WHAT'S ON MY BOARD ????

MY STUFF... 

 You can check out my board and my 63 favorite pedals. 

 All kept up to date with new entries.

 Just scroll up to the top left hand corner to   B 

 then type in 3 consecutive plus signs. 

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       last update 9/3/2024

OVERDRIVE- LBF PEDALS Ouroboros___NEW___ Boss HM-2 clone

$100.00 USD

LBF Pedals Ouroborus|Distortion Pedal  

It is a beefed up Boss HM-2. The key change having an OpAmp to produce more volts to push everything including its tone stack with active EQ. 

The tone controls are active Bass, Mids and Treble that will allow 

for much more of everything than the Boss.

Conclusion ___

It is a damn impressive pedal that can be used in many 

Metal genres.  

Stacked with OD's and Fuzz pedals it can be the perfect 

pedal to fatten up other pedals. The price is very fair.

                   

  ....it is on my short list !!!

OVERDRIVE- ANANASHEAD Cream Amp ...re-visit ...Josh Scott demands it, LOL

Ananashead|CREAM AMP

$115.00 USD

Josh White of JHS is running a new series showing beginners how to make a basic OD pedal by starting with the grandad and the first of all the classic OD's. The ELECTRA. Actually it was not even a pedal but a cartridge that you plugged into the 1976 ...ELECTRA Mega guitar. An LP clone. You bought the guitar than you could buy cartridges for all the basic effects. The OD however was so good that MXR used it with couple extra bits and pieces to make the Distortion+, DOD did the 250 PreAmp. Electro Harmonix did the LPB-1 which predates the first Big Muff. At least 15 other companies also made variations of it. Josh Smith's travel rig is his guitar and an Electra that Love Pedals custom made for him and he has done so for decades. It is his always on pedal.

So let me get to the point. It is killer OD but if like me ...you don't want to build any pedals, LOL, 

then Ananashead comes to the rescue. The guys pedals are hand made using the best parts 

...Or in some cases NOS vintage parts and the guy sells for seriously fair prices.

CONCLUSION ___

It is a raw and totally organic transparent boost kind of pedal 

with a the just perfect amount of bite and edge. It also is 

very dynamic with a great feel. Better as a boost than 

99% of what's out there. The ultimate pedal for stacking.

OVERDRIVE-ELECTRIC EYE Cannibal Unicorn ___NEW___ Doom with an edge

$200.00 USD

Electric Eye|

CANNIBAL UNICORN 

A basic Doom type pedal but with a razors edge to yours pick's attack.

The layout is Volume, Gain Bass and Treble

CONCLUSION ___

My pet hate arises again. The video does not let us know if we are hearing the pedal played through a clean sound on the amp. The guy is using drop tuning so we do not know if the pedal has some breadth and balz if it wasn't. ___So buyer beware 😕.

OVERDRIVE- POGOLAB Over Drive___ NEW ____ mystery overdrive???

 PogoLab OVER DRIVE

$18.00 USD

Ten years ago I paid 30% more for a Mooer pedal because it came in a different color and graphics with another companies name. Then add to that I found the same Mooer pedal for a 3rd of the price less with another brands name.  I instantly leant to inspect a mini pedal from pictures like Sherlock Holmes. The first thing to look for is where everything on the outside had hole in the pedal to put a pot, switch or jack in. To get to the point this is not Mooers 31st company to make them re-branded pedals. It is not a Mooer or a Mosky or a Moen or a NUX or a Movall. My instant shock when I saw the pedal is that nobody puts a mini toggle like they have under the LED inline with the footswitch, LOL. I shock easy, LOL. I traced them down to the Distributor looks to be Lakato. 

The pedal is a low to medium gain OD with a bit of a BluesBreaker like sound. it is very clear and near transparent. It has the usual layout of Vole, Gain and Tone but the toggle is a bright switch.

CONCLUSION__ 

They could be a new company. There are a lot of very small companies that just sell locally or no further than neighboring countries. Lekato could have picked up the brand.

It sounds very good. it is not overly noisy, or muddy or lacks output or is built flimsy. You could argue it lacks some character or even a loveable foible like a Tube Screamer upper mid hump, lol. One could expect a fair price but we are getting a blowout price. Hell it even looks upmarket and understated like a nice old vintage MXR, or Ross etc.

OVERDRIVE- TALLON ELECTRIC The Hog... a blender?

 TALLON ELECTRIC|||

$195.00 USD

the hOG

This pedal has both a high gain and Medium Gain side that you can blend together. The layout is level, Gain for the High gain side, Blend, Treble and an input level to match PU level coming in. A toggle gives you a low end boost on the high gain side. 

cONCLUSIOn_ 

It does sound good and allows you to really shape its voice. It seems to be aimed at a Indy Alt Americana thing.

NAM MODELER- DIME HEAD NAM player ...a first, maybe a game changer

  DIME HEAD 

NAM Player

$510.00 USD

NAM or Neural Amp Modelling is a new and free tech that uses a totally different method to capture sounds. It allows you to capture an amp with incredible accuracy & free of hurdles that Kemper and ToneX can not avoid. The problem is with NAM is you can not reshape the sound. Yes like your real amp you can use tone controls. In short you can get what you hear from the amp you captured. Capturing is simple enough and the tech does not need problem solvers to capture the sound just like you hear it in the room. If you are a die hard real tube amp guy you can get a dead on real version of any amp. If you are already a modeler guy you have become accustomed to amp sounds have been hot rodded to sound larger than life times ten. So you may not like it ...even if you have been telling 

yourself that your sounds sound the most realist. 😇

A CHOICE OF ONE 

Users of NAM have had to leave their sounds in their computers 

So until this unit you could not have a conventional floor unit that 

covers expected basic functions with all its practical 

applications, like gigging. The unit includes amp 

models, Reverb and IR's.

CONCLUSION ___ 

As many of you know I do not like or use modelers. I am an agnostic. In short open to being convinced but what I have seen happening with most of the serious pro's they 

have both. They use an amp when it is logically possible and a modeler when it is not. Most of the very best recordings of guitar ever recorded were made on a tube amp. 

Most of them just used the one tube amp the player owned and used. So I do not see 

that I am overwhelming handicapped with a unit like this giving me the very best 

synthesized versions of the amps I love. I do not need a choice of hundreds 

to choose from.Yes it is nice to have endless choice but once chosen the  

remainder have zero use. 

OVERDEIVE- GROBERT EFFECTS Total Screamer... not really, too good, lol

$210.00 USD

 GOBERT E F F E C TS  

TOTAL SCREAMER

This Polish ts is very unique and if made by another maker they would give the pedal a crazy name and not mention it was based on a Tube Screamer. If you take the basic topography of a ts and just change the diodes it can sound like the Boss SD-1. It is what Boss did. 

What we have here a pedal that not only gives you a choice of

the original but adds FET diodes. You can add in cleans and even revoice the whole pedal. Last but not least you get a nice clean boost. 

The Layout is Level, Tone and Gain. Another knob brings in cleans and another revoices the pedal. You have a knob for the Boost and a second footswitch to bring it in.

Finally it has an internal charge pump to boost the voltage from

9 to 18v for much more headroom.

CONCLUSION ___

It has very warm organic tone with a definite tube ampvibe. An almost transparent thing.

It has a bit of the Nobels ODR-1 sound but with much tighter lows. A real Tube Screamer falls very short except for being a booster. Basically the Grobert is a very good low to medium gain pedal 

with a lot of definition and very open sounding. Fairly

priced for so many usable features.

it 

OVERDRIVE- HOTONE Skyline Djent... 8 years old but hanging in

$45.00 USD
Ali-Express ship incl.

 HOTONE Skyline ||| DJENT 

So 8 years ago a new company came to NAMM and won 

best in show with their nano pedals. They soon abandon

these pedals for digital boxes leading to know making modelers. 

The layout is Volume, Gain, Mids with a toggle 

for 3 fixed voices.

CONCLUSION __

It sounds surprisingly impressive. 

It is a one trick pony but it does 

a very good trick.

BOOST Line Drive- JHS Box it Later ...prototype clone of Howard Dumble's pedal design

 JHS Pedals|  BOX IT LATER 

A very badly kept secret but this is a pedal
made for John Meyer and he has been seen using it on a tour in Japan. 

It is a clone of Dumbles own BOX-A-LATOR pedal. Four originals are said to exist.

Some of Dumble's amps had a Tube Screamer of his own design built in them. 

So another 'maybe' is added to the mystery. The video is informative but you can bail out when electronic doublespeak shows up.

CHORUS- TONE CITY Angel Wing Chorus ...mini BOSS CE-1 clone

$60.00 USD

TONE CITY ANGEL WING Chorus 

The company was founded by one J. Wong who designed pedals for many now well known Chinese manufacturers. He often designed a killer pedal only to be told it would cost 2 or 3 dollars too much to make. In short for that few dollars less we got offered an amateur pedal instead of one with a very Pro sound. So he got so angry one day he told them all to 😠....yes he then started his own company.

Most of his pedals comfortable sit on the bottom rung of the Pro ladder, or in short in context with a band on a recording or live any difference to anyone but the guy plating it would be imperceivable.

This now 9 year old gem is his take on the original ever chorus, the Boss CE-1. 

It was a monster box that plugged into the wall for power. The Boss CE-2 

thankfully followed it in then new now classic stand Boss 9v. type enclosure. 

The 2 has less features and a subtle but equally impressive tone.

The layout is a basic Level, Depth and Rate.

  CONCLUSION ___

It is very impressive and its sound is only challenged by the $220.00 USD Boss CH-2W and the usual big names, 

bigger bucks of which in a blindfold test making 

a choice it is totally improbable it would be 

in last place if you had to rank them. 

In fact have a listen with the real deal in comparison.

DELAY- JAM PEDALS Llama Delay ...perfect ...except

$280.00 USD

JAM PEDALS| Llama Delay 

Jam have never made a bad sounding or poorly built pedal They do modded clones though they seem to capture the original and add updated feature of fix things that all agree were a problem with the originals. Things like not enough level on the output or a bad noise 

floor etc. In short I love the Boss CH-2 Chorus and there is lets me 

use it as a Vibrato pedal with zero spoiled with the Chorus sound etc.      

The layout Level, Time and Repeats. It uses the same 

Panasonic MN3205 chip set found in the old Boss 

and Ibanez analog pedals.

CONCLUSION __

I have no lint to pick. Of course there is a but. The NUX DCP Analog Delay not only uses Panasonic chips but 

clones the whole circuit of the Ibanez AD-80 with a 

price of $60.00 USD. 

It does not have a tap function but I have never  

waited or needed it so I feel no compulsion 

to replace it.