In this week’s Pedalpocalypse – the show where we ask guitar players which three effects pedals mean the most to them – we talked to Ruzz ‘Guitar’ Evans, a UK-born Gretsch-endorsed guitarist who heads up Ruzz Guitar's Blues Revue, a rock’n’roll, rockabilly, jump blues and swing band currently turning heads and cutting rugs on both sides of the Atlantic.
Ruzz grew up listening to his dad’s music – tough British R’n’B bands like Dr Feelgood, The Inmates and Nine Below Zero – before discovering their American counterparts: George Thorogood, Jimmie Vaughan and Brian Setzer.
“I was 14, when my dad showed me a DVD of George Thorogood,” he says, “and I thought, ‘That’s cool – I’m going to do that.’”
Which three pedals would he take with him into his post-apocalyptic rhythm and blues safehouse?
His first choice is the brilliantly named Surfybear Compact Reverb by Italian company and surf guitar specialist Surfy Industries. “I can’t live without a reverb,” he says. “I was introduced to this by my friend in Palm Springs. I fell in love with it because it has two mixers on it, which means that I can have two different levels of reverb, at the flick of a switch.”
All of which makes it handy for ballads, where Ruzz likes to “crank it up and make it a bit more dreamy and atmospheric”.
Surfy Industries are also the makers of his second choice, the Surfyvibe vibrato pedal. “I’ve always been looking for that Jimmie Vaughan 80s Leslie sound, without having to cart around a Leslie,” says Ruzz.
“But I tried the Surfyvibe recently and I fell in love with it. It keeps the clarity of the guitar but it still has that smooth vibrato. With some other vibratos, I feel like I’m losing sustain – because obviously, the tremolo is knocking the volume down – whereas this feels so natural.”
His third pedal is a tougher choice. Ruzz uses Alameda Guitars’ Angry Hornet fuzz pedal, and really loves a bit of echo.
“One of my absolute heroes is Brian Setzer,” he says, “and I remember hearing his version of Sleepwalk and he had this particular echo on it and I try and capture that. It’s a bit tricky with a reverb not to have it as a massive wash. The echo might be my number three, especially for rockabilly stuff, to get that slapback sound…”
We point out that he's the first person not to choose a drive pedal – and that prompts him to reveal his secret ingredient. “Well,” he says, “we’re talking about pedals, but with the pickups on this guitar – there’s different voicings within the pickups and the last setting is almost like having a boost pedal.”
Ruzz plays a Gretsch G5420T Electromatic Hollow Body but the pickups are Off Kiltertron pickups, also by Alameda Guitars. “Six voicings in each pickup: three singlecoil and three humbuckers and the final setting has all the pickups on at once, full-force.”
Watch the video to hear them in action. They’re not just for Gretsch guitars either. “They’ll fit in Strats, Jazzmasters – if you want them in your guitar, he’ll make a casing for them. He’s a mad scientist at all of this. He’ll make it work!”
Watch a new episode of Pedalpocalypse every Tuesday on Guitar World’s YouTube channel. Pedalpocalypse is produced in LA by Beaux Gris Gris & The Apocalypse guitarist Robin Davey and Growvision.
