Bellissima in a Box: The Soaring Sounds of Baroni-Lab Pedals

There are few things as sublime as the fluid, melodic style of David Gilmour.  The Pink Floyd guitarist has been laying down the marker for heavenly tone and impeccable musicianship since 1967, when Gilmour replaced the madcap Syd Barrett in the legendary group, and has never stopped delivering inspiring riffs and tones.

Based in Italy, Baroni-Lab is building pedals that capture the many tonal facets of Gilmour’s long and storied career. Recently, The Tone King had a chance to check out some of their best. Check em out!

 

The Time

Delay has been a staple of Gilmour’s rig from the very beginning.  Throughout the ’60s and ’70s, Gilmour employed the now-classic Binson Echorec II, a tube-driven unit that used a rotating disc to record and play back the signals that were fed to it.  The Binson was notoriously difficult to maintain, especially for band that toured the way Pink Floyd did, but even after Gilmour traded the Binson for more reliable digital units in the late 1970s, the Binson still made the occasional appearance in Gilmour’s setup.  The Time does a great job of capturing the vibe-y warmth of the Binson while providing clean, precise delays players expect from digital units like the ones Gilmour used beginning in the 1980s.

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AwJevuq-dI&list=UU50DFDbb-_6ebSLyQwWLuvA’]

 

 

Moon Sound

On Dark Side of the Moon, Gilmour used a Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face, Colorsound Powerboost and the volume knob on his guitar to generate a wide range of tonal color, from the crunchy stabs of “Time” to the bluesy smoothness of “Money.”  But as the Tone King demonstrates in his review of the Moon Sound, all those classic textures have been bottled up by Baroni Lab in a fabulously versatile pedal.  The Moon Sound’s “Soft Boost” is the key to the wealth tones available in this box, enabling the player to roll down the gain without losing volume or punch, delivering old school in the style of the Colorsound boost that Gilmour employed in the 1970s.

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9N-s4i1Y4s&list=UU50DFDbb-_6ebSLyQwWLuvA’]

 

 

Rat ‘n Box 

By the mid-nineties, Gilmour’s setup had changed considerably, employing many effects typical for rigs of the time.  Gilmour relied on several different distortion and overdrive boxes for the recording of The Division Bell and PULSE, including the famous ProCo Rat II.  The Rat ‘n Box is a piece of cake to operate for those familiar with the original Rat’s idiosyncratic Filter control and the Distortion control is packed with a very wide gain range, taking your tone from slightly broken up to full-on fuzzed out madness.

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dUkzFQHYRI’]

 

Dave’s Comp 

Compression has definitely been a Gilmour tonal staple, whether arrived at naturally through driven tube amps or through fuzz boxes and compressor pedals like the MXR Dynacomp.  Some ’90s Gilmour rigs even had three different compressors, to quickly access different types of compression.

In The Tone King’s video review of Dave’s Comp, we hear some nice, classic compressor squish that doesn’t step all over the natural tone of the guitar.  While some compressors derive their “vibe” from the how they color the tone in addition to how they compress, Dave’s Comp defines itself by how well it enables the player to dig in without altering the base tone.

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oi5wTByzQxc&list=UU50DFDbb-_6ebSLyQwWLuvA’]

 

“Echoes” of the Past

As many changes as Gilmour’s rig has gone through over the years, his tone and touch is still immediately recognizable.  The great thing about these pedals by Baroni-Lab is that even though they tap into some of the greatest tones ever to travel through a Stratocaster guitar and Hiwatt amplifier, they won’t obscure your tonal DNA.

 

Which of the pedals that The Tone King reviewed do you think would take your tone to new heights?  Tell us below!

 

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