MODELER- BOSS IR-2 ___ NEW ___ standard size pedal

$200.00 USD

BOSS IR-2 Amp & Cabinet

A pedal size version of the IR-200. A modeler uses its switches and knobs for multiple functions so I will skip my usual 'Layout' ...outside of it has Ambience, Level, Gain and rotary dial for choice of Amps.

The pedal has 11 amps and 2 ir cabs with Celestion voicings.  

 

CONCLUSION ____

Like all the 'budget' Modelers in a standard enclosure they sound like someone through a blanket over your speakers when compared with many $400 modelers. Yes it is double but the better $400 modelers sounds can pass for the sounds in a $2000 modeler when used in context. 

Modelers are terrible with clean sounds even the better modelers clean Fender amps sound tiny and thin. 

For the very casual player or weekend cover band it will 

however do the job nicely. 

....<>^  

NOTE: ...the second video is from Leo Gibson who owns at a minimum 10 or 12 modelers from the popular to the stupid levels in price.  

All of which he bought so he is not 'owned' by any company. Most of which he has done a scientific deep dive on every feature and 

proving what specs that are published are true, exaggerated or left out to hide weaknesses etc.  

I hate modelers but if he says anything it has 100% credibility. He allows me to keep you informed fairly. If you are a Modeler guy 

and you do not watch the guy you could make some damn expensive mistakes. In short read my comments once and listen to him twice, LOL 

 

OVERDRIVE- T-REX Diva Drive ...nearly 10 years old, but nearly gone?

$130.00 USD

T.REX DIVA DRIVE

The company have been around forever. They seem to have started up as more of business in pedals than the more prevalent route of a hobbyist that designed pedals and turn that into his trade. T-Rex tended to hire others to design pedals or even to license pedals. Over the years the company has changed hands and just as well as some in the past appear to be perhaps a bit less than honest to the designers, lol. In any case from time to time T-Rex would be the one wearing the Crown for hot pedal of the era.

The Diva has been around for just under 10 years. Like hundreds of OD's it started life with the Tube Screamer topography. The secret ingredient was a mix control to blend in clean sounds. Oddly enough all ts pedals leak a some cleans back into the sound so it may have been a "What if?" idea.

The layout is Volume, Gain, Tone and Blend. A switch on the right hand side 

adds either a Mid or Fat boost.  

 

CONCLUSION ____

The clean Mix is the pixie dust for this pedal as it can add more definition to the sound or act like a transparent pedal by bringing a guitars natural sound through. Especially on a Strat . 

If you want that Strat chime just put it back in. 

A Tube Screamer is like a hammer in your tool box. It is always 

handy to have but you need not spend a lot or have the

'Cork Sniffers ts of the Week'. The parts on the best selling

basic Ibanez TS9 are current and not pricy. 

A $35 Caline Emerald Night can use them.

 

 

the fine print

According to Sweetwater it only recently was discontinued. T-Rex are famous for  discontinuing a pedal and then bringing it back 

every few years. It will be back, guaranteed. The good news is their still a few everywhere left. I would not stop looking until you 

find a price of $100 or less. I saw one new on Reverb for $70.

OVERDRIVE- MISSING LINK AUDIO ANTHEM ___NEW ___ Skynyrd-in-a-Box

$190.00 USD

 MISSING LINK AUDIO ANTHEM

The MLA pedals are all about capturing the classic sounds of players we

love. You get AC/DC, Allman Bros, ZZ Top etc. They all are at minimum in the ballpark and they all sound impressive. 

The layout is Volume, Tone, Gain and Voice. Voice is meant to emulate speaker sounds and without IR's. Pushed wide open you get a JBL 120 vibe and backed off you get more of a Celesion thing. That knob really is a major asset to tune your rig. The second footswitch gives you a nice boost. 

 

CONCLUSION ___

It does its thing damn well. The MLA Original Peacock Drive is worth a comparison. It is the Allman Bros model. A bit different vibe. 

It covers the whole Texas thing.

FUZZ- HiWatt Custom Shop Filter Fuzz ___ NEW ___ something new from someone old

HIWATT CUSTOM SHOP FILTER FUZZ

$200.00 USD

Something new from indeed someone old. The company folded years ago when their founder died and the family sold it off. A string of companies own the name and they put the brands name on junk which made it hard for any new owner to bring back the old and indeed add new but serious amps.

The most recent owners do have 2 handmade Brit amps and a pedal.

The Fuzz is silicon Fuzz that started life as a germanium using NOS transistors that no longer could be sourced. 

The layout is Gain, Tone and Volume, another knob is a rotary 

switch that brings in low cut filters. Hence the name.

CONCLUSION ___

Unfortunately I hear nothing special. The germanium

version had an impressive Tone Bender vibe but...

FUZZ- STOMP UNDER FOOT Red Menace ___ re-NEW ____ a cloner's own Muff

$200.00 USD

STOMP UNDER FOOT 

RED*MENACE

A re-issue. After years of making takes on a numerous classic dirt pedals Matt takes his two favorites and makes a pedal even he would play.😇 The 72 Triangle Muff and the Red Army Overdrive are Matt's  favorite's that were his starting point.

The layout is a basic Muff with Volume, Gain and tone but a mids has been added as a Muff is naturally scooped which can often be too much or too little for that just right fatness we all look for.

CONCLUSION ___

Usually I hate these new improved Muffs as they can rip the soul out of a Muff but ...Matt did not.

An ideal Fuzz for the Fuzz Hatter who only loves an OD. It's a raw Fuzz but with the mids of a great OD.

FUZZ- FROST GIANT ELECTRONICS Massif Fuzz ... Doom & Stoner Rock essential

$150.00 USD

FROST GIANT ELECTRONICS  

 MASSIF FUZZ  

   ....<>^

Doom and Stoner Rock like all genres each were founded by players experimenting with new gear and repurposing the old and discarded. Amps of course but even more so pedals. The new players coming up have traditionally wanted to take their generation into the heavens with what they feel is 

new and better. 

Eventually some bands break through and a genre is defined.

Yes pedals like the Big Muff no matter which version have been key to Doom and Stoner as they are always floating around Pawn Shops and other bargain outlets forever. However something less prominent shows up. In this case it was the Colorsound Fuzz Box. Usually referred to as the One Knob. 

 

CONCLUSION____

The Massif is a highly modified version defiantly tweaked to fit its modern purpose. For once this is good thing. Most of the old Fuzz pedals get redesigned and sold as the new improved Cork Sniffer pedal. In short they put a tuxedo on a torn jeans sound which defeats the purpose. If anything the Massif has added a few tears 

but a few old ones patched where with the old one your butt was showing, lol.

OVERDRIVE-CALINE Salhanas CP-501S Distortion ...high gain Metal

$35.00 USD
incl. free shipping AliExpress

CALINE SALHANAS CP-501S Distortion 

A throaty high gain OD bordering on Fuzz. The layout is a simple 

Volume, Tone and Gain. 

      ....<>^    "it's quack"

CONCLUSION ___

A simple hardclipper with a few nasty diodes.

It appears to have the highest gain of all the  

Caline 2023 offerings. 

It has a raspy but pleasing snarl. The sustain 

sucks, lol. As a Boost pedal stacked it could add

add a lot of weight, and it is dead cheap. 

 

OVERDRIVE- BIONIQUE AUDIO Chimera MK3 ....80's -in-a-Box ..it kicks some serious butt!!!

$130.00 USD

BIONIQUE AUDIO  

CHIMERA MK3 

The pedal is a Marshall Guv'nor with a MXR Distortion + acting more as a

boost in the same box.

The layout is volume, Gain, Treble, Mids and Bass with a toggle to boost the gain. 

     ....<>^

CONCLUSION ___

Damn if this does not kick some serious butt.

Add to that you can not whine about the price.

the fine print

The pedal is made by a small builder in Quebec Canada, so are the GUPtech pedals.

Let me tell you about Quebec. It is twice the size of Texas. The official language is French although most can speak English too. They have their own music scene. It is not unusual to go into a club where Stateside you might get a pretty decent band playing covers. In Quebec the band are monter players and are usually playing their own tunes and the crowd are acting like Metallica showed up by surprise. You then leave and walk a block away and another club has the same thing happening and the crowd are screaming out for their favorite tunes that the band wrote. I was so impressed I seriously considered moving there. No sh@t.

The vibe everywhere is very European. In the clothing shops you see styles that in about 3 years you will see in the States but in Quebec this is normal. The culture loves and supports creativity. 

So you can see why  you get small pedal companies when players are open minded and looking for the new not just the same old. The prices reflect a culture more interested in the quality of life over the quantity of acquisitions. The language creates a bult in isolation that blocks them from the high consumption pressures of a massive commercial force convincing us our value is only as big as our bank account.

EQ ENHANCER- GUPtech Quebec ...what's missing is majorly fixed! ...checks every box

$100.00 USD

GUPtech QUEBEC

Virtually all the very best high gain amps these days have both a Presence

but more notable a Depth control. They can take the darkest and even muddy sounds and add a wide breadth to the sound plus sparkle and not just on the highs but on all the harmonics across the entire range. It both tightens and punches up the sound without removing lows. GUPtech have put this in a pedal with a healthy boost to take that fixed sound and push as much up front as needed. I expect this will be an always on pedal in any rig. The layout is very simple with just a toggle and knob for Presence and the same for Depth.

CONCLUSION ____

It seems just too obvious not to have been done before ??? 

I have gone the psycho acoustic and endless EQ pedals route and they helped but this GUP does not sound like an added anything. It just sounds like what every pedal or amp should have built into its original sound. 

What I find is I have a killer sound in the room when I can crank my amp just a bit. I mean even just a bit. It is bit mellow but still huge and powerful. But if I turn  down it sounds good but it sounds like I have a blanket over my speakers. If I tweak the amp or pedals I can fix it enough to live with but I also start thinning the sound. 

On a bad day I want to just scream!!!😡 

The Quebec fixes either your amp or your pedals ...or both!!! 

I just got one!! I tried it every way possible and liked some and others did not do what I wanted. In the end I put it on top of my amp as an always on for my whole board. WTF!!!! it was killer. Even at low volumes I got a nice natural sounding clarity, tightness with at the same time breadth so the sound is very full. The Depth gave my sound the full stack dimed famous Marshall cab Thump. 

I pulled my BBE Sonic Stomp Enhancer. I may use it as a kind of treble boost for cleans. But I will need about a week to see how it goes. 

the fine print

  Jan12/2024

I have used it every day for a month and a half.

I appreciate having it BIG TIME. Before having it 

I was always tweaking my amp because I couldn't 

get a big sound. I kept adding too many mids or bass 

that only made it muddy instead of balsy.

OVERDRIVE- ELECTRO HARMONIX Hot Wax __NEW___ 70's Hot Tubes & BluesBreaker

$130.00 USD

ELECTRO HARMONIX  

 HOT WAX

First the Hot tubes in its original form had real tubes this does not!!! It does however use FETS so the voice is quite good. The Bluesbreaker may be a nice enough sound but it is NOT a BB. For a start it has too much gain but backed off it is quite usable.

The layout is a Volume and Gain for each side. A common Treble and Bass and a Blend control for the two voices.

CONCLUSION ____

It makes some great noises but neither sound is exceptional and both sides are compromised by not having their own EQ.

If you treat it more as just being a single pedal you can get some very useful sounds from it. The price is quite good too. 

 

70's  with real tubes

FUZZ- ACLAM PRODUCTIONS The Mocker ___ NEW ___ Vox-out-of-it's-Box

$300.00 USD

aclam PRODUCTIONS THE MOCKER

The company has a history of resurrecting circuits from redundant products like Pe-Amps from amps, reverbs etc. Most are more quirky and novel than an average player 

would find useful on their board. That said they are exceptionally well made and perfectly voiced.

In this case we get a Fuzz pulled in tack from the 1966 Vox UL730 amp. A Fuzz used by the Beatles George Harrison on Sgt. Pepper.

CONCLUSION ___

It is hard to go wrong with a 60's Fuzz and Vox were looking to make one that was not too crazy that aimed at those playing basic simple Pop music.

It would have to respond very OD like rather than a Tonebender on steroids. 

But considering the tech in 1966 it can get a little crazy, lol. This reproduction is authentic so using NOS parts means a limited production of about 2000 units. 

It should keep its value if not exceed it. However as modern tool it could be 

very problematic with a very poor noise floor. 

the fine print

.....It is an ideal candidate to clone for a basic under 

      $200 pedal with substitute parts. 

I tried to do a rough estimate of  average wages etc and 

come up with the average amount more you can pay over 

an average U.S. player. Not a realistic idea.  Exceptions aside 

including splurges and priorities ...but anything over $200  

requires some serious thought for most of us. 

OVERDRIVE- STelectroniX Boostache ... MIAB w/Rangemaster

$300.00 USD

STelelectroniX  

 BOOSTACHE 

Made in Greece and their only other pedal is mini Booster.  Basically a Brit amp with a classic Rangemaster style built in.

The layout is Level, Gain and tone with a seperate tone and level for the Boost.

A toggle adds more bass another voices the treble. 

 

CONCLUSION ____

I cannot fault it for a monster in your face OD that can compete with a better Metal pedal yet still hang onto a 

warm Brit tone.

OVERDRIVE- GUPtech BouzMaster ...Shred Master clone

$110.00 USD

GUP  TECH  

BOUZMASTER 

It is a hand made pedal based on the Marshall ShredMaster pedal. The company are known for high quality and their in house Art work. This pedal has a Dung beetle painted on it. Most pedals have a choice of colors.

The layout is Volume, Gain, Bass, and Treble. The knob labeled Bouz is a switch with original sound, no clipping and LED clipping.

CONCLUSION ____

The Marshall ShredMaster is a classic for high gain and everyone in the biz has done a take on this pedal but never mentions it. They also charge at least double for reinventing their miracle pedal, lol.

OVERDRIVE- SATONE S811 Riffer Distortion ___ NEW ___ Metal distortion ...dead cheap

$26.00 USD
 on Amazon

  SATONE S811 

RIFFER    

High Gain Distortion

A high gain dirt box from some new maker, or more likely a paint job put on an old Joyo.  You only see this combination of a Hammond type B casing and an LED placed just left of the footswitch on a Joyo???  But all the Joyo pedals in a B box only have 3 knobs. WTF

The layout is Volume, Gain Treble and Bass.

CONCLUSION ___

The cosmetics are pedestrian. However the sound has a very passable, Dual/Rec type vibe thing going on.