______ TOP 10 JAZZ GUITARISTS ______

Unbottling the Best  

Life does not come with a map so it helps to know 

where you are going if you know where you have been.  

 

In the 70's I went to a Joe Pass workshop thanx to the generosity 

of Steve Howe. It was the first time I saw a Jazz guitarist. 

When the choice is the best of 4 or 5 ...Joe is pretty much a 

given to be in it. 

His touch and tone make his playing flow like water in a stream. 

It is like being taken by the hand as a child for a walk through 

the woods. Exciting and fascinating but safe.

OVERDRIVE- TONE INK Red Briton... aggressive rip your face off ...treat :-)

TONE INK RED BRITON 

BRITISH DISTORTION

$135.00 USD

This Brazilian company has been around for years but all but a few pedals are exported. The country has had decades of being near dysfunctional. They have defaulted on international debts 9 times. 

To over simplify there are some strange subsidies to encourage employment 

and make prices cheap for Brazilians but a really high export tax gets added that makes selling worldwide pointless.

A few companies do get on Reverb but players never heard of the brands 

and will not pay $200 to get what made Stateside is a $350 pedal because 

they think the pedal is likely junk. 

The layout is Volume, Gain, bass, Mids and Treble. A toggle gives you 2 

more levels of gain. A second allows you to choose headroom or go for 

a more compressed sound. In short big and open or more sustain, pick one.😇  

 

CONCLUSION ___ 

In spite of the name suggesting a MIAB. It is a bit misleading. 

It is a tear your face off high gain OD. A damn good 

one too. I found a couple of used ones but both 

were sold. If they weren't I would have made 

sure I had my order in before you guys scooped it.😠

OVERDRIVE- MOVALL MP-101 Cosmic Thing ___NEW___ Bognor-in-a-Box

$30.00 USD

movall 

 COSMIC THING 

JFET HIGH GAIN

The company has good record of great sounding pedals at cheap prices. 

This is their take on a Bogner sound. I know the Bogner pedals and I 

owned a couple and fail to see it as a clone of any of them. 

The FET transistors alone make this a bargain. This is not an OpAmp 

pedal that is cheap to build. The layout is Volume, Tone and Gain. 

A toggle clicks on a mid scoop. 

....<>^

CONCLUSION ___ 

It has a very smooth mid sound that has a gourmet 

American vibe like an amp using 6L6 power tubes. 

Which are found in many classic Fender or the MESA 

Boogie amps. Not my thing but it does it very well!

HENDRIX LIVE ... MOMENTS OF PLACIDITY FROM A SIMPLE TUNE

SPONTANEOUS YET NEVER WANDERING,

 LOSING DIRECTION OR PURPOSE 

These days we get a guy throwing every last shredding thing he knows in a tune. 

About 3 tunes later it all starts to sound the same. When we leave we can 

not remember a single riff, a phrase or a tiny bit of melody that created 

the substance to imprint us with an emotional experience to hang onto. 

It becomes nothing but a mountain of burnt ashes blown away by the wind. 

 

FUZZ_ JAM PEDALS FUZZ PHRASE SI ___NEW___ a take on a silicon Fuzz Face

$230.00 USD

JAM PEDALS

FUZZ PHRASE SI 

The company have always produced well made great sounding pedals.

They did tend to be pricey but as other bumped their prices Jam did 

not. They now are very competitive.

This Fuzz is loosely based on a silicon Fuzz Face. The transistors used 

are the silicon BC107's. The goal was to give the pedal a warm sound 

that passes to many as a germanium Fuzz. It does and it 

makes the pedal hassle free. The layout is simply Level and Gain.

CONCLUSION ___

The pedal is very touch sensitive to both your dynamics

and to using your guitars Volume and Tone for noticeably 

new tones including some spit and sputter. It is not

aimed at the Fuzz aficionado but for the plug and play

guy that can some of the little extras without

any serious learning curve.

the fine print

Although less into subtle goodness and more of an in your

 face approach is the Joyo JF-26 Tiny-Huge Fuzz _Fuzz Face. 

$40.00 USD ...it does NOT disappoint.

OVERDRIVE- WESTMINSTER EFFECTS The Physician... a ts that actually screams, lol

$150.00 USD

WESTMINSTER 

EFFECTS 

THE PHYSICIAN

This company from South Carolina has been around since 2015 making affordable well made hand wired pedals. Some are derivative from the classics. This is cool as it is based on the Langraff Dynamic OD.

Langraff folded in 2015 after 21 years in biz with a stellar rep. 

Used ones sell for as much as $1500.00.

The pedal is like hundreds based on the OpAmp Tube Screamer 

but with extremely more gain. 

The layout is a basic Volume, Tone and Gain.

CONCLUSION ___

It has a kind of hollow resonance do to what sounds to me comes from leaving this pedal like the ts voiced with symmetrical distortion. An amp has asymmetrical distortion. This is NOT meant to have an amp like

distortion. The result is high gain minus a lot of extra Fuzz like 

frequencies. If it was my first pedal I would go for a FET MIAB. 

After that anything goes.  From a Fuzz 

to this little gem.

DELAY- HERMIDA AUDIO EPH-3 Tape Echo Simulator... Love Pedal re-issue

$210.00 USD

Hermida Audio 

 EPH-3  Tape Echo Simulator 

Self explanatory. It is made under license by Love Pedal since the Alfonso Hermida retired as is the first of the Dumble pedal the Zen Drive. All this 

is ancient history. 

Love Pedal has fallen off the radar. Love Pedal have been around since 2007 and are pioneers in making innovative pedals that became instant favorites 

of the Cork Sniffer reviewers and critics.

The layout is the standard Mix of dry/wet, Delay time, Feedback or the number of repeats. Flutter is pitch modulation.

CONCLUSION ___

Analog delays do to their limited tech have limited highs they can produce. That means they will be a bit dark at best. This can be a good thing as it keeps the delay and guitars sound from competing

with each other. I have 4 delays and all are analog.😇

I have and prefer the Dunlop Echo-plex. Even EVH switched from 

the real tape jobbie to it. That said this sounds good.

  

 

thefineprint

One of the first of the tape delay pedals is the Electro-Harmonix Deluxe
Memory Man. 

It gets a 10 out of 10 with critics and players alike. The Movall MP401 Falling Star 

is a clone of the current  standard  Hammond B box size E-H pedal.

I give it a 9.8 out of 10 to avoid argument. You will too. 

I bought mine new for $32 on AliExpress.

OVERDRIVE-SMIRMOOR PEDALS Saule___ NEW___ a mega RAT

$285.00 USD

SMIRMOOR PEDALS 

SAULE

A small company in Wangs Switzerland with the proverbial gourmet clone.

In this case a Rat aimed at all genres of Metal. The layout is Gain, Tone and Volume. A toggle gives you mids or lows boost.  

 

CONCLUSION ___

A very useful pedal for any genre of Metal. Either thru a clean amp or dirty amp or as a boost to stack with other dirt pedals. 

NOTE: I caught this a new and much better Video just minutes 

ago and often that means a wait time to download. 

Or check YouTube for _ RAT on Steroids! | SMIRMOOR Pedals SAULE

 

MODELER- Neural DSP Quad Cortex ...up the butt? ...or about a BIG BUT?

$1700.00 USD

 Neural DSP Quad Cortex   

Why would you buy this if there many other choices. Some sound arguably if not as good have to be listened to over and over and have someone that can point out the subtleties to hear anything different. Most are cheaper. Some are a fraction of the price.

CONCLUSION ___ 

The reasons are simple. You can capture your own sounds and very easily. You do not need a manual to understand it. You do not need a computer to program it because it is both comprehensive and easy. 

It is big enough to to see and manipulate the 

knobs etc. It is not too big to easily carry or even 

take on a plane etc. It is a proven product. 

....<>^   

It will in all likelihood not be surpassed in 

a meaningful way for years. 

Buyers never have regrets that they 

bought the best. 

None of this ....''If I only waited I could have bought...''   

OVERDRIVE- TONE SOUND AUDIO Overdrive ... usable from low to higher gain Crunch

 TONE SOUND AUDIO      

OVERDRIVE     

$185.00 USD

It sounds usable from low gain to a higher gain Crunch 

and has a Boost to push it into to more Gain. Not a clone of 

anything but it has a definite tube amp asymmetrical voice.

The layout is Volume, Tone, Gain and Boost. 

         ....<>^

CONCLUSION ___ 

It has some definite character of its own 

that has an earthy old school tube amp tone.

The boost is nice even just to add a little bite. 

A good Americana Bluesy thing. A sound that 

you love or move on.  

FUZZ-CAROLINE CORP. CROM... when you imagine a Fuzz ..it is this one you imagine :-)

$190.00 USD

CAROLINE CORPORATION

  CROM 

The company was founded 1972 by Philippe Herndon in Columbia South Carolina. The pedal thing though was in 2010. The idea, with minimum jargon, was to make pedals worth owning.😇  

The pedal is a take on a Tone Bender v.4 which is  best known by the Colorsound Super Jumbo. The Crom does indeed uses four BC184 silicon transistors.

I own a very good clone but the Crom is a major departure as it has a massive sound and control over the BIAS. The layout has a basic Volume, Tone and Gain and a push switch to give it a huge mid boost. You can internally adjust the BIAS for some classic spit and sputter and gate.

....<>^

CONCLUSION ___

What's not to like? It is a Fuzz that before getting 

a Fuzz one thinks of in there mind of what a 'Fuzz' 

is and what one expects all Fuzz pedals to sound like,😲 

No others do not only a few are larger than life. 

This is one.