Interview with Servus! Pedale

I had an opportunity to send a few questions to Servus! Pedale a great new pedal builder out of Spain. It all started by getting notified about the Shark Attack! – a dynamic overdrive with the classic distortion in the vein of Vox AC30s. I’m a fan of overdrives, even though there are a ton to pick from, but finding a great sounding overdrive is truly a special thing.

So to do things right, I think we should start off with this great demo video by Manu Herrera showing what the Shark Attack! is all about:

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If you’re looking to pick up a Shark Attack!, you can pick one up from their site. For you US residents that might be interested in this, it’s 146EUR, which converts to about $192 USD.

I sent over a few questions to Servus! Pedale and this is what they had to say. Enjoy!

Where is Servus located?
Under the Spanish sun! We’re working in Trujillo, a small city in the southwest of Spain.

When did Servus begin?
We’ve been working on pedals on demand for several years now, selling for different Spanish projects and websites, and it’s been almost a year since we founded Servus! Pedale.

What inspired you to create Servus Pedale?
Since I was a little boy I’ve always been opening every electronic device that would fall into my hands in order to discover what it was made of and how it worked. Once I got professional training in music and electronics I started to focus on effects and synthesizers.

I got into pedal building by trying to build stuff for my band, using them as guinea pigs. At first it took me a while to get the pedals to sound without making horrible noises, but by studying the electronics of other pedals y started to achieve really interesting sounds and effects. And someday people started noticing my pedals and the first orders arrived. That was the point when I first thought about creating my own brand and designing own sounds and effects. That´s how Servus! Pedale was born!

How do your pedals stand out compared to your competition?
For us there are two important things: One is the personal treatment of the clients. We are a very small business and we know who is receiving our pedal and want to make sure that everyone´s satisfied with it. You can get in touch with us any time you want, while making your order you can decide about changes of the design, knobs, sounds… we really do care about each client.

The other thing is that each of our handmade pedals at Servus! Pedale has been developed and designed working together with many professionals of the music business. Electronics and above all musicians really took part in the development of the sound and the pedal advising us at every step of the making of the pedal. Before launching our pedal we send prototypes to musicians to hear their opinion and what they would change about it until we reach the ideal sound.

Are there any known musicians using your pedals right now?
Fortunately there are many musicians who believed in us from the beginning, and there are also professional music studios using our pedals. Anyhow, two stand out: Manu Herrera and Jaime García Soriano.

Manu is currently one of Spain’s best musicians; he also gave life to the video demo presenting our pedal Shark Attack! His work shows influence of flamenco, classic rock, funk, Celtic… so practically he can play anything you want and make it sound real good, it’s a real pleasure listening to him play.

And Jaime is guitarist for the Spanish band currently most active internationally, Amaral. Right now he’s on world tour with our Shark Attack!, and besides he’s really promoting our pedal a lot, that’s why it’s great to have him aboard, too.

Where can I purchase a Servus pedal?
You can purchase our pedals directly on our website. We ship to any place in the world via UPS. We’re also in touch with shops from different countries so that people can check the pedal out and try it on their own before buying it.

Are you working on a new circuit/designs?
In the pedal world I think it’s essential to always try to improve and innovate, and to try out new circuits, new sounds… There is a lot going on right now, but the pedal we’ll launch next will be a delay with tap tempo and effects loop with a real interesting analogue sound. For the nearer future we also want to reedit classic pedals for the nostalgic ones and fans of vintage sounds, and some other crazy effect is yet to come.

What inspired the Shark Attack?
The classic sound of British rock and more precisely the Vox AC30 has always been fascinating me. While listening to Brian May, Tom Petty and many other classics I always thought: I want to make a pedal that sounds like that. That was the basic idea of the Shark Attack, putting this special amplifier into a 9V pedal.
It was difficult to decide which would be the first pedal under the name Servus! Pedale. We decided on the Shark Attack because we really believe that it is a very good pedal. There is a saturated market in the field of overdrives and distortions and therefor the decision was risky. But when we sent the final prototype to different guitarists all of them told us the same: That sounds damn good, you have to show that!

What type of musician would the Shark Attack appeal to?
The Shark Attack has two very different channels, an overdrive and the AC30 distortion. Therefore it appeals to a wide range of musicians. The overdrive channel can be used as a clean boost but also to achieve blues and rock sounds. The distortion channel works great for classic rock but is also a perfect asset for pop and indie guitarists.