Monday, August 10, 2026

PREAMP- CATALINBREAD Crooner ___NEW___ clone of RCA BA-31 broadcaster

catalinbread
   CROONER   
$260.00 USD
The RCA BA-31 was one of a very few preamps designed for 
broadcasts in the early 60's. It was meant to make even the 
human voice coming out of a cheap radio sound good. It had 
EQ, campanding etc ,etc as a fixed voice with a minimum 
amount of tweaks and for the most part was an always on 
piece of kit. Wampler put a UEI OpAmp in it to add more 
muscle as it was never made originally for a an electric  
guitar new kind of dirt pedal. 
            ONCLUSION __
It is what it is. There are a few old school preamps 
never meant as a guitar pedal out there . They are 
all a 'thing'. In short they add sugar or spice. You 
like a flavor or you don't. 
I have the JV Effects Transmission but its spice is 
putting cutting bite on the voice for very low budget 
small time/local radio broadcasters. Unlike the Crooner 
it is not a sweetener but more of a hot taco sauce.

SHOOTOUT .... 4 ___DUMBLE-in-a-Box, Box? ...who gets knocked out?

 DUMBLE   

WHATS THE DIFFERENCE ???

MARSHALL AMPS ?              FENDER AMPS ?

DO ALL NAM Multi Effects Sound the same???

 ARE ALL ORANGES, ORANGE?  😎 

                                                              
"You may like one better than the other
 but the real amps are not in the comparison''

Saturday, August 8, 2026

OD/FUZZ- TONE CAT Sir Fuzzington___NEW___ Surprise!!! ...We're home!!! 😎

$250.00 USD
TONE CAT
SIR  FUZZINGTO | 
Another quirky wonder from the 't-cat', in Melbourne Australia. We get a take on a Marshall JCM 800-in-a-box with a silicon Fuzz Face as its mate. The layout 
has a Volume, Gain. Bass, Mids and Treble for the 
MIAB and Volume, Gain and bus fare for the Fuzz.
  | | |  CONCLUSION __
As per usual we get a larger then life but 
very appealing take on the genre. The 
package is all fun but the sounds are 
serious sh*t.

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Friday, August 7, 2026

SHOOT OUT ___ VALETON GP-5 vs. TONEX One

 VALETON GP-5  vs. TONEX One

Readers will know I have always been a Tube Amp and Pedalboard player. At 80 I have finally given in to a Tube Pre with a digital amp for portability but kept my Marshall Plexi for special gigs etc.
All that said with any rig one needs a back up for emergencies or even to have a Tube amp or Pre serviced.
I have only just ordered the Valeton. I really only need one single good sound as I have always used a Marshall with just one channel. One sound with a Marshall set to a light Crunch. No Verb or Delay and certainly no effects.  
                  CONCLUSION 
If you are simply substituting an amp and pedals 
I feel the $70 Valeton will do the job. If however you 
are backing up a full featured Modeler or big money 
facsimile than $150 Tonex may seem to have the edge. 
        ...what makes choosing hard is 
               there are no bad choices.  
       

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        MAKE YOUR NOWN NAM AMPS?   DIY for dummies?
  Keep in mind the Royer mic in the video is pricy at about $1600.00 USD 
  but the Shure SM57 is about is $110.00 USD. 
  Good results can happen with just a Shure. Hundreds of famous players 
  have insisted to only use a 57 when they made there famous recordings. 
  Or use a budget ribbon mic or Omni's that can sub for the Royer. 
  If you just do the head you can simply go direct.  
  Of course if it just need to get your own amps you can rent or borrow.
 

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MAKE YOUR OWN SERIOUS VALETON GP-5 PRESETS 
A deep dive into making your own presets by knowing the basic roots of modifying 
that can be a bit time consuming ...but not confusing or frustrating.


Thursday, August 6, 2026

OVERDRIVE- DRUNK BEAVER XR Series OD-1 ...in Wysoka Poland they do it right!!! 😎

$90.00 USD
DRUNK BEAVER  XR SERIES       OD-1   OVERDRIVE 
A very good take on the long defunct BOSS OD-1. It only had 
one great sound. It did not have a Tone control. It also did not  
have enough output level. Your clean sound would be louder 
than the pedal. WTF.  
           CONCLUSION __ 
The D. Beaver fixed the level & Tone but it still has 
that only 'one' sound, LOL. But trust me once you used 
it, you are hooked on it forever. 
The sound is fat, chunky & growls. It has some balz!!! 
Gotta love it!!!

DELAY- DOD Drag Analog Delay ___NEW___ in fact so new the paints wet!!!

$230.00 USD
DOD DRAG   
ANALOG DELAY 
 
A heavily modified Rubberneck Analog Delay. In fact it can do 
modulation, pitch dives, bend, freeze, glitch and strutter effects.
The layout is the classic Time, Level Repeats & a rotary knob 
for the other effects. It does up to 750 ms. in normal mode 
but in Rubberneck mode it can do 1.5 seconds. 
CONCLUSION __ 
       Impressive !!!