Since 2015 NEW PEDALS EVERY DAY! Over 3300 REVIEWS!
I use other reviewers vids & then critique from them __ If a pedal appears killer I buy one __ I try it out & update the Post__ If the pedal is SH@T I literally say so!__ I publish the street price a no brainer but few do. __ I save you time finding the best pedals & you get a second opinion. __OVER A MILLION VISTORS__
NO ONE OWNS ME___ I MAKE ZERO $ FROM THIS
Quite simply one of the best units I have ever heard. Period!!!
I have had an Ibanez, the MXR, an Electro- Harmonix, a Mooer and even the digital Strymon Mobius. In fact I sold my first NUX CH-3 and got the Mobius.
It is fat, and rich sounding The blend control is great you can add just a nice background chorus effect where with other makes you would have to pass on using it.
The depth goes to as thick as you want then even past that you can push it into weird but interesting noise type FX.
BUT I love it quite simply because it can be crisp clear and as transparent as the best digital yet because it's analog it still has that warmth thing. It is easily built as good as every major U.S. made brand.
Keep in mind ...this is the second time I bought one.
At $35.00 USD it is a steal! Right now it is on sale at AliExpress for as cheap as $20.00 USD and free shipping.
At this price buy one ...if you get it and think there is better. It can make a nice gift for a guitar buddy on his birthday. Cheaper then taking him out for a couple of beers. In short ...nothing to loose!!!
The original Klon is a rock Icon even the guy who
invented it can not convince the masses that his new pedal is even close to it LOL
Well the price for the original is still high enough to buy a nice car.
BUT... it is now just a Tube Screamer in that everyone makes one
even MXR :-)
So players are not interested in the esoteric but in a good sounding low gain pedal with a full feature set and a good price.
Chellee are a guy and his lady making hand made but reasonably priced pedals in Florida. They have been around quite a while hence this is v3.
They have a very good world wide following. In short they know their stuff!
The Wampler Tumnus has been a huge success by taking the whole point of the Klon's original purpose and improved on it.
The Ponyboy has done the same and has added even more.
this certainly puts it head to head with the new
Wampler Tumnus Deluxe.
So added is both bass and treble tone control and a choice of
germanium or silicon clipping diodes. Others have added this or that but this has added it all. It is not only cheap but hand made.
Not bad!!! You probably can not do better!
mmmm... I was thinking I might update my Tone City Bad Horse to the Wampler Tumnus (which by the way Wampler are NOT handmade) But the The Ponyboy v.3 has it all and $80 cheaper too!
No small thing!
Rowland S. Howard died in 2014 at the age of 50. He had developed a following of fans as the guy to watch in this 2nd century of blues guitarists. He had both his own style and tone.
Tone??? Blues ???
I believe there is a fine line between ...
Genius ...and ...Stupid LOL
He primarily used an MXR Distortion + and the MXR Blue Box. His guitar was a Jaguar and his amp was a Fender Twin Reverb.
His biggest fan is Denmark's Anders Reuss made handmade boxes of a design combining the two MXR pedals. That box even has the input labeled Jaguar and the output labelled Twin Reverb. :-)
They were not cheap!
The demand for an affordable one by fans everywhere was enormous.
So he brought out the new China cheapie.
I have raved about this before but for 3 years no one
has put out a pro review of it. In short you could not
hear it or see it like I do.
It was designed in the States for Cherry Music in
China who have had a successful biz making the
cheap and cheerful junk that sits on the counter of
your local Moms & Pops music store.
They have a full line of basic pedals that they make themselves.
They do less than zero promotion and are content to offer
them to the little stores that want a cheap pedal that looks
good ...is reliable and you can not cross shop it down the
street at the Guitar Center. LOL
Moms & Pops stores are big on great looking product with a good warranty. So MS make sure the pedals look great are made really well because they do not want to have to honour a warranty. LOL I have had mine for 3 years and it works great!!!
Four years ago there was a blindfold test where many delay pedals both analog and digital were judged. The top 5 were published as The Best 5 Delay Pedals This pedal was in that group!!!
The secret is that nearly 99% of all analog delays use the very same Panasonic chip!!!
It is cheap and sounds great. So if the few other bits needed to make the pedal are all well chosen you can make a great pedal. The ...I expect young designers Stateside met the challenge.
Too bad I can not find out who they are. They should be thanked!!!
This is my other delay it is the EMPRESS ECHO SYSTEM
$550.00 USD
IT NOT ONLY SOUNDS AMAZING ETC.
SPEC WISE IT IS QUITE LITERALLY AT THIS MOMENT
STATE OF THE ART
It uses parts a full 2 generations more advanced then ANY other brands!!!
In short NASA SPEC!!!
If you are making something for the NASA Mars mission you use THESE parts!!!
I actually use my M5 more. LOL
CONCLUSION
You can get yours online by buying it from AliExpress. You might wait 6 weeks but it will
arrive in your mailbox. FREE SHIPPING/NO DUTIES/NO TAXES.
...just your initial $24.00 USD
Bottom line... best deal for any pedal worldwide ...PERIOD!!!
You can wait to get yours and play it before you send me that nice thank you letter ...be sure to use the words Genius Reviewer somewhere in the text ...thankyou ...heh heh
Rockbox describe this as a single channel Brit amp turned on full
In short a PLEXI?
I expect the unnamed controls are volume and gain. Tone is self evident. Contour is usually about scooping or boosting the mids.
The write up on the Rockbox site doesn't give out any basic tech.
Not even what the controls do etc.
Still not a bad sounding OD. But we are spoiled for choice.
My money is still on the Dawner Prince Red Rox Distortion
Check out the Post. A killer pedal!!!
Mulder's main gig is making high end cables. Except for this box they do not make pedals???
This pedal is a 'point to point hand wired unit.
In short nothing is soldered to a circuit board.
It is has a usable gain between a very low to a very high. You simply have level control a drive to increase the gain and a switch to choose germanium or silicon diodes or use both.
it is very simple. But it sounds like by magic you are playing a different amp once it is clicked on.
The whole thing is seamless. So to say it sounds like a real tube amp is in effect true. But once on there is zero feeling an OD is even involved.
The pedal is all about touch sensitivity, harmonic richness and very wide gain range.
This is one impressive pedal. it is a massive but controllable
screamer.
Fat, Fat, Fat and like the pedal it is based from it is really a
medium gain OD so in spite of it's raw gut like Fuzz side it has an excellent tone.
The only kind of Fuzz that has the richness of a great OD.
You have level, Fuzz and tone. The Shift control allows you to scoop or push the mids into a punchy kick!!!
It does all the overkill Big Huge Fuzz things!
But check out the 'Floyd' on the second vid!!!
It shows you how versatile it is. It doesn't sound a tiny bit out of place doing the Dave Gilmour thing!!!
FOXROX FESTIVAL OVERDRIVE
A medium to near high gain OD with a clean metallic chop that drops down on you with the power of an axe and the blade of a machete!!
Two clipping stages and 2 separate gains. The 'body' knob does both a boost and cut of lows and mids. The boost is set to favour your single notes and give you a killer lead sound.
There is not a trace of fizz and fuzziness. It has the sound of a high powered American 60's style amp near full on!!! I could get this sound years ago on my Fender Twin Reverb cranked.
The Odie has been with us since 2014 and has a lot of what are now classic Odie users that swear by it.
It is probably merely called a Tube Screamer by some because it has the same chip.
It is incredibly versatile it has both a FET and a Silicon diode for the voicings.
It gives you two boosts either in the bass or in the mids.
The quality throughout is excellent and yet it is a bargain for a gourmet pedal.
So if it a serious contender with a proven track record and a great price. It looks like a keeper to me.
I put in the Brett Kingman vid as I often do as no one goes thru a pedal knob by knob so you can see what the control or change you can or more important can not do with the pedal in question.
Even this pedal is an oldie...over 25 years now. It is an early design using the JRC 4558 chip the infamous Tube Screamer ts 808 chip.They made this pedal without any intention of cloning ...it was simply meant to be a better original OD using a good chip. The cloning thing is really something that took hold over the last 10 years.
The JRC 4558 is a dual chip so Lotus took advantage of making two very different voices from it.
It only has a gain and a level but with the gain up and the level down the voice is distinctly different then the reverse.
Creating different blends of the two voices create sounds that suggest
several different pedals rather then one pedal that perhaps can be coloured ...but the basic sound is fixed.
So what does this all mean. Well in general the sounds tend to be raunchy and very aggressive. Not something one would say describing a Tube Screamer. In fact it reminds me a lot of Fulltone's OCD!
Based on an over 25 year old Red Llama pedal.
It has the usual layout but with a full 3 way EQ.
It sounds great with the gain back or pushed hard
you can get some fuzzlike tones.
Boogie make make several dirt pedals. This one is their
tip of the hat to more of a Brit sound. With the usual level, gain and tone they have added a mid cut for that metal style scoop.
It functions as both a medium gain pedal or a high gain pedal
with just a flip of a switch.
The pedals are both well made and use high end parts.
In keeping with their amps you pay for this luxury.
Even so at $200.00 USD they are cheaper than many of the better boxes.
Boogie pedals hold their value really well and when and if discontinued the prices sore.
Personally I can't fault it. It is just that there are a few pedals lately that raise the bar just a notch or two more. The Dawner Prince Red Rox Distortion is one ...a killer! True it takes a classic sound over the more modern approach of Boogie. BUT ... we all have a limited budget and I never regret buying the best. ....so better the best classic over a more modern pedal that is great ...but not kicking the doors off my wallet. LOL
Yes I was surprised. MXR pedals are made by a price
point and by committee the results are usually disappointing.
Exceptions are when they do a clone or near clone
of one of their vintage pedals that were made when they
young, and fresh and not just part of the 'Jim Dunlop Corp'.
Some of the stuff is showing promise like their Reverbs
but even they remove pro features as long as they nailed
a good sound.
The pedal is not an effort to capture a specific amp. It is however
reminiscent of several gourmet amps that use Fender's approach
for the bones of the amp that uses 6L6 power tubes and then beef it
up in the preamp with cascading 12ax7 tubes to add several stages of gain.
Think of the M-75 as an old blackface Fender on steroids.
The first video does a Strat ...the pedal is not overly Strat friendly.
The Strat chime and chorus like effect of it's PU's do not poke thru the crunch.
The second video is with a Les Paul.
Hummies sound quite good thru it.
For as little as $100.00 USD it is well worth a thought.
Perhaps a nice second pedal if your main dirt box is a Brit sound?
Or maybe save just a liile more if you thought you were soon to buy
a Chinese cheapie?
Yes you can push it into overdrive. The beauty of this thing is
it's just before OD sound. Very much like Fenders 60's amps. Clean but full and punchy.
Excellently done with nobody out there coming close.
It would make an excellent boost pedal too.
No nasty distorted artefacts or hash like 99% of the low gain pedals but not antiseptic like 99% of the boosters.
This is a little gem made by hand by one of the little guys
it has all but fallen thru the cracks!
At $149.00 USD it can work little miracles. I can see
a lot of guys using as an always on boost to punch up
their amp.
Sounds like a cranked amp??? Yes we all have heard that one before. lol
Actually it does. It sounds a lot like an old Fender Tweed or even one of the many 50's Chicago area amps like National or ones sold by Supro, Harmony or Kay often under several names.
It certainly brings to mind the many blues bands of the post-war
area that came north to Chicago for work and defined the sound and technique that many wrongly take for granted as an invention of Rock
.
Hard not like it's raw audacious tone. Raw and bit nasty
but with a lot of Mojo! A great price for a handmade pedal.
It can't get much simpler then this. The whole point
was to tailor this pedal to give you the most massive sound
possible.
It does this very well. It delivers a huge sound but
without being fuzzy, fizzy or undefined.
It would probably give you some scary stuff if modulated
with a phaser or flanger.
Spitfire? It certainly doesn't. lol
Well it doesn't in it's usable range. If dimed it turns
to fuzzy mud! (the second video tells all)
It's strength is in it's lower gain settings.
If you like a warm huge fat sound that has
a very unusual clarity and not a trace of harshness this is your pedal. Maybe you need a second OD
that does lush pads behind the vocals,
Teamed with one of the modern ambience reverbs
it can perform little miracles.
It is a Brit sounding pedal in a common 'b' size box. World wide
there are easily several hundred pedals like it. If a company makes
pedals one thing is for sure sooner or later they make a Brit OD.
There are actually many very good ones. At least 100 are worth listening to. There are 25 mind blowers.
There are perhaps 5 to die for.
Not cheap! $220.00 USD But order it ? ...I did. YES BUT ...IS THIS ONE OF THEM ??? Maybe it is even the best of those 5? It has the 3 classic controls ...the Master is the overall level, the Preamp is the gain and tone is self evidently ...the tone. Where it gets cool is how the contour knob works. Left of 12 o'clock it scoops the mids and right it boosts them. It works a bit like a wah pedal as you move the frequency moves with you. Or as you cut it does the same. The sweet spot on the average pedal is often where the voice of the pedal already has the loudest frequency in other words it is fixed on one spot. The contour knob is like moving the sweet spot as you sweep the dial. Dead cool as it lets you pick in what range you want the sweet spot.
CONCLUSION
This pedal takes the classic Marshall amp to the edge of a full blown Metal pedal BUT
...it does not cross the line. For a solo pedal it is KILLER!
...for a flat out power chord type tune KILLER!
It has incredible definition on the attack. You can feel the pick hit the string.
There is not a trace of mud or fizz or a woolly blanket of light fuzziness clouding the sound.
It is dead easy to use.
FAT ...BALZY ...TIGHT ...total KILLER sound!!!
...all this creates a vibrant synergy
One of the very best aggressive dirt pedals I have ever heard!!
FINAL NOTE
Rob Chapman of Chapman Guitars did a blindfold test of 35 high end overdrives
the one he choose as the best of them all was the Dawner Prince Red Rox.
The car is the same one as the graphics on the pedal
It is a 54 Buick Riviera.
_______________________________________
ENCORE
Check out a different take on the Red Rox
...go to 15:00 click play
_____________________ ___________________
NOTE:
Sept 11/18 ....I ordered one ...it is in transit!!!
I have a good feeling about this pedal ...I have for some time been looking for an OD with both the bite and the balz of this one. At the same time I did not want to loose the 'Marshall Thing'!!! OCT 10/18 ...Yes it took awhile So how does it sound. Actually exactly like Brett's video. In short great!!! Is there anything else you should know? YES I practice at very low levels. One thing you will find our right away is how much sustain a pedal has. Even at a full 15 watts some amps will provide enough feedback so you do not have the full picture. This pedal has more then any dirt pedal ...more than over 20 of the worlds Best OD's and several Fuzz boxes . In short ... IT HAS A RIDICULOUSLY LOOOOOOOOONG SUSTAIN!!! One last thing ...BUY 2 you will want one set to shred and another pulled way back for chords, riffs and vocal accompaniment.
AMT were among the first to approach treating a pedal as a channel of the amplifier they wished to clone
This take on an Vox AC30 even has a loop in it to use the setup
with a clean amp driven by channel simulation.
In the video they go from playing a phrase on a real Vox AC30
then repeating it on the pedal.
The results are scary ...they nailed it!!!
AMT are a Russian company that have been doing high quality
even over built product for about a third cheaper than the MXR's
and EH's of this world.
I found that I can get the best price by buying from a Russian store.
If you want to hear how close it gets to nailing the sound of the VOX AC30
What I love about it you can add some punch and crispness back to your clean sound when it is necessary to play at low volumes.
Most amps pretty much suck with the level set below 4 o'clock. They sound thin and whimpy.
You loose low end or even enough mids to give you a full warm sound.
Considering that any of the brand names cost a lot more this little dream is a Stomp Box Steal !!!
I have always been impressed with the the Wilkinson
design Gotoh 510 bridge
It is exceptional but not perfect. The Floyd reigned supreme for tuning reliability.
Unlike a Floyd there isn't a gargantuan mass of hardware to deal with and get in your way.
No matter what ...I fully expect the Metal player will never to leave it. :-) BUT
...for the rest of us the new Wilkinson is 'IT'.
It is no more intrusive then a stock Strat bridge!
It is a simple idea. Use a good set of locking tuners.
Make sure your nut is not causing you a problem
because it is snagging the strings.
Then install the new Wilkinson locking bridge.
What's Not to like ???
Well only one thing ...it does not have a model number or a price ???
It has been released though. I can only guess that ol' Trev is waiting for initial feedback.
He also needs to gets production beeped up enough to look after the OEM guitar makers.
Those like Suhr do not want you NOT ordering a guitar because they do not have any.
Caline are a Chinese company that have been making some serious clones for years. They make a quality pedal for a reasonable price.
A few of there best pedals are more an impression of a copy ...close enough to note what they are copying but different.
BUT ...often they add things the 'real' pedal does not have. Sometimes it's more gain or a bit fatter sound or better EQ.
I the case of the Leon ...they have improved on the OCD beautifully.
Hard not to be impressed!!! This OD has some BALZ but it has a sweet side too.
Keep in mind the quality of build inside and out is easily a match for your average American made pedal in the $150.00 USD range!!!
So at a price of $27.00 USD on AlieXpress delivered right to your door free of duties and taxes is a no brainer buy!!!
BUT
But before you jump on it ...check out the Joyo JF-02 Ultimate Drive which is virtually a part for part OCD clone. I have one (not on my board) like all but 2 of my Chinese specials it got knocked off my board for a pricey gourmet pedal. I sold nearly all of my Chinese cheapies. BUT ...I just couldn't part with my JF-02! lol So now that I am building two twin and linked boards ...it is going back on! Almost forgot!! It's $35.00 USD COMPARE A fair comparison is by finding a good spot at the beginning of the Caline vid with the Strat and a spot near the end of the Joyo vid also with a Strat. Both pedals are EQ'd close enough to compare. You will find the Joyo just a tiny bit coarser and fuller (and louder so turn down the Joyo). The Caline is sweeter ...the Joyo is raunchier. I think the Caline is voiced better for a hummie and the Joyo is better for Strats and Tele's . They are dead equal but a shade different. At only $7.00 USD between them it's is all about which icing you like ...the cakes are the same!!! Pick one!!! One last thing. Moogoo make a counterfeit OCD. Because they are ducking and weaving because Fulltone & lawyers are out to get them they pop up on AliExpress for a week or two then run for cover. Today they showed up. On sale too! Yes ...for $37.00 USD. But on Oct 1/18 ...good-bye!!!
Baroni Lab from Italy have been making both tube amps and pedals for years.
All are handmade and the quality is there. A lot of their pedals can be a love or hate thing
because they are not afraid to go their own way.
I have their ISLAND DG it is an OD but they use the Fuzz like voice of a pair of Germanium tranisters
best know as the sound of the Fuzz Face Hendrix first used. The pedal is a hybrid of Fuzz/OD. All the controls are set up just like your average OD.
Bernie Marsden played in White Snake in the 60's. He still plays and does a lot of clinics.
he has an actual 59 LP that he bought when Clapton traded it in on a 1960 because the neck on the 60's is slimmer. LOL
Yes back in the late 60's a 59 LP was a 'used guitar' not something that god himself made. lol
OK...check out Bernie ...he is the Stevie Ray of the LP. He quite simply is all about exquisite tone
straight from his fingers. He is not about speed and shredding.
You 'will' be impressed!! I was going to listen for a bit to get a handle on the guy ...I not only sat glued to the vid I immediately checked out a few more.
So back to the pedal. It has only just come out and there are no reviews. But this vid from the NAMM show will give you an idea.
NOTE: Not much of a demo!!!! The guy was overkilling the lows and gain. Bernie pulls out a lot of mids in his tone. We got to hear maybe 15 seconds of that at 1:19!!! I will up date this pedal at a later date. In the mean time check out Bernie. Since the 60's every player worth listening to went time after time to hear Bernie play at a concert ...no mater who he played with!!
My first serious pedal was the Rams Head Big Muff. It did well substituting as an OD in those days. It was 'it'. A lot of amazing tunes were written and recorded with that pedal.
I find the Big Fuzz has all the best features of that sound PLUS it is fatter and has lot more sustain. The mid boost knob is welcome site.
I do not however find it very aggressive.
That was surprising as the Fuzz pedals of late tend to be nothing but.
In short many are almost unusable except for sound FX or bass lines suggesting a plodding T. Rex stomping thru your local mall wearing gigantic military tactical boots
and crushing small children and puppies on it's jaunt. lol
Another spin off of the famous defunct Marshall Gov'nor box.
like the JHS Angry Charlie the M.I. Audio Crunch Box
and 3 others I even owned. I still have the Angry Charlie.
They all sound a little different but they also all sound damn good!!!
So check it out. You could own any of them and not go wrong
it is a matter of shades of blue!
Just the artwork alone says 'buy me!' lol
OH NO...here I go again. Once again check out WILSON SPARKLING BLUE ...the pedal that admits it is a Gov'nor wannabe ...Admit or not it is F.ing good bigtime and at $150.00 USD ...only M.I. Audio & the Vien-Tap are cheaper and that by just $10.00. BUT ...BUT ...if you like the mid range smoothness of the Outlier then compare it with the Vien-Tap Dark Triad. A lot of you guys like your distortion to be creamy and though I have a few pedals that are ...even some that border on mellow I love the aggression of the WILSON. To my ears pedals that start where the Gov'nor left off are much more consistently good then a Tube Screamer ...with the ts you can get some out right garbage ...worse still expensive garbage. The Gov'nor knock offs are all good ...but some are a little better at either this or that. So compare!!! I already have the JHS but the Sparkling Blue is just different enough to justify a second!!!
Boost or OD? Well it does a lot more then a boost.
The voice is again Chandlers germanium based tech.
The boost is switchable between highs, mids or full.
You can leave it in its aggressive raw form that is bright or brighter or alternatively sweeten it up with the smooth position all from the second switch. The bias
covers a lot of territory. From a low gain ts like lightness to a full on near Brit sound.
I find the clean OD refreshingly crisp and clear and a welcome change over the overused ts sound.
CONCLUSION
As a one size fits all ...it isn't. But used to fill holes in your dirt sound by stacking it with other pedals to brighten up a dull sound ...or to fatten up a thin one or for any classic boost sound you may need it could be a real saviour. I feel it is at it's best at a stand alone pedal for semi clean sounds at that it is flat out impressive.
In this age of smaller amps and even those that leave their amps in a clean setting because they use pedals for OD's
I find that pedal makers reproducing vintage pedals that do not
take this into account often find the pro player more then disappointed with the results of their purchase.
Actual old pedals are for collectors and faithful reproductions are for the hobbiest. There are exceptions and I own some but as a rule a hot-rodded vintage circuit is the way to go.
The BC109 is a case in point. What's missing in an original
Coloursound Power Booster ...going thru a 100 watt Plexi
run flat out has been beautifully compensated.
It just doesn't get better then this! Early Gilmour and Beck
nailed!!!
The new version has left the circuit in tact but
made the layout and look much slicker.
If it's not broke don't fix it!!!
.
