____ HOW TO MAKE A GUITAR ____ OLA STRANDBERG

OLA STRANDBERG  

OVERDRIVE- MOSKY AUDIO Deluxe Preamp ....Lovepedal Amp 11 clone

$45.00 USD

 MOSKY AUDIO 

DELUXE PREAMP

$225.00 USD

A bit of history is in order. Lovepedal was created by Sean Michael's with the idea that less is more. If the circuit is no more than what's needed the sound will not get smeared and twisted by going down too many pathways. Some of their pedals really do sound good when the results are allowed to be impressionistic but when aimed from the beginning too specific they fail badly. On one project the pedal was meant to be SRV's Super Reverb I bought one and was 110% disappointed. 

The Amp 11 has been accused of being a Timmy Clone The Timmy started a frenzy with all makers to  

actually simply make a better Tube Screamer. Most started with a the ts topography and went from there.

The layout is Volume, Gain, Bass and Treble. A simple Boost which has its own level and a toggle for 

2 levels of gain. The 2 extra switches do suggest the 2 switches that are hidden inside a Timmy, lol. 

They are meant to voice the pedal to match up the owners rig that may be too dark or too bright 

to get the best from the pedal. They are very subtle and few if anyone touches them.              

     CONCLUSION ___ 

Once again everyone steals from everyone. In the end other than satisfying our 

curiosity it all adds up to ...does it sound good. Many pedals sound great cheap 

or pricey. As long as we do not listen with your eyeballs we can get good sounds 

at any price. On a final note this clone has been  around for 6 years.

As such it is worth a good listen, 😇

FUZZ- DEEP TRIP Capivara ...a '66 Fuzz Face, serious sh@t

DEEP TRIP 

$265.00 USD

CAPAVARA

A company that has been around since 2007 and has won many awards including best in show. This is well research match to the original 1966 Fuzz Face with NOS NKT75 germanium transistors. The layout is Volume and Gain. What else??? It is enough.  

 

           CONCLUSION ___

it sounds like it should. Nothing else needed!!

PHASER- BEETRONICS Larva Morphing Phaser ___NEW___ phaser + rocket launcher

BEETRONICS 

LARVA 

$250.00 USD

Famous for their crazy Fuzz pedals and their cool artwork that I am sure doubles the price comes a modulation pedal, a Phaser. It is definitely not 

your grandads MXR P90 . 

It looks complex but it is basically 2 Phasers in one. It has Rate as do all Phasers and Depth as do most. Its specialty's are adding ramp effects which is in this case morphing between each side. It also has resonance ...think of a bit of fixed Wha. In short a generous helping of Star Wars & Shoegaze. 

     CONCLUSION___ 

So it is a listen and guess if you need this ??? 

I will stick with my MXR Phase 95. 

A hundred bucks and even it needs to 

be used sparingly. 

 

____ ARE TUBE AMPS DYING ???

    NEWS OF MY DEMISE HAS BEEN GREATLY EXAGGERATED

 

If you strum a chord into a looper than turn the looper 

on and let it repeat over and over forever through a modeler the chord will play the 100% accurate same sound every time to infinity. If you then play that looper through a tube amp it will not repeat that first sound 

until it is repeated about 1.3 million times. FACT! 

The term a tube that burnt out is an apt description. A tube is like a candle's flame constantly burning and we can all see that it never stays the same shape for a moment. A tube creates an audio experience but like the candle its shape too is never the same. 

A modeled sound is like a photograph of the Mona Lisa. 

It will always be second rate compared to the painting.

FUZZY/DRIVE- EMPTY HEAD The Lover ___NEW___ it is the WTF you always wanted?

$205.00 USD

 EMPTY HEAD EFFECTS

THE LOVER

Not a lot about this European company. Even less about the pedal. It apparently is using transistors instead of OpAmps which is in general bonus. The Layout is Boost, Gain and Level The switches are preset voices with levels of saturation, lows, etc. 

     CONCLUSION ___

The labels are needless baffle gab. The jacks being all down one side 

are a great way to show the world you too can as builder be 

part of the problem instead of the solution. 

It produces a same old. You like it or not. The pedal sounds good but 

the pretentious stab of the maker at trying to be Oscar Wilde is about as welcomed as finding that the washroom at the mall has run out of toilet paper after you just had a very messy and unpleasant dump.

MODELER- SONULAB Stomp Station ___ NEW___ prototype ???

SONULAB Stomp Station 

This pedal uses NAM modeling It may be misleading but I put this in the category of Profiling which in effect is a digital snapshot of

an amp set to specific sound. Modeling creates the sound based on components of the amp just like a house uses and mortar to build its walls. NAM captures a real amp in a Profile but it samples its whole range of sound. It's major handicap is it can not be modified. What you get is it. You can EQ it but only like you would do on an external studio board. In short the sound itself is unchanged. If you like what you hear it will be as close to perfect as perfect gets. 

It will not miss or misshape the tiniest thing. It does not have what I think of as digital mud a kind of smearing of some of the harmonic details and overtones. It also has near zero lag time.

It appears it will have an IR loader, an EQ, Compressor, Reverb 

Noise gate and Tuner with software for both phones & Computers.

CONCLUSION___

It is a wait and see. I suspect it will show up at 

the January NAMM show.

____ HISTORY OF THE FENDER TELECASTER ____

 75 YEARS of the TELE  

1950 Tele

When I started playing in the mid 60's I had a Harmony Rocket and a one knob National amp, lol. There was a club within walking distance near my house. I could go there Friday night and watch Rock-a-Billy and Blues bands. I was introduced to tunes by Bo Diddley, Jimmy Reed, Eddie Cochran, John Lee Hooker and Chuck Berry where they have impact ...LIVE!!! 

Even on some nights I saw Robbie Robertson who's main gig was in Ronnie Hawkins. The Hawks. All the players played a faded white Tele with a maple fretboard. Mostly 50's that the guys bought as very affordable used guitars. They sold for about $175.00 to $200.00 for a near mint one. I was not allowed in but I could climb up onto the roof. I lowered myself down to 

a ledge and could watch and hear the bands through an open window. Eventually I was seen from the stage but the guys were cool. No one 

ratted me out and so the owners never came out and ask me to leave. 

  

I can also remember at that time coming out of a barber shop and watching guys unload for a gig 

beside the barber at a cafe/pub. The singer guitarist had just only an hour earlier scooped an 

Esquire and he was dying to show someone so asking him what he had was heaven for both 

of us. I got to hold my first Pro guitar. 

 

...the guy at the barber shop
had his Esquire in the trunk of a 55 Ford
painted pink & black.
I remember thinking...
I wanted both the guitar and the car, LOL

MULTI-FX- THIRD MAN HARDWARE Triple Threat Donner FX pedal ...cool! or hype?

THIRD MAN HARDWARE 

TRIPLE THREAT  Donner Effects Pedal

$100.00 USD

Third man claim that the pedal was created by Donner by marrying their Pearl Tremor Phaser and Yellow Fall Delay and 

a ? Distortion mini pedal. Total bull. Donner have never made anything. They go to other small companies and find cool things and get those companies to put Donner on the product and sell that. The 2 mini pedals are the Mooer 90 Orange Phaser and the Mooer Ana Echo analog delay. Mooer will put your name on a pedal if you order a few thousand. To date they have done that for 34 companies.  

Go to my very first Post Dec 30,2015 ...WHERE TO BUY CHEAP. I have a list of every one. On the day I wrote it I told every one to buy Donner because I didn't know better. A year later I deleted that part and told everyone to buy other brands that were also Mooer but cheaper than Donner. I have kept it up to date for the last 10 years.

Since the recession Mooer now discount some of their mini pedals that they do not offer others as a rebrand. Third Man to not say what the distortion in it is and Mooer have many. So this whole pedal will have been made by Mooer. Mooer own their own very high tech factory. They make guitar electronics for many brands.  

                 CONCLUSION ___ 

If you like it buy it. You are only paying $30 a pedal for

it. Keep in mind you can likely get all 3 pedals separate with one or more of the other 33 companies that sell Mooer rebrands. I do not know what the Distortion sound is on the pedal but I suspect it is the Mooer Ultra Drive ...Boss DS-1 clone.

If you just want the distortion part the best deal is the Mooer clone sold as the... 

Rowin LEF-301D DIST-IV   

on Ali-Express for $24.00 USD w/free shipping

OVERDRIVE- MAYFLY AUDIO SYSTEMS Creamsicle ___NEW___ JTM45 edge of breakup

$145.00 USD

MayFly Audio Systems 

Creamsicle

The term transparent is the cliche of the day. Making a Marshall 

JTM45-in-a-box is hardy new. The big but is making one that is the classic clean sound banging away on hundreds of hit records all 

through the 60's. The attraction of the very earliest Marshall was 

its fat but mildly Crunch sound that you could play anything on 

and get a nice fat chunky sound. 

The layout is Volume, Tone and Gain a toggle labeled sparkle 

adds a magic touch of just right chime to the sound. 

Another toggle gives 3 levels of gain.

     CONCLUSION __ 

An excellent clean sound is never clean. It is why vintage and gourmet amps sell at such a premium. There have been a few pedals that have addressed but but I find they were antiseptic 

hi-fi treatments. Not a builder with an ear for an organic 

sound. This is a welcome exception.  

Handmade in Ottawa On. Canada by a guy famous with stereo buffs for his unique speaker cabs. 

In short a guy that is all about quality. The Hi-Fi guys are anal about that. He must love what he 

does because the prices are budget level but the product is not. 

 

NEED TO KNOW___OpAmp DIRT PEDALS___ HOW THEY WORK___TOTAL NERDS ONLY

 OpAmp+Diodes=CHEAP Dirt Pedal

In plain language an OpAmp is a chip that acts like a nano, nano clean amp. A diode is like a funnel. A lot coming in and less coming out. What comes in is squished distorting it and then compressing it at the same time. Results, sustaining dirty signal. Sending the signal in circles adds, twists and shapes thing in many ways. This allows for pedals to be designed in endless variations. The ear is 10 times more sensitive to differences than all the other senses. So we do notice differences and love one pedal over another. 

 OTHER WAYS

On a final note. No OpAmps required? Some dirt pedals use FET transistors that react like a real tube. Pedals can be made using them to accurately clone tube amps but it is pricey, difficult and time consuming. ALL of my favorite OD's are made that way.  

 BUT

A good OpAmp pedal can make great noises and be made dirt cheap,(pun intended😇). All the famous OpAmp MXR, Boss etc. pedals that were made decades ago are still made and cloned by hundreds of small builders is a testament to that.

FUZZ is FISHY

The most noticeable thing about a Fuzz is it uses very few parts.

Most amateurs DIY types start with making a Fuzz because it is

much simpler to build. 

It is obviously also much cheaper to build.

So ...why do we get beyond stupid prices 

to buy the damn things.

OVERDRIVE- WALRUS AUDIO Voyager MKll ___NEW___ so new the paints wet!!!

$250.00 USD

WALRUS AUDIO 

VOYAGER Mkll

It started life loosely based on Klon topology but it has had

some serious changes. It ain't a Finnegan Klon no more.

It has gone from 3 to 6 controls and with a selection of 

clipping diodes from germanium choices to silicon and you 

can even switch from amp like asymmetrical clipping to 

symmetrical clipping typically only found 

in a Tube Screamer. 

    CONCLUSION __

It is not a bad sounding pedal, but it is not a Klon. 

The Klon has become like the Tube Screamer. 

It has become a code name for selling you fixed 

that which wasn't broken with the good news 

they fixed it. WTF!!! It is however a good 

sounding OpAmp hardclipper OD with a nice 

selection of diodes to give you different voices.  

 

thefineprint

In 1932 the Ford Motor Company brought out the flathead v8 for their car.

very soon all companies were offering a flathead V8. It did not make them

a better Ford, WTF!!! 

OVERDRIVE- ORIGIN EFFECTS Deluxe 55___NEW___ a serious Tweed-in-a-Box

$300.00 USD

ORIGIN EFFECTS 

DELUXE 55

The company has a reputation for excellence. It is also infamous for sticking 

it to you as hard as they can for price,😇. The layout is Level, Gain, a toggle to emulate 12xAY tubes original to the amp used in the amp to the more aggressive 12AX7. Gain, Tone and Post EQ and a second EQ that are both about voicing the pedal to compensate to the amp you will be pushing it into. 

    CONCLUSION __

In the late 60's there were a few of the actual Fender Tweed amps around. they were reasonably priced as they were felt to be under powered and if cranked cool in some ways but too muddy to play most tunes of the day. 

I played a few. I had a Fender Bassman as my under powered backup amp. I used the Bassman for demo recordings but never live. For that I had a Fender Twin. 

I like this pedal big time but just to use on a few tunes my very accurate 

repro of a Supro Drive pedal does me just fine. 

One final word. This pedal has zero competition. In short other Tweed-in-a-Box pedals are not even in the same ballpark. In short every one I have heard for years I thought at best an interesting pedal. But for gods sake DO NOT tell me it is a f.-ing Tweed because it is not.