to work together on builds, and here we are!
[Mimmo]: When you start thinking of building a new product where do you start? What is your design process like?
[Crowe]: The majority of my customers reach out to me looking for custom clones or variants on existing circuits. Someone might shoot me an email saying they want a Univibe type of pedal with more low-end control, they want a Tone Bender Fuzz that can run on a regular power supply, or they want a different voicing on an already existing OD. . .that type of thing. From there, I work with the customer to find just what they’re looking for in terms of the tone, art, design, etc. Essentially, the customer has a say in every little detail, so they get exactly what they want – a pedal tailored to their specific needs. Sometimes I like the pedals enough to build a few and release them, and other times I never think about them again. We also have some great original designs and pedal builds of our own. Ultimately, we’ll pull ideas together from all over the place to create something new.
In terms of the art on the pedals, I’m lucky to have some very talented and kind friends. All the artwork on my pedals is done by local artists. They’ve been kind enough to allow me to use their work. In most cases, they send me illustrations they’ve already completed, and when I feel something fits a pedal, I’ll use it. The artist names always appear on the side of the pedal, and they also receive 15% of the profits from any sales bearing their work. I’ve also had customers design their own art, and my wife, Jen, does most of the illustrations for custom work. I’m always on the lookout for new artists, too, so if any of your readers happen to illustrate and want to see their work on a pedal, I’d love to hear from them!
[Mimmo]: Are there any particular sounds you wish to capture but haven’t quite hit?
[Crowe]: In terms of sounds I’d like capture but never quite hit, I have to admit that I have trouble with super high gain, metal-type distortions. I’ve built a bunch of them, modded a bunch of them, combined various portions of various high gain distrotion circuits, but for whatever reason, none of them ever seem to be exactly what I would want, hence not having one in my lineup. Don’t get me wrong, many have sounded good, but to me, there just isn’t a really high gain distortion that can cut it like a nice high gain amp can. My favorite high gain distortion is the Wampler Triple Wreck, but even that is missing something that only a Mesa Triple Rectifier can provide.
[Mimmo]: Choose a genre and build a pedalboard for a guitarist in your chosen genre. Which crowe.effects pedals would you select? Which products would you select outside of crowe.effects?
[Crowe]: This is a tough one! I think what I’ll do, if it’s ok with you, is just tell you about my board. I’m into indie rock type of stuff, but also like to get weird and shoegazey sometimes. My board’s a little complex, but nothing too crazy.
So I have two “lines.” Each one goes into a loop on the crowe.effects Two Spot which gives me the option to have the setup be Line 1 -> Line 2 or the reverse, Line 2 -> Line 1. That makes things very versatile. If you’ve never put a really wet reverb in front of a fuzz, do it! I have a crowe.effects buffer and a TC Polytune Mini before the Two Spot.
Line 1: Dunlop Mini-Volume/Expression pedal -> Dunlop Mini Wah -> crowe.effects Compressor -> crowe.effects Plexotron -> EHX POG 2 -> Strymon Mobius -> crowe.effects Bulb Deluxe -> crowe.effects Duel Drive -> crowe.effects Total Harmonic Corruption -> crowe.effects Skull Fuzz
Line 2: Strymon Mobius -> Strymon TimeLine -> crowe.effects Deluxe Timepiece Delay -> crowe.effects EchoVerb -> Strymon Big Sky -> crowe.effects Mega Trem Bot -> Strymon Flint -> crowe.effects Bulb Deluxe
A couple other side notes, after the two loops everything runs through an EHX Freeze, then an EHX 22500 Looper and out into my amp. The Volume/Exp pedal is on a crowe.effects true bypass looper. When the loop is off it’s just for EXP, and when it’s on, it does both EXP and volume. The EXP out runs through a Mission Expressionator, which lets you control expression settings on any combination of 3 separate pedals with one expression pedal, in my case, the Mobius, TimeLine, and BigSky.
[Mimmo]: Are there any other boutique pedal manufacturers for which you have a definitive amount of respect? Any companies that you simply cannot get enough of?
[Crowe]: I’m a huge fan of Strymon‘s modulation, delay, and reverb stuff. I suppose they’re the company I can’t get enough of at the moment. Their Mobius, TimeLine, and BigSky pedals are all absolutely amazing. They’re all digital, which turns some people off, but I love them. I’m also a huge fan of EarthQuaker Devices. They have an excellent lineup with some really unique pedals.
[Mimmo]: Popular advice for learning how to design and build effects units usually bounces between purchasing kits and performing mods on existing pedals. Is this how you started? What advice might you have for “young players”?
[Crowe]: That’s absolutely where I started. No full pedal kits, but modding for sure. In terms of advice, I would recommend getting your hands on Brian Wampler’s DIY Books. They’re available free online, and it’s my understanding that Wampler is cool with people sharing them, just not selling them. They’re an excellent resource. I learned a ton from them. In addition to owning an awesome pedal company, Wampler has done a lot for DIY folks, which I personally think is pretty awesome of him to do.
[Mimmo]: The Internet, especially social media, is an incredible resource. How has it helped you in building crowe.effects?
[Crowe]: I primarily use Instagram and Facebook for social media, and it’s been huge. Most of my customers outside of Western New York contact me through one of the two, and I’ve had some success in working things out for custom pedals that way. I’ve also built some friendships, too, which is always nice. Even if people don’t buy anything from me, I enjoy just talking about gear, so it’s always good to hear from people, even if they don’t turn into customers.
[Mimmo]: Is crowe.effects considered a part-time hobby or do you do this full time?
[Crowe]: Currently, crowe.effects is not my full-time gig – I also teach high school English. Between the teaching and the pedals, I’m happy to say I have two jobs that I really enjoy!
Look out for crowe.effects on Facebook, Instagram and website (currently under construction)!
