FUZZ/OD - DEEP TRIP Hellbender ...60's style OD ....Killer!!!

 DEEP TRIP HELLBENDER FUZZ/OD  v.2 

$200.00 USD

Based on the Tonebender Fuzz pedals of the 60's but beefed up to far beyond any tech of the time it is the ultimate overkill pedal of it's type.

Fat, balzy and totally in your face it terrorizes  as it tears thru every riff and power chord you can
put thru it!!!

With volume, tone and fuzz and an added bias control
you can zero in to your ultimate tone!

From rock blues to the early roots of Metal it covers it all.
  ...and with gain to spare!!!

WHOA!!! Gotta put this on the short list!!!
I have gone back to this for a few weeks now.
and I just gotta have!!! So I went to the DEEP TRIP site.
It is temporary out of production as they are filling orders of their 2 new Fuzz pedals.
They will not take a deposit ...they will only 'E' me when
a few are in stock ...then it is every man for himself to get your order in.
One reviewer/store owner waited 6 months from the 2016 NAMM show 
where it was first shown before he got his order.

ORDER JULY 14/18 shipped FEB. 8/19  
stay tuned!!!

So about 10 days later  I have it.
It does not disappoint but you have to back it off a bit if you wish to smooth out the Fuzz. It has an amazing low end that has that little growl effect on you low strings
that gives you a killer low end without any mud. 
Love it !!!

OCT. 12/19
Well it is months later. The damn thing puts a smile on your face every time you uses it. It inspires the best out of you then when you deliver you soon note the whole room has taken notice!!! KILLER PEDAL 
TOTAL KILLER!!!

RIP

OVERDRIVE- WAY HUGE Overrated Special SMALLS.. Limited Edition goes mainstream

 WAY HUGE OVERRATED SPECIAL 'SMALLS' 

$170.00 USD

A limited edition full size pedal goes mainstream. SMALL!
Yes the Joe Bonamassa pedal will be given to the masses. lol

Loosely based on a Marshall sound it has a low mid cut or boost.
The boost gives it a Plexi vibe.

The overall tone sounds like an amp in a drain pipe. A metallic
resonant ring. No that is not a put down as it sounds good and makes the pedal 'cut' without any harshness.

I will assume the circuits are identical to Joe's as it is unlikely he will endorse them. There is only the Summer Namm video so I included Joe playing his original pedal that he used on a video two years ago.
It is being shown off at the Summer Namm 2018 and will ship in July.
I am new school ...I set my amp on clean and get all my OD from the pedals. Since the Way Huge is meant to be pushing into an amp set to crunch it counts me out. Joe is old school and lately has dumped nearly all his pedals.
This pedal may not work for everyone for example I have a Love Pedal Super 6 Stevie Ray pedal needs a clean amp to go thru. So you need to give it some thought or you will paint yourself into the corner.

  

OVERDRIVE EQ - BLUES MATE O'Drive Styler ...maybe cool??? maybe not???

 BLUES MATE O'DRIVE STYLER 

 $185.00 USD 

It's hard to judge this pedal but it could be coolest thing since the Tube Screamer?

It is a pedal meant to improve the articulation, clarity and dynamics of any OD.
Not strictly an ordinary EQ. It can give you a clean boost, treble boost or scoop or boost the mids.
It seems to give an overall warmth to the sound.

It is such a transparent sound that judging it is hard because all transparent OD's are very dependent on how good your amp sounds. I have a few of those that went from just OK to WOW once I bought a Plexi.

The harmonic stuff in the second vid is legit ...well worth knowing all about when choosing an OD pedal in the first place. Get the right one and you would not need this pedal. LOL

I got to admit though ...this pedal is a cool idea!
You could use it as an 'always on' pedal to fine tune the sound of your amp.

OVERDRIVE- GFI Jonassus Drive ....great tone

$240.00 USD

 GFI JONASSUS DRIVE 

From Jakarta Indonesia come GFI. They have several reverb and delay pedals and a speaker simulator. These boxes have made a few inroads with the ambiance crowd and have got good reviews.
OD and other dirt boxes are usually the starting point for most pedal makers.
It's their bread and butter. Reverb and delay are luxury items.
So it is interesting to see what they can do with an OD.

A double OD with a low gain on one side and a medium gain on the other is fairly conventional so it all gets down to the sound.

Very Brit sounding but more into the JTM45 camp. It is not a balz against the wall sound aggressive sound. It however has a very sweet mid range and the tone is exceptional. It sounds very natural.
The sound is full but I would not use the word 'fat' as it implies a little bit more weight. LOL
Sorry pun not intended.

OVERDRIVE- CRAZY BOX PEDALS The Box....aggressive plus

 CRAZY BOX PEDALS THE BOX 

$235.00 USD

Well the lows can be powerful grinding and totally gritty. The highs are openly metallic and even border on strident.

The gain goes from heavy to the stratosphere.

This is a 'take no prisoners pedal. Not a bit sweet but with the bass rolled off and the highs pumped up you have shades of Brian May!

The pedal uses 2 circuits to create one huge sound
a classic Brit OD but another that borders on a fuzz like sound for a merciless growl. Then with a 3 way EQ you can shape it all into one cohesive voice. A switch triggers between nasty and ouch!

I know of no other pedal with this much gain that can be so massive yet is still clear and tight.

Damn impressive! Yes! VERY!!!!

DISTORTION- RED MUSIC PM2-5 Distortion ...an impressive Japanese pedal. No surprise! The price Suuuuuurprise!!!

 RED MUSIC WORKS PM 2-5 DISTORTION 

$135.00 USD
wow!!!

Red Music are a Japanese gourmet pedal maker who
have been around since the 90's
The quality is a given. The gain goes from a high gain to a very high gain.

The tone control has some kind of quasi parametric sweep as you move it up or back down. In short when you move from lower mids to higher mids the frequency on the center point of the knob gets a nice little boost. This give your mids a singing quality. It also re-voices the pedal. If you are in the lower mids it will sound more Plexi as you move up it will sound more JTM45.
The pedal has a very good transient response so the sound is tight!
The harmonics are as smooth as silk.
Attention was paid to every detail.
The tech to get this right is brilliant. All this makes a high gain pedal
much, much better.

JUST A HEADS UP
With a medium gain pedal this is not so critical.
A medium gain is all about the richness of the tone. In that case
a pedal designed by a guy with limited tech but great 'ears' can often 
produce a real gem.

The range makes this pedal very versatile.
The price is as impressive as the sound!!!
NICE!!!
It would be a credible pedal if it was a hundred  dollars more.

OVERDRIVE- ELTEKO Zoo Drive a very overdriven JTM45 type sound ...and damn good too!!!

 ELTEKO  ZOO DRIVE 

 Good old fashion take on a Marshall JTM 45 complete with the slashing upper mids
Definitely a gourmet twist to it a it has gain gain and more gain.

$210.00 USD

Not exactly sweet ...definitely a tight in for close hand to hand combat pedal
Great quality build and attention to detail.
Everything from a lower mid gain to very high gain. A beautiful take on a JTM45.
.
It just screams "Look at me!!!"
Nice!!!

Once again it is the obscure guys hand making the really killer pedals and for a reasonable price  Ilko Iliev from Bulgaria.

What's not to like??? For your money you get a lot of pedal!!!
This thing will cut through anything ...it has lots of balz and a very even sweet tone!!!

DISTORTION- WALRUS AUDIO RED Faaaaaaaaaat nearly all mids! Stack it!

 WALRUS AUDIO RED HIGH GAIN DISTORTION 

$225.00 USD

Not a Metal pedal. It is simply not tight enough. It is just
a gigantic wall of heavy heavy mids!!!

Perfect for stacking with your favourite OD for lead work
or use it as is for power chords behind the vocals.
It will support a vocal like an entire orchestra with out competing with the tune for attention

Everyone needs something like this in your 'toolbox'
It is the ball-pine hammer of dirt pedals. a real persuader!

OVERDRIVE-KLINGER Omnidrive ...an OD boost with a colour all it's own

 KLINGER OMNIDRIVE OD/BOOSTER 

$250.00 USD

Shawn Klinger is a one man show that is one of those 'cottage industry gourmet pedal builders. The cool thing unlike the 'Big Guys' he doesn't have to build and design by committee or build to a 'Price Point'
.
He builds to suit himself. The best of these guys give us a pedal full of both quirks and originality.
So it become a matter of getting Heaven or Hell but NEVER mediocrity!

What we do get is a chunky fat sound that is as in your face
but with loads of tone!
So check it out ...you just might give it a home.

OVERDRIVE- LAWRENCE PETROSS DESIGN LPD Modern Classic OD ...another gem!

 LAWRENCE PETROSS 
 LPD 
MODERN CLASSIC 

As usual LPD has that great look. All LPD pedals come in a gorgeous unique finish that both stands out yet is always understated at the same time.
The quality is a given. Built like a tank yet all the parts are audiophile and hand built to perfection

If you have been frustrated looking for a true transparent 'Green' OD that leaves your guitar sound absolutely in tact ....then forget about the others.
Yes 'THEY" all make one. Every last one!!!
Because everyone ends up with one!

Just check this one out.
Done!!!!
Because No One does it better.

This guy seems to have some idea he can achieve perfection?
He just might do it too!

OVERDRIVE- GORE Gross Distortion ...can a 'one' transistor dirt box sound good???

 GORE GROSS DISTORTION 

$280.00 USD

So in the 70's a company called Electra Guitar offered
an LP style guitar made in Japan that came with a slot to clip in a series of sound modules.
Their distortion module was a single transistor model that used a diode to create the distortion.
This arrangement was no doubt fostered as a way to keep the modules both cheap and small.
It was simple but effective as it produced a dynamically responsive circuit. In short it responded to your touch very well. It was also less compressed with lots of headroom.

The Gore pedal has simply put 2 sets of 12 diodes.
Each set is on a rotary switch. This gives you 144 combinations or 144 different sounds. Add active tone controls and you have a lot of choice.

The diodes are germanium, silicon and LED.
I am not so sure it just doesn't have 3 basic sounds all the others being just a shade different.
So with even just 3 different kinds I am sure that there are a hell of a lot of usable settings.
The general tone is very mid range intense with a nice big harsh growl and metallic resonance like the body on a National Steel guitar.
Cool!

OVERDRIVE- QUIMPER ELECTRONICS RETROFIER Road Trip Warm Glow ...the pedal 'is' a tube???

 QUIMPER ELECTRONICS RETROFIER ROADTRIPPER WARM GLOW 

$235.00 USD

The first thing you notice right off is that you are presented with a huge pedal with the usual on & off foot switch and 2 knobs. One is marked Drive  and the other is labeled Output.

So you say to yourself. What the FEEK!!! Or something like that. LOL

So here's the deal. Quimper think the only way to get a great tube sound without a tube is build one as the circuit itself.
The standard deal is to think ... FET or field effect transistor ...when pushed it sounds tube like. To simplify it creates a square wave with rounded corners ...with a real tube the whole wave is rounded wave. Close enough ???
Not for Quimper!

Well they did it. It is on one hand very impressive but on the other ...it is very subtle.

It is what it is and does what is does. It has one very mild pleasant sound. There isn't any tone shaping of any kind. In short other then warming up an old school all transistor amp I see little use for it as a performance rock music tool. In the studio to warm up a variety of signals ...yes ...but as a stomp box ...no.

If they built a good guitar preamp around it perhaps they might have something.

OVERDRIVE- LOVE PEDAL Super 6 ...instant Stevie Ray sound

$225.00 USD

 LOVE PEDAL SUPER 6 
W/SRV MOD 

This OD is patterned off a Fender Black Face Super Reverb with the volume set to 6. Hence the name.
The gold stripe on this one is indicative of a limited edition of 100 pedals with the SRV mod.
I heard the standard green with black stripes one and
you can easily hear a definite difference.

LET ME DIGRESS FOR A BIT ...
I just got a custom handmade 64-65 Strat neck PU
from Q.
Q is Tiho a guy in Croatia that winds and tweaks them until they nail the Hendrix sound. The 64-65 PU's were hand wound by Fender
and they varied. Some were a bit hot others not.
He has got the winding's down to match the sound dead on.
I am semi retiring my Fender Custom Strat from playing live as a lot of guys in my area have had them stolen. But the sound was critical on a few tunes.
So I am having the Hendrix PU built into the neck position of my ...Silvertone guitar.

(I even found a nice German made nickel plated open faced cover for the PU to keep the guitars look from being spoiled)
I still need a Strat sound for a couple of tunes.
So the PU and the pedal are ear candy to make up for not having my real Strat.
Hence this is a gotta have.

AND NOW BACK TO OUR PEDAL

I am impressed by the video. So because of the LTD. EDT. of the thing I took the plung.

HANDS ON

Well I got the pedal. Without the Tumnus used on the video I got a really great Mark Knopler Sultans of Swing sound.

With the the Tumnus what-cha hear is what-cha get.

In the end I had the gain up to 2 O'clock and with my guitar I nailed it.

I have since tried several other pedals thinking they were better and they failed.

The thing is SRV played fairly loud and all else he got beyond this pedal combo was do to feedback from the amp.

FUZZ- MOEN Fuzz-Moo ...a bit like a Big Muff but fatter with great sustain ...& $40.00

 MOEN FUZZ MOO 

$40.00 USD
June 2020

The older big 'Moo' has been around for years with a cult like following. A Fuzz even the Fuzz haters love.
Great sustain ...lots of balz ...super tight ...it even gives you definition when strumming away.
It reminds me of my original Big Muff that I bought new just after
they came out.
I bought the new Nano one a year ago and thought it would sound like the Moo .... Did it???
I sold it! What a piece of junk!!!
At the price it is worth a try.



It was recently been shrunk into a MXR 'b' type box.
The price tag has shrunk too.

The price reflects a straight from China price. (you can get it on AliExpress ...free shipping too.)

The discontinued older casing.

Right now it is on sale on Ali Express so it could go up 5 or 10 bucks.
Bottom line. Not much risk since if you sell it used you should be able to get back your money

HANDS ON
First I should mention it is very nicely made ...solid as a rock and the pots are firm but smooth ...nothing about it says 'budget pedal'.
It has a really fat syrupy low end. You can add lots and lots of highs without loosing those lows at all. 
The sustain is good. The only criticism is like a lot of fuzz boxes it is a bit noisy.
I have a gate on my Fuzz loop so it isn't a problem.
I find it is just a bit bland but if you stacked any interesting OD you probably already own the combination will probably be scary. 
I can see using it to drive my EH Synth which has a few good usable sounds but the combined effect will have some serious punch!

At the price it is a no brainer ...you just can't loose. It is better then quite literally hundreds of Fuzz units that sell for 3 or 4 times as much!!!!

OVERDRIVE- STOMP UNDER FOOT Skinner Box... the first OD ever!!

 STOMP UNDER FOOT SKINNER BOX 

$165.00 USD

When Pro Co brought out the first Rat pedal they sold it as a Fuzz.
There was no precedent for a dirt pedal designed in this way.

It was in fact the first true OD ever made. It was based on the now defunct LM308 Op-Amp.
S.U.F. have recreated it using NOS chips.

The pedal is all about aggression and attitude. I find a lot of these
'me too' pedals in an effort to improve them clean them up too much
and kill the life out of the sound.
I am afraid the soul was ripped out of this one.

OVERDRIVE- CARL MARTIN DC Drive 2018 ...oldie but goody in a new suit!

 CARL MARTIN DSC DRIVE 2018 

$140.00 USD

This is part of the Carl Martin Classic series. The pedals have been updated in nifty new boxes. This pedal has been available for years. It is our trusty old standby a Plexi pedal.
It has a great fat lower mid thing just as it should. The recent popular ones by all makes have a lot more gain to push them into the shred category. This does not. Not as puritanically accurate as few recent pedals but it is a good impression.

A simple set up with tone, drive and level and the little killer 'Fat' switch'.

Bottom line. It is fat and with lots of rich harmonics
and just sounds damn good.

No shame in owning one of these sweet sounding boxes. Cheap too.

OVERDRIVE- HOT BOX PEDALS by Moen HB-RS Rusher OD...big bad sound low price!!!

 HOT BOX PEDALS by Moen HB-RS 
 RUSHER OD 

$65.00 USD

Not so many years ago Kawai made a premium series
of gourmet pedals, They were actually designed and made by Moen.
Moen are a Chinese company that made premium pedals for a Chinese niche market. They always strived for the very best
but without a 'name' they have a very high profile because by not making clones they are unnoticed by the bargain hunters. They have always had to sell to the west with very low margins and that is evident here.

The Canadian company Hot Box wants to put them on the map but until they do they too will be selling cheap. Bottom line ...do not be fooled by the price this is serious stuff. The Rusher is a case in point. Huge sounding OD with fat, fat rich overtones.
Yet a transparent tone where you can hear every note with great definition.
After leaving this Post for a few days and coming back and giving it another listen this pedal has all the signs of high gain Tube Screamer. I know high gain and ts do not sound like a comfortable marriage but it keeps popping up lately. The Cmat Mods Signa is a case in point. The transparency is accomplished by blending in some clean guitar with the dirt. The JRC4853 chip was the first ts chip but now there are 10 more. So that gives a lot 
of companies a short at a high gain ts.
                                                                                         

If I had not bought the Signa I think I would give this one a shot!
I may yet get one but I am in the midst of building twin pedal boards. I already have 50 on my present one. I have at least another 10 waiting for a vacancy. 
I can barely lift my board so I think 2 medium size boards is the answer. 
That is of course if 30 pedals on a board can be called medium size. LOL

LESLIE TONE CABINET SIMULATOR-NEO INSTRUMENTS Mini Vent ....impressive!!!

 NEO INSTRUMENTS MINI VENT LESLIE TONE CABINET SIMULATOR 

In the 60's the 500 pound Hammond B3 organ
found it's way into rock music having gone from the church to the jazz player to rock.
It was never meant to be portable. In fact for years it could be placed in a church and sit in one place for years.
Deep Purple, Stevie Winwood,
Kieth Emerson and others made it the 'must have' organ!
With it came it's companion the Leslie tone cabinet. It too was a furniture piece.

$350.00 USD

The Leslie was a mechanical device meant to simulate
the natural modulation of a cathedral on the the sound of a pipe organ. It had a spinning horn going in one direction
moved by a simple electric motor. A speaker that was fixed
with a spinning wooden drum with one side open and
a board acted as a horn, The drum spun in the opposite direction. The Leslie used the preamp in the organ to power
the amplifier in the Leslie. So you could not plug a guitar into it. Eventually portable preamps were made to fix that.
George Harrison was a big fan of the Leslie.

Modern tech can obvious put it all in a stomp box.
So know the big deal is to make a convincing replication of
the original Leslie tone.
the leslie motors ran at 2 speeds. Slow which gave choral
or chorus effect and fast which is  vague more vibrato like.
changing from one to the other means the motor either has to speed up or slow
down. There are no brakes to stop the 'spin' so this takes a few seconds to happen,
The change is a special effect in itself. It is part of the charm.

Neo make a few models but the mini simple operates like the 'real deal'
which is certainly all the guitarist needs. It has been replaced with the
Mini VENT II. Nothing new just I expect a few upgrades, tweaks or bugs removed,

Dead cool!!!

CONCLUSION
I love it. I am NOT big on pedals that require me adapting to them. In short having written a tune that
could use some colour I do not wish to rewrite it to fit a pedals side effects.
I would rather have 2 or 3 pedals that have been built to one thing as good as possible then some digital do it all. I have had those only to find them totally disappointing. I am talking expensive good ones too.
I do not care if it is done with analog or digital ...I just want excellence!
On the whole I find analog is usually better. To those who argue otherwise ...Why don't you buy a hightech plastic guitar then??? I rest my case!
Digital reverbs and delays have come a long way and are not only great sounding but recently a few are user friendly (that alone is mind boggling LOL).
So this pedal really appeals to me.
I have been going thru about 10 thousand a year for 3 years. I have amassed some great toys. But half of the stuff was a learning curve. I have about 20 expensive pedals on Reverb. LOL
The point is this pedal is on the shortlist but reaching for that list is just out of reach at the present.LOL

OVERDRIVE- MAD PROFESSOR 1 Distortion/Reverb ...dirt and more dirt

 MAD PROFESSOR 1 Distortion/Reverb 

$190.00

It could not be simpler. It is a very high gain pedal that it's lowest gain setting is a killer distortion that goes from a lot to a ridiculous amount. It is an 'Eddie pedal'
Why else would it be Brown? Because it is shi ...nah its a Plexi on steroids.
It has reverb built in too. No I don't no why either. It is hardly a Fender combo sound. Is it?
To be fair the reverb is a studio plate. Very nice. It sounds very good. It is idiot proof to get the infamous 'sound'




So what do I really think. It sounds great!!! They have done a great job. In spite of the focus it does not sound contrived but natural and amp like.

OVERDRIVE- AURA Brown Sugar ....superb sounding medium gain pedal ...ONE BIG BUT !!!

AURA BROWN SUGAR OVERDRIVE

$440.00 USD
         $165.00 USD

Aura are an Brazilian amp company that also make a line of OD pedals.
This is their latest.
It has the standard level and gain and a 3 way EQ.
One can not miss the fact that they are hardly cheap
at $440.00 each they exceed all but a very few. Even those few are usually laden with features with many switches and knobs to access them.
Other then the MIAB (Marshall in a Box) handle we know nothing!!! Handling of the EQ will give you a nice chunky medium gain OD that can lean from a Plexi to a JCM 800 with a bit of tweaking. The sound is tight but fat and aggressive and has a very natural real tube like tone.

A great pedal. But there are at least a few as good. At about $225.00 USD give or take I would be giving my 'flexible' friend a workout. BUT at $440.00 Whoa.
PedalPal from Venezuela do 3 Marshalls easily as good for under $200.00 USD. In fact the Pal 800 Gold is this Pedals Twin! It has more features and is $185.00 USD
In short ...twice the price!!!! "I don't get it?"

I do get it ... a big price drop... Reverb has it for
$165.00 USD from the factory no less!
mmm ...zero sales at the old price??? Do you think? LOL

BIG BUT NO MORE   >

If you like it go for it ...it's a really good Brit medium gain OD... not a lot of sustain .....average ...but get a different high gain pedal for that.
Need a comparison???
Check out the PedalPal Pal 800 Gold... easily it's equal. It has a switch to give let you match it to your touch that will follow the dynamics of your 'touch' and natural playing style. Nice. Sound wise they are twins
The overall sound is very, very similar.
I have the 'Gold' so I will give this pedal a miss.

OVERDRIVE-BENSON AMPLIFIERS Preamp Pedal ...something is familiar about this sound ???

 BENSON AMPLIFIERS PREAMP PEDAL 

$250.00 USD

Another amp company makes a pedal to mimic their amps.
A very impressive first pedal too. It has it's own voice that is very mid range strong. This makes for a very fat sound. The harmonic content is very, very rich and warm.
It is hard not to like this sound. I tend to prefer a lot of aggression in the sound.
Yes I am Plexi mad! The Plexi is a great balance between the Benson and
a modern Metal sound. It is dead in the middle.
BUT...I would love one of these too!

CONCLUSION

A great pedal but it bares a comparison to both the Chocolate Electronic OD
and the J.Jaunerig Gristle King which are more versatile as they are not trying to nail a specific amp.  They give you a similar sound but the designers are free to achieve something that was more flexible and have allowed you to obtain more aggression if you wish to push them.
I have the Chocolate Drive on order. Check out the Post.

OVERDRIVE- XOTIC SL Drive ...another PLEXI ?

 XOTIC SL DRIVE 

$125.00 00 USD

If I described what a great OD should sound like etc. and I was handed this I would have to agree I got what I asked for. But how do ask for a bit of Mojo and not look like an air head?
At the price and with the general quality of any Xotic pedal
I would not criticize you for scooping up one of these.

Like all of the Xotic mini pedals it has the usual dip switches inside'
I find this a bit annoying since you can not flip open the bottom to tweak when one tune needs one sound and another tune needs another.

On the down side it does not have the rich harmonics or detail in the sound of many of the Plexi pedals. It also does not have the dynamics of others. It has some punch and you can get some decent lows
out of it.
It has noticeably little serious sustain ...but a real Plexi have doesn't any either. lol
A lot of pedals put it in because on records the player almost always is using a Fuzz or some other dirt box with his Plexi amp.
In short one expects it.
A good PLEXI pedal should have fat rich lower mids ...it is a bit disappointing in this department.

In short a nice little pedal but not a killer or must have one.
Pedals in general keep getting better so it is easier to ask for more.
One might say it is rather a plain vanilla OD but it is at least a French vanilla jobbie!

Considering the advantage of the pedals size
and the price the dip switches are a good idea.
The Super Bass is a very nice extra for a few players, It is Marshall's 200 watt amp that guys like Ritchie Blackmore still use. Not for the level but for sh@t loads of headroom, He prefers preamp distortion over amp distortion & this is the trick to get that.

One thing majorly in it's favour. Listen to the vids. This pedal is very versatile. It is articulate on every note and chord. Others are definitely more exciting but this the one that could well be used the most.

If you are at a bricks and mortar that has Xotic check out their compressor it's killer and 

cheap for the quality.

DELAY- GURUS Echosex 2 ....a Binson Echorec? damn close!!!

$700.00 USD
ouch!

GURUS ECHOSEX 2 DELAY   

The Echosex 2 is based off of the 1 that was an
all mechanical remake of the 60's Bison Echorec
of Pink Floyd fame. The Binson was notorious for having the rubber wheel that moved the recording disc cause erratic movement of the disc eventually causing damage. When the disc and wheel were just mildly damaged it added to the sound in a quirky way. Gurus has replaced the disc with modern tech but has added a circuit and a control to F. it up to your own taste. LOL
They have kept the tube preamp in it so all and all there is a minimum difference to the original.

The result is a funky great sounding unit.
The new t7e has longer delay times.

OVERDRIVE-ZVEX '59 Sound a very nice 'same ol' Brit sound!

$220.00 USD

 ZVEX '59 Sound OD 

Quite simply a 1959 Fender Tweed Bassman in a box.
It does what it says it does. I sounds quite good.
Since the Marshall JTM 45 is based off of the Bassman
one can argue it is a Brit sound too.

ZVEX do a lot of pedals 'sideways' lol
It may look cool but it takes up alot of space on your average pedalboard unless you mount it sideways
Fortunately they recently had second thoughts and repackaged it
in a standard B box.
One sound done really well. I haven't any criticism with it other then
it is in territory where Brit dirt pedals are more numerous then grains in a handful of sound.

SPEAKER EMULATOR- BLUGUITAR Blubox Speaker Emulator

 BLUGUITAR BLUBOX SPEAKER EMULATOR 

I have Thomas Blugs infamous Bluguitar Amp1 which

$300.00 USD

has a single military micro tube to emulate an all tube amp. It is a hybrid amp that has 100 watts yet only weighs 2 LB.
I was thrilled when I got and to be fair if cranked it sounds stellar!
It is now a great though perhaps expensive back up amp. LOL
I now use Marshall's Origin 50H a basic 50 watt Plexi.
I also use an ADA GCS-2 speaker emulator that makes my single 12' Celestion Neo Creamback sound like a Marshall 1960a 4x12 cab.

So how does the Blug stack up. Well it has an array of 5 Marshall stacks representing
different Celestion speaker choices over several years. From what I heard they sound damn good.
BUT for my purposes the ADA works great and is considerably cheaper at $120.00 USD and you can find them used, I got mine in mint for $80.00 USD.
I get a lot of that fatness from my placement near the speakes edge but since that is not typical
other demonstrators tend to put it closer to the center of the cone for a tighter sound so if I could
compare it side to side I would know if it is worth moving up.

For recording it has a huge selection of speakers to choose from and for many this is perfect as it is much, much simpler to use then it's high end 'do all's' and we have Blug's stellar ear not just his technical abilities to make sure the sounds are authentic.

OVERDRIVE- CHOCOLATE ELECTRONICS Chocolate Drive ...impossible not to like!

 CHOCOLATE ELECTRONICS CHOCOLATE DRIVE 

$370.00 USD ?

Whoa! One second in and I'm sold. Chocolate Electronics is in fact Tetsuro Horino from Japan.
He handmakes every pedal. This OD really 'is' something different.
This pedal is super fat. It is harmonically one of the richest sounds I've ever heard.
It assertive but not a bit aggressive. The mids are huge right across the spectrum with a very full bass.
The sound has a light as air quality. Every note comes at you like a huge puff of smoke.

A simple set up of treble, bass, drive and volume.

I see this as an alternative to the many transparent pedals for vocal accompaniment. It is stellar
for big chords backing anything. It is NOT
for blistering solo work. Not what you have or use this I am sure of.
This would be an amazing second pedal for anyone.
Absolutely impossible not to like!

It sounds good on both hummies and single coil PU's
It does a great job of not masking the Strats natural tone. If you have single coils this is hard to resist!

It does sound a fair bit like T. Jaunerig Gristle King first introduced in 2006 which is still made and is $229.00.
This King has endless knobs and switches so it is a big pedal that needs a lot of real estate.
The Gristle King is not as dense and likes a bit of help with some break up on a nice amp.

The Choc. OD is unusually versatile. It is musical left anywhere on the sweep of the gain knob.

NOTE: seek out a direct from Japan store. 
In the west WD Music is the only source and they want $370.00 USD ...yes you read that right!!!!!
A Japanese site called World Shopping 
had a used one for $182.00 USA 
New it should be about $225.00 USD

You note I said 'had one'
I will give you a Hands on asap ...mine is shipped.




JUNE11/18
HANDS ON

Well I just got it. I had it up and going in a couple of minutes.
With the generic every thing at 12 o'clock setting the very first thing I noticed is the damn thing sustains big time ...I set the level on unity and hit another note. No difference that sustain was as good.
So the overall tone is indeed very rich sounding. changing the gain or EQ in any way really changes the sound. I truly think I could get 3 or 4 sounds out of it and in a blindfold test you could be told that each sound was different pedal.  Guys with very different styles could easily find a good sound. I would say it runs from hard rock to fusion ...just dial in your tone.
Unlike most pedals some of the best sounds are with the gain way down under 12 o'clock. having the treble just left or right with the bass pulled back gives you some incredible mid tones. Subtle changes in this area can make a great sound a killer sound.
It sounds so good with the gain turned all the way down some guys will use it for their always on clean sound!
Anyhow I was trying it with my little generic trashy practise amp. I virtually got it out of a dumpster. LOL So on the weekend at practise I will try it with my whole rig and then come back here and do a Part 2.
I got to make sure this is not a 'too good to be true' pedal. LOL

OVERDRIVE-GURUS Sexydrive MKll ...one of the most versatile pedals ...EVER!!!

 GURUS SEXYDRIVE MKll 

$250.00 USD

One of our readers 'Tin Man' put me wise to
this pedal.
Gurus an Italian amp and pedal maker. Like many Italian companys they go their own way ...they don't bother with things like the next Plexi or Tweed pedal.
They call the design 'Old School' and say they
added everything from Dumble to Klon to the mix.
I think they are not 'Old School' they are 'Gurus School' and players are much better off because of it.
The only old school thing I can see is that they added clean sound to the distortion to keep the attack of the note clean and crisp with lots of definition. This is part of the Tube Screamer sound.
I do like that they give you a mix control to add as much or as little as you like. It is avery workable addition to the pedal.

So what about the sound. Versatile!!! You can get a clean amp like sound with even a boost that makes a Tube Screamer sound like a piece of junk. Or if you like a really great crunch. The dirt sounds have balz big time.
It really is a versatile pedal, I never thought I would say this
but ...THIS PEDAL COULD SUIT ALMOST ANY STYLE.
Damn it 'Tin Man' now I want another pedal.

Check out the first video it covers all the basic sounds from a balzy clean sound to wall of sound with a great medium gain chunky chord sound.
The overall voicing is very American ...a 6L6 tube type sound...there is nothing Brit about it.
It has won a few editorial awards. Well deserved too.