REVERB- UNIVERSAL AUDIO Golden Reverberator ... start with perfection and then make it better!

UNIVERSAL AUDIO GOLDEN REVERBERATOR

$400.00 USD

If you do not know who UA is they pride themselves in making State of the Art analog equipment. They have done so for over 60 years. Bill Putnam was the genius and creator of the company. His son Bill Jr. is running it now. Like his father his knowledge of tech is unreal. He is absolute manic about the perfect sound. The pedal is being pre ordered now for the spring. The accountants are in terror. If he finds one piece of lint it will not be ready!

UA start with zero compromise on anything. Nothing they do is cheap most is unaffordable to 95% of us.

That 5% that buy who only need to know what a particular product they offer is made for. If they need that kind of product they buy! 

NOTHING they make if put beside a competitor does not win on sound alone.

Any digital tech needs analog to get into the box and back out to your ear. If that is perfect ...then it is all about nailing those old classic plates and vintage spring reverbs with 

endless tweaks of the algorithms. I think no one is more qualified than UA.

So what do you basically get? 

Surprise!!! 

...Basically 3 sounds ...Yes you read that right! 

3 sounds.

Plate, Spring and 70's classics effects.

It is aimed at the artists and virtuoso players who sees a reverb as great frame to put around their canvas where they have created what most agree is a masterpiece in their gendre. This is not the pedal for use on the next Super  Heros blockbuster soundtrack. Great players do not want a pedal that is part of the sound but one that indeed frames it.

CONCLUSION

I can get stupidly anal about even tiny flaws in a pedals sound. I love and hate reverbs. They can make your sound totally grandiose yet throw mountains of mud on your guitars tone. They can kill punch and balz and melt any edge you have with your sound. 

BUT... can you remove the EMT plate reverb from David Gilmour's sound on 

Comfortably Numb without tearing the canvas that this Mona Lisa sound is painted on. WTF ...the plate alone on this pedal is worth $400.00.

The old tech required above all else an 'ear'
Frank Sinatra loved the sounds he got so much
he invested in the Bill Putnam Sr.'s company.
in the 50's It was later changed to UREI
in the end a group of investors under Sinatra
bought the company right out.
Bill Jr. saw the need for great analog gear
to add some serious tone and richness back into
a digital world and carried on under the family owned name of 
Universal Audio aka ...UA

OVERDRIVE- KLON Centaur ....why you NEED to buy one!

KLON CENTAUR OVERDRIVE

Is this the very best sounding OD ever or even the best of it's kind? Probably not. So why do I insist you buy one?? Simple. Think of it as block of gold that you can use when playing and annoy all your friends with bragging rights.

CONCLUSION

I am 74 and I have neither a 50's or 60's Stat, Tele or Les Paul. I do not have a Klon either. In short. I therefore do not have a pension.

$500,000.00 USD

Wall Street has this pedal in their number one spot
as the best investment for 2021

CALENDAR- 2021 ...WTF is a calender doing on a Pedal Review site.

 CALENDAR 2021...

WTF you say!!! 

Since you asked. I need a quick look to see when I can expect a pedal I just ordered will arrive etc.Yes there could be easier ways to do this and even less intrusive. But if I did that no one would take me seriously as a guitarist of any note. Anything else would never have you convinced that I am totally f_cked! 

FRIDAY JAN. 3. 1947

On this date Paul Lenard Ewing was born,

sent by the gods for the sole purpose

of distracting you away from anything

more meaningful then to look at a 

calendar on the Pedal review site.

CALENDARS FROM '47

HUMOUR

                                                                            ROCK LOGIC        

                                                                                                  

"First ...Yes this my day job Jimmy. Secondly you look great. 

We are doing a Kiss tribute band gig ...and no I couldn't!

..this is the best I could find on short notice!"

PILOSOPHY

So it is interesting to know what Einstein thought.

Everything is 'Cause and Effect'. "Big deal" you say.

The thing is he literally meant everything. 

In short even 'one's' thoughts and behaviour are simply the outcome of a cause that happen a second before it was manifested by the effect.

Followed to it's logical conclusion one has no free will. One can not think things over and make decisions based from choice because every thought has weight from millions events and experiences out of their control that have happened to them since day they were born. 

Information of 'right or wrong' ' smart or stupid' have zero objectivity. Humans might believe anything. Millions believe in gods. These gods have behaviours and take actions that if another human had them they would generally be considered an insidious monster. 

In some countries large groups of people feel that anyone should be governed by the teachings of a man they call Christ. There leaders feel that anyone that has left wing leanings has no place in their society. I can not see how their founder ...Christ was not the most left wing man ever born. Of course this proof positive that Einstein is correct.

Thoughts have gravity ..the one with the most weight at any moment in the day wins.  Think of this way. Not a single thought in your head was created by you but by external information. Even juggling that information is governed by what came from the external information. 

Think of the computer that was programed to erase the most accurate of two clocks. It choose the one that stopped working to keep because the other ran a minute fast. One clock was accurate twice a day. The other clock was never accurate.

That is just about the best you can do or Einstein for that manner,

Einstein reasoned that he could not take credit for a single theory etc..that he presented to the world. But being also a  Rock guitarist he said WTF and enjoyed every second of the glory! LOL

Fender Strap Clone $4.50 USD

Fender Strap $12.00 USD

SYNTH- PIGTRONIX Space Rip ...a nano Mini Moog? ...surprisingly yes!

PIGTRONICS SPACE RIP SYNTH

$180.00 USD

These are the guys that resurrected the Supro Amps, pedals and guitars. For years they were the word of mouth go to pedal guys. They have several pedals they still make that have been around for years. Their Philosopher's Tone optic compressor was the only other choice besides the MXR Dyna Comp and other wannabes back in the steam powered pedal era. Being optic it is very transparent and by using a germanium transistor in the preamp stage gave a really rich warm voice. Adrian Below still has the one he bought when it was new back in the neanderthal age.

I liked it so much I swapped a Keeley 4 knob for the new mini version. I love it for low gain and clean sounds. It sounds killer on my old '89 MIJ Washburn 335 wannabe semi.

SYNTH?

Back when I worked for Ibanez as a product specialist in the early 80's. We had regular meetings to discuss how long Ibanez guitars could keep losing money before they dissolve the company. Yes guys ...back in the 80's kids coming up wanted a Synth not their older brother's out of date fosil ..the guitar!!!

Even the great session players I knew were not getting any work. Especially in the lucrative TV advert biz.

It struck me at the time that I was getting redundant too!!!

Soooo I taught myself to program analog Synths. I even made a few bucks teaching keyboard players how to. 

The 'Pig' wonder toy is an actual Synth. Most pedals that call themselves a Synth are just a few bits and pieces from a wah, an octave pedal, a trem etc. and labeled as a Synth. It makes me want to scream!!!

A great way to learn to program a keyboard Synth is to use a Mini Moog.

It is built with the basics of an analog synth without any frills that are not needed for Rock. I will start with what the 'Pig' does not have. It it has no envelope filters/ ADSR that you need to shape the whole array of orchestra instruments even if it is more an impression of one. Different instruments need different mindsets and techniques. If you keep it to just needing basic guitar technique the learning curve will be nearly nothing.

It does have Oscillators normal and another set an octave lower. If you wanted huge sound on a mini Moog you would set two out of the 3 you have like this anyway. The third one on the Moog you would set for modulation. The 'Pig' simply does that for you and you just dial in you modulation like you would on a Flanger or Phaser, Chorus Trem etc. Every Synth needs a choice of waveforms. One for the basic sound and one for the modulation.

The Moog has 6 waveforms choices for each Oscillator. The two most used are a Sawtooth and a Square wave. You get just the 2 but you will not miss the others. One pair is for the sound the the other pair is for the modulation.

So reread this a few times. LOL 

Basics is #1 __Envelpe filters is #2 __Bells and Whistles is #3 

on a Mini Moog. But on the 'Pig' you never go past #1. 

CONCLUSION

The guy that designed this did not have to be a great player ...but at least a good player. He also had to know his way around a basic Analog Synth like a Mini Moog or an Arp Odyssey. Everything in this box is a must have and he resisted useless features that would only confuse an average player. Right out of the box he new a guy would try a few chords, a few favourite licks  and a riff or two. Once you hit a riff ...game over ...you are hooked. The Moog is monophonic so like Moog that is where this is King. After this mess with a few controls and Bingo! Surprise! you know there are a lot of usable sounds in this liittle sucker.

Unlike those synthy washes you get from the endless number of ambience delays and reverbs tout there this pedal just says Play! None of that reinventing your playing style to the simplicity of a neophyte to get you and your pedal Rockin'

FUZZ- VOODOO LAB Super Fuzz ...from 1997 the ZAPPA Fuzz ...still made & unchanged!

VOODO LAB & DIGITAL MUSIC

Since 1986 Josh Fiden was Mr. Problem solver. He made custom electronic problem solvers in the era where anything goes. The company was called Digital Music. Keyboard players had mountains of Synths  and guitarists wanted the sounds they were getting in the recording studios and soon found that teaming up Marshall Stacks with rack mount gear, pedals and preamps had endless problems and if nothing else everyone needed switchers and interfaces. Eventually Voodoo lab was born and by the 90's pedals had made a big come back thanks to the Grunge scene. The ol' rock motto had returned. "If it sounds good. It is good."   

Indy Alternative music was popping up world wide. The idea of making custom made pedals had started. 

Analog pedals did not fit the 'vibe' of a company called Digital Music so soon the company had two divisions but one phone. LOL.     

Being small everyone wore several hats. so it soon It became apparent life would be easier with one name. 

The Pedals sold really well but the power adapters were the first of their kind. The originals were made for a demand of them being dead quiet and with zero variations in the current. It is not simple because all other companies make compromises that can cause variations in a perfect amount of uninterrupted current. Variations in current change the sound of the pedals.

Everyone that uses pedals finds there are days when your gear is in the same room but the your rig sounds weak or muddy & sounds like sh@t. At least you can stop thinking it is all in your head.

$130.00 USD

 VOODOO LAB SUPER FUZZ 

Because pedals just won't go away the demand for high quality Power Supplies far beyond the companies handmade capacity to keep up. The pedals are deliberately kept at a low profile and 99% are sold by word of mouth. With hundreds and hundreds of small handmade pedal makers it is not to hard to become invisible if you want. Many, many great players have used Voodoo Lab pedals for years. Converts in Indie bands keep up enough demand that Josh will not kill anyone of them unless certain parts can no longer be found even in small amounts.

HISTORY

In '68 Jordon Electronics made the Bosstone. First of significance is it uses PNP transistors invented in 1949 and favoured for 'signal' amplifiers and switching. Do not be confused by the word amplifier. It only means to increase the level of a signal. These transistors were never designed for audio. The first Fuzz was the result of getting a cool sound by the accidental failure of a preamp that was meant for audio and ever since transistors meant for audio have been used both because they can do a great job and also from tradition. The idea to try this was that Jordon  needed small parts to fit in pedals tiny box. They are not meant for audio they would likely distort like crazy.The thing is ...would that distortion sound cool ??? Luck would have it that although it does sound different ...but cool as well.

It is a pedal that plugged right into your guitar so it had to be small hence the PNP transistors. Jordon are not the first to do a plug into the guitar design but it is a nobrainer dumb move as it is self defeating since if your company made a second pedal why would you buy it? You could not use both. LOL It was a time when the thinking was there are Fuzz pedals and amp distortion but not a pedal that gave you amp type distortion. It could be by plan or dumb luck but the Bosstone had an OD vibe before the Rat came along with the first 'real' OD. In fact it became a 'secret weapon' at more than a few Recording Studio's. The company did it's main biz with cheap transistors amps. Once the MIJ amps arrived it was game over. Even back then defunct pedals soon became both 'cool' and then expensive. 

Enter Josh ...with his take on the pedal in 1997 with more gain and a mid boost.

Frank Zappa was one of the first customers. It was his main dirt pedal.

So after 20 years plus it is still around with its old parts and an old price tag. There

are always a few used ones kicking round. Unlike 'you' the average player has no idea what it is so you can find them as low as $55.00 USD though in excellent condition $95.00 USD is going rate.

HANDS ON

Well curiosity got the best of me. This is not a pedal I need.

It is not a Dumble pedal but I feel a lot of guys who like that vibe would love it for

an additional sound and an alternative voice.

This pedal has more of an OD sound than a Fuzz. It has just a bit of rasp but is otherwise smooth. It easily controllable. It has an exceptionally long sustain yet still sounds a bit open not squashed. The coolest thing is it easily and smoothly soars up to the second harmonic which gives you a killer octave jump with that screaming vowel sound thing. Zappa liked to project a crazy man out of control thing but he liked a sound that was completely in control and predictable. I wouldn't call it a fat sound but it is pleasingly full enough and lays  beautifully in the mix. 

It is not a Dave Gilmour sound but I think he would love it's control. If I were doing a solo thing with a lot of long singing tones with a very, very plaintive vibe this would be my 'go to'.

Last but not least it can do all this long sustain and sining thing at very low volumes

I know of no other pedal that can do this without a lot of volume or if that can do it a bit they sound artificial.

BASS- ORANGE O Bass ...Studio & stage Workhorse _Pro_inexpensive_not a 'wannabe'

ORANGE O BASS 

Sooner or later companies in the amp business get into making guitars Fender started with amps, and right up to the current King of gourmet amps is Friedman. I say King because even those that did not see themselves as a player that would go there Friedman has amps that are only a couple of hundred more than mid priced Marshall and Fender. I digress ...as usual.

Orange has done  things with this bass that could really pay off over time. They have started with going with the low end of the market instead of the high end.

They have gone nearly into the medium range market with the price so that by keeping the instrument simple the money can be spent on a making the bass not just an entry level but an entry level pro instrument. This exactly what Leo Fender did with the Tele. It was intentionally a plank of wood with the unheard of idea of simply bolting on the neck. All the money was spent on making robust, reliable and sounding good.

The final thing was NOT making it a Fender wannabe. It must have been a tough choice because players tend to want a copy of their favourite players bass. It does not hit them that the guy that is in a place where they want to be got there by doing things his way. There are the big guys and there are the sheep. The leaders and the followers. So though this bass is very workman like it is indeed a serviceable entry level pro bass.

$450.00 USD

The first thing with any bass to decide is the scale length and body. If it is Pro it would need a full 34" scale ...and it has. They wisely decided to not reinvent the wheel so like many guitars made in the 50's one starts with a basic of basic guitar shapes then does a simple cutaway to access all the frets. Orange did just that. The basic template is copped from the biggest selling bass in Europe and the UK for about 20 years ...the Hofner Club Bass. 

A nice final touch is the massive Badass style bridge made famous by Geddy Lee and the robust classic Fender style tuners.

Hofner Club Bass

The heart of any bass is the PU. The choice of a P bass split coil humbucking PU is as perfect as it gets. It works in any style and any genre and has a track record going back decades to prove it. The odds of even a guy not changing the PU sooner or later even if they have a high end guitar or are in the bedroom or on a festival stage are minimal. So with this bass you have hundreds of choices. My bass player has an O bass and had a Duncan '62 dropped in it. Fender went back to using the '62 over a decade ago and still have it in every P. Bass since.

Even as it comes with a PU voiced very much like a '57 which was the first one made in this two pieces style. It is more than serviceable it is already on a lot of Indie recordings.

CONCLUSION

My bass player has 3 American made basses. A Precision, a Jazz and a Musicman Stingray. All classic instruments and everyone designed by Leo Fender himself!

It gets used every gig with equal time spent between all 4 basses.

It seems to fit best of the 4 when a really, really heavy sound is needed.

Even if you have a bass you love this is a killer backup. Or if you want to dabble in P. Bass Land but with a pro sound and playability. My bass player is always being asked by other players with the sentence "Wow that is really cool. What is it?" This does not happen with any Fender copy. In fact you can now pay as much for a Squier.

2021 VOX VI Teardrop guitar__Vox & Orange both with a heritage__A tale worth telling

 VOX GUITARS

The short story is that Vox amps ended up in the hands of the Beatles. It very quickly became apparent that if the Vox label was on anything ...it sold. Guitars are an obvious choice. They were for a short time made in the UK but were mainly cheap entry level guitars and not of historical consequence. Buy '65 they had Eko in Italy to take over production. The prime goal  to crank out guitars cheaply and quickly.

In '64 Brian Jones discovered the first Vox VI better known by it's shape the Teardrop.

It was really a piece of sh@t so he found a tech and got it playable. Vox were not too long in seeing with a bit of effort they might enter the 'serious' club with Fender etc. do to this good luck.

Apparently it is Rocket
Science to reproduce this 
guitar ??? Will the 2021
model crash on it's first launch.

The timing was bad. Vox had so much money they ended up in a partnership with a UK Tech firm that was perfecting a flight recorder for the government. As things are bound to go the UK government cancelled the contract. OOPS!

By '67 it had bankrupt the company and VOX was dissolved. The name was bought by Thomas Organ at the fire sale. They simply put the name on total junk that they already made. It failed big time! So they farmed out the name.

The name was licenced out to different companies with different ideas and to compound that the licences were regional. One guy could only sell in Europe another in the States etc. No one for years had the will or capital to buy up the all the bits and pieces that got spread out thinner and thinner as each company before it made sure even more people not to buy a Vox labelled product.

Korg finally got it all but only recently have they started to bring out some really serious repro's of the best stuff. New stuff based on the classics would give them some serious cred.

VOX VII Teardrop is it another wannabe?

Since the 90's every 10 years someone with rights to the name has brought out a few Vox guitars. Sometimes the timing was wrong but when it was right the guitars were crap or were altered by some clueless moron when an authentic 

replica with quality parts could have gave the company credibility.

There is always someone to even over pay for a well made guitar with a very high cool factor. Gibson? But junk that is cheaply made and looks like a cartoon replica is destined to tank.

The 2021 model is heading in the right direction. But attention to detail matters.

The pickups are right but not having separate mounting rings and a separate 

pickguard sucks. The extra cost is minimal since it near guaranteed to be made in China. Chrome knobs are cool BUT chrome plated plastic knobs SCREAM cheap sh@t. Metal ones are less than $2 each retail! Or at least use white plastic.

WTF is the third guitar with the graphics all about. Is there a big market for this with preteens??? It totally kills making this a guitar with anyone over 15 with just a shred of what is cool. Even stupider is it should be just white.

It would then be the best seller of the 3 instead of the one the stores do not want 

to stock.

ORANGE ELECTRONIC MUSIC COMPANY

Why did Orange manage to come back from the past when others totally f_cked up!

Well owner founder Clifford Cooper closed the company when it lost popularity mostly from dead cheap transistor MIJ amps and fashion. For a short time he had a deal with Gibson but he did not sell the company. 

It did not go bankrupt and he had pride in what he had accomplished and would sell or license to a lot of clowns. He just kept everything at a small manageable scale but kept working on improving the sound with sensible innovation like designing his own transformers long before guy like Dave Friedman saw it was the way to go. A cheap transformer when used dimed  looses headroom and will 'sag'. The most expensive transformers have little as it would be like a car that when you floored it it would nearly stall and then recover. From a transformer companies perspective sagging is very bad thing! But diming the transformer in a guitar amp gives you compression and sustain and when you really nail it the transformer recovers with a punchy boost and swell. A usable but cheap transformer will do this but too little or too much  does not sound good. 

Keep in mind when companies like Marshall made their first amps they were trying to make them affordable and they did not expect anyone to dime the amp as at the time players played both quieter and cleaner. The fact that the old Plexi's sound great is dumb luck caused by misuse. lol

By the time Ol Cliff made Orange amps it was understood what was going on. So he simply said. ...I'll design my own. Transformers that sag just right. Different ones for different amps with different purposes. Metal needs overkill but Blues much less etc. Many bass players like nearly none. None gives you killer punch and definition. Low end has very little to start with.

Guys that have an Orange amp love them and feel they are an unsung bargain. Surprise!!!  They are actually right. Orange products are sold on low margins because Cliff believes his customers are young players with zeo bucks trying to 'make it'.

To keep the price down one Orange amp sold without a footswitch to switch between the channels. It was available only as a paid accessory. In an interview a young player said it sucked because when you got your amp home it became a total bummer as any amp is not just a big purchase and you are not just buying an amp ...but a dream.  The next day Cliff had ALL amps shipped with the footwitch ...and there was zero increase in the price.

In contrast we have Vox nickel and diming with mounting rings and cheap looking knobs.

Worse yet they keep repeating the same scenario over and over. WTF!!! I could scream!!! 

CONTEST - Five players & each given a number. Which of the 5 does not play a Strat ????

 THINK ABOUT IT THERE IS A CLUE

OK ...which one doesn't play a Strat ?
Is it #1 or maybe #2 or is it #3
I have a gut thing it is #4
but #5 has a smirk on his face
what do you think ???

OK...you were all wrong.

...and?

It was a trick question!

They all play a Strat!!!

Ok ...I got to go now. I have to go to the cleaners and get my fleece jacket and then pick up my Strat from the Shop. I just had it set up. :-) You just got to see it

It is really different. Can you believe it? I got one in sunburst.

It turned out extra cool because they had a thing where they did a draw for guys with a Sunburst Strat and the prize was a free setup. Out of 1000 guys I won! Only the first 1000 guys in line even got a ticket ...so I am glad I got in line a day early.

OVERDRIVE- WALRUS AUDIO ACS1 amp & cab simulator ...an "ANALOG' modeler of a Fender Deluxe, Vox AC30 and a Marshall

 WALRUS AUDIO [ASC1] 

$400.00 USD

In the end it is 3 OD's in one pedal a Vox AC30 a Fender Deluxe and a Marshall JTM45. Each has analog cab simulator including a control to add some room sound. If it all sounds like an analog version of the Strymon Iridium ...well it should ...because it is. Yes it can be used in many ways and the video will show you that. But then 

you have to decide if you would use them all. If you did then why not just go digital with more of everything? 

BIG BUT! If you use it to have 3 excellent Amp-in-a-Box pedals in a compact form then it can look appealing as you would be paying about $130.00 USD per box.

The biggest appeal for me is unlike most OD's it is not all about medium to heavy distortion. The pedal covers the sound of the amp from clean to the edge of break up better than 99% of 

all the low gain OD's and does it with a 'REAL' amp's tone.

CONCLUSION

Having done blindfold tests with analog pedals vs. the real amp the pedal will be just a tad tighter. The problem is of course you would have to EQ your amp to have a flat frequency response. Not practical. Yes a good EQ could make the pedal  much more usable. I have one I do not use at rehearsal as I have made my whole rig sound great with the band in that room. It is for at a gig where I may be dealing with bad resonance sounds and I am in effect EQing the room not my rig. The alternative is to tweak your amp and every pedal to sound good in that room. Sorry I digress from the point. A really good Fender Deluxe pedal will not make even a clean Marshall sound like a Fender. A low gain OD will not either but you may find the sound more pleasing. Unfortunately most of use will have to pay $400.00 USD to find out. I have 3 low gain pedals that do a great job covering the bases. One is the Vox AC3O pedal another is a very, very neutral pedal designed to be just that. The third is an accurate clone of the Marshall Bluesbreaker pedal.

GODZILLA vs. KING KONG

FINAL WORD

Amp modelers are like fiberglass reproductions of an old Porsche 356. You can't tell the difference until you drive both. LOL

I think guys that love a Modeler over a real amp think masturbation is better than real sex???? You could think of it as a Fly Rig. Travelling alone is a lot cheaper??

CHORUS- NUX REISSUE SERIES Analog Chorus ...a classic 80's sound without the price.

 NUX REISSUE SERIES ANALOG CHORUS 

$60.00 USD

In 1976 thanks to Boss Ch1 which was also in their Jazz Chorus amp the Boss Chorus became the pedal to covet. Boss brought out the CH2 in '79 in what is now what we generally think of the size and enclosure of any Boss pedal. It was followed by the CH3 with 3 controls that became the standard for all Chorus pedals. I find that the NUX tone is very close to the Boss pedals. At first I thought with the color they may have been heading towards more of a Ibanez sound. But since I have one. lol I can count that out.

The layout is simple enough. The width being being the depth of the effect, speed speaks for it self and the blend allows how much clean signal is predominant in the mix.

CONCLUSION

I still have the old NUX CH3 that was in the the first ever NUX line on day one and after many successive new Chorus pedals that came and went over the decade. It was only 

quietly discontinued last year. In fact it was my number 

one recommendation for a Chorus as it held it's own over 

anything and was only $35.00 USD and built like a tank. 

In fact I had one ..went digital ...sold the digital and 

bought the damn thing a second time.

OK ...that said I do like this pedal it is not quite as fat 

as  the old CH3 but it has a bit of the sweet dream like 

quality of the boss. I think it is just a tad cleaner too.

The last video gives you a chance to hear probably NUX's only

real classic of their own having lasted a decade against what 

will indeed replace it.

One great thing about the pedal that as an 'impression' of a classic

the only Chorus that I have heard that is better is the Jam WaterFall

that is $270.00 USD. All others are at best a tie and they are usually

twice the price of the NUX if not more.

JUST STUFF

RECENT VERY COOL STUFF I BOUGHT

FRIEDMAN SMALL BOX OD

A killer pedal. Much better than the BEOD and the Dirty Shirley!!

KEELEY EL REY DORADO

This has been on my radar for years. Most MARSHAL Amp-in-a-Box  pedals are designed to sound like what you here on recordings of classic artists. You get the sound of the amp, the guys Fuzz and the Post production as part of the sound. I have no problem with that but it is nice to have a pedal or two that sounds like the amp in the raw.This does just that!!! This is Keeley's take on his own JTM 45. A convincing one as well. Although JTM45 are thrown in with the Plexi name they are not. A JTM45 is modified Fender Bassman ...a Plexi is Marshall's first original designed amp. For awhile you could buy the 45 watt JTM or a 50 watt model 1987 Plexi. My first Marshall amp was a used model 1987 that I bought when I lived in London UK in 1971.

MATTROVERSE BAD PASSENGER MKII FUZZ

It is simply a very well made massive huge large extra Jumbo sounding Fuzz pedal.

Best of all $100.00 USD

Matt had the pedal out and sent airmail within 15 minutes of my purchase.

When the plane was flying over my house

Mr. Tiny Blue a Case Candy Paratrooper pushed past the the mountain of case candy and bailed out of the box. He grabbed the pedal and jumped!!!

You can see me in my purple outfit meeting Tiny on a tree leaf on my lawn just after he landed with my pedal.

MOOER GREY FAZE FUZZ

Actually it is the red germanium Fuzzface built into a mini pedal :-) Nice! better still if you buy the Rowin G-FUZZ it is the exact same pedal it is made on Mooers assembly line and it is $25.00 USD.

It is typical to dime it but I found it has second sound when used with a or even just a Strat PU. With gain around half you get a nice warm crunch sound with lots of Strat chime coming through. It also stacks well with harsh OD and sweetens then up.

Unlike most Fuzz Face pedals it has nice bit of extra level. Many germanium based 

Fuzz pedals have a drop in level.

MOOER HUSTLE DRIVE

About 4 yeas ago Mooer brought this out as an OCD clone. 

It isn't! LOL

You can buy it rebranded as a the Rowin Plexion. The Plexion is a convincing Plexi

designed to give authentic Plexi Crunch sounds.

It has a boost that gives it very high gain.

You do indeed get more gain than imaginable

but this boost destroys the tone. In short

if not pushed you get a great tone.

You can buy it with several different brand 

names on the casing. The Rowin comes in 

the same gray box and has the best price $30.00 USD.

VOODOO LAB SUPER FUZZ

No not the Shin-ei Companion AKA the Univox Super Fuzz. But a '68 Jordon Electronics Bosstone on steroids. 

I find it amusing that this Voodoo Lab Fuzz has been virtually unchanged for over 

20 years. It uses a PNP type transistor that is NOT made for audio. Oddly enough it sounds more like a hard clipper style OD than it sounds like a Fuzz. The first one of those was the RAT. How cool is this ...a Fuzz unchanged for over 20 years that is handmade using NOS and is bit like a tank iand is only $130.00 USD

STUFF I SHOULDN'T BUY!

Because I don't need it ...but   LOL

NUX DCP-03 DELAY

It is quite simply a clone of the old Ibanez AD-80

analog delay.

A simple straight forward no bells or whistles echo

box. The perfect delay for a solo. Even if you have

a killer digital delay you will never regret adding this.

At $60.00 USD ...there is no reason not to.

GUITAR- How valuable is your guitar?

 MAN UNFAIRLY ACCUSED OF MURDER!!!

"Just one question. What is a 1959 Gibson Les Paul
Standard and why did you think Mr. Robert Browne
deserve to die just for touching it?"

. . .

DELAY- NUX DCP-03 Analog Delay ....vintage Ibanez Delay without the price!!!

NUX DCP-03 ANALOG DELAY

$60.00 USD

As much as I love my digital delays and I have several I find that a good analog delay is a better choice especially for a solo or because of the mellow tone they give to a tune. About 99% of all the killer classic delays used  a Panasonic 3102 & 3205 BBD chips that gave it heaps of secret sauce. Like all chips eventually they become redundant because of newer chips. Keep in mind that parts used for pedals are simply parts that are made for electrical consumer goods that pedals are a very tiny market. The perfect transistor for a pedal could be used in a garage door opener and the door opener market simply wants a cheap and reliable part.

When affordable Digital Delays hit the market their 'cool' factor if nothing else killed analog. But as Joni Mitchell sang in Big Yellow Taxi ..."you don't know what you got 'til it's gone."

The good news is that the whole pedal industry petitioned

Panasonic to re-release the chip. Collectively they could 

get the numbers up and Panasonic eventually gave in. 

CONCLUSION

NUX doing a knock off of the Maxon made Ibanez pedal is no surprise. My guess they had a look at all the vintage delays and this one ticked the most boxes.

So if you need an Analog Delay why not? More expensive ones may have more features ...but they also are using the same chips. If you do not have a delay or you have a digital delay ...this is no brainer. If you have both you know they are a totally different thing and having both is a given. Not having one is like not having a Flanger because you have a Chorus.

the fine pint

Paul Reed Smith has a studio that he keeps his large collection of pedals

and he has an Ibanez AD-80 which his favorite Delay. 😊

NAMM 2021 ... A CLASSIC 'T' ...THE IBANEZ WAY! ...The AZS Series

 IBANEZ LARI BASILIO LB & JOSH SMITH FLAT V1 

THE AZS SERIES 2021 MIJ

These my friends will sell out and have a waiting list.

Sweetwater has pulled the Josh Smith because they

are sold out. 

They can't even get a guesstimate on another delivery.

Prices are from $2000.00 USD to $2600.00 USD street.

Alder bodys but Ash on the premium models.

Roasted maple necks. Gotoh tuners and hardware.

Duncan PU's.