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GUITAR and BASS UK
ELLIS STOMPBOX - 2006
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It's a stompbox, but not an overdrive, fuzz or a delay. This is a stompbox that's designed for one thing, and one thing only, you stomped on it.... repeatedly.... and it makes a noise. Ellis Guitars is an Australia company that produces fine handmade acoustics. Like many lutherie operations it finds itself swamped with chunks of exotic hardwood that are too small to use for guitar building but are too nice to throw away. So they started putting wood together with a pickup fitted inside.

The end result is about the size of a CD case and sits about an inch or so off the ground, with a non-slip rubber base. One one side is a jack output, and this is fed to the mixing desk. You can choose your timber, and there are plenty of exotic varieties to choose from including Curly Marri Red Gum, Tasmanian Sassafras and Australian Sheoak.

One of my old sound-engineering tricks was taping a bass drum mic to the floor on a piece of foam. If the drummer or performer tapped their foot next to it, you got a particularly fat bass drum sound - with a little EQ assistance. This product does the same job, but it's far less hassle. The starting sound is better, with a fine woody "thwack" that can be EQ'd to a bassy thud, and it doesn't feed back. So if you like to tap your foot when you play and consider it an intergral component in your performance, the Ellis Stompbox is the perfect pickup for your foot.