“My band joke that my pedalboard should be called ‘50 Shades of Gain’!” Chris Buck on how a fetish for dirt led to his new signature pedal from ThorpyFX

Having been vocal about his love for ThorpyFx pedals for many years, Cardinal Black guitarist Chris Buck has finally teamed up with the company to create his own signature Electric Lightning drive and boost.

As you’d expect from a man who has won the respect of guitar heroes Slash and Adrian Smith, it’s a wonderfully versatile tool for creating sounds that will dazzle all in its path, as Chris explains…

How exactly did this collaboration with ThorpyFx come about?

“It feels like us doing something together has been inevitable in some respects. There’s nearly always been a Thorpy pedal on my ’board – from the Gunshot to the Heavy Water to the Field Marshal. It’s been one of the few brands that’s actually been a constant on an otherwise ever-changing ’board!

“Me and Adrian [Thorpe, owner] are always chatting through ideas about our favourite pedals and amps and things that we’d like to see or hear. I can’t actually remember a specific discussion about collaborating. It just seemed to evolve out of endless nerdy conversations!”

ThorpyFX Electric Lightning – My Signature Pedal | Friday Fretworks – YouTube

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Well, Thorpy are well known for making the most rugged pedals out there…

“Aside from all the usual jokes of them being ‘bombproof’, they’re superbly-made pedals built to an incredibly high standard by genuinely lovely people. Maybe it’s a little unnecessary, but using gear made by people or companies that I know and can vouch for in some capacity helps me sleep at night, especially if I’m putting my name to a product or people are looking to my gear for inspiration.”

How did you come up with the name?

“I thought the name should reflect its unique design and enclosed valve, so we started spitballing ideas around voltage and electricity. I’d recently heard the Rival Sons song Electric Man used on an electric car advert and in response to that, Adrian suggested Electric Lightning – an old British fighter jet. It ticked all the necessary boxes, and it sounded cool!”

What pedals would you say influenced the tones, and how did you tweak them?

“Given my previous choice of pedals, I think there was an expectation that my signature pedal would be Bluesbreaker or Klon-derived, but it’s a new design, done from the ground up.

“The EQ section is loosely based on that classic Marshall setup which, aside from giving you the scope to really fine-tune it to your setup, also gives it that slightly aggressive, visceral feel that we associate with those early Plexis. I know it’s a cliché to say that a pedal is ‘amp-like’, but the Electric Lightning feels more akin to a power section than a pedal in your chain.”

Cardinal Black – Half Way (Live at The Memo) – YouTube

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How exactly will you be running the pedal in terms of settings?

“My band joke that my pedalboard should be called ‘50 Shades of Gain’! Which I guess is true to an extent, but having the two distinct sides is invaluable – the boost is used either for boosting the level running into other pedals or just as a sweetener for my clean tone.

“The ‘Lows’ control in particular is superb and seems to make everything sound better! The drive side is my go-to when I’m looking for an overdrive sound that doesn’t round the edges off and really leaps out of a mix.

“It’s been a revelation in that respect and has fundamentally changed which type of sounds I gravitate towards. As of yet, I haven’t really experimented with stacking the two sides together, but we’re touring a lot this year so there’s always time!”