_____A NEED TO KNOW___ LATENCY 101___ a short why, how and WTF

HOW LONG IS SHORT

Any time you digitally team with audio, the digital device has to first record
what you input into it, like a vocal or guitar etc. and then convert it back to a signal the speaker can send back to your ears.

This is a two step process. The signal being recorded digitally than that digital recording being converted back as a second step to analog again. 

The process takes time. Although most devices are so fast it is imperceivable a lot of guys say they can hear and 'feel' it. Even more guys will not buy a product unless this spec meets some high end minimum time.

REALITY CHECK

Conversion is measured in milliseconds. 

___ 1ms is 1/1000 of a second
___the worst of current gear takes about 5ms
___if you are 10' away from your guitar amp using 

     a guitar cable it takes 8.8ms for your ears to hear the speaker.

TRY IT

___ so adding a wireless is like standing back 
      back 12' from your amp. 

      Try it ...stand back 10' and play with your cable 

      plugged in then compare it to 12'.

___Either you will tell us all there is F-all difference

     or WTF ...you'll tell us a big fat one! 

       

If recording, such delays, even this short can cause synchronization problems as there may be multiple delays in the system. 

In these cases it is usually incompatibility issues. Otherwise any modern rig is free of timing problems.

CONCLUSION

So when it comes to digital pedals and modelling gear and even cheap 

wireless systems, go ahead and enjoy them. There simply are zero issues.

The human brain is set up to compensate so it can get a quick idea 

of things close, a bit of a distance and far away. 

Any more would make it too hard to tell how close a man eating 

predator is away from you. Which does of course mean if you 

heard a very long delay in your rig ...RUN !!! or it is will tear you pieces!!!

FUZZ- ANASOUNDS PEDALS- Full Story - 7 different Big Muff pedals in a box ????

$280.00 USD

ANANASOUNDS| THE FULL STORY 

The idea was to give you a Fuzz pedal that you got 2 Big Muffs but you 

can buy a package of circuit cards and exchange the cards for others. 

The complete set is 7 Big Muffs.

CONCLUSION

It is an elaborate toy. A Muff sounds like 

a Muff no matter which one you get. 

Yes we can all get anal about which is 

the best but even so why not just buy 

that single one that is 'the best'.

7 pack $200.00 USD

 

 

the fine print 

If you want to dive in to Big Muff territory the easiest way is to buy a real Electro Harmonix. The classic of classics is the "Rams Head' The reissue in the small box is a very, very convincing replica and is $115.00 USD. You can even buy 2 real ones cheaper. You could get the Billy Corgan OpAmp or a Russian Muff as a second.

   

BOOST/ENHANCER- DISRUPTED MUSIC TECH The Enhancer ...psycho acoustic processor ...that works!!!

DISRUPTED MUSIC TECH THE ENHANCER 

$450.00 USD

There are a few processors on the market. They all started decades ago

with the BBE which creates it's basic effect by delaying all but the very, very high end with a latency of 6 milliseconds so the highs hit your ears before the your basic signal. No ...the delay is NOT perceivable like a delay pedal or budget Modeler. Keep in mind the highs have hit your ears so there is zero dead space in your signal.

This unit adds a clean boost and a mild compression no more than a clean Fender tube sound, like a a Fender Twin reverb amp.

I will skip the layout and description because without hearing the pedal it is pointless as it is unlikely you have no reference from other gear 

you own or tried.

CONCLUSION

I already own the BBE which has been an always on at the end of my board. 

I get the clarity but not that nice transparent but meaty fatness. 

Yes the price is obscene, LOL. 

The pedal reminded me or the Taurus Amplification Servo. It appears to be the same basic 

thing minus the $100 worth of enclosure and 3 more knobs for tweaking. 

The Servo is $135.00 USD. Youtuber Phillip McKnight who ridiculously thorough 

with his review has it as an always on pedal and is nuts about it. 

I went back and gave the Servo another listen.

_________I ordered the Servo!!!

OVERDRIVE- JOYO JF-36 Sweet Baby Overdrive ... a Mad Professor Sweet Honey clone

JOYO JF-36 SWEET BABY OVERDRIVE 

$40.00 USD

This one has been around for 7 years. The original much longer. The thing is the original is very good OD and the Joyo is about 99% as good, lol. We call those that can hear the difference ...liars!!! OK, OK just joking but for most of us this is killer so we don't need killer +.

It is a medium gain OD with rich mids and that just right sound in the highs. It is dynamically sensitive to our touch and has an amp like distortion. Very American sounding. Brown face Fender vibe. It is weak in the lows. It certainly is not anything close to a MIAB.The layout is your basic volume gain and tone.

CONCLUSION

It is what it is. I cannot fault it. My thing is extremes

for the most part for what this does best I use an OD that is much more glassy transparent or I move up to a good MIAB with a great Crunch sound. As I mentioned it weak in the lows which is OK when yo push the pedal. If you back it off however it gets scratch and thin. If a Dumble vibe is your thing than this is steal of a deal  Yes a $205 saving!!!

$245.00 USD

FUZZ - DUSKY ELECTRONICS Augustus Octave Fuzz ...the new contender ???

$200.00 USD

DUSKY ELECTRONICS

AUGUSTUS OCTAVE FUZZ 
The company make 10 dirt pedals and a 30 watt amp. The pedals are simple straight forward Fuzz, boosts and old style hard clipper Distortions.

The Augustus is their take on the classic Octavia Octave Fuzz.The layout is gain, level, treble and bass.

The use of mosfets on the input and output plus an internal buffer isolate the pedal 

from the common interference of others designs. It also gives you adequate output level a problem on ciratant settings with competitive products from rivals.

CONCLUSION 

The all bells and whistles Solidgold Formula 76 Plus based on the defunct Boss Octave Fuzz take is the one to beat but it comes in a big box and is another $50.00. The much whispered about Boss reissue is still not out and it was promised but pulled twice.

In the end like all pedals it stands or falls on it's own merit. It sounds damn good 

and it is definitely a candidate to replace my discontinued compact Solid Gold. 

I can work around my compat '76' but it is not totally free of interference. 

OVERDRIVE- LPD PEDALS Seventy 4 Deluxe ... on a scale of 1 to 10 ...a 15!!!!!

LPD PEDALS  SEVENTY4 DELUXE 

Lawrence Petross makes 3 MIAB pedals. Each one represents the year
Marshall brought you a killer amp. The Sixty 8, the Seventy 4 and the Eighty 7. The only one that did not offer a Deluxe model was the Seventy 4 ...until today.

I have all 3 of the basic models. I consider the Seventy 4 the best of 

the 3. Just like the real Marshall amp it to me is the zenith of the best balance between gain and tone Marshall ever made. Having said that there are tunes I play where the other two are a 'must have' to make them the best that ...they can be. 

I will dispense with the knob run thru.  The first video does a beautiful step by step of every function on the pedal and explains the 'why' of all the detail in how each knob change the total voicing of the pedal. 

CONCLUSION

How many times have I heard a great video, bought a pedal but once I played it 

I was totally bummed out and disappointed. With every LPD pedal I bought it 

exceeded my expectations. It literally sounded like my fantasy of it from the 

video. LPD ...MIAB pedals are a nobrainer gotta have!!! 

OVERDRIVE- PRO CO Rat II _____HOW TO GET THE BEST OUT OF IT_____

$80.00 USD

PRO CO RAT II

I stumbled on to this video doing a Demo on what are continually for years the best selling dirt pedals. There are better reviews and demos on each pedal. The BIG BUT? None better on the Rat II.

So go to 13:52 on the video and see how versatile and damn right impressive the pedal is.

CONCLUSION

It is a 'must have' pedal that I use 3 ways. First on its own as a high gain OD. I also stack Fuzz pedals on it because it will tighten them up. Then I use it to stack on other ODs to give them some grit and breadth. It is really a total 'dirt tool'.

the fine print

There are myths that the original is better. NOT!

I have one. It is a little more mellow. WTF ...who buys 

a Rat for 'mellow'???

The gourmet ones are better and have cool extras. 

B.S. again! All they do is turn it into a poormans 

Boss OD. WTF ..buy a Boss then and save your money!

OVERDRIVE- DAZATRONYX PEDALS THD ....Boss HM-2 NOS parts clone + extra's

DAZATRONYX THD 

$200.00 USD

The company has a 10 year warranty. It has that because the pedals don't F-up, LOL. 

All pedals are handmade by Arron Thornbury. Meticulous build and the best parts do the trick. Many make clone pedals with mods most mods are less than stellar. When ol' Arron does a mod the pedal is actually noticeably improved. 

I bought the original HM-2 when I worked at a Music Shop just before I left for college. For portability I stuffed the box in with some important papers I was storing away until 

I got back. I forgot I even had the pedal and found by accident decades later just 2 years ago. I used it for a month and no matter how I set it up it sounded like sh@t. Like a bad Fuzz with a thousand bees buzzing, LOL. I sold it for a very good price :-)

The layout is volume, gain, treble, bass a toggle for a choice of germanium silicon diodes and another toggle tighten the lows.

CONCLUSION

To my ears this does not sound like my HM-2. 

For one thing you don't have to hire a beekeeper  

to use it. In the germanium mode it is a killer 

Metal sound for many genres not just Doom and 

Trash. It is a fraction of what others sell you as 

a better HM-2 and those companies do not use 

the vintage NOS parts. Add to that it comes in 

a board friendly enclosure instead of a dog house.

OVERDRIVE- 3RD POWER Love Drive ....hype or magic ???

3RD POWER LOVE DRIVE 

$280.00 USD

The company is 'Dylana Nova Scott who comes from Nashville from a
musical family that had a recording career by 16 playing in several early Metal and Glam Metal bands. She was 

a gear freak from day one which eventually lead to everything from early analog wireless to eventually making her own amps. The most notable is the 3RD POWER Kitchen Sink 6VEL which can switch between early Fender amps and a Vox AC30. 

The Love Drive is the second of 2 pedals. 

The layout is volume, gain, bass mids and treble. The rhetoric goes on and on about the EQ. I am sure something is a bit different but if so it can't be rocket science. All pedals have a fixed voice where especially the mids will tend to have a bit of pop or cut at one frequency that tends to identify the sound. Some pedals will use a bandpass filters 

tied into the mids that give you a pedal some notable identity.

CONCLUSION

In spite of all above blah,blah I do not hear anything special with the sound. 

It has American vibe to the sound that tends to be a bit on the 'vanilla' side. 

That said I am very much a MIAB guy so I expect a lot of balz. The harmonics 

are very good and I do not hear any smearing. In short it is definitely 

'mud' free with a very full sound. If the sound is your thing.

I don't think you would be disappointed.

the fine print

In comparison check out LPD Pedals Eighty7

My kind of pedal, 

All the above but with some serious balz!

The reviewer has a small 'go to' board he

uses for serious gigs. It's his 'fly rig'

guess which pedal is on it ???   😊

____TUBE SCREAMERS ____ SHOOT OUT!!!! ______

TUBE SCREAMERS 

REAL,GOURMET OR BUDGET ???  

It all started with the 1979 Maxon OD-808 that Ibanez licensed and had re-branded to sell to their guitar dealers. Since they did not either design or make pedals there was zero risk in adding them as another revenue stream. 

We all have a love hate of them. Even guys that don't have one often do.
The brand has re-named it and added a bell or whistle but pop off the bottom 

of the pedal and OUCH!!!! You've been conned.

I have two. One is the the Pro Tone Pedals Attack Overdrive which is designed for high gain metal with a high pass filter so you can literally chop off low end 

in stages to get a 'just right' tightness. The other is the $30 Caline Emerald Night that in a comparison with the Ibanez ts9 I could not hear any 

difference at all.

CONCLUSION

In the end the ts succeeded because it is a great 'tool' in a band context it gives you both a cut and a boost without changing the basic sound of your rig. 

I find even with a couple of OD's stacked once the band kicks in I still need  

the damn thing or my sound disappears in the mix. One minute on my own 

I have a killer sound and the second the band kicks it it sounds like 

someone through a heavy blanket over my speaker cab.  

Which one? Which one? Which,Which, Which, LOL

the fine print

...as I said the best ts is the one that fits your gear and the 

style of music you play. For me I am looking for bite and

even a bit or course grit. I really needed to hear a comparison

to tell. I could not guess which one it would be. My first impression

was right. The Wampler mini definitely was the most aggressive.

FUZZ- SOURCE AUDIO Kingmaker Fuzz ...the 'Fuzz' with 7 simple parts goes digital?

SOURCE AUDIO

KINGMAKER

$170.00 USD

Why Digital ???

Digital Reverb even to an analog purist is hard to argue with. To over simplify reverb is quite simply a thousand single repeat echos all repeating at once. You can not do that with an analog circuit or it would take a pedal the size of a school bus. At the opposite end of pedal tech is the Fuzz. The very first one was made with 7 parts and early classics had 9 parts. A very impressive sounding one can be made for 

$30.00 so why go to a high tech pricey digital pedal?

Many much loved analog pedals are loved for how they color the signal as much as the signal their circuit creates. That coloration is technically a distortion of the signal just like on vinyl records the sound of the needle  dragging over the plastic on the disc is part of the sound. Digital is told to 'make' a sound and can only make what it gets told. The chip does not add character of it's own. Well the Fuzz is notorious for bring the equivalent of that needle on a vinyl record scratching to the circuit and a digital Fuzz can get rid of all that and just keep the 'good' stuff.

The King?

One up side is the pedal has been around since 2015 so if it didn't sound impressive it would be long gone. 

Like many Fuzz pedals you get level, gain with tone handled with treble and bass. You get a choice of normal, heavy and octave fuzz. Each takes the characteristics of those kinds of Fuzz but none are specific to a brands approach like a specific Big Muff or a Tonebender etc. You can get digital downloads to push each voice a little closer to those territory's or arguable something new by stacking two Fuzz voices but in practice the average player won't go there. If you run stereo it has a pair of jacks in and out etc. In short you get every conceivable bell and whistle that is fun stuff but it will not marry with cool old simple analog stuff without an even larger migraine. That said used conventionally it's fine.

CONCLUSION

I have pulled some great Fuzz pedals off my board as they are beyond killer when 

they work but never reliable. Only today where I rehearse had one of it's random 

drops from the mains voltage and it made many my whole rig work on a lower 

voltage that sounded like crap. The worst thing is one thinks you have some kind 

of a partial short in your cabling. With 60 pedals that's a lot of trouble shooting. 

But before I checked my cables the first thing was to pizz around with my Fuzz pedals.

This sounds very, very impressive and is bullet proof. So ... ???

 

The Nerdy Stuff  ^

the fine print 

If you are a 'Fuzz  Guy' and can get along with 

even a vintage germanium Fuzz then don't bother. 'I get it'.

In my case I am a singer song writer with a Prog Rock 

background that I earned by my playing. I am also in a trio. 

I can not have unreliable pedals .  I find very high gain pedals, 

Fuzz pedals and stacking pedals awesome sounding but also 

easily out of control. no one covers if I stop playing for a second.

sooo ...this one has my attention.

OVERDRIVE- DECIBELICS The Reverend ___NEW ___Billy Gibbons sounds from the 90's

DECIBELICS 

$230.00 USD

THE REVEREND 

Back in the 90's the dead 'cool' dirt pedal to have was the MIJ Bixonic Expandora. It was the go to for Joe Satriani, Megadeath and especially Billy Gibbons. Billy had several on his board to go from low gain OD to Crunch to high gain to Fuzz. 

The pedal started life on the drawing board as 2 Rat pedals in one box but to make them work as one turned the pedal into a whole new pedal.

There were 3 versions. The best tones came from the first one but you had to open the pedal up and set up 3 switches to get to to the higher gain sounds. The Reverend has put the switching on the top of the pedal but maintained the original parts and topography.

CONCLUSION

It really is a versatile pedal. But a versatile pedal is usually a compromised pedal and this is definitely not compromised.

FUZZ- ELECTRO HARMONIX Otavix Fuzz ... almost forgotten little gem

 ELECTRO HARMONIX OCTAVIX FUZZ 

$120.00 USD

Under the radar since this has been out since 2015 and has had steady sales the whole time. When it came out the vibe was indifference. No one made a fuss but those that gave it a try at their local music shop very often took one home.The layout has your standard volume, tone and gain. a toggle lets yo switch between 9 or 24v.

A switch lets you run it between 9 to 24 volts with a 24v adapter provided. Greater voltage allows for higher headroom. At 9v you get the BIAS voltage starved effect. 

In shirt more grit, spit and sputter. It works well over it's total range. With the gain pulled back you get a faux Blues OD type of tone. Full open you get the total spit 

and sputter effect.

CONCLUSION

It is very impressive. You have the the full range between OD like control to out of control. 

 . 

OVERDRIVE- MCG PEDALS Levitico .... another Tube Screamer??? Yes? No?

 MCG PEDALS LEVITICO

$200.00 USD

The basic topography of a Tube Screamer is both elegant, effective and best of all relatively dirt cheap. A really good version of a TS9 can be sold for $30.00 and still give you 'hole through' construction. The best of both worlds where the wiring is built into the board which keeps it stable and quiet but the parts can be replaced if they die or even upgrades to hot rod.

It is not new to add multiple 'hot rods' to a ts and sell it as something new and different. In fact probably 90% of the OD available are just that. The BOSS SD-1 that has been a classic for 40 years is bumped up ts.

The lay out is volume, tone, gain and mids. Toggles give you choice silicon or LED clipping diodes

If nothing else having an all bells and whistles Tube Screamer beep up can be the Swiss Army knife we all can use.

CONCLUSION 

I heard some nice transparent full tones in the pedal but a lot of whimpy weak ones too. Like most pedals you will find one very good sound and just leave on 

that. 

The Caline Emerald Night gives you a killer TS-9 for $30 and the Boss SD-1 gives 

you Crunch like tube amp tones added. It's $65. For half the price you can have both.

the fine print

One half of my pedals are pricey, Another 25% are budget 

friendly but are still brand names like MXR, Boss etc. 

Another 25% are dirt cheap All are dead equal in producing 

Pro sounds. Yes I could record a world class recording with 

all and any of them. My point being is you can get more if you 

pay more and sometimes it is worth it. But NOT always!

OVERDRIVE- MAESTRO Ranger Over-Drive ... surprisingly good ?

 MAESTRO 

RANGER OVER-DRIVE

$130.00 USD

These came out months ago and the few they made got scooped up and more took months. Now they have some but they weren't moving so they lowered the price. 

The first ones sold because the brand which was always owned by Gibson had a lot 

of folklore around the early pedals. Keep in mind when most of those came out there was little or in some cases no other brands that even existed yet.

All that said this pedal is quite good and there isn't anything out there really in the ballpark with this one.

It has a nice chunky open and gritty sound. A good Blues vibe to it.

The layout is volume, tone and gain with a boost on the toggle.

CONCLUSION

It has like I said a nice chunky medium gain Crunch thing going on. I feel it is 

at it's best with the gain pulled back and the boost on depending on your rig.

MARSHALL_______ HIGH GAIN BEFORE GOURMET AMPS

STEVE VAI's HOSE MODDED MARSHALL 

I learnt this stuff a bit at a time over the  

decades of owning Marshalls.  

But here it all is on one video.

OVERDRIVE -ONE CONTROL Rebel Red Distortion ...a modded Plexi or JCM 800 or ???

ONE CONTROL REBEL RED DISTORTION

$140.00 USD

This is a pedal in a whole line of pedals designed by Bjorn Juhl. All these pedals have their roots in a pedal that he designed 20 years ago, the Dyna Red. He at first made these himself but over the years has farmed it out under licence to 3 different companies. Bearfoot Pedals still do a take on one and One Control have had several versions. The 'Deluxe' as I'll call it is the Strawberry Red which I Posted in mid January. There is a mini of that one too. 

This pedal is meant to be a modded MIAB. There are several all with a tweak to the voicing voice so they are meant to be a Classic Plexi or a JCM 800 or the Silver Jubilee etc.

The layout is  volume, gain, tone and treble which is more of a presence control.

CONCLUSION

I had their Plexi mini. It was not bad but it had no sustain and was a one trick pony. I sold it. The BJFe Series has more control and are more versatile but are $300.00 USD 

a pop. The basic sound of this pedal is excellent but there are great choices for MIAB pedals especially ones that admit to being ambiguous from the get go . These are an 'impression' of the sound. I think as such if one sounds good buy it. But why not get 

one cheap when neither can be put by a real Marshall amp and be the anything close 

to an exact copy of that Marshalls sound. 

I recommend sticking with the original, the Dyna Red but by getting the Caline clone of it. 

They make the G001 Tiger Eye Distortion. It's $50.00 USD.

FUZZ- WETTMAR Selector Fuzz ___NEW___ 3 Fuzz in one

WETTMAR SELECTOR FUZZ

$210.00 USD

The layout tells it all. You get a switch with 3 presets. Vintage, with a Muff vibe to it, Buzz/Splat which is self explanatory and Square which means a square wave without a bit of even order overtones. There is a foot switch to bring in an octave boost and another for on/off.

CONCLUSION

It is a great sounding fuzz and you do get 3 usable voices. I hate large pedal board unfriendly boxes. I would really like a tone control.