OVERDRIVE/PRE- ELECTRON BROTHERS 228 Pre .....what is it, high tech or magic box?

E l e c t r o n  BROTHERS

$240.00 USD

The company is from Australia and it is 3 guys with an electronics and a military background. They are big on borrowing tech from high end studio gear and using high voltages to get control of headroom allow the input of the dynamics of the players touch.

The layout is Gain/level, and using high and low frequency shelving. Then finally a second more conventional Gain 

to color the sound a control any saturation. 

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     CONCLUSION ___ 

It is easier to use than understand but in effect 

the basic sound is shaped and fixed and you 

get to play studio engineer with the sound. 

 

OVERDRIVE- POGOLAB Distortion ...eenie meenie your money goes? ...or no?

PogoLab DISTORTION

$20.00 USD

The company that makes these is Lekato who make budget electronics for both consumers and musicians. They boast a quality product but cheap. Many of their products are impressive. If nothing else they build a 

robust product. 

The layout is Volume, Gain, Treble and Mids. 

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     CONCLUSION ___ 

It is not a high gain pedal as the word Distortion 

suggests. It is medium gain overdrive. It has 

a pleasant voice though a bit feeble but full. 

The Bass is non existent. Perhaps ... 

a bit bland, but usable. 

 

______ THE GUITARS OF JIMI HENDRIX _____

 THE GUITARS OF JIMI HENDRIX 

by Keith Williams    

OVERDRIVE- M-VAVE Dist MT-1.... 4 years & still in uniform

$30.00 USD
AliExpress shipping incl.

M-VAVE DIST- MT1

This branch of M-Vave was once called Cuvave. 

I will not go into the 3 divisions I know other than to say they are now all branded M-VAVE.

This is a generic modern Metal pedal. It is not unlike classics like MESA Dual/Rec or many small independents that regardless of who makes them the buyer usually have one or more pedals slamming the front end. 

In short it does the job. 

The layout is basic with Volume, Gain and Tone. 

___

    CONCLUSION ___ 

The pedal is voiced with lots of heavy Bass. It ...like even a real Marshall JCM 800 makes a bit of noticeable fizz in the highs. 

You can cut it back but or if like me you use a gate, no problem. 

Drop tuning makes a big difference so keep that in mind when 

listening to any demos. 

On the whole it is usable and in context sounds very Pro.

PREAMP/BOOST- WEM CCB-1 Copicat Boost __NEW__ surprisingly cool!!!

$80.00 USD

wem CCB-1 

++++++++++++++++

It is quite simply the Preamp out of the WEM Copicat tape echo. 

A heavy boost is added and the pedal acts as a nasty but nice 

hard clipping friend.

The layout is Level and Frequency ...the tone control pulls 

out some gritty clipped but very rich overtones. 

It can be run at 9v or 18v for more headroom.  

 

  CONCLUSION___ 

It would be great stacked 

with other dirt pedals.

 

OD- TONE CITY Double Durple___NEW___ a-double-of-a clone-of a-clone-of-a-clone-of a Gibson amp

 TONE CITY    Double-Durple 

$120.00 USD

Lovepedal made the Kalamazoo that is a take on an ancient 

8 watt Gibson EH-100 amp made by Chicago Musical Instruments at the Gibson Kalamazoo factory from 1932 to 1945. It is known for its transparent dirt sound. Tone City made a clone of it they call the Mandragora and then Andertons Danish Pete Honore had them mod it and it became the Durple which is now offered as the Double Durple. 

The layout is Gain, Volume and Tone for both sides. A toggle gives you Smooth and Bright for the more transparent side and on the other side you get a Mid boost. 

    

Conclusion __ 

It sounds very good. I think when pushed 

the Double Durple goes into a Marshall JTM 45 vibe. 

The basic Durple is $55.00 USD or you can get the

Mandragora for $55.00 USD.  It all started 9 years 

ago when Tone City decided to confuse us all 

...or maybe we should blame Gibson?

The Double Durple is demoed at 20:20    

The second video lets you hear where it started with the LovePedal Kalamazoo.

 

thefineprint

...damn confusing, What started as a pedal so transparent you 

can hear the chime of a Strat became the Crunch like Marshall, lol. 

I think the Mandradora wasn't broken, so why would they fix it, 😇

REVERB/TREM- KEELEY ELECTRONICS Zoma___NEW___ too big? too little? too much?

K E E L E Y ELECTRONICS

  ZOMA 

$230.00 USD

It became a 'thing' when Fender put it in their amps. The Tremolo less than the Reverb as the Trem became more in your face so it became in and out of fashion. The Spring Reverb was very effective when used like a frame on a painting that enhanced your sound not a thing that became your sound. It was always on but used sparingly. Modern Verbs have become total Shoegaze 

and Star Wars. They are now relatively cheap to make and there 

is a massive glut of choices. Like too much of anything it becomes yesterday's news and even the idea of it is on its way to become dated. Is the Zoma too little too late?

The layout is Depth, Rate and Level. A toggle lets you choose 

3 voicings. Spring & sine Tremolo (the classic Fender thing). 

Plate & Harmonic Trem. and Plate & Pitch Vibrato. 

   CONCLUSION ___ 

The whole marketing vibe is vaguely Indie Alt aimed at the Premier Guitar Magazine bands. The cool players in that crowd use an always on Spring & either no Trem or the occasional Trem. Think Robben Ford not Dick Dale. 

The Tone City Little Spring v.2 does a stellar job and it's just $55.00 USD.

FUZZ- ELECTRIC LOVE FX Norrsken Fuzz___NEW___Jamie Stillman/EarthQuaker design

ELECTRIC LOVE FX 

 Norrsken  FUZZ

$210.00 USD

This is a collaboration to raise some much needed money 

for the  Breast Cancer Foundation. 

_____________

Jamie Stillman of EarthQuaker Devices is the perfect guy to design this pedal. He is at his best at thinking outside the box but giving us a pedal that seems like it is as inside the box as a Muff pedal. I have his Acapulco Gold and Special Cranker. Both are 'Keepers'. 

The layout is Compressor, Gain, Level and a full EQ of Treble, Mids and Bass. 

CONCLUSION ___ 

it is really more of a really excellent Fuzzydrive. in short you do not need to even like a Fuzz to love it.

You get a huge sound with the bonus of great sustain. Who doesn't love the perfect jam pedal.

Best of all it is a guilt free buy. You can even tell your lady, 😇 

FUZZ- MCGREGOR PEDALS Inc ...Classic Fuzz

$185.00 USD

MCGREGOR PEDALS 

CLASSIC F U Z Z 

Michael Schau from Vancouver BC Canada brings us a Fuzz, 😳 He later 

gives us a demo.

It is a silicon Fuzz. It could have started as a Muff ot Silicon Fuzz Face 

or Tone Bender 4 ??? We get Volume and Gain in the layout but Bass?? 

Also known as wiring the pot backwards. Inside there is a trimpot to 

set the input and another to change the BIAS.

 

CONCLUSION ___ 

It sounds quite good but Joyo do the the Tiny Huge Fuzz for $40.00 USD and it is in the same ballpark. 

You will love a tiny Huge, 😇 

 

FUZZ- SOLODALLAS Orbiter Fuzz ___NEW___ seriously nasty Fuzz Face

 SOLODALLAS  

ORBITER

$350.00 USD

What we get is a Germanium Fuzz Face one of the classics of the classics. The layout is is Fuzz which changes the waveform from triangle to square. Gain that clips the signal further and BIAS to starve the transistor's towards gritty velcroids' loveliness. 

 

CONCLUSION ___

What's not to love? Even the graphics and Marconi Neve 

knobs cry out for us to take this lonely Fuzzlow home.

For the record Premier Guitar reviews this pedal and 

posts a $250.00 USD price tag. So WTF!!!

My name is Billy Bunt not Silly Kunt.

MODELER- LINE6 Pod Express BLACK ___NEW___ a Pod Express w/ Metal OD's

$180.00 USD

LINE6 POD EXPRESS 

BLACK  

Nothing seriously new. All they did was fill the the ROM with Metal Amps instead of their classic standards.  

___

   CONCLUSION ___

It is still a toy in the spec dept. But at $180.00 USD 

and a self contained unit with Delay & Verb you get 

a tidy package. 

If you just need amps to put with a few pedals you 

have the ToneX One for the same price It has the 

huge ToneX free library and full spec. Quantity 

or quality, your choice.