FUZZ/DISTORTION- MILE END EFFECTS Sofort Si Fort___NEW___ Muff meets Ampeg

MILE END EFFECT 

SOFORT SI FORT 

$215.00 USD

A 1969 Ampeg Scrambler Fuzz/Distortion married to a Green Russian Muff. The layout is a bit confusing. Both pedals are address separately. The Ampeg with Gain & Level is dark & bass heavy but it has the octave effect & when pushed it self oscillates and/or gates out with some spit and sputters. The Muff is just that a simple Muff with Gain, Level and Tone. The real magic is in the blend. The second footswitch brings on the Ampeg for the crazy stuff.

     CONCLUSION ___

The sounds can be massive and in control but 

let you punctuate and add the crazy stuff in 

doses. All in all it is impressive. It looks cool 

and is priced very fair for what is really a 

double pedal.  

MODELER- AUDOTA AME-200 PRO Amp Modeler ___NEW___ bargain!!!

AUDOTA 

AME-200 PRO Amp Modeler 

$130.00 USD

There are many budget digital Amp simulators 

that are in effect a pedal with one or even many 

foot switches. I picked this one not because 

it is better or worse but is average in so

much as it simply sounds pro in application. 

A listener would not know if it was a $130 

or a $2000 one. The audio credibility gap 

is nano.

     CONCLUSION __ 

All these units are literally a computer 

that clones amps and like all computers they get more powerful and cheaper 

every year. In short the old ones become redundant and are soon not supported. 

This unit is like a smartphone. Use it 2 

or 3 years them scrap it. Think of 

it as a rental for 85 cents a week, 😇. 

 

PITCH SHIFTER- SOLAR Chug Capo ___NEW___ half the latency

SOLAR 

CHUG C A P O · 

$250.00 USD

Lower tunings in many Metal styles is a given and it often demands 

a second guitar if not more for it to be practical. Add to that many players hate the feel of guitar with heavy strings to compensate 

for detuning.

The big problem with all pitch shifters is latency which is a delay between your pick touching the strings before the the sound comes

out of the pedal. Solar have cut that delay in half. They have also 

kept the sound natural to the sound with the the pedal on or off. 

In short the pedal is transparent.

    CONCLUSION __

Other pitch shifters allow for clever effects with  

gliding the pitch & using it for Whammy like effects etc. Solar omits them as they are a big part of latency and 

the lack of transparency etc.

That aside you get more features with both the 

DigiTech and the Boss and they are $50.00 USD less.

For many players it could be a near always on pedal. 

If so the Solar makes a lot of sense.

THE SEAN ONO LENNON INTERVIEW ___Unexpected brilliant observations

UNPRETENTIOUS INSIGHT 

THE SARASOTO GUITAR SHOW 2026 ___ Shredder's Journey

 SAME  SHOW  

DIFFERENT VISITORS  .|  

NAM PLAYER- SONILAB Stomp Station Pro ___NEW___ tailored for live use

Final Version 2 NAM OpSys 

All the digital Amp formats sound good if not even the same to the listener. One is know buying features and small to massive libraries and either minimum to beyond editing that 99% of all buyers never use or indeed want to.

In a blindfold comparison between Modeling, Capturing/Profiling and NAM the most accurate is NAM. Because NAM can created on a computer most players have access to and the program software is 

free it has a library donated by uses in the thousands and thousands.

In short no matter what amp you want someone has done what in your opinion is the best and it is free.

NAM has 2 faults. Outside of EQ you can do little to change it. It has little touch sensitivity. It can follow the loudness of your touch but not nuances in color that can artificially be created by a high end Modeler.

Think of it like this, NAM, Profile and capture are photographs of sound. modelers are paintings.

The big deal with NAM at the moment is V.2. The creator says there will never be a v.3. it plays v.1 sounds and it simply is all about making NAMM more user friendly to both creators and users. 

Plus it uses less memory to store sounds. 

 

FUZZ- MXR Slash Octave Fuzz ... Shag Fuzz clone + sub octave

  MXR 

Slash OCTAVE FUZZ   

$180.00 USD

Take the discontinued Stomp Under Foot Shag Fuzz and 

add a sub-octave and you have the Slash Signature Fuzz. 

It is still hanging in since being introduced in 2012.

The layout is Volume, Tone, Gain, Octave Up and Sub 

Octave. A button puts the clean octave thru the 

Fuzz circuit. 

CONCLUSION ___

No complaints outside of the damn huge size of 

the enclosure. It literally give you 4 usable 

sounds with the 2 octave voices.

OVERDRIVE- KEELEY Tube Drive ___LEAK___a real tube pedal ...not coming until Aug.

K E E L E Y 

TUBE  DRIVE

Is this  Keeleys take on a B.K. Butler 1974 Tube Drive Or is it a Klon 

with a tube in it ??? Rumours abound.  

It will work on the world's favourite choice the 12AX7. 

For lighter distortion a 12AT7 or 12AU7 will work. Having experimented myself the 12AU7 is good on Bass guitar but otherwise it sucks, LOL.

            CONCLUSION___  

So what you see is what you get. There are no pics, prices, specs or features published yet. 

It is all a 'wait and see'. 

ACCURATE APPRAISAL OF GIBSON & FENDER LAWSUITS & A PROBABLE OUTCOME

 SUE THEM!!! 

This is a Must Watch Video. It dispenses with the emotional content. 

It covers the economic history of guitar sales starting with the last 

half of the 20th century & shows how this has all happened before.

It always ends with the management that sued all but destroying 

the brand and losing major market share. 

 

  

__GEORGE STOUMBOULOPOULOS __RICK BEATO __INTERVIEW EACH OTHER __

      STROMBO vs. BEATO 

FUZZ- EXPRESSO FX Germanium Fuzz Mini ___NEW___sound? killer ...price? kill-ya

$300.00 USD

 Expresso   FX

Germanium Fuzz Mini

It appears to have started life as a Fuzz Face complete with 

antique NOS germanium transistors in this case Mullard 1442 

plus all the expected capacitors and resistors from its era. 

added to that is a tweak here and another there.

The layout is Volume and Gain. 

 

                   CONCLUSION __

Does it sound great ??? Of course. 

Is it worth $300 ??? Of course. 

...or maybe not?