Sunday, November 25, 2018

FUZZ- JACQUES Bat Fuzz....a Fuzz that subs for a Metal pedal ...maybe yes ...maybe no ...but dead cool anyway!!!

 JACQUES BAT FUZZ 
$180.00 USD







Simple ...come up with a really raunchy 'look out world' Fuzz and put in some first class active 3 way EQ. You then have a Fuzz to kill with. The rough attack of a Fuzz gives you a lot of definition for the modern fast quarter note chug that gives you a great metal sound.
You could stack it with a good Plexi pedal to fatten it up and fill out the sound for a more classic Metal sound too.

I think it could be anyone's rock arsenal no mater what style you played in! The little beast is just too damn cool!!!




Tuesday, November 20, 2018

OVDERDRIVE- Friedman BE-OD Deluxe ....yes! It is finally here.

 FRIEDMAN BE-OD DELUXE 
$270.00 USD
Yes it's finally here.
Not much to explain. You have two channels The top one has a bit more gain for lead.
Both have a mid control ...which is a damn good idea and the control to tighten the sound is now on a switch instead of a pot. The mids do make a big difference to fatten it up ...I always found it a bit thin.


Sunday, November 11, 2018

AMPLIFIER- QUILTER Interblock 45 ...45w pedal board amp ...not convinced ...see why

$290.00 USD
QUILTER INTERBLOCK 45 PEDAL AMP

This is Quilters second and full features pedal amp. My only beef with these amps is that they all use type C amplifiers that seem OK with their power but usually do not put out anywhere near the level of a tube amp.
A tube amp compresses the the signal so it is not technically louder ...but since the signal can not drop in level it will sound louder. My 50 watt Plexi can match any 100 watt transistor amp
for level!!!
Another beef. The Quilter is 45 watts into 4 ohms. Since 4 ohm cabs are rare and if nothing else it narrows your speaker selection.
I also consider this is misleading to the player who will think he has 45 watts of serious level to use.
Only Thomas Blug's Bluguitar AMP1 addresses the problem with a full 100 watts into 8 Ohms.
You not only have enough power you can use all of the popular Celestion and Eminence speakers.
I owned one for a year and switch to a 50 watt Plexi. The Plexi is considerably louder. I even use a speaker attenuator on it.

The Quilter Interblock 45 has all the bells and whistles including a dirt channel.
Personally I think the ideal pedalboard amp should be 100 watts into 8 Ohms and would have 2 full channels of clean sound. A simulated Fender sound and a simulated Marshall sound. Why would a guy buying a pedal board amp need a dirt channel?  Most players first pedal is a dirt box and if you need a pedal board amp ...you have a pedal board with one or more pedals for your dirt sounds ?????


CONCLUSION

A better effort then most but far from ideal. Baroni Lab Mini Amp 100 is perhaps leading the pack with it's 60 Watts into 8 Ohms at $330.00 USD. The extra power is not a lot more. Blug's effort is in my mind too expensive. I had one and sold it and bought a Plexi.

HEY !!! IT JUST CAME OUT
The Foxgear Kolt 45 ...a great clean sound ...louder then a Fender Hot Rod
and half the price of the Quilter. 
Check out the Post !!!

Saturday, November 10, 2018

OVERDRIVE-HAYDEN DR. GREEN Black Death OD...in spite of the goofy name a nice Brit pedal made in the UK too

$75.00 USD
 HAYDEN DR.GREEN BLACK DEATH 

One expects at the very least a cheesy sounding Metal Pedal
for the price of this pedal.  Hayden are a Brit amp company making some serious amps for the last 20 years. Who created a line of Budget pedals.
Oddly the Black Death is half decent sounding medium gain Brit OD.
and is made by Hayden and in the UK too. With quality parts and workmanship.

It will interesting to see where they will do next.
But if this pedal is an indication they could be doing some great stuff.



Friday, November 9, 2018

OVERDRIVE- JACQUES STOMPBOXES Fuse Blower ....aggressive balzy but transparent!!!

 JACQUES STOMPBOXES FUSE BLOWER II 
$200.00 USD
Yes another company has a shot at a Plexi like pedal.
Jacques Stompboxes from France.

So you have to ask yourself "why bother?"
Well the fat lower mids and that big Plexi sound are all
there ...but what is different is how it does not mask the
tone of either your guitar or your amp.

The bass mid and treble give you loads of tweaking
and there is ample gain ...but no mater how you tweak it
that beautiful transparency is always there.

OVERDRIVE- SEYMOUR DUNCAN Dirty Deed Distortion ...aggressive bluesy pedal ..nasty but nice.

 SEYMOUR DUNCAN DIRTY DEED DISTORTION 
$120.00 USD

This one has been around since 2014 and is still very popular.
.
It is a high gain OD with a near fuzz like rasp and bite.
No mush here ...the petal has a lot of definition with good headroom which can be made even better by using an 18v adapter instead of a 9v adapter.
It is a traditional dirt pedal that does not try to sound like the modern amp-in-a-box.
Both the treble and bass have a generous 12db boost.

In all it has an 80's vibe Hard Rock sound.

At the price it it certainly is value for money. A lot of guys will find
it ideal to use a booster.


CONCLUSION
It sets out to one thing well and it does. I can not criticism it for not having any real tube amp like distortion because it is not even trying to do that. If this is your kind of sound I know of none better
nor as cheap!!!

Sunday, November 4, 2018

OVERDRIVE- THE JULIET COLLECTIVE Creamdrive ..parallel Distortion...weird but dead cool!


THE JULIET COLLECTIVE ORANGECREAM  DISTORTION


Weird but cool! The pedal is a take on the
sound Clapton got on Cream's Disraeli
Gears LP.

This is done by 2 circuits. one a Marshall
style OD and the other a Fuzz that are
blended together.

It does have a resemblance to the sound
 ...but even if not it has a great funky
character and just plain like it's raw
distortion.

I can not find a formal Home site
for The Juliet Collective
so they could be out of business?

New imports from Japan are $300.00 USD plus
for an American made pedal. So do I hear
 someone yelling "Collectors!" lol

It seems to be so. :-)




OVERDRIVE- ORANGE Bax Bangeetar ...an Orange tone stack in a box

 ORANGE BANGEETAR 

$380.00 USD
A bit obvious ...this is oranges take on an Orange tone stack in a box.
In the '70s Orange sold the bulk of their amps from a store in London's West End. I went there a few times. I found it all very odd. I had a nice 50 watt Plexi at the time but the hot amp to own was a Hi Watt. I was young an insecure enough to rather have a Hi Watt.if I had the money. lol
I did think they looked cool. I felt they sounded some where between the middle of the two.The Hi Watt has a lot more headroom then either and is more like some of today's gourmet jobbies.
I could not afford either at the time so I
went back to my Plexi.

Well I digress.
Lemmy's review is comprehensive. Like me he finds it an acquired taste. If you love the Orange sound you will love the pedal. But for many Orange either sounds clean or excessively too hi gain. There is no middle ground. I got to hand it too Orange unlike the endless Marshall pedals which all sound different and have you asking yourself which one really is a Marshall they managed to escape the term Brit Pedal and have given us an Orange sound!
A choice of colours is a nice touch.

The pedal like the amp is as I said an acquired taste. I find it sounding thin in spite of the gain. To my ears it sound like they blended the clean sound back into the dirt and the straight clean guitar sounds scratchy. The price is an OUCH! In fact it is the same price as the Surprise Sound Lab HVO which is total mind blower!!! It's not an amp for this guy! The HVO though is a gotta have!!!