MusicRadar Verdict
Rotary speaker sim with all the foot control you'd ever need.
Pros
- +
Rotary sounds are pretty authentic. Lots of hands-free control.
Cons
- -
No controls for high/low rotor mix or tone.
MusicRadar's got your back
A dedicated rotary speaker simulator, the Pigtronix Rototron is an all- analogue design that combines various effects to achieve its goal.
"The rotary sounds are pretty authentic, but you can go beyond the traditional by adding expression pedals"
Operation can be mono or stereo, and fast and slow speeds are selectable with the second footswitch. We get knobs to set the depth (intensity) of the effect, fast and slow speeds, plus the ramp time between the two.
The third mode of operation, where the rotating parts are left stationary, can be facilitated by connecting an external footswitch.
First impressions are that it's quite brightly voiced, which helps it cut through, though some may find it a little too trebly.
The rotary sounds are pretty authentic, but you can go beyond the traditional by adding expression pedals for remote control of the simulated low and high rotors independently.
A decent rotary speaker effect with plenty of hands-free control. We would have liked controls for the high/low rotor mix and/or the tone, though.
Trevor Curwen has played guitar for several decades – he's also mimed it on the UK's Top of the Pops. Much of his working life, though, has been spent behind the mixing desk, during which time he has built up a solid collection of the guitars, amps and pedals needed to cover just about any studio session. He writes pedal reviews for Guitarist and has contributed to Total Guitar, MusicRadar and Future Music among others.
“We were arguing a lot and we were miserable”: How Green Day exceeded expectations with their most ambitious song
"There’s plenty for us guitarists to learn – and ‘less is more’ is the overriding lesson": how to play like George Harrison on The Beatles' Abbey Road
“They didn’t like Prince’s bikini underwear”: Prince’s support sets for the The Rolling Stones in 1981 are remembered as disastrous, but guitarist Dez Dickerson says that the the crowd reaction wasn’t as bad as people think