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This
is not a guitar pedal. It's a different type of stomp box. Call it a Stomp
box, porch board, electric percussion thing, whatever... I'm calling mine
a Stomper! It's a wooden block with one or more dynamic microphone inserts
inside, so guitarists / musicians can add some rhythm to their playing
by tapping their feet to produce a percussion sound. It's like amplifying
the sound of your foot tapping on a wooden stage or box.
My Stompers are a simple percussion effect along the lines of a small floor tom or wood block, depending on how and where you tap them and what's on your feet. They provide a percussive sound to complement your overall sound, but they're not a substitute for a bass drum! Try tapping different parts of the Stomper to get different effects. I've found some great sounds can be had by boosting the lows and mids and just tapping lightly with your shoes or boots. Tapping around the centre of the Stompers gets a bassier sound. Tapping at the edges or corners gets more of a floor tom or woodblock effect. You don't need to stamp your foot or toe hard to get a nice percussion sound. Legendary Australian blues guitarist Phil Manning has been using a stomp box for years. His stomp box is a Shure SM58 wrapped in a blanket stuffed into a wooden box. He runs that into his PA so his levels are high and he can really get a some loud sounds from it! My Stompers aren't as loud, but they're cheaper and more convenient. My Stompers are made of various Australasian timbers, some with veneer or ply caps and others in solid timbers. Generally the timber makes no difference to the sound (except for the Stomper with two inserts - see below). |
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 Approximately
110mm by 110mm by 150mm across the front (which is really the back!) by
35mm thick including the 3 rubber feet. Because the mike insert doesn't
have much timber surrounding it this is the loudest Stomper, but also the
most hollow sounding and echoey. |
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 Approximately
150mm wide by 120mm deep by 35mm thick including the 4 rubber feet. The
mike insert is right in the middle of the Stomper so it's well surrounded
with timber. Good floor tom or woodblock sound with much less of a hollow
or echoey sound. |
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 Approximately
150mm wide by 120mm deep by 35mm thick including the 4 rubber feet. The
mike insert is right in the middle of the Stomper so it's well surrounded
with timber. Good floor tom or woodblock sound with much less of a hollow
or echoey sound. As always adding a volume control to an instrument will
suck some tone, so this one loses some volume and top end, even turned
up full. |
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 This one
is designed for the player / performer who wants to use their whole foot
to create a range of sounds. At one end the insert is set in towards a
corner, at the other end it's more central. This gives two very different
sound depending on how and where the foot taps it, and which part of the
foot. Approximately 250mm long by 110mm wide by 35mm thick including the
7 rubber feet. |
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 This one
is designed for the player / performer who wants to use their whole foot
to create a range of sounds. For this one I've bored the holes for the
three mike inserts at varying distances from the corners to give three
different sounds. The insert at one end is slightly closer than the
other, and the insert opposite the jack is even closer to the edge of the
Stomper again so it's similar to the Little Stomper. This gives three very
different sounds depending on how and where the foot taps it, and which
part of the foot. In fact two of these have sold to percussionists who
are playing them like bongo drums with their hands and fingers! Approximately
300mm across the longest side by 220mm wide along the other two sides by
35mm thick including the 6 rubber feet. |
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Some comments
from users of my Stompers:
"Collected the stomp box today. Plugged it into the SWR bass amp (I mainly play bass) and it sounds great. Also sounds OK in the Marshall AS amp (my partner plays guitar and sings)." "Mate I have used the STOMPER on half a dozen occasions now and it’s a pearler, I run it through the front of house with out a problem. Anyhow just a note of appreciation for you on a job well done." "Hey Rob. Just letting you know the new stomper is great. The different electrics make a huge difference. Thanks for a great product." "Got the little stomper….Just want to congratulate you on a great little product, can’t wait to use it at a gig." |
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Please remember
that belting into any of these Stompers at high volume levels can put some
extra strain on your speakers... you're really asking the speaker cone
to travel all the way in and out each time you give the box a hard tap
or kick. Blues players especially seem to like really stamping their feet
hard on these things. It's really not necessary but what chance is there
of getting a blues guitarist to play anything at less than full volume? |
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