Solodallas Schaffer Replica

122
GUITARIST APRIL 2016
SOLODALLAS
C
reating a pedal to replicate the sound
of a vintage piece of equipment is fairly
commonplace among manufacturers
these days. Creating a pedal to recreate the sound of
something never designed to make a specific ‘sound’ in
the first place, however, is a pretty arcane concept, as
is designing a pedal to absolutely recreate the specific
sound of one guitarist.
The SoloDallas Schaffer Replica ticks both of those
boxes, as it is designed to replicate the effect of using
a vintage wireless system, the Schaffer-Vega Diversity
System (SVDS), a piece of equipment Angus Young of
AC/DC used on stage and apparently also put to use in
the studio during the recording of Back In Black and
other albums. This pedal is the culmination of a 30-year
long quest by Fil ‘SoloDallas’ Olivieri, a guitar player
and AC/DC fan.
Fil was so obsessed by Angus Young’s tone that, over
the years, he had bought a duplicate of every bit of gear
he knew that Angus had used in a bid to get the same
tone for himself. He couldn’t, however, quite manage
that and felt that a vital piece of equipment might be
missing. Eventually, Fil came across an old interview
with Angus with the information that he needed: that
missing piece of equipment was the SVDS, which
Angus had used from 1977 to 1984.
The SVDS had, in fact, been used by many artists
since it was first released commercially in 1977, but
only about 1,000 units were manufactured until it
ceased production in 1981. Fil could not find a unit, but
eventually got in touch with its inventor, Ken Schaffer,
who was able to supply him with one. According to Fil,
once he got it up and running with his Gibson SG and
Marshall Plexi, the result was “instant Angus”.
SOLODALLAS
SCHAFFER REPLICA
£299
A three-decade labour of love brought ‘that’ Angus Young sound into this pedal
Words Trevor Curwen Photography Olly Curtis
GIT405.peds_schaf.indd 122 2/19/16 10:17 AM