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There’s a handful of magical things that are woven into legend.
The mystical powers of the Maestro Echoplex EP3 preamp section with it’s long out of production TIS58 FET, the superlative sparkling highs and presence of the Dumble Six String Singer or the Schaffer-Vega wireless system at the heart of Angus Youngs guitar tone on the album “Back in Black”.
All wonderful devices that have been used to great advantage by some of the world’s best guitarists. Knowledge very much in the realms of “if you know, you know”
Today I’d like to share one more.
The Helios Pre.
Found at the heart of the many of the most iconic British studios during the ’70’s, the Helios Pre was used to great effect recording the music of The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, David Bowie, Eric Clapton, Queen, The Who and many, many others.
Whilst there are countless technical factors that go into making a remarkable sounding recording, the input channel stage of the console is without doubt one of the more critical.
Many of you know of my huge love of Jimmy Page’s guitar sound. Well, he realised early on the power of the Helios Pre. Not only did he use it on virtually all of Led Zeppelin’s classic recordings at Olympic Studios or with the Rolling Stones Mobile truck, he also had two patched into the sound desk for his guitar channels, at the iconic Led Zeppelin Ahmet Ertegun tribute show at the 02 in London, in 2007.
He knew what they did for the tone of the electric guitar.
Now, to be clear, the Helios Pre is a channel pre – meaning it’s designed to take inputs from either microphone or a line level signal. It was never a stomp pedal.
Until now.
I’ve distilled the core facets of the Helios Pre and created….. ELIOS.
Operating from an internally generated 24 volt supply, the same operating voltage as the original, (the ELIOS takes the standard 9 volt DC pedal power supply and boosts it), using the exact same transistors as the original, the ELIOS offers a glorious sounding, guitar specific preamp/ boost device.
Adding an almost intangible “special sauce” to your guitars sound.
Single coils, humbuckers, bass guitar or acoustic guitar…. It all sounds better with ELIOS.
With buckets of additional gain, ELIOS is able to easily push tube amps into overdrive.
ELIOS works well with other pedals; it performs beautifully at the beginning or the end of your signal chain. Or anywhere you choose to put it.
Two simple controls is all it takes to get a better guitar sound.
One dial for Gain and one dial for Volume.
Gain determines the increase in gain generated by the ELIOS’s discrete transistor circuitry. Volume determines the overall output of the pedal.
As this is part of the Nouveau series, it is a limited production. There will only ever be 49 of these made.
Each one is built by hand by me. I number and sign each one upon completion.
Premium components throughout, hand wired using classic through hole component assembly.
A functional work of art.
Like all of our NOUVEAU series, the ELIOS will sell out quickly.
Place your order now to guarantee you receive one of these remarkable creations.
Don’t miss out!
