OVERDRIVE- CALINE CP-14 English Man Distortion ....discontinued? or not?

$35.00 USD

CALINE CP-14

 English Man  DISTORTION

Two years ago on the then Caline site they had over 60 pedals but they cut that in half. This one came out in 2014 so it could not last forever, lol. That said with some there are hundreds in small warehouses not yet sold and others that are sold from Chinese stores but simply not offered direct from Caline.

This pedal is no longer on AliExpress but can be found on stores posted in all the usual places. It is a direct clone of the Carl Martin Plexitone which is still available direct from C.M. for $200.00 USD. The Plexitone itself is a take on the old Marshall Guv-nor pedal.

The layout is dead simple with Gain, Level and Tone.

CONCLUSION ___

By todays standards it is not even close to one of the less ambitious MIAB. The PedalPalFx PAL 800 Gold v. 4 also 

$200 makes the C.M. sound like total junk as a serious 

offering as a Marshall in a box.

But as a $35 OD in the OpAmp Boss type of pedal category 

it certainly passes the smell test, lol. In short it would 

not be out of place beside my PedalPal on some tunes 

as the right kind of noise, lol. 

GUITAR - IBANEZ ICEMAN IC 420 ____ NEW ____ A STEAL!!!!

IBANEZ | ICEMAN IC 420  

 

Nothing dumbed down. 

It could sonically pass as a Gibson LP. 
It is like getting a Gibson Explorer experience 

but not being cripplingly punished financially to have it.  

       ....<>^ 

$699.00 USD

$653.00 USD

the fine print

I am not a Guitar Blog

I only show you guitars that are either unique

under the radar and usually under priced.

This guitar is made to a Gibson like spec, feel etc.

I have owned so many Gibson's and even several real 50's models

back in the 60's when they were thought of as just used guitars and

next years model will probably be better. 

If you think that is nuts then consider this. If you had this Iceman when you 

turn 77, someone that you told what you paid for will fall on his butt

when you tell him.

OCTAVE PEDAL- FLAMMA FS08 Octave Effect ___NEW___ impressive? Very!!! ...but :-(

FLAMMA FS08 

OCTAVE EFFECT

$88.00 USD

Nothing hard to understand. You get 7 octave variations. You get octave up, octave down and 2 octaves down and presets give you the different combinations. They are all very, very transparent. The E-H POG series are highly colored distorting harmonics to give them a very good impression that the sound is organic not synthetic. The FLAMMA has very synth vibe. Nothing wrong with that ...both are justified. In fact if you had both it would not be crazy. 

CONCLUSION ___

I am very impressed by both the sound and the price. 

The company is owned by Mooer and the pedals share the same tech as products labelled with the Mooer name. Mooer pedals have a rep of excellent reliability. I have bought 5 Flamma products and 3 out of the 5 have problems and are unreliable. They can just turn off at random. Flamma at best gave me complex work arounds instead of replacement. Yes they would repair the pedals under 

warranty but once I paid shipping both ways an $88 dollar costs 

me $60 to get fixed. I feel all this is planned to keep the pricing low. 

In short ...total deceit!!! 

 

FUZZ- JOYO JF-12 Voodoo Octave ...11 years of fuzzy fuzzness!

$35.00 USD 
AliExpress/free shipping

JOYO JF-12 

VOODOO OCTAVE FUZZ

This has been in the Joyo catalogue for 11 years. It is an octave design of Fuzz of which the very first is the MIJ Shin-ei from 1968. The Shin-ei FY-6 is better known in the U.S. by the one re-branded as the Uni-Vox Super Fuzz.

The layout is Volume, Tone and Gain with a toggle that gives you a mids scoop and a second footswitch that kicks in the faux octave up. In is normal mode it switches to very near straight ahead Big Muff thing. 

CONCLUSION  ___

The good stuff is it can do a good Muff impersonation so it becomes useful from the get go. The Octave thing is as good as all but the most pricey gourmet and it has 10 years of proven reliability. Yes the octave that can be kicked in by a footswitch  

will be appreciated by some but I hate the damn size of the thing, lol. 

the fine print

The Joyo is impressive but it dares to be compared to the Behringer SF300 Super Fuzz. Basically the same but different, lol. The Joyo is heavier sounding but the Behringer has a killer cut and extra raspy tear your face off thing. The Behringer is $30.00 USD but with shipping??

FUZZ- JAM Pedals Octaurus ____NEW____ fuzzy Foxy octave Fuzz-ez

$420.00 USD

JAM PEDALS 

   OCTAURUS

A Greek pedal maker for years has taken the classics in this case the 1970's Foxx Tone Machine then added new features and the enclosures always had an element of whimsy and look like they were a toy for toddlers.

The really unique thing is the pedals always hold their own sonically. They usually use NOS vintage parts and when put beside the original pedals at bare minimum are equal if not better. The original vibe is never lost but in fact usually noticeably enhanced with 'more of' as opposed to unrelated. 

CONCLUSION___ ....<>^

There is no denying that the pedal has a seriosly good sound. JAM do everything in-house so I expect covering the pedal with it's velvet like 

finish was not easy or cheap. Especially when only having a

single product to need it. These guys take hand making with

attention to detail to a whole new level.  

 

$200.00 USD

__WARM Audio 

__make a clone and they have a rep of nailing not just the look but the sound __also using NOS too. They also are verbally open about affordability. Too pricey __takes the fun out of a pedal which you buy for fun in the first place. 

FUZZ- IDIOTBOX EFFECTS Hobo Santa Fuzz ...Russian Rhino-preposterous Muff

$130.00 USD

|IDIOTBOX EFFECTS|

HOBO SANTA FUZZ 

The old Russian Fuzz is a medium gain Fuzz. It is why they are a 'thing' with Bass players because high gain on a Bass can muddy the crap out of it. However for guitarist it can just be a different 'thing'. So in this case, this  Fuzz designed around some nasty old Russian germanium transistors, then they ratcheted up the gain. The layout is hardly surprising with Volume, Gain and Tone.  

  ....<>^

CONCLUSION ___ 

There is nothing wrong with not 

owning a Big Muff that buying 

one won't cure.  

....I just finished this post & I got word of a 25% off  

   Boxing day sale ...over on the 1st.

DUMBLE OVERDRIVE SPECIAL AMPLIFIER vs. ITSELF ....and the wannabe pedals???

DUMBLE OVERDRIVE SPECIAL

I went looking for video demos that would give a simple overview of what the amp sounded like. The goal to compare it to pedals that 'claim' to sound like the amp. I did not need or want bullsh@t flash solos . I wanted a few ordinary tunes. Just a verse and a chorus in a medium tempo to be able to here the overall tone when a pick strums across a few chords, adds a riff or two then repeats that for a minute. 

I found most videos to be beyond time wasting. A lot of religious talk that

god almighty loved this amp but no actual basic ordinary demo that even a $50 desktop amp gets. The first two are not even the worst but the best of the worse, LOL. The third is indeed the best. It is also useful as it uses a Strat. Even the head of the Fender Custom Shop says if you hear a Strat PU in anything no matter if it is a clone or made with some un-Strat wood etc. it still sounds like a Strat. Amen!!! It also helps when the pedals do likewise and use a Strat to demo them. Even if you do not have a Strat you are at least comparing apples to apples not apples to cornflakes.

 

WHAT ABOUT DUMBLE-in-a-Box pedals ???

I may add more but for now I just choose 3 pedals. 

Two offerings from J. Rockett. The $200.00 USD ...Dude V2 and the $240.00 USD ...HRM. I chose them because first and foremost as they are the best sellers which means not cheap but affordable. Secondly I could not find more than lint picking about them. I also chose from a choice of 18 others the pedal of the gods.

The $300.00 USD ...Cornerstone Gladio SC because the 'cork sniffers' wet their pants over it. At $100 more we need to be impressed? What we get is more the same as the J. Rockett than different.

_______________________

THE BIG CONCLUSION

They all sound enough different that if you owned any of the amps or in our case the pedals you could likely pick out the one you owned. On the other hand if you had to hear all them with a 5 minute break between hearing each could you pick out one that sounded noticeably different? I think they sound more alike than most MIAB pedals.

the fine print 

If I had to pick knowing my rig is dark sounding but being like most guys wanting a fuller 

sounding pedal I would chose the J. Rockett HRM. The Dude is not as full and the 

Gladio is warm and impressively rich but could  sound too dark and muffled in my rig.

FUZZ- EDDIE RIFKIND KarenX ___NEW___ Colorsound Fuzz Box clone with more knobs, lol

EDDIE RIFKIND EFFECTS  

___🌽

KARENX*  

$120.00 USD

It is based on a one knob Colorsound Fuzz Box pedal designed by Dick Denny famous for the Vox AC30 amp. Loosely based from a Tone Bender.

The layout is 2 volumes, both input and output. Then treble and bass.

The one knob Colorsound was a very simple two transistors basic circuit. The whole point of it was to be cheap at a time when duties alone made imports pricey into the UK and it had to compete with the Tone Bender. In short it was the cheapest dirt pedal you could buy. It sounded very good in spite of being made to a price point. 

The layout of the Eddie give volume in and out plus treble and bass. 

CONCLUSION ____

The price is reasonable but keep in mind other Fuzz boxes use a lot more parts. It has no direct equivalent but there are boatloads of cheaper MIC Fuzz pedals that offer a lot from $30 to $50. Oddly enough it sounds more like a hardclipper medium gain OD than a Fuzz. In any case it has just one fundament sound but enough tweaking to fit most rigs.  

BOOST/OD- PAST FX Power Booster v.2 ___NEW___ Colorsound Powerboost clone __Dave Gilmour tones

$160.00 USD

PAST FX 

  POWER BOOSTER  

This one slipped thru the cracks but WTF we get v.2. 

The original Colorsound Power Boost was another impressive idea of Gary Hurst the creator of the Tone bender. It was a dirty boost. Many feel it is the first Overdrive ever made. It does sound like a low gain OD unless you dime it and then is has near Fuzz vibe.

You get a full EQ on the new version of Treble, Mid and Bass and obviously Gain and Level. A toggle can push it into a Fuzz vibe.

The Past FX is a clone of a clone because Buffalo FX did
one this is closer to. The owner of Buffalo passed away so this is a nice tribute. 

 

CONCLUSION___

No complaints. It sounds virtually killer with a 

lot of transparency, yet gainy at the same time. 

Priced fairly. 

 

THE ORIGINAL 

OVERDRIVE- JOHNNY ROCK GEAR Jojo Cake ... not even his mother can find him

JOHNNY ROCK GEAR 

JOJO cake 

$160.00 USD

My site started in 2015 on a Xmas day just like today. The Xmas things with family were on Boxing Day and I was alone and bored, lol. 

A lot has changed. The choice of pedals is easily 100% more. Even so anything new I have covered so I went back looking for obscure small brands to see if they were still around. 

Ol' Johnny is from Montreal Quebec Canada and back then most of his customers first language would be French. Nothing has changed in 9 years, not even most  

of the pedals. The guy even still silk screens the graphics on the pedals.

He sales nearly everything word of mouth and regional. He does not seem to 

have added any new product. The good news is the prices have not changed, LOL. 

The products are all a vague spin on old classics. New makers still do that but usually these days with 3 more knobs a boost section etc, etc.

The layout is a basic Volume, Tone and Gain. 

CONCLUSION _____     

So the JOJO is what is an old school hardclipper distortion. Half Fuzz, half Rat pedal with a lot of trial and error experimenting with parts and their values to come up with something in the parking lot of the ballpark of the classics. So this is not a clone of anything as far as your ears will ever tell you, lol. This is a love it or leave it pedal. Great Indie Rock sound as it will indeed give you 

your 'Own thing'.