___THE UPDATER___APRIL 2024___ NEW GEAR NEWS___UPDATED 24/7

THE UPDATER 

APRIL 2024

 Seperate those pedals that are a steal from those that are 

 stealing from you at any price

 ....IF IT IS WORTH KNOWING IT IS HERE FIRST!

MY MONTHLY RANT

Squat came out last month. Last week only a single pedal. 

My MC card was killed without any warning or notification. It took hours of time and over 2 days to get it reinstated. I not only never miss a payment but I pay the total amount each month. I mail the cheque at the very latest the following day at 8:00AM.

THE GOOD NEWS

The highlite for me was the new J.Rockett Airchild Sixty-Six Compressor. It is a take on the tube driven Fairchild 66 tube compressor. It was the rackmount ONLY Comp left that someone had not done a pedal of. Perhaps because it is tube and FET transistor substitute well but the whole circuit has to be tweaked a thousand times to nail it. It is pedal even if you do not need some compression you want it on because everything just sounds better. 

There were a few long forgot pedals that for odd reasons floated past my dock. A 9 year old CKK Electronics Anka. A Marshall JCM 45/100-in-a-Box. Yes The Hendrix Marshall!!! The perfect MIAB for a Strat!!!  

THE NEW NORM ___  

SBS has grown over the years. At one time I was competing directly with YouTubers. There are now so many instead of it getting harder it getting easier. The new pedals once went to handful of them so they always had something new. Now they share what is new so unless you have hours of time you are much better off finding them all in one place. I know get 2000 or more guys visiting every day. If anyone tells a friend I have them coming here. 

OLD GEMS GET CHEAPER __  

Old defunct pedals often by small builders that have since died, or retired etc. are starting to plumet from all the gouging over the last few years and are turning up priced comparable to good new pedal. Not dead cheap but at $180 to $250 they are now an alternative to new pedals. They are likely to go up again over time but they are a good investment as they will not ever go down. 

 

BEDROOM COMPANION

I was given a heads-up cool and killer trick to get a good sound back out of a 50 watt amp turned down to bedroom levels. You put a v.2 Timmy on top of the amp set it with barely any gain as an always on pedal. It gets rid of that thin scratchy sound and puts back all the lows and overtones lost by turning it down without sounding artificial or even seeming it is there. It is dead quiet too, no hiss. 

The Caline Pure Sky is a dead on clone of a v.2 circuit. It sells to you with free shipping for $25.00 USD on AliExpress.  

I run mine with Treble and Bass at 1 o'clock the Gain on  8 o'clock and Volume the same on or off. I am NOT boosting the level. 

The improvement is very, very noticable. Once you get your likely different but not by much settings you just leave the pedal on.

If it  your amp stays in one location you just turn it on off with the amp otherwise forget it. The thing is a little miracle-in a-box. 

 

MOUSER ELECTRONICS

King of Neutrik😉

Write this one down. A Texas company in biz since 1964 that sell quality electronics. They have 650,000 customers in 223 countries.  I just wanted some quality F to F ....1/4"adapters. 

The only ones you can get at 99% of all music stores are literally junk. Unusable after a few weeks at best. Quality brand name sh@t if you can find it can literally be over $20 each plus shipping as much as $50 and some add taxes etc. too. I paid $5.55 each for 6 of the Swiss (Liechtenstein) brand Neutrik including shipping etc.😊 

 

WHAT DO YOU NEED?

A need is not what you find cool at the moment. On average a player needs a low gain OD for things needing just a bit more than clean. A medium gain OD for Crunch, a high gain for a solo or riffs between and around vocal parts and a Metal style OD to complete the whole package. For Fuzz you need one from the many in the Big Muff family and another from the Tone Bender group. Keep in mind that a Fuzz Face is part of that family. Add a Comp a Delay and Reverb. They must sound pro but need not do anything fancy. In short what you could get decades ago had all the sound and features needed. I said needed! A good Flanger will double for a Phaser, Chorus and all other modulation devices it can interpret close enough to not be missed. This is the list. Ideally an EQ can be a big problem solver. A gate is a luxury unless but only because you never had one, LOL. If you did it then one of the pedals on my list would have to be put on hold so you could get one. Finally EVERYONE needs at least one pedal not on the list so not to go crazy, LOL

 

M-VAVE WP-5G WIRELESS GUITAR SYSTEM

Yes one of the cheap and cheerful budget wireless systems. Anything you heard about how inferior the sound is or about some big delay between your playing and it coming back to your ears is 99% bullsh@t to the extreme. The chips used to send the signal has had decades of research and millions spent to get perfect frequency response without any 'human' perception of a delay. Why??? because the same tech is used in the most pricy i-Phone you can buy. With literally billions of cell phones needing that, nothing has had more big bucks put in to refine it. 

Try this. Plug a 10 foot cord into your amp and walk out 10 feet from your
speaker. Hit a chord. Bingo. You just heard how long the delay is!!! If the delay is to long then you better learn to play laying down in front of your speaker, LOL.  ___Others complain the sound is too bright. If so throw out all your Boss pedals.They too have a buffer and that is what you are hearing. 

 

____Do the cheapies have a problem??? YES!!! TWO!!! 

The first problem is all but the pricey use the same frequency signal to send the sound that ALL wireless phones use. There are hundreds of these signals flying past you all the time. Interference from them can knock out your signal or cause you to pick up noise that sounds like a half shorted out Fuzz pedal. 

M-Vave use the 'big boys' signal meant for the Military and Emergency market. It works too!!! Zero problems for just over two years already. The current price is about $45.00 USD. NOT $200 plus.  

 

____PROBLEM #2  

None of the budget guitar wireless units allow you access to the battery that typically dies after 2 years and your unit is instant landfill. The other thing is once they get past a year or so they may not hold a charge as long. What lasted the whole gig starts to dwindle. Mine is down to that 2 hours. In short now is the time for a new one and keep the aging one as a backup.

 

___MY SOLUTION

Yesterday I got my second M-Vave. So I have a backup that I will simply rotate daily. 

When one dies permanently I will get a replacement. 

 

CHINESE PEDALS NOT SELLING !!!

Sales are down 7.5%. The only choice is to have sales or indeed drop the prices. The Chinese government had been putting money into industry to create jobs and boost the economy. 

They STOPPED! It helped but not enough and they robbed their own piggy bank to do it. 

The pig is empty. 

  

 

ANOTHER SUPER STAR PASSES 

Dickie Betts co-founder of the Allman Brothers died of cancer today. Thur. Apr.18. 

He was 80. He wrote Ramblin' Man which was their biggest hit.

 

    TOYS FOR 

  THE OLDER BOYS     

J.ROCKETT AIRCHILD SIXTY SIX COMPRESSOR

It is their take on the Holy Grail of comps the 1959 ...Fairchild 660 Tube compressor. Finally something to threaten the Origin Cali76 as the best of the classic rack comps in a pedal for the BEST. You get a noticeable total improvement to your sound with it on even set very low.  This pedal is serious sh@t!!! It seems cheap at $230.00 USD with the Origin being $360.00 USD. 

The manual comes with 3 killer settings that take 2 seconds each to dial in for beyond killer sounds!!! 

VALETON LOFT OD10 OVERDRIVE

It looks like a mini defunct BOSS OD-1. It is exactly what this pedal is. It has NOS parts so 4 years ago they could not get the parts so they killed it. __Only Pedals__  has new old stock of them at $50.00 USD each!!!

It is the best OD on the planet for a Semi. It does not cause any feedback honk. The notes are full but ring clear for any vigorous strumming or for busy flatpicking. Add to that it has a very Fender DeLuxe Reverb on 6 sound. Stack a Fuzz on it and it keeps the sound but tightens it up and adds sustain. Stack it on a MIAB and the MIAB keeps its vibe and just sounds like you switched to a lead channel. I use it 6 times a night. A lot for a $50 pedal. I have plenty of gourmet pricey ones that just can not cover what this does. 

 

DOLAMO VINTAGE DIST. 

 ...another f-ing Rat but with a really big difference... it sounds like one. Are there not many better Rat pedals. NO! ...there are many arguably much, much better OD's that use Rat as their bait but they are ALL just a good, better or best hardclipper distortion. They are more Boss Distortions 

than Rat. At $25.00 USD you get this sweetheart cheap enough to keep your smile.

CKK ELECTRONIC FLAMING LIPS

I ordered one of these months ago that to make a long story short I paid for but never got. I did get my money back in the end. They are still made in small batches as they have been for over 9 years. It is a high gain OD. The sound is thick and tight with more balz then any pedal I own. It has a killer growl and awesome bite. Even with all that it sounds very amp like avoiding a Fuzz or some synth thing. 

I finally found one from a new batch. Of course I did!!! lol. Let's hope this time I get it.  

  

...4/24/2024 ...my lucky day ...the pedal was shipped!!!

MXR UNIVIBE

The original Uni-Vibe was made by an enthusiastic amateur that was trying to imitate a LESLIE which is a speaker cab for an organ. It has a metal horn/tweeter that rotates in one direction and a 15" speaker with a drum on it rotating in the opposite direction. It was meant to sound like a pipe organs sound bouncing off the cathedral ceiling hitting pillars and posts and then bouncing again. Pedals using the term 'Rotary' capture a LESLIE sound do this as it was originally intended but the Uni-Vibe is not even close. The thing is the Uni-Vibe is a fancy phaser and vibrato sound. It sounds cool for being what it is neither a real Phaser or a Rotary pedal just its own f'd-up thing. Pricy new units turn this torn levis sound into a tuxedo. it simply destroys the intent. The MXR leaves all the warts and denim alone so if you stack a Fuzz on it you hear instant Hendrix sounds. Best of all it is $150.00 USD new,

 

TONEX ONE  

A Mini pedal. It does about nearly all of what the full size Tonex does and uses their identical library and comes with 20 presets and software to edit. You can download others from hundreds from the same library as the full size unit. Yes it lets you make your own models just like the full size one. 

This is 100% not a toy!!! 

$180.00 USD 

...you get a sound quality that rivals ALL over $1000 units. 

...Yes that includes Fractal and Neural too!!! 

It is a serious ...Game Changer

FRIEDMAN IR-D PreAmp 

If you can not part with your Plexi but you feel as much as you hate it you are trapped between a rock and hard place. Everything is pushing you unwillingly to a modeler. Fear not!!! This pedal uses tubes and literally has cloned a Marshall Super Lead Plexi's actual PreAmp. It even has the feel and expression of the real amp. All the modeler in and outs are sorted out. You simply interface it as if it is a modeler. 

 

BOSS OD-3 OVERDRIVE

One Boss leads to another, lol. Today I reviewed the Cornerstone Nero Fuzz/OD that sells for a chilling $265.00 USD. It sounds different enough to identify it but the look of a Ford F-150 or a Chev Silverado are as different too. Both good pickup trucks both get the same job done without you wishing you chose the other one because yours is inadequate. 

The Boss sells for $110.00 USD, and will cover the same genres and tunes that fit either pedal.

 

                                                                             __________________

  Check out All  63 of my favorite pedals and my board.

  All kept up to date with new entries.

  Scroll to the top of the page and beside ... 

 

  B type in 3 plus signs +++

LAST UPDATE: 4/10/2024

____________________

THE  REFRESHMENT  STAND

1999 GODIN RADIATOR

...made in the USA
a take on a 50's Magnatone MK 3.
All maple ...The neck is a like an Ibanez RG
I put a Duncan Pegasus HB Prog Metal PU at the bridge on mine (on the right) and
will soon have a Firebird PU at the neck.
The thing looks like Surf but shreds like Super Strat.

________________________________

DADDY MOJO Ozark
$3250.00 USD +
formica with aluminum trim
...reclaimed wood
Lollar, Cutis Novak, Gemini or Mojo PU's

BURNY H-ELT
$1070.00 USD
MIJ
mahogany body/neck
Gotoh tuners/hardware
NOS available

 

FERNANDES MY 115s
1990's MIJ
$750.00 USD when new.
mahogany body with maple cap
Gotoh tuners, Wilkinson bridge
Duncan PU & Fernandes sustainer w/PU at neck

GIBSON THEODORE STD.
$2000.00 USD
It sounds like an SG but it is
easily as fat as an LP Std.
I think it will be like a V. Hated and thought 100% un-cool
when new then 10 years later worth a fortune!!!

______ TOP 10 JAZZ GUITARISTS ______

Unbottling the Best  

Life does not come with a map so it helps to know 

where you are going if you know where you have been.  

 

In the 70's I went to a Joe Pass workshop thanx to the generosity 

of Steve Howe. It was the first time I saw a Jazz guitarist. 

When the choice is the best of 4 or 5 ...Joe is pretty much a 

given to be in it. 

His touch and tone make his playing flow like water in a stream. 

It is like being taken by the hand as a child for a walk through 

the woods. Exciting and fascinating but safe.

OVERDRIVE- TONE INK Red Briton... aggressive rip your face off ...treat :-)

TONE INK RED BRITON 

BRITISH DISTORTION

$135.00 USD

This Brazilian company has been around for years but all but a few pedals are exported. The country has had decades of being near dysfunctional. They have defaulted on international debts 9 times. 

To over simplify there are some strange subsidies to encourage employment 

and make prices cheap for Brazilians but a really high export tax gets added that makes selling worldwide pointless.

A few companies do get on Reverb but players never heard of the brands 

and will not pay $200 to get what made Stateside is a $350 pedal because 

they think the pedal is likely junk. 

The layout is Volume, Gain, bass, Mids and Treble. A toggle gives you 2 

more levels of gain. A second allows you to choose headroom or go for 

a more compressed sound. In short big and open or more sustain, pick one.😇  

 

CONCLUSION ___ 

In spite of the name suggesting a MIAB. It is a bit misleading. 

It is a tear your face off high gain OD. A damn good 

one too. I found a couple of used ones but both 

were sold. If they weren't I would have made 

sure I had my order in before you guys scooped it.😠

OVERDRIVE- MOVALL MP-101 Cosmic Thing ___NEW___ Bognor-in-a-Box

$30.00 USD

movall 

 COSMIC THING 

JFET HIGH GAIN

The company has good record of great sounding pedals at cheap prices. 

This is their take on a Bogner sound. I know the Bogner pedals and I 

owned a couple and fail to see it as a clone of any of them. 

The FET transistors alone make this a bargain. This is not an OpAmp 

pedal that is cheap to build. The layout is Volume, Tone and Gain. 

A toggle clicks on a mid scoop. 

....<>^

CONCLUSION ___ 

It has a very smooth mid sound that has a gourmet 

American vibe like an amp using 6L6 power tubes. 

Which are found in many classic Fender or the MESA 

Boogie amps. Not my thing but it does it very well!

HENDRIX LIVE ... MOMENTS OF PLACIDITY FROM A SIMPLE TUNE

SPONTANEOUS YET NEVER WANDERING,

 LOSING DIRECTION OR PURPOSE 

These days we get a guy throwing every last shredding thing he knows in a tune. 

About 3 tunes later it all starts to sound the same. When we leave we can 

not remember a single riff, a phrase or a tiny bit of melody that created 

the substance to imprint us with an emotional experience to hang onto. 

It becomes nothing but a mountain of burnt ashes blown away by the wind. 

 

FUZZ_ JAM PEDALS FUZZ PHRASE SI ___NEW___ a take on a silicon Fuzz Face

$230.00 USD

JAM PEDALS

FUZZ PHRASE SI 

The company have always produced well made great sounding pedals.

They did tend to be pricey but as other bumped their prices Jam did 

not. They now are very competitive.

This Fuzz is loosely based on a silicon Fuzz Face. The transistors used 

are the silicon BC107's. The goal was to give the pedal a warm sound 

that passes to many as a germanium Fuzz. It does and it 

makes the pedal hassle free. The layout is simply Level and Gain.

CONCLUSION ___

The pedal is very touch sensitive to both your dynamics

and to using your guitars Volume and Tone for noticeably 

new tones including some spit and sputter. It is not

aimed at the Fuzz aficionado but for the plug and play

guy that can some of the little extras without

any serious learning curve.

the fine print

Although less into subtle goodness and more of an in your

 face approach is the Joyo JF-26 Tiny-Huge Fuzz _Fuzz Face. 

$40.00 USD ...it does NOT disappoint.