OVERDRIVE- GREENHOUSE EFFECTS Road ...a very nice Tube Screamer ..that can push it over the top & still stay tight!

$255.00 USD

 GREENHOUSE EFFECTS ROADKILLER OD 
Spikes of distortion spit out of this and very note in a triad chord came out as separate is it would if 3 players played only one note each of it! Ok maybe not. lol
But this pedal is crisp and tight!

The pedal uses multiple gain stages yet you guitar's
sound come thru as clear as a clean sound.

The controls are just a simple classic gain, tone and level.
Roy Zedchis designs and makes these in Israel.
using only the best parts and always turns his concepts into rea

CONCLUSION
This is pedal that sets out to give you the Tube Screamer thing ...plus. It does this very well.
I find it not enough of any one thing. A kind of jack of all trades but not master of any.
The very best pedals do exactly one thing but they do it bang on to your style, needs and taste. Once you get a small pedal board going you will find even then that the 'one size fits all' pedals will go.

GIBSON LOOSES LAW SUIT !!! ....A lot of 'V's' are still going to fly!!!

ONE DOWN!

GUITAR- The Fender Stratocaster :A Short History

 ALL ABOUT THE STRAT ...

I stumbled onto this little gem by Kieth Williams and thought I would slip into your world too.

OVERDRIVE- BLACKOUT EFFECTORS Mantra OD ...a Chameleon ..two extremes ...both killer

 BLACKOUT EFFECTORS MANTRA OD 

$200.00 USD

Another pedal well under the radar as it has been around just shy of 10 years!!! 
I can certainly see why it is still here ...good ol' word of mouth.

Oh my! The damn thing wants to tear your face off!!!
In spite of building it with JFET & MOSFET'S which
are the only way to go for a natural tube amp response
it has all the tear your face off sound of good fuzz.
It reminds me of what I love about a ProCo Rat without the
what I hate about it!

The bass and treble use Baxondall EQ so it will allow you to
match up with both Fender and Marshall amps. The idea of doing so is to make the pedal seem like another channel on your amp and not a foreign sound just laid over it. You have of course a level for the output. The killer is a gain that goes from really heavy to stupid. lol But if you take the gain back to zero
it simply adds a touch of dirt but unlike low gain pedals you have a near clean sound with balz and punch. Killer on Fenders both the amps and the guitars!
The Mantra responds to your touch well which makes a pedal a joy to play.

What's not to love? Well the sustain is shorter then average but it  is thick like on a late 60's Plexi.
I would not want this as my only OD but hell I could stack it with one with hi sustain.

ALTERNATVES?

The very new ...Free The Tone String Slinger at $350.00 USD has a sound that is polished and less aggressive then this but if you listen carefully to the Mantra at very low gain settings the overall effect is very, very similar. 

At high gain settings it is a terror! You get a tone many used in the late 60's.
The Mantra is $150.00 USD cheaper!!!

CONCLUSION
DEC, 2020

I have been using this for a long time know.

On a Strat it is to die for! Brutal but all that 

chimey Stratness comes through.

It pushes you to play better.

Bad news. Rumour has it the company

was run by partners who had a falling out.

This was even before I got my pedal

so It is safe to say used is the only option.

OVERDRIVE- EARTH QUAKER DEVICES- Plumes Small Signal Shredder ...aw c'mon it's a Tube Screamer

$100.00 USD

 EARTH QUAKER DEVICES PLUMES 
This pedal was released 4 hours ago ...so as usual you
see it here first. Maybe you should not have bothered. LOL

Wow just what we all need another Tube Screamer.
Seriously folks if someone can do something
effectively better then the at least 100 plus choices out there I will
give it a listen.
I bought two jacked up Tube Screamers since Xmas.
The latest is the PM Custom FX Gainiac Plus. It functions as
low gain thru to high gain OD. The sustain is just killer.
If you play a Tele then skip reading the rest of my review and buy one. NOW!

OK what's the deal. It has a standard level control. The Tone is set with a boost on the highs, mids and lows. The toggle gives you 3 voices. One is more transparent, another is for more dirt and compression and a third is a clean boost.
I could hear nothing very dramatic happening in any setting.

CONCLUSIONS
Dreary, dreary, dreary!
it is just lame. If you must just buy a used Ibanez Tube Screamer any one is better then this!
For the same money you can get the Gainiac Plus ...It blows this thing out of the water!!!

OVERDRIVE- MOGOO Timmy ...ouch!

 MOGOO TIMMY OD 

$36.00 USD

OK What's going on?
It is that time of the year where Mogoo releases their classic
counterfeit pedals before the pedal police order their annual cease and desist.
Right now you can get the famous Timmy. At least Mogoo have
the pride to copy INSIDE as well as out.
In short it is a true clone.

Timmy is hand made by Paul Cochrane who has been making these as a hobby since 2000. He enjoys his day job and family life.
In short sometimes he makes very, very few.
He often changes the colour of the pedal or the color just for fun.
A few times he made small mods ...and then a few years later
went back to v.1 or maybe v.2. LOL
The only thing he does not change is the price. It is still $130.00
new. Mind you a used one could go for several hundred!
The one on the right is a fake v.1 clone.

Version V1
the switch on newer ones is
outside the pedal.

2019 Real Timmy $130.00 USD

CONCLUSION

I hate to tell you but real or fake it is a Tube Screamer with a good ol' JRC4558 OpAmp chip!

GIBSON SCREWS UP ....AGAIN!!!!

GIBSON SUES DEAN GUITARS FOR TRADEMARKS

By Gibson making cheap copies of their own guitars ...the Epiphones they are ethically
validating copies at cheaper prices.
They are now suing DEAN guitars for copies they have made for 40 years???
The only thing you get from a Gibson guitar by over paying is bragging rights so if you are made to feel ashamed to own a Gibson what do you get??? You get ...to look like a fool!!!

I propose all of us Gibson owners chip in $10 to defend DEAN ...I expect Gibson will back down and stop. A public apology to both DEAN and Gibson owners is in order.
If so we can play fair.
We can take the fund and use it to give to kids who want to play the guitar but their parents can not help. We can even use it to by Epiphones. In the end we can end up getting everyone at their best.

It can be a WIN WIN for all players and guitar makers!

Apparently it can....this is an Epi

CONCLUSION

I am currently getting all the video reviewers on board so we can do this together!

Stay tuned!

What's next? Should Bigsby sue Fender for stealing their 1949 headstock design?  LOL

COMPRESSOR- ORIGIN EFFECTS Cali76 Stacked Edition ...twice the sustain!

 ORIGIN EFFECTS CALI 76 STACKED EDITION 

$380. 00 USD

Well it is hard to imagine anyone not knowing about one of the many versions of the Origin Cali 76.
It is the compact pedal version of the 'god' of cool sounding studio compressors.

The original studio version
UREI 1176LN
this is where it started!

They have never been cheap. In fact they started out for hundreds more!!!

This one is NEW and it is the the SOB of the line!!!
Yes you can get the Deluxe for $330.00 USD so why pay more?
Because it is 2 in one box!!! YES TWO OF 'EM
The only problem I have ever had with the Cali is it ... 
DID NOT HAVE ENOUGH SUSTAIN!!!
It does now!!!!
Trust me... it is worth every penny of it's $380.00 USD price tag!

Was I not just bragging that the Thorpy ...The Fat General was the cats ass!
Yes and it is ...read my Post! I would NEVER part with my Fat General!
I would use both!

CONCLUSION
For most players this is a bullet proof choice. It is already a technical achievement and from
the beginning of Origin's Cali 76 comps you couldn't beat the ascetics of the tone.
In time it may be matched but never bettered. No more upgrading for the guy with this sweet comp!

COMPRESSOR- AMPTWEAKER Pressurizer ...an amazing idea or is it?

 AMPTWEAKER PRESSURIZER 

$210.00 USD

Cool idea. The idea was to give you sustain without touching the attack of the note. If you have heard a classic recording of an LP thru a Marshall stack you have probably noted the the notes do not just sustain but quite literally blooms and swells a moment after you strike the strings.
Yes they built that in too! 
Is this a shredders delight compressor?

So what's the down side. Well for me it is not for an always on compressor. For that it has too be near invisible or seem more like the compression seems to be coming from your amp.
In short I have the Thorpy  ...The Fat General which does that and quite simply is miles ahead of others that try.

BUT ...BUT as a second compressor as a partner to a great dirt box this might be killer???

CONCLUSION
Well where are the vids with it combined with a good dirt pedal???
Exactly!
I noticed the swell with chords makes a muddy thump!
Too bad the idea is genius. BUT???
What were they thinking!!! Country players are hardly the companies stock and trade.
In the first vid when the swell is set up to be just suble it sounds dead cool. If they could that feature by itself in a hundred dollar pedal I would be all over it.
Too bad.

OVERDRIVE- FREE THE TONE String Slinger ...it's basic look hides it's true identity ...a Fender amp-in a- box

 FREE THE TONE STRING SLINGER OVERDRIVE 

$350.00 USD

Free The Tone from Japan have been with us since 2014 making the absolute best made gourmet pedals possible.It is a trade off because a large portion of your money is not for design ...hence sound but for an overkill in the actual parts.The quality of fit, finish, parts and attention to detail is second to none!

SOUND
One OD they made was so perfect I hated it. LOL
No kidding I could not fault it at all. I did not buy it because it had no character.
As opposed the the French Celmo Pimento Sardine it lacks everything BUT character and I just love it!
So what about the String Slinger. Surprise! No bells or whistles ...just character. I am seriously surprised!

HOW DOES A SIMPLE PEDAL BECOME AMP-IN-A-BOX
It's is startlingly similar to a Fender Black face amp.
Shades of the Vibrolux, Super Reverb and the Deluxe cross my mind.
It has the sparkle of the Dumble Steel String Singer. 
Perhaps Free The Tone thought so too. lol
What impresses me is it can be turned down and faithfully reproduce what are generally considered clean tones. They are indeed the sounds that are on the edge of crunch.
It has zero competition. I bought many only to be near horrified at the price vs. performance.
F.T.T. only say they wanted to catch that bluesy Americana type vibe. Well they did that. They did it damn well too.

CONCLUSION

Not cheap but is worth every penny. In spite of it's 3 knob simple old style dirt pedal look and layout it is in reality a modern amp-in-a-box. Better still a convincing Fender Black Face one as well. That in itself is a rarity. There are several great Marshall ones but very little choice for Fender boxes. 
The pedal is superb and it has zero competition! Nothing comes close and most of it is in my estimation is ...crap!!! 
I have bought and sold a half dozen expensive low gain transparent pedals. They all were muddy or fuzzy at very low gain settings.
Flat picking or finger picking was hopeless on any of them. They all had a man made fake dirt sound. The String Slinger gives you a fat tight even punchy real amp like tone even when the gain is bordering zero. At mid settings flat picking is still tight and clean. The tone sounds like a 'real amp.'
I did notice if you push it hard those beautiful glossy mids it adds get even bigger. Too big. It starts to smother the detail that it pulled out of the Strat a low to mid settings.
Personally I would never push this pedal that high.

On a final note ...the one disappointment is at a certain point when it slips past a low gain sound you are in expectation that in a second it will push the sound into a Stevie Ray Vaughn thing but instead of getting creamy it gets harsh.
The Origin Rival Drive Compact has just been released and it is designed to mimic both Marshal and Fender single channel amps so it would be nice to hear it's Fender sound but reviews seem to stick to it's Marshall sound. Too bad because it's Marshall sound is so good that the pedal on it's own could pass as the real Marshall amp.

OVERDRIVE- LAWRENCE PETROSS DESIGNS LPD 87 ...JUST LISTEN!!!

$335.00 USD

 LAWRENCE PETROSS DESIGNS LPD EIGHTY 7 

For years I have been literally shoving good ol' Lawrence's Marshalls right in your face. Why!!! because they ALL are so damn good. They have everything tone, response and balz!!!! 
The 87 is a Hose modded JCM 800 in a box!

I have only one thing left to say about the 87!

please ...just
                          LISTEN

OVERDRIVE- TC ELECTRONICS Fangs Metal Distortion -updated ...surprisingly good!!!

 TC ELECTRONICS FANGS METAL DISTORTION 

 $60.00 USD

Gain and more gain. Nothing subtle in a modern Metal OD.
The better ones give you a lot of bells and whistles to control a beast that always borders on out of control.
So 4 knobs. Gain, Volume, Bass and Treble. With a raw and scoop switch. 
I can see no criticism at the price! Would a serious modern Metal player buy this?  NO!!!
Would a pro buy this? They just might. 

LET MY DIGRESS A LITTLE
My music is best described as Post Modern Metal. I am mixing ideas from 60's pop, 70's Metal with a modern pop sensibility
So my point is that although my main OD's are Marshall in a box pedals I often use things like a POG and or a Metal pedal stacked for parts of songs with wall of sound power chords used to create orchestrated affects usually behind vocals in a chorus a bridge or middle 8.
Such a pedal is perfect for this. My music does not use the quarter note constant rhythm of modern metal. In short I do not 'chug'!
Many bands use similar elements here and there. They are also using a 30 to 50 watt open back single 12 combo. When they need to push it with their music a pedal like this or a very aggressive Fuzz is the answer.

CONCLUSION

It is the poor man's REV 4 pedal. LOL

For what I need and how often ...this is perfect!!!

I ordered one!

OVERDRIVE-BUFFALO FX Carrera ...low gain mellow but very earthy & uncharacteristically SUPER FAT!

 BUFFALO FX CARRERA 

$265.00 USD

B. FX is in fact a Brit named Steve (Painter ?) who lives in the French Pyrenees. The size of the pedals gives you a good idea of how long.
Very long! There is just about zero info on him.

Many OD pedals try to get that fat warm earthy sound but
the sound does not have the detail and articulation to pull it off
and what you get is either muddy or dead bland!
The Carrera has nailed it by giving the low mids some presence
and sparkle. Sparkle and low mids are not in my or I imagine your dirt pedal vocabulary but presence is sparkle but with other makers it is only in the highs or upper mids.
According to Steve this 'is' a low gain pedal. I would put it in the medium gain category because it is not a low gain pedal where the players guitar sounds naked in the midst of the distortion.
I think the answer is it was inspired but not necessarily copied by an
early Plexi turned up to 4 but can be pushed to crunch.
In the second video Shane manages to get some bite out of it.
If you do not play a Tele do not expect that. At least that much bite!
i expect this could be a killer if stacked with a booster or an OD with
a heavy grit and bite.

CONCLUSION
I prefer a lot more bite. Bite is what makes a Marshall different then for example Fender OD.
BUT it is huge sounding and has superb tone. I would never cancel out getting one because NO ONE does this kind of sound better!!!!

OVERDRIVE-REVV G2 Crunchy Drive ...the set is completed!!!

$230.00 USD

 REVV G3 CRUNCHY DRIVE 
Just announced this week. "The set is completed". The Revv G2 !
__With the and super fat  G3  & the tight and raw sustain forever G4  high gain preamps the only thing missing was a lower gain pedal to complete the set. Of course lower gain means a nasty but nice Marshall JCM 800 gone mad!
All three pedals have the same layout. Only the colour changes as Revv uses these colours to label the preamps from their tube amps
to identify them.
It will not be available until the SUMMER NAMM  show next month. The site is taking preorders now.
Revv have really moved into pedal-land at an unprecedented speed
so it becomes a love-hate atmosphere with the reviewers & players!











CONCLUSION
This is the least impressive of them all.

Low gain pedals are very lame in general.
The best are still the beefed up Tube Screamer Wanna-bees that only sound good pushed which defeats their purpose. 
The best low gain pedal isn't. Yes it isn't low gain!

The best low gain pedal is the Thermion Heartbreaker which is meant to be a Marshall amp-in a box. One of the first too as it came out in 2014. Check out the POST.

The Heart Breaker has both a preamp style gain (as do ALL OD's) but it has an Amp gain as well. If you turn the pre down and the amp up you get that Hendrix Marshall Super Lead 100 clean sound. Most notable on 'The Wind Cries Mary' tune on his first LP.

Is it perfect? No!!! But in my book it is killer compared to every Tube Screamer wanna-bee ever made ...yes and the Timmy which is just a Tube Screamer but it uses the Boss DS-1 chip instead. If a Pedal maker can not get it right with using FET's it's game over for any low gain sound!!!
Don't get me wrong I have a couple of Tube Screamer wanna-bees.  The Providence Red Rock OD was literally designed to make a vintage Strat sound great. It is ideal for tunes with a  lot of full sounding chords that I want every note to be tight as they are things that started life on my Martin. 
Another  the MPcustomFX Gainiac is an oxymoron ...it is a high gain ts. It lets my Tele PU and my Ric PU come through the gain intact. I get both sounds from one guitar that then supply's me with the two sounds Pete Townsend used on the mid 60's Who records.

 The Revv 2 is still a really nice medium gain Marshall type pedal. It also stacks really well!

DELAY-BOSS DD200 Digital Delay ...they got it right!!!! everything you would actually use ...very, very high spec!!! CHEAP!!!

BOSS DD200 DIGITAL DELAY

$225.00 USD

Boss have made some classic pedals. Some are decades old and still in use.
BUT they have made some dogs too. I bought their ES 5 switcher because the price was competitive and with a switcher you NEED RELIABILITY.
BUT the damn thing is a nightmare to program.

The DD200 Series of all digital pedals are so new the paint is wet! A Delay an EQ a Modulation pedal and a OD. (keep in mind the OD is digital ...in my book I wouldn't bother)

The DD200  is quite similar to the larger DD500. They got rid of any sounds or features NO ONE uses
and have the price down to $225.00 USD.
The real killer is the spec. With a 32 bit 96 kHz sampling rate it smokes things like the Strymon!!! Yes guys  ...better then a Strymon!
Best of all it is easy to use! It is resonably small for a
high end pedal!!! It IS a high end pedal ...only the price is the low part!

CONCLUSION
I have the EMPRESS ECHO SYSTEM it has a simarly high spec and is actually 2 delays in one box.
There is nothing  it does not include and then it adds control over every parameter etc, etc, etc, etc.!!!!
Don't bother! You do not need all that!!!!
Buy the Boss!!!

COMPRESSOR- 11 COOL WAYS TO USE A COMPRESSOR PEDAL

11 COOL WAYS TO USE A COMPRESSOR PEDAL
I have mentioned much of whats is in the video but hell why check out a half dozen Posts.
That Pedal Show has just released a video covering each thing and showing off classics like the Cali 76 but letting you check out a few newer offerings. I get the feeling Dan is going to scoop The Fat General for himself at the end of the show!

COMPRESSOR- BONDI 2026 Compressor ...completely transparent ...versatile easy to use!

$250.00 USD

BONDI 2026 COMPRESSOR
Compressors are tough to communicate. Many claim to be completely transparent none are but this is dead close!
You get zero to infinity for your ratio. At halfway it is the industry standard of about 4:1. Anything past 12:1 tends to kill your tone on any compressor. But 12:1 is about all you can use even on really long wall of sound power chords.
You can switch to automatic so your softer playing isn't compressed or use it in the standard mode where you choose the 'attack' and 'decay'
Some players like the initial hit on the strings to not sound squashed so the sustain kicks in as your pick hits the strings. Release is simply how long the note rings while fading away. Ratio sets up how how long your sustain is. Level is just an output volume control.
The pedal does both hard knee punchy but obvious or soft knee which sounds more natural.

It is really ya gotta hear it moment.

CONCLUSION

Excellent choice as nothing is missing from it's transparent sound, a choice of hard or soft knee and zero limit to it's sustain.

I have the Seymour Duncan Vice Grip. Soft knee and 20:1. It works great for where I use it and at $180.00 USD I can not complain. BUT ...I really think the Bondi's extra's are worth the extra money.

The best bass compressor since the Empress. Both are the same price.The Empress definitely has a 'sound'  both are excellent.

The Empress does have the edge as so many great bass players have made it 'the bass players' compressor! In short the Empress just sounds great. A lot of studio's use the Empress because the quality is not an issue and it saves time getting a good sound.

OVERDRIVE-TOTALY WICKED AUDIO Hot Sake ...unusually versatile ...but deja vu ?

 TOTALLY WICKED AUDIO HOT SAKE OD/DIST. 

$190.00 USD

TWA  make some great handmade pedals.

They also sell the Fly Boy pedals. These are Mooer pedals that are only different because of the paint job and some TWA designed graphics.
I got burnt buying the same pedal twice. The TWA brand was more then twice the price.
Mooer also make these same pedals for 14 other companies. Some are as low as $30.00 USD.
You can get Fly Boy for $70 a Mooer Ultra Distortion for $60 or a Tomsline Holy War for $30. Same pedal! The circuit boards are interchangeable.

The heart of the pedal is once again a Tube Screamer.
The inescapable ts. LOL
The pedal has a basic Level, Tone and Gain but you get a mid boost and can switch in a fixed low end boost. The gain is variable from low mid to high.
In all fairness they have done a great job. You can get a real nasty in your face ...near Big Muff dirt tone. Impressive for it's 'true' versatility.
If nothing else it would make a great second OD with it's Swiss Army Knife ability.
There is a dirt sound that will fit any situation. A perfect pedal if you are in a cover band.











CONCLUSION
Deja vu ?
The MP Custom FX Ganiac Plus uses the same formula.
It is half the price! The TWA is reasonable it is just that
the Ganiac is being given away!!!
They are very unlikely actually clones but both start with the
 ts circuit and go from there.
You should compare them if you want either one.

I have the Gainiac and very happy with it.
It is the best OD I have ever used with my Duncan 55 Strat PU.
In fact it sounds like the Duncan sound sample of the PU that
I choose it from.

FUZZ- DEEP TRIP Muffasaur ...a muff style pedal taken to perfection!

DEEP TRIP MUFFASAUR FUZZ
Deep Trip are in Brazil they have been making and focusing on Fuzz pedals for years. 
Unlike many others they are not interested in the novel or very weird and off the wall pedals. They look at a classic pedal and say ...how can we make it fatter,fuller, richer have more sustain and have more touch sensitivity and dynamics. They kill off any nasty artifacts or annoying crackle pops or random noises. 
At the same time they make sure they preserve the magic and mojo and not rip the soul out of it.

In short nothing but excellence finally becomes a Deep Trip pedal! 
Most take a couple of years to design and redesign 
until they feel until they feel it's ready.

I have their Hellbender. It gives me the perfect Brit
mid to late 60's sound. The words 'killer' and 'awsome'
can not do it justice. To describe just how good it is simply comes off sounding like
bad hype and total B.S.

CONCLUSION

Well the damn sound speaks for itself. What you can't tell the pedal has amazing touch sensitivity.

It follows your every nuance your fingers can make!!!

FUZZ- TORTUGA EFFECTS Yeti ... a versatile dirt box that that has some balz!

 TORTUGA RX YETI FUZZ 

$275.00 USD

Tortuga have built both distortion and Fuzz voices blended onto one circuit. 
There is a 3 way mid range switch to choose either scooped mids, flat mids,  boosted mids and the 4th postion gives you a straight boost. 
The howl is your level ...the scream is your tone control and the growl is gain.

It has a nice nasty Fuzz sound but is sleeker and controllable like a distortion.

CONCLUSION
You get a quite usable balzy medium gain thru to a near modern metal. I quite love the aggressive edge the pedal has. I do find it pricey! You can get a couple of good OD's
at the price or just one that is killer for just one basic sound. 

The Dawner Prince Red Rox is a total killer Marshall tone stack pedal with a nice nasty bite you can dial in or tame down and has all the mid options. It is compact and has the best sustain of any dirt pedal I've tried! It is even a bit cheaper at $220.00 USD
Check out the Post.

HOW TO- get the very, very best Strat sound!!!

STRAT PU's

This area has a lot to choose from. 
There are a lot of PU makers.

.

I find there are 2 routes to take. The better 50's type of Strat PU's have the best  Strat 'CHIME.' 
If you listen carefully it is created by a chorus effect. The six magnets have enough pull to pull down the string and as it vibrates it rotates over the magnet raising the pitch by just a hair and then changing the pitch once it sweeps away from the magnets pull. The result is you get a modulated pitch change. Chorusing.

Leo Fender new this. In 1964 he designed his last Strat PU. He wanted more output to compete with Gibson's Humbuckers.

The next time the PU's were re-designed in '66 the output was greatly increased and the chime was f.ed!!!

When Hendrix recorded clean sounds he used a '64 or '65. he new too!

So I use both. I have a dead on perfect clone of the '64 by Q. I can not say enough about it. 

I need to get a great solo voice and still have the chime. 
I also use Fender's reissued '50s PU's.

I even use some Peavey PU's that seem to exaggerate the chime. 
They are a little nasty but I love them anyway. LOL

AMPS

Well it is no brainer to point at Fender amps. I find without a great dirt pedal they still can not get a great OD sound.

SRV loved both a cranked Fender black face 
Super Reverb or a Marshall Super Lead 100 Plexi.

PEDALS

SURPRISE SOUND LABS HVO

This is the most authentic sounding Marshall Super Lead 100 Plexi  pedal you  can buy!

Read the Post and compare the pedal to the amp with the vids on it.

The secret seems to be obvious yet it has been ignored for years.

THERMION HEARTBREAKER

The great clean sound that Hendrix gets especially 

on his early records was from the amplifier section of a Marshall Super Lead 100 Plexi. 

Sag from the under powered Amp transformers gave the sound a huge compressed mid sound. The amp without a dirt pedal remained clean but had lots of sustain.

The Heartbreaker has in effect 2 gain knobs. 
The Pre Amp does the standard gain thing . 
BUT ...the master has a separate gain stage that is voiced to imitate power amp/transformer distortion.

In short you turn the Preamp down and boost the Master and you get that clean sound that Hendrix got.

THORPY THE FAT GENERAL COMPRESSOR

Yes a compressor. BUT one that creates a realistic tube power amp kind of compression.
It simply has not a trace of pumping or odd coloration.
If you were to here this pedal thru an off the shelf Fender Deluxe amp played clean and I told you you were just hearing a Dumble $10,000 USD amp you would believe it!!!! 
I have one and it is just a total killer pedal!!!
It is a 'MUST HAVE'

I do not even think of it as a compressor. I still have 6 of those that I sometimes stack with this because they all sound like compressors and I like there brutish sound. lol
I have my eye on the new Origin Cali76 Stacked Edition.
and at $380.00 USD it ain't cheap ...it's a hundred more then the Thorpy!
It is not a replacement for the Thorpy.

FREE THE TONE STEEL STRING SLINGER




By aiming at a Fender black faced Super, Vibrolux or Deluxe to name a few. They definitely can nail that just before crunch sound but the actual crunch though very good is not accurate.
Check out the complete review.








BLACK OUT EFFECTORS MANTRA

The before breakup sound is very, very good as well. 
The crunch sounds more like a ProCo Rat. To be fair the pedal is 10 years old and was aimed at guys who wanted the Rat like tear your face off tone. They got it big time. The company pushes the clean sound in a more current video too but it is just dumb luck that it works so well. Teamed with the Fat General and the Heartbreaker and it is STRAT HEAVEN!!!

But ya can still kick it up for some overkill too! lol