Keeley Synth-1

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TOTAL GUITAR AUGUST 2019

nalogue synthesis has,

somewhat rightly, a

fearsome reputation for

complexity, with terms

like LFO and VCO thrown around

in abandon. Until recently,

guitarists had to learn the

keyboard before being able to

utilise synthesiser tones, or

resort to weird and wonderful

gadgets like the Roland V

Guitars, or external hex pickups.

Now however, advances in tech

have put synthesis in the hands

of your average axe-slinger, with

no external gubbins or jargon

required… or so the

manufacturers claim.

We thought we’d put this to

the test, so we’ve got four of the

best analogue guitar

synthesisers together to see if

we can wrap our luddite minds

around them. Synthtopia or epic

fail? Let’s ﬁ nd out...

SYNTH PEDAL ROUND-UP

102

ith a reasonably compact form factor

and functional good looks, the EHX

Mono Synth definitely has the cool

points going for it even before we plug it in.

From then on it’s hard to get our jaw off the

floor. The ‘Nu Wave’ patch is pure Gary Numan,

and has us Googling the tab for Cars; ‘Unison’

sounds like giant mechs battling over Tokyo;

‘XOX’ is a RATM-style bass synth envelope;

‘Ghost’ is organ-like; and ‘Tinker’ slightly

chiptune-esque. Throughout, the tracking is

not bad at all, so long as it’s the first pedal in the

chain; certainly more than good enough for

guitar or bass live.

ur rule of thumb with gear is that we

should be able to roughly work it out

without the aid of the manual - after all,

the intuitiveness of the guitar is half the fun,

right? With the great power of the Fooz synth,

fuzz, trem, ﬁ lter and all, comes a complexity

that does require some reading. However,

once it’s dialled in it serves well as a ﬁ lter and

envelope follower with more than your usual

array of tweakable parameters. Though it does

do the auto-wah thing well, that’s essentially

the one core sound on oﬀ er, even if it can be

altered via the ﬁ lter, trem, fuzz and wave-

shape control on the LFO.

EHX Mono

Synth

THE ONE

Seymour

Duncan Fooz

PITY THE FOOZ?

£339

E G

£115

FEATURES

SOUND QUALITY

VALUE FOR MONEY

BUILD QUALITY

USABILITY

OVERALL RATING

SUMMARY