MULTI-EFFECTS- FRACTAL AUDIO VP-4___NEW___ released today, just effects, no amps

F R A C T A L  A U D I O |||VP4 

Fractal use true Modeling where it is done through 'Component Construction'. 

Think of it like Lego blocks where you build a sound like a house using 

blocks. The advantage is you can build the ideal sound. 

The other basic method is 'Profiling' where you in effect mic an amp 

and you get the snapshot of that amp arguably perfect or 

old and worn needing maintenance. 

It will be accurate but it represents a moment in time,

a single sample of that amp and a place.  

...Both are flawed methods.  

 

$650.00 USD

CONCLUSION ___ 

 The advantage to effects is if they sound good they are good. They are artificial in the first place. 

 So having then sonically near perfect suits Fractal's approach. They are simply putting a frame   around your guitar. A frame can be added to anything. A tube amp,other modelers etc, etc. 

 It is hard to argue that the Fractal effects are competitive to any. A Marshall should 

 arguably sound like a Marshall but what should reverb or echo be???  

  

PREAMP- FRIEDMAN IR-J___NEW___ Jake E. Lee ....simply killer!!!!

FRIEDMAN  IR-J PreAmp

$500.00 USD

It is 3rd in their series of a real Marshall preamps that can be used the same way one would use a modeler. There is the IR-X that includes the kind of 80's and 90's mods that put Metal on the map and the IR-D that goes from a classic PLEXI to a Jose/EVH type 

vibe that never, never goes out of date. Not only is the sound 

100% authentic the feel is too. In short you have the full 

tube amp experience when you play. 

   CONCLUSION ___ 

You have all the convenience of a modeler but you have 

a timeless sound that unlike a modeler will not go out 

of date before you get home and try it for the first time.  

 

$600.00 USD

thefineprint

Yes it is $100 more but... Wrong there are no 'BUTS'

It may have a couple more features but on a 

comparison page of all 3 PreAmps the specs 

are identical.

FUZZY OVERDRIVE- TAVYSH EFFECTS Harm___NEW___ awsome or crap ...dial in either

$250.00 USD

tavysh effects

HARM |||| 

Not an new idea but an impossible one. Make a pedal where from low gain to high gain including Fuzz and if you want use the pedal 

as a clean boost.

   The layout is the 'how'...

You have Filter ... it is a Low pass to cut highs, Gain, Drive, is a second gain for the Fuzz. Gate switch ..when on it works with Fuzz but off turns the Drive into boost. HPF cuts the lows to tighten any flabbiness. Treble, Bass and Volume works as expected. Boost is 

on a toggle. It adds overall punch and bite. Lastly you get clip to give you 3 levels of dirt. 

 

   CONCLUSION__ 

It does not have one killer sound  that you tweak to perfection 

to fit you and your rig. In fact you could find a killer sound 

on it but touch one other control and you will get total crap. 

On the other hand it could add a partial sound. A sound 

that added to another dirt pedal create an amazing

outcome. It is really a Swiss Army Knife kind of deal.

FUZZ- BLAMMO ELECTRONICS Scrambler... Ampeg clone

 blammo SKRAMBLER  v.2 | 

$155.00 USD

The pedal is a take on the Ampeg Scrambler Fuzz that came out in 1969. 

It was aimed at bass players until over time the Doom Metal players 

found it was killer.

The layout is Volume, Texture/BIAS and Blend which can oscillate between the octave up sound and back. A button switches it to shift between 

the octave and a glitchy mode. 

 

  CONCLUSION __

It is a typical Blammo pedal. It just works, damn making some dead on clone with no control over its not so lovable in the real world malfunctions. Pedals for your board, not your bookshelf. 

It snarls like a massive rabid dog. What's not to love???

1969  Ampeg Scrambler

FUZZ- CAROLINE GUITAR CO. Wave Cannon Zero___NEW___nasty new Octave Fuzz

CAROLINE  G U I T A R  C O M P A N Y 

 WAVE CANNON ZERO 

$250.00 USD

This is a take on the 2010 prototype of this Octave Fuzz with new added goodies. The v.1 Wave Cannon followed a different path. 

Hence the name Zero as the number before 1.

The layout is Volume, Tone, Gain and 'Havoc' that feeds 

back some signal into itself. The small knobs are for 

BIAS for that velcro thing and a second small knob for 

focal point of the mids.

     CONCLUSION__

This appears to be more a take on the Foxtone Machine than the Super Fuzz. I am not complaining, lol. It does have its own thing going on. I am happy enough with my $30.00 Behringer Super Fuzz. It is very spiky and mid focused. This is lower mid and bass heavy which is different thing. I could justify both but I have the $26.00 USD M-Vave Fuzz that does a velcro heavy low thing on the way I can stack on my Behringer to sub for that. 

Yes $56 gets me where I want to be. 😇

thefineprint

...money from the sale of this pedal goes to the Red Cross for Hurricane Relief.

  so if you love this pedal go for it, the gods have given you permission, 

PITCH SHIFTER- MOOER AUDIO Pitch Box... impressive ...ON SALE

MOOER AUDIO 

PITCH BOX

$37.00 USD
w/ free ship AliExpress

DigiTech and to some degree Electro Harmonix have owned the Pitch box/drop tuning market. We have seen some big time players play half their tunes with especially the DigiTech jobbies.

We all wonder just how good they sound. We all wonder just how much

we would use them to justify the money. I recently noticed two things by dumb luck. First that Mooer has dropped the wholesale price in I suspect 

a bit of a sale and there is video of a shoot out of it against the $240.00 USD DigiTech Drop. The Drop is the biggy for those who want the sound but not one of DigiTechs huge Morley Wha shaped pedals eating half their board. 

The layout is a knob for Pitch choice and a toggle for Harmony, 

Pitch Shift or Detune.

     CONCLUSION ___

Well the the pedal is a bit noisy, but surprisingly 

a bit fatter than the Digitech. The sound especially 

when not pushed too many semitones away from  

your guitar tuning sounds very natural. Using it  

just for a really high gain rig or especially with a 

Fuzz is forgiving since your tone is hardly natural, lol. 

OVERDRIVE-RODENBERG Custom Amplification BL 800... killer MIAB

RODENBERG

CUSTOM AMPLIFICATION

BL 800 LEAD SERIES

$270.00 USD

This German company has been going for 30 years making amps and pedals and has been under the radar because they have been able to 

sell all they make. If a store wants to sell them they have to ask,lol.

They claim the pedal is a clone of a JCM 800 and it literally follows 

the amps circuit replacing tubes with FETS. 

PedalPalFX does the same thing and I have had 3 editions of it. The first like this is more the raw amp. 

The v.4 has the 2 different & famous California mods you can switch choose from. I have booth and 

use them together as a clean to dirty channel. The v.4 is __seriously under-priced__ at $200.00 USD!!!

I digress, what about the BL?

Well like the amp you get, Bass, mids, Treble, and both a Pre and Master Volume. The Boost is useful but not part of the JCM800 sound.

    CONCLUSION ___

I find the Rodenberg similar but has more of a glassy brightness. I really like how well it keeps the Strat chime in tact. I would love to have this too but I already have 6 MIAB pedals on 

my board. The look has been used by all but it is still dead cool.  

 

SHOOT OUT____ NANO CORTEX vs. ToneX PEDAL

SHOOT OUT !

thefineprint

...actually I find that the NANO has more detail in its sound in spite of 

   the specs. 

   I think IK Multimedia will bring out a full featured top specs ToneX pedal.  

   It could happen at any time. It will likely still be under a $1000 but be a 

   game changer with potential to be #1 with those looking for the best. 

FLANGER- Caline CP-76 So What Flanger... full featured, good specs

Caline   CP-76 Flanger 

SO WHAT 

$35.00 USD

A company that has made a thousand pedals. Just 3 years back on 

their site they had about 70 pedals. Some they have made for at 

least 15 years. As a rule the ones made in the standard old 

Hammond B type enclosures are best.

This is a full feature unit with a layout of Width, Speed, 

Regeneration and Delay. 

         CONCLUSION ___

This is the real deal. I am confident they are using the reissued Panasonic BBD chips. They not just have a good sound they are not too noisy.  Very few companies that offer a full line of pedals make a Flanger let alone a full featured model. They are hard to get right. Done right they are rich sounding but otherwise can sound like Star Wars on a bad day.

OVERDRIVE- DOLAMO D4 Distortion... a poor man's Fortin NATAS, dirt cheap!!!

DOLAMO D4 DISTORTION

$25.00 USD

The Dolamo brand is made by Caline. A few of their dirt pedals are dead on. The others are crap. They lack any harmonic detail. The D4 is one of those few exceptions,😏. Be forewarned Dolamo make the D5 Distortion (painted greyish green) and D9 (painted red) Distortion so it is confusing. 

I think this is a generic stab at getting a contemporary Metal pedal for the player that wants to 'Chug'. It has however, probably by luck, have caught the vibe of the Fortin NATAS amp. They are famous for this amp but also make a pedal of it.  

 CONCLUSION___

It is impressive, a bit noisy but impressive. 

If part of your thing needs this kind of sound 

then go for it. If it is your whole focus than 

check out the Fortin or the Solar CHUG.

...at the price it is hard to say no, ordered one from TEMU lol. and it arrived. 

___

...One thing is true unless your whole gig is Doom or some genre where anything less than 110% gain is never used then the best sound the Overdrive pedal will have is with the gain somewhere between 10 and 2 o'clock. Anything hire is a Fuzz. Nothing wrong with Fuzz but those I buy when the goal of the designer was to make a Fuzz, not a high gain overdrive.  

___

...I set my Volume at unity gain and my Tone and Gain both at 2 o'clock. I got a massive scooped sound. The low bass and highs are where you expect but it had just the right lower mids and a gentle poke around  800 Hz. It really pulls off a faux gourmet Metal amp like vibe. 😇