About
I’m pretty open about offering pedals to musically talented friends. I like to offer support (if accepted) to any and all up-and-coming musical projects that can really sink their hooks into me. Normally to win me over, the music would need to be driven by some kind of key element. I have a soft spot for anything driven by an unwavering passion, a tremendous amount of musical talent or even just a massive entertainment value.
The inspiration for this pedal build undoubtedly checked all 3 of those boxes. This pedal was designed and built for Rebekah Hawker. Rebekah is a Country musician out of Barrie who makes music at a quality so polished and pristine I honestly don’t know how to write about it. I advertise myself as someone who listens to ‘a little bit of everything’- which is the truth- but, I tend to rarely seek out country music since it was so aggressively abundant in my upbringing living in a relatively rural town.
That being said, Rebekah’s music is something a bit more special. Rebekah has taken the time to masterfully transform her lived experience into musical inspiration. This has created a body of work that is steeped in a wisdom that anchors the work in a way that makes it seem much more tangible, relatable, and honest. Frequently, I find her performances dismantle the ritualistic archetype of ‘the performer putting on a show for the audience’ – and instead creates a space that feels much more charmingly intimate and communal.
One evening I found myself chatting with Rebekah and she mentioned a need for a simple, subtle little reverb pedal that she can put her instrument through. Oftentimes, in a live-performance setting reverb has to come from the sound booth. Reverb on vocals is usually something you can turn on and leave on, but Rebekah wanted to be able to turn it on/off and fine-tune it for her instrument. Seemed like the perfect issue for a pedal to solve.
So, I put together the Steel Tower, a simple 3-mode reverb that isn’t anything fancy. Mode 1 is a weird little simulated spring reverb that I thought would be fun to include from anything requiring a more classic country reverb. Mode 2 is a simple chamber reverb for getting a bit of a medium dwell. Mode 3 is a Hall reverb capable of infinite dwell. Modes 1 and 3 I don’t think are particularly useful but they sure are fun.
I’d urge anyone to check out a Rebekah Hawker performance in person if ever given the opportunity. Until then, she has a few recordings out:
https://www.rebekahhawker.com/listen
https://rebekahhawker.bandcamp.com
Pedal Features:
– Dwell (Lengthens Reverb Resonance)
– Treble (High-Pass Filter for Wet Reverb Signal)
– Bass (Low-Pass Filter for Wet Reverb Signal)
– Mode (Toggles between 3 modes)
– Mix (Dry/Wet Blend)
– Volume (Output Volume)
