Alberta amateur musician pitches 'molecular' guitar pedal in Nashville

A pair of Alberta researchers have used nanotechnology to create new guitar pedals with a warm, rich, classic sound and one is off to Nashville on Wednesday to have them tested by professional musicians.

Nanolog Audio Inc. co-founder and president AdamBergren says he's a longtime amateur guitar player trying to find the rich, round sound normally provided by a heavy tube amplifier.

Bergren, who is also a researcher at National Institute for Nanotechnology in Edmonton, toldCalgary Eyeopener host David Gray about the invention from the airport early Wednesday morning.

Q: Can you tell me, in layman's terms, what have you done to thatsound?

A: We've made a new component that uses something called molecular electronics. It was a way originally to study how electrons travel across molecules but it takes advantage of some unique nanoscale properties, meaning you get a littlebit of a wave function leaking into space at that scale, which gives you a little softer onset of your current. That translates into a little bit softer sound that you hear when you use it in your guitar pedal.

Q: How did you figure that out?

A:I've been an amateur guitar player for many, many years and I've also studied molecular electronics for many, many years. When I saw how those circuits in my home-based pedal boardworked, I said, "I've got to try this new component in here," because it auto-tuned the tone to get what I was after at the time.

Q: When you say "what you were after," most people who play guitar will go on extensively about the difference between old tube amps which people revereeven though they're heavy, they're clunky and the tubes can fail on you and the new digital amps. Are you going for a tube sound?

A:I was going for roughly a rich tube type sound from a distorted perspective with also just sort of a normal amplification. I like to use just an amplifier to make things louder, but I like to use pedals in order to create all kinds of unique tones. That's exactly what I was going for, something that gave me that distorted sound in a way that was more like when you turn a tube amp all the way up.

Q: Is this just another pedal on your deck?

A:It could be used in many different pedals, anything that uses this kind of what's called a clipping circuit. What we've done is design one specific pedal that makes use of two different molecular devices.

Q: You're heading to Nashville to people who really know music and obsess about sound. How are you going to explain this to them in a way that doesn't get into all the wonky nano technology stuff? Or maybe they'll want to hear that.

A: I think they'll want to hear the story. We have some technical documents that show the properties, and for a lot them, they're going to see that right away and recognize what this will do, just like I did.

So we're excited to show it. But also we're bringing about 10 of our new products, a wave function overdrive, to Nashville, so they can actually try it out for themselves.

Q: Have you got any famous musicians or hot guitar players ready to pick up on it?

A: There's been a few. We've gotten some emails from local pros in Edmonton. We've also had a connection from a guitarist who's played for Pink Floyd in the '90s. They have heard of it and used it and think it's pretty cool, so we're hoping to get some more artists to pick up when we're in Nashville.

Q: And this is commercially available? If I wanted to order one, I could?

A: In theory, you could. We actually sold out yesterday, but we're building more.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

With files from the Calgary Eyeopener and Carolyn Wagner.

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