REVERB- CATALINBREAD Ghost v.2 ___NEW___ buyer beware?

catalinbread

$320.00 USD

TALISMAN 

GHOST 

It is a take on the infamous EMT Plate Reverbs. There were 2 of them. a big one and a smaller one. They needed a medium size room to keep them in as they literally looked like a huge dining table. A signal went in one side and it was in essence captured on the other as if were a set of strings ringing thru a guitar pick up. Digitech a new company cloned the sound in a very early chip to be in a rack mount. Later that sound was put in a pedal.

The layout is Tone, Time ..the sustain of the effect, Pre Delay which delays 

the sound coming in an Mix of dry and wet sound, and Volume. 

           CONCLUSION ___ 

It indeed sounds excellent. I had the first version. A great reverb should be like the frame on a painting. If the frame on the Mona Lisa was bright red would it enhance the painting or distract you from the the experience of getting the full effect that the painting evokes. 

Beware? The Talisman is a bright red frame around your playing.

The Digitech Polara version is that perfect compliment. Dave Friedman 

personally gave me the advise to buy it. He is 110% right. It however 

is currently out of production.

BOOSTER- XOTIC EFFECTS AC Booster V.2 ___NEW___if pedals could talk, "I'm back!!!"

$180.00 USD

Xotic Effects AC Booster   V.2

Twenty five years ago Xotic introduced the world to the 'Must Have' RC Booster and made having a booster and even an always on pedal for many a thing. It was a very dead sound. It was followed with the AC which had more gain and was preferred by the single coil guys. It also started the trend of 'Low Gain' Overdrives. The company takes years before releasing a new pedal. They are very methodical about getting their pedals right. It has paid off as they make pedals that by word of mouth are in demand indefinitely. They were the first to have the serious 'Cork Sniffers' look at getting a new pedal instead of only desiring the vintage ones.

The layout is Volume, Gain, Treble, Bass with internal dip switches for low or high mids and Compression. 

   CONCLUSION __ 

When the it comes to Low Gain pedals the sound is 

in the detail. So it is a love it or leave it thing. 

Most players are willing to spend a lot more to nail it. 

I like a BluesBreaker and am on my 3rd one, LOL. 

THROBAK PICKUPS ___ 100% accurate reproductions of vintage PU'S

JON GRUNDY of THROBAK PICKUPS  

OVERDRIVE- NUX '59 Bassguy ___NEW___ Fender Bassman-in-a-Box

$50.00 USD

NUX

'59 Bassguy 

Another pedal in the NUX Re-issue series. These are all a take on classic amps or pedals. Some are really impressive others are a big disappointment. When they are right they can be a serious keeper. The layout is Gain, Volume and Tone. A toggle simulates chaining the inputs on the amps separate channels.

    CONCLUSION__ 

I owned a Bassman in the late 60's It had a rich tone and to be honest was a but muddy. It certainly did in no way have the gritty growl this pedal has. So to me this is not a Bassman. Big but, the best thing about it is simply

an OD is that has great grit and growl, LOL. 

I quite like the pedal.  

 

OVERDRIVE- CRAZY TUBE CIRCUITS Venus ___NEW___ B.K. Butler tube OD clone

crazy tube circuits

venus   

$330.00 USD

In 1975 Brent Butler created a tube driven OD. It sold under his own company and later chandler who had a higher manufacturing capacity. That failed to work out and he went back to making his own. Over the tears the tubes changed. Nearly all guitar amps use a 12AX7 for this purpose. However their are variations with lower outputs. The 12AT7, 12AY7 and 12AU7. The Venus uses a hybrid tube half 12AX7 and half 12AU7. The hottest mixed with the weakest? The layout is much the same as the original. You get Volume, BIAS and Gain. Treble, Mids and Bass. 

           CONCLUSION __ 

I have tried a few times using tube type OD's but they never could blend in with transistor OD pedals. It is like the perfect vinyl jacket passes to all but a fashionista as leather unless you had on real leather jeans not denim contrasting with it. 

Tube OD's are near impossible to tweek the EQ to what you want. 

Dave Gilmour tried it and gave up and went back to transistor pedals.  

The denim of OD's.

Let me say the obvious. Dave always has great tone. If your only dirt 

pedal is this it could work out really well. Big but!!! if it doesn't you 

have spent some serious money on a dead end. Add to that the 

choice of tube used for this pedal is rare in a time when 

ALL good tubes are not easy to find.  

 

OVERDRIVE- TONE CITY Blues Man ...exceptional Bluesbreaker clone

$60.00 USD

 TONE CITY 

 B L U E S  M A N 

It is Tone City's take on the infamous Marshall Bluesbreaker pedal. 

It is a transparent sound with a bit of grit in the lows and an warm 

organic vibe in the mids.

The layout is as the original. It is a simple Volume, Tone and Gain.  

                   CONCLUSION ___ 

In a shootout up against 15 Bluesbreaker pedals 

of all makes, sizes and prices it came in fourth.

The reviewer said it was a near tie. It came close 

to coming in third. The one that beat it was an 

eyewatering five times more money. 

___________________________

___ SHOOT OUT ___BLUESBREAKER vs. BLUESBREAKER vs. BLUESBREAKER vs. ....

     BLUESBREAKER vs. BLUESBREAKER 

 

thefineprint

I had to laugh when they brought out the BOSS OD-3 as I had just bought one yesterday.

FUZZ- FUZZ IMP PEDALS Sender V ...a Big-gurrr Muff

 FUZZ IMP 

SENDER V 

$175.00 USD

Justus Gash came to my attention years ago as a guy that did excellent demos of dirt pedals on both guitars and bass for other builders. Then one day he showed up with his own pedals. He had become addicted to Fuzz and collected 20 of the very best classics. After opening them up he looked at how they were made and thought if he could solder he could do it too.

Well etc, etc, etc here we are years later with a line of impressive pedals.

The Sender is a Muff based Fuzz that can be tuned into anything from 

a great Thrash Metal high gain OD to a doom Fuzz.

The layout is Level, Tone, Gain and Boost. It has a Gate, 

(like all pedals should have) and a toggle for 2 levels of Boost and another toggle switches from diode clipping to open or to add 

high pass filter that tightens the lows. 

     CONCLUSION __

It is damn impressive! It is very versatile.

OVERDRIVE- ANODE EFFECTS Dragon Drive V2 ___NEW___ old school hardclipper

Anode Effects  

DRAGON DRIVE V2

$180.00 USD

The company is a one man show self taught wizard of the soldering iron like 

Josh Scott of JHS. He like most from the past does his take on the classics. In this case we get what the early Boss dirt pedals had a lot of.  Personality that 'just works' and has the kind of organic charter that makes whatever you play make your day just that much better. It is meant to suggest a MIAB. It is anything but, lol. It is a medium to high gain OD. It uses the same ol' OpAmp w/clipping diodes that most pedals use but in this case we get all LED diodes. They are smoother than germanium but both very warm sounding and respond to ones touch in tube like way. 

The layout is Volume, Gain, Bass, Mids and Treble. 

    CONCLUSION ___ 

I quite like like it's adolescent vibe. It is that tool in your tool 

box that when stacked adds what every is missing. It has bite. 

It can fatten and warm up a sound and when backed off make 

a string of stacked pedals make a smooth cohesive sound.

 

FUZZ/DELAY- BENSON AMPS Deep Sea Diver___NEW___ Jessica Jobson Signature

Benson AMPS

DEEP SEA DIVER FUZZ-ECHO

$250.00 USD

A company who think outside of the box. They are on top of the 'Cork Sniffers' list with the mandatory commandment 

that I should be telling all my thoughts in hushed tones, lol.

Not likely!!!  

It is based off of the Tonebender family but with silicon transistors it is more version 4 than the classic germaniums, 

1 thru 3.

Anyhow they thru in a delay and called it a day.

The layout is Volume, BIAS and gate for the fuzz. The delay has Echo amount, Feedback ...number of repeats and Rate which is the tempo of the repeats. 

   CONCLUSION __ 

It sounds damn good as do all their pedals. 

The price is average for a dual handmade 

pedal.

OVERDRIVE- TAMPCO PEDALS & AMPLIFIERS Distorter ___NEW___ triple decker

TAMPCO PEDALS AND AMPLIFIERS     

DISTORTER

$275.00 USD

From France comes a new pedal from old friends. 

Running 2 circuits/pedals in parallel instead of stacking them is 

not new but running 3 is. The Klon is a parallel circuit but it blends in the boost/clean circuit into a medium gain OD gradually burying the clean/boost only leaving the OD. This pedal keeps both circuits on a separate knob and adds a basic Tonebender v.3

The layout is Level, Tone, Gain and BIAS for the Fuzz with a toggle to put the boost pre or post. You then get Level, Tone and Gain for the OD and Clean for the Clean/Booster circuit. 

     CONCLUSION ___ 

You get a lot to work with. In short something has to fit 

the tune you use it on, lol. On the other hand we really

have a Klon and a Tonebender mushed into a sound. 

Not a bad sound but not one to my ears that sounds

unique.

 

ROTARY- JHS 3 SERIES Rotary Chorus ___NEW ___convincing Leslie Cab-in-a-Box

$100.00 USD

 JHS   3 SERIES      

R O T A R Y  C H O R U S ᐤ 

Videos have been slow since and it has been 2 weeks and only 

one good one. So I said WTF lets go with that. A good 

Leslie sound is rare. 

It is like the worlds fattest Chorus pedal. How often have you 

played a clean sound and wished it could be fat and full 

especially accompanying vocals. 

 ___

CONCLUSION ___ 

The best pedal out there is the 

new $230.00 USD Keeley Rotary. 

But, if we give that one a 10 then 

this is a 9+. It is on my short list.