AMPLIFIER- MARSHALL STUDIO JTM 20 ____NEW____ JTM 45 reincarnated! Best of!

 MARSHALL STUDIO JTM 20

I only post amps if they are a 'Need to know'. When Marshall started out he rented a small shop in London UK to sell drums. 

It quickly became a hang out. It was 60's and with a new thing American Blues being played in the clubs and others combining that with classic rock a new music was being formed. Guitar players came in with their drummers and asked Jim why he didn't have amps etc. His store was small so he surveyed the players. Everyone agreed that it had to be Fenders. Fenders were pricey in fact literally considered to be gourmet and made worse by duties but they did sell. The most popular was the Fender Bassman. So Jim figured if his tech could make an amp like the Bassman even one at a time without shipping and duties it should bring the price down. To cut costs they tweaked the circuit to work with Brit 5881 tubes instead of the expensive American 6L6. The result was a total success. Every one made sold immediately.

STUDIO SERIES

Over the last few years Marshall have brought out the 20 watt studio series .it covers 4 of the classic Marshall amps. The may be the last one though the JMP50 a 50 watt amp has not been added.

The JTM 20

I will not go into chapter and verse on every function. It is a basic single channel amp with a natural beyond killer sound. 

A Fuzz or OD complete all you really need for a simple perfect no 

bullsh@t sound!!!

PRICE

Marshall uses distributors so it adds another middleman into the chain.

The result is the American price is the highest. You can get it as a combo 

or a head with a single or 2x12 cab.

Stateside just the head is $1750.00 USD in the UK it is $1150.00 USD.

CONCLUSION

I agree with everyone who has reviewed it. This is the best in the series.

You get 5 watt/20 watt switch. It is really pretty much the same loudness as the original as that was only 30 watts. It puts out a comfortable 95dB which bang on for any city's legal levels. It is about as loud as an average drummer. A flat out Metal drummer may not work well with it but then you would not be likely considering this amp for an all Thrash Metal or equivalent repertoire. It is a louder than your average 20 watt amp. So it it's 5 watts sound more like your average 15 watt amp. The look of it is to die for cool. 

GUITAR STAND- HAMILTON STANDS KB38 classic series ...WTF !!!

HAMILTON STANDS MIDDLETOWN OHIO Founded 1883

 KB 38 Chrome guitar stand

$30.00 USD

I sold a pedal to a guy who wanted to meet at an old church nearby. When I got there he was setting up a bands gear which included a couple of guitars that from where I stood looked like they were hanging in thin air, WTF. I could not help but ask. He said they ...like all the music stands were made by Hamilton and they had been in use since the 70'S. I had to have a closer look because really old stands are usually flat chrome plated metal like a cheap collapsible music stand . They barely can hold up a light acoustic guitar and as far as I knew were no longer made.

Well these fit the visual description but they looked a bit like a cymbal stand and are as strong as one owned by a Metal drummer that slams his crash cymbal with atomic force, LOL. The U shape prong to hang the guitar uses real ruber and holds the neck in place just by the rubbers grip better than my self locking Gorilla stand. Add to that these are not new but at least 30 plus years old. He said he owned a third that was at home he recently bought for himself but it was black and the two knobs that tighten the stand slipped. He returned it for the original chrome model and no problem. 

 

CONCLUSION__

 Been in biz since 1883. They invented the plain black stackable cheap music stands that you see in churches, schools and concert halls. They have a philosophy of making affordable stands that can get the crap kicked out of them, LOL 

Built like a tank, light enough, easy to set up, small footprint very tight grabbing zero slip hook. They won't tip over with just a bump you would have to give the a good push. Best of all half the price of anything else worth considering. Yes I bought one I have 10 guitars. Five on a multi stand the others clustered on different ones to keep them tight together etc. 

I need a stand right beside me empty to use as my my go to or put down quick to answer the phone, the door, grab a coffee etc. I want to just shove it in the hanger quick not having to think about it knowing it will not move no matter what. BINGO and thank you Mr. Hamilton.

ORVILLE by GIBSON MIJ Pickup ... killer and $52.00 USD

 GOTOH HB-CLASSIC ALPHA HUMBUCKER

In 1988 Gibson decided that in Japan there were several companies making Les Paul Std. that were as good if not better than theirs. They decided to fight back by making their own MIJ Orville by Gibson. The name was taken from Gibsons founder Orville Gibson. They were meant for the Japanese market only.

So to get to the point I recently got a chance to try one. WTF it blew my socks off!!!!

No I am not looking for one. They cost more than a Gibson these days. We all know Gibson PU's do not just get used in one model. If you try a Gibson and like the PU the PU puts you 95% there.

The good news is the PU were and still are made by GOTOH as the HB-Classic Alpha.

It uses an American Alnico 2 magnet with 4 conductor wiring and

with the output rated at 7.67 K ohms. 

$52.00 USD

CONCLUSION __

I do not have a guitar needing an HB at the moment but I usually  prefer Anico 2 PU's. They have fatter mids but slightly weaker lows than a 5. 

Think of all those classic PAF's thru a Marshall stack on 60's/70's records and this is what you get!!! You can get them online from Amplified Parts. 

I must mention the obvious 

U.S. parts, MIJ for a  made in China price WTF!!!

OVERDRIVE- GREEN CARROT PEDAL CO. Cornstar ...MIAB

 |GREEN CARROT PEDAL CO. CORNSTAR OD| 

$130.00 USD

Based in Wakefield UK and has been around for about 10 years. This was one of Andy's first handmade offerings. The workmanship is as good as it gets. 

It is a medium gain OD. The layout is basic gain, tone, volume and a toggle with Vintage or brighter voicing. Some guys who bought one hear a Fender Tweed vibe, other a Vox. If it is meant as a Plexi it leans well into  JTM 45 territory. 

CONCLUSION __

You can get a nice fat warm tone but it has

enough highs to keep from getting muddy in 

the mids but the lows for some guys can

overwhelm so they may need a bit of cut.  

Impressively vintage  sounding.  Very open 

and nicely voiced. The price is more than fair.

the fine print

$145.00 USD

I liked the pedal so much I bought another, LOL. I had the Dazatronyx Brown Sound at the top of my shortlist and now living in Povertyville . I have to sell to buy. I sold 3 pedals on Reverb so  pulled the proverbial trigger on it. 

A MUST WATCH!!! _____ SRV's Tube Screamer vs. Ibanez vs. Maxon

 WHAT's THE DIFFERENCE ??? 

I honestly thought it would be hard to hear and very hard to describe. I do not think it is. Well maybe every difference ...but the key difference is the highs on the SRV are very, metallic and very harsh. The mids are in general glassy smooth but the highs are biting big time. It is as if you had any average OK ts or clone but could take the highs 

of a low gain Fuzz and add them in.

As for the general vibe the Maxon was closer.

OVERDRIVE- PedalPalFX SIlverhenge Overdrive ___ NEW ___ MIAB or real amp ???

PedalPalFX

SILVERHENGE Classic Modern 800

$210.00 USD

These guys do it right. They literally clone an amps pre by simply changing the amps tubes to transistors. They even tune the transistors like one might BIAS an amp until the pedal matches the real amp sitting right there in the room. When amp and pedal sound the same then they screw on the back plate of the pedal. Six years ago  Johan Segeborn did a test out of dozens of pedals the only one that passed for a real amp was the PedalPalFX PAL800 JCM 800. In another test the pedal was switched between the pre on an 800 stack and using the pedal as a pre and you could not tell the pedal from the amp. Over the 6 years eight MIAB pedals were offered and all past the test.

I have the original 800 I bought after seeing Johan's review the day it came out. Version 3 of the Pal 800 allows you to switch on the Southern California Jose Arrendondo mods. When it came out there was an over 2 year waiting list to get a pedal.

The layout is volume, presence, gain, bass, mids and treble with a switch to give you 3 classic mods the 800's tended to get done to them in the 80's. This is the 

second of a new line of standard size pedals. All the others were in the bigger 

Hammond style boxes. Check out the bigger 800.  

 

CONCLUSION __

I have the original and and love it. One of my favorite OD's otherwise 

I would have had it bought this morning. 

$265.00 USD

OCTAVER- ELECTRO-HARMONIX Pico POG ___ NEW___ the famous POG in a mini box!

 ELECTRO-HARMONIX Pico POG 

$240.00 USD

OCTAVE GENERATOR

This is the 4th in the series of POGs. The second which I have has been the go to. It is polyphonic and does both an octave up and one down at the same time. It could always do an impressive pipe organ sound but that was not deliberate. It was just an anomaly. The new one has refined it and added a flute voice.  

      

__ CONCLUSION __

The 3rd version is crap. E-H wisely did not kill 

the 2nd version when the 3rd came out. This 

4th is impressive. I own the 2nd so 

I needed to be wowed. I am.

This is there best octaver yet!!!

the fine print

E-H do not make mini pedals.

This is a first. I think we will see more. 

Maybe a Muff to start ???

FUZZ- OLD NOISE ENDEAVORS Haunt ...excessive horsepower but good brakes

$190.00 USD

OLD NOISE ENDEAVORS

HAUNT FUZZ

Nothing startlingly new here but sometimes its the little things that make the difference. All that spit and sputter is a lot of fun and can be dead cool on a solo but totally useless when you start banging away on a tune. Especially if someone is singing. So O.E. wisely put a blend control so you can bring in some clean sound. You could also stack a tight OD or another very controllable Fuzz like a Muff.

The layout has the usual volume, tone, gain and a toggle for lows and for range.You also get a gate which I suspect is abasically a BIAS control and that great idea a blend control. 

 

CONCLUSION __

Not for the faint of heart but even a total tune-smith could work this into a few tunes. 

 

OVERDRIVE- SIOUX GUITARS Villa Ave OD... Bluesy hardclipper

$130.00 USD

 SIOUX GUITARS VILLA AVE OVERDRIVE 

From Sioux City Omaha comes a small company that have been around a long time. They make the Sioux Swift amp. A really simple 50's style amp that uses 4 6V6 tubes and with a dead simple volume, treble and bass layout. They make 11 assorted pedals. All old school and simple.

The Villa Ave is a low to mid gain hardclipper OD. A very blues sounding pedal with a crisp attack. A strummers dream pedal.

CONCLUSION __

Built like a tank, looks killer and a gem for a player that loves to strum or flat pick. Old school pedal with an old school price.

OVERDRIVE- OVALTONE GUITAR EQUIPMENT Forty 5 Drive Gear - MIJ __ MIAB

OVALTONE GUITAR EQUIPMENT 

$130.00 USD

FORTY 5 DRIVE GEAR 

 

This Japanese company has been around for awhile but their site must be translated. Even then there is not much info . A pedal with the sound of yesteryear is farcical as its only descriptor in 2023. They are handmade which is cool I can only guess it is supposed to be a take on a Marshall JMP 45. The layout is just volume and gain so the voice is fixed. You can use up an to 18v power supply for more headroom. 

 

CONCLUSION __

I expect at the price it is a basic OpAmp circuit like a Boss pedal. Hand made in Japan is usually obscene money so... It's transparency on a Strat PU is very impressive. It is definitely in the ballpark of the amp as noted in the 4th video.

COMPRESOR- LYR-ROCK PEDALS Cali76 Stacked ... Origin clone

LYR-ROCK Cali76 STACKED 

$100.00 USD

It all started 1970 with the UA  UREI 1176 studio rack mount compressor. Generally regarded as the best on the planted. Used it competes with the original Klon for the stupidest resale price on the planet.

Origin was started by a UA repair guy who thought if he made a pedal then .... he got that right. The top of the line Origin is the Stacked. Back in the 70's stacking 2 was done for extra long sustain.

It was inevitable there would one day be a clone. Perhaps not such an obvious one.

CONCLUSION__

$420.00 USD

Is it pricey? The Origin is $420 so you tell me, lol.

So why you wouldn't get one? Well having had many Comps there are two reasons. Guys are sold on this as it does have a sound. It is just a little sweet. It is overall very transparent even neutral to nearly disappearing. Often such comps are not chosen because other very good ones add punch and even some pleasant extra character to the sound. The worlds biggest seller is the $150 Keeley Compressor+ and it does sound damn good.

Having not had a chance to A/B the origin with the Lry I do not know if like the Origin it gives you more breadth to the sound or in 

guitar-speak it is fatter. Other makes of very transparent Comps I tried 

did the opposite. They made my sound thinner, WTF. On a video I can 

not tell if the Lyr is fat, neutral or will it thin??? It otherwise sounds killer plus!!!

OVERDRIVE- MOEN Deep Blue Distortion ... not a clone ?

MOEN DEEP BLUE Distortion

$45.00 USD

This is an updated post from Nov. 2023 as I got hold of better and more accurate history of the Deep Blue pedals. 

This pedal is the 2nd generation of the pedal with the added Mid boost. The 1st came out in 2005 and uses FETS. (check out the 2nd video) I think the 2nd generation may not? The 3rd generation mini I am confident does not.  

The layout is Volume, Tone and Gain with a toggle to kick in a Mid boost.

MOEN are the MXR of China. When they started it was to offer the Chinese player a pro sounding pedal they could afford. At the time in China you got a pricey American pedal or some very nasty junk. When the West discovered Chinese pedals they had only one reputation, cheap crap. MOEN stuff was good stuff hand made and great parts but it was about 25% more money. In otherwards if MIC pedals were 'ALL' crap why pay $40 when the others were $30? perhaps we were too hasty.

CONCLUSION __

So MOEN were serious makers. They wanted to not just clone a Boss they wanted to make an even better pedal. Their pedals have always had some character. I have the Version 2 Metal a Thrash sound with a Dual/Rec vibe. Also the Dragons Roar was meant to be a Laney back when they used the PLEXI schematic but with different transformers and a few bits and pieces. Both of these pedals are killer. The Deep Blue does definitely have a Boss Blues Driver vibe but is just different enough to have the Moen stamp.

FUZZ- EDDIE RIFKIND EFFECTS Karen X Twitter Manager Fuzz ... Cool but WTF!!!

$135.00 USD

EDDIE RIFKID EFFECTS 

KARENX TWITTER MANAGER 
FUZZ

A small builder that does  6 pedals but 4 are the same pedal with different features. Yes folks we have a ...                                                                                  

Calm down, this is not one of those 4. This is take on Dr. Tony Balls 1966 Fuzz. A one knob Tone Bender.

The layout is Volume, Tone and Gain with a toggle that is a mystery. It sounds like  the tone control was bypassed to make it perhaps like the pedal it clones.

CONCLUSION __

It is kind of cool it a mad house way.

SYNTH- BOSS GM-800 Guitar Synth ___ NEW ___ beyond killer!!!!

BOSS GM-800 Guitar Synth

This not a unit to give you weird sounds and play guitar ???? Yes you can do that. Big But. To those who want that then this unit is just a total waste of your time and if you said it was a piece of sh@t I would 110% agree with you.

First watch the video than read my summary.

$750.00 USD

SUMMERY__

In the early 80's I was a product specialist for Ibanez. They called a big meeting for all the PS guys from across the globe at NAMM. They told us guitar sales were so bad that if it did not soon change they woud stop making guitars. FACT!  They said it was because new players were choosing a Synth over a guitar. I decided I would not be a casualty to guitars becoming all but redundant. I teamed up with a Product Specialist for Roland Synths and worked free as his assistant for demonstrations. He taught me to program Synths. So as a side gig I taught keyboard guys how to program the Synths they bought.

Note:  ___I think guitars could have totally died. They were literally saved by EVH!!! The rest as they say is history.

This is the first real Synth that passes the smell test. I think it could make a difference. Piano players in the early days bought a synth but they were smart. They soon learnt it is NOT a piano. If you play piano parts with the voice of a cello or a French horn or any orchestra instrument it sounds like crap. You have to listen to those other instrument and steal their riffs, not guitar riffs.

CONCLUSION __

It would be a total steal at 3 times the price.

GOOD HOW TO VID __

FUZZ- SURFY INDUSTRIES Surfy Fuzz ___ NEW ___ Clone of the first Boss Fuzz???

SURFY INDUSTRIES|  SURFYFUZZ  

$240.00 USD

Ikutaro Kakehashi founded  Ace Electronics to make keyboards and the first ever Drum Machine. Later he branched out into amplifiers and pedals. He later changed the name to Roland who as you know invented the Boss pedals. The Surfy is basically a take on the Acetone FM-3 Fuzz Master. It was a bit of a rip of the original 

Shin-ei Super Fuzz Fuzz. The toggle on the surfy switched up is this circuit on in the JAPAN side and down is USA is their take on the familiar American oldie the Mosrite Fuzzrite.

The layout is volume, gain, mid boost and tone.

CONCLUSION __

Do not get hung up on the Surf thing. When the original parents of these to Fuzz pedals came out they were used for all genres of Rock. Knock down the highs and you can play Metal with them. The company have been around for a few years and have a very good rep for quality 

and in nailing good takes of vintage gear.

ANALOG DELAY- STRYMON Brig dBucket Delay ___ NEW ___ I hate Strymon but WTF!

STRYMON BRIG -dBucket delay-

$260.00 USD

I hated Strymon. The first pedals were massive, perfect sounding but

sterile and lifeless. They were like a beautiful women but she spent a half million on plastic surgery and 8 hours with a makeup artist. These pedals were half full 

of Shoegaze and SciFi sounds that were unusable in every song you knew or ever played.

Their second stage of products were medium size pedals with often two pedals in one that you often did not need the second pedal or the extra bulk and price you were forced to pay to get what felt like half a pedal.

This pedal is the 3rd generation, compact with one or two Sci Fi sounds but usable ones that could fit into a few average tunes that you already know. It has conventional sounds but these were borrowed more clone like of classic pedals everyone loves.

The layout is Time, Voice, Mix, Mod, and Filter. This gives you the two main NOS chips to nail the classic analog delays. You have modulation for doing a tape Delay thing, the Multi does the best of the Space Echo and Binson type of things. The old analog delays had a kind of dirt thing that trailed in the background. It was by luck very musical and added rather then annoyed. The filter lets you add that in if like me you find it fairy dust. Its a Styrmon so stereo, and MIDI are a given.

CONCLUSION __

You get the Ferrari but you get and pay for one that is street legal without paying 

double for the Le Mans model that you can only use once a year.

the fine print

The other small Strymon is the Cloudburst Reverb.  It can be set to a Room sound tame enough to be an always on verb. You can get an ambience thing that rivals anything out there. the major mind blower is it has another voice that acts like a Pad type String sections on the best guitar Synth. So like a synth it is not an effect like verb of delay that happens after you hit your strings but can be used just like a synth to play actual parts. So if you do a thing like Brian May where you play a Cinematic like theme you could literally do it with a string section. No other Verb can do this, zip... nothing!

So my point is between the Cloudburst and the Brig you have high end studio sounds that rival absolutely anything at any price and in two nice compact boxes.