OVERDRIVE- FENDER Deluxe 55 vs. Fender Deluxe 55

 TWEED vs. TWEED 

____ ANTIQUE ROAD SHOW ...ELECTRIC GUITARS

    TO DIE FOR !!!

ENHANCER- TAURUS Servo- Pixie Dust-in-a-Box

TAURUS Servo  

ANALOG GUITAR ENHANCER

$145.00 USD

This pedal is unique. I am sure that there are others that do some of what it does but a few I felt did were several hundred dollars and did not do it all. Some were digital so instead of warming the sound they added that annoying touch of stridency to the sound.

     WHY A COMPRESSOR

Most of you by know have or rejected a Compressor. A Comp is part of this pedal. For those that hate Compression so does this pedal, LOL. The thing 

with a comp is it homogenizes the sound so as you hit the strings loud, louder softer etc. it evens it out by turning down the loud so it is the same as the soft. That of course kills your dynamics but it does stop others instruments from drowning out the softer bits.

     WHAT'S A COMPANDER

This pedal is at heart a Compander. It compresses the signal but it has an Expander in it to put that dynamic range back in. Yes it seems counterintuitive but it does it allowing you control over the whole parameter.

The first thing you notice when you play is it puts a feel back into your playing that a Comp can steal.

The pedal does more. You do not get signal loss through the board as it adds a buffer. A quality buffer does not change your sound in a way that feels like you have a low pass filter ...or as if your sound is covered in melted plexiglass. It also has a bit of gain, just enough to exaggerate the harmonics and overtones. Finally it has a boost on a toggle to push the front end of your amp to make the amp 

put out more overtones.

     CONCLUSION __

A lot of guys especially guys without pedals use it as an always on pedal. It can simply make your amp sound like you have some gourmet amp that does this for you. I have had mine for 5 years and found by adding many more pedals that since it 'boosts' your signal even with the Booster off that it is too much. But it is killer on low gain and clean sounds.  

I run mine with the booster always off and mostly at 10 O'clock. On some tunes with a low gain OD I use it as a gentle boost and and a fattener. 

I then use it between noon and 3 O'clock. 

____ SNEAK PEAK ____ CHAPMAN GUTARS AMPLIFIER

 CHAPMAN  

Cloud hammer  ??? 

____INTERVIEW____ Mateo Mancuso

 MATEO MANCUSO

WAVEFOLDER & TREM- COSMODIO INSTRUMENTS Gravity Well ___NEW___ synth?

$280.00 USD

GRAVITY WELL    

by C O S M O D I O 

Another of my over my usual over simplistic description is needed. 

The signal with some Fuzz pedals is fed back on itself which creates an 

octave up pedal. This is a bit different.

Think of this as a signal getting to a point where it gets pushed back too ...but collides with on coming signal and gets pushed out anyways. One side of the pedal does this. the other is a tremolo circuit but it uses a ragged (probably triangle) from a choice of waveforms other than that smooth sine wave of 

an old Fender amp. 

I will dispense with the layout or it could get more doublespeak than my 

waveform description, LOL. Its a "ya just gotta hear-it" situation.

    CONCLUSION __

It sounds like a massive Fuzz without any fuzziness with a bit of Wah and a chorus on the end, LOL. The main thing is you can easily play a tune on it. 

It need not ever be relegated to discordant Shoegaze/Star Wars swish 

and ka-boom usage. I will have to weigh it up but at the moment I am sure 

I could fit it in where know I am using heavy, heavy Fuzz but with this I 

get something much fresher and unexpected. 

 

____ HOW TO MAKE A GUITAR ____ OLA STRANDBERG

OLA STRANDBERG  

OVERDRIVE- MOSKY AUDIO Deluxe Preamp ....Lovepedal Amp 11 clone

$45.00 USD

 MOSKY AUDIO 

DELUXE PREAMP

$225.00 USD

A bit of history is in order. Lovepedal was created by Sean Michael's with the idea that less is more. If the circuit is no more than what's needed the sound will not get smeared and twisted by going down too many pathways. Some of their pedals really do sound good when the results are allowed to be impressionistic but when aimed from the beginning too specific they fail badly. On one project the pedal was meant to be SRV's Super Reverb I bought one and was 110% disappointed. 

The Amp 11 has been accused of being a Timmy Clone The Timmy started a frenzy with all makers to  

actually simply make a better Tube Screamer. Most started with a the ts topography and went from there.

The layout is Volume, Gain, Bass and Treble. A simple Boost which has its own level and a toggle for 

2 levels of gain. The 2 extra switches do suggest the 2 switches that are hidden inside a Timmy, lol. 

They are meant to voice the pedal to match up the owners rig that may be too dark or too bright 

to get the best from the pedal. They are very subtle and few if anyone touches them.              

     CONCLUSION ___ 

Once again everyone steals from everyone. In the end other than satisfying our 

curiosity it all adds up to ...does it sound good. Many pedals sound great cheap 

or pricey. As long as we do not listen with your eyeballs we can get good sounds 

at any price. On a final note this clone has been  around for 6 years.

As such it is worth a good listen, 😇

thefineprint

...it is a few days later and it appears that everyone 

has stopped by to check out this pedal. Interesting response??

....this is a 6 year old pedal that was not a big deal when it came out !

FUZZ- DEEP TRIP Capivara ...a '66 Fuzz Face, serious sh@t

DEEP TRIP 

$265.00 USD

CAPAVARA

A company that has been around since 2007 and has won many awards including best in show. This is well research match to the original 1966 Fuzz Face with NOS NKT75 germanium transistors. The layout is Volume and Gain. What else??? It is enough.  

 

           CONCLUSION ___

it sounds like it should. Nothing else needed!!

PHASER- BEETRONICS Larva Morphing Phaser ___NEW___ phaser + rocket launcher

BEETRONICS 

LARVA 

$250.00 USD

Famous for their crazy Fuzz pedals and their cool artwork that I am sure doubles the price comes a modulation pedal, a Phaser. It is definitely not 

your grandads MXR P90 . 

It looks complex but it is basically 2 Phasers in one. It has Rate as do all Phasers and Depth as do most. Its specialty's are adding ramp effects which is in this case morphing between each side. It also has resonance ...think of a bit of fixed Wha. In short a generous helping of Star Wars & Shoegaze. 

     CONCLUSION___ 

So it is a listen and guess if you need this ??? 

I will stick with my MXR Phase 95. 

A hundred bucks and even it needs to 

be used sparingly. 

 

____ ARE TUBE AMPS DYING ???

    NEWS OF MY DEMISE HAS BEEN GREATLY EXAGGERATED

 

If you strum a chord into a looper than turn the looper 

on and let it repeat over and over forever through a modeler the chord will play the 100% accurate same sound every time to infinity. If you then play that looper through a tube amp it will not repeat that first sound 

until it is repeated about 1.3 million times. FACT! 

The term a tube that burnt out is an apt description. A tube is like a candle's flame constantly burning and we can all see that it never stays the same shape for a moment. A tube creates an audio experience but like the candle its shape too is never the same. 

A modeled sound is like a photograph of the Mona Lisa. 

It will always be second rate compared to the painting.

FUZZY/DRIVE- EMPTY HEAD The Lover ___NEW___ it is the WTF you always wanted?

$205.00 USD

 EMPTY HEAD EFFECTS

THE LOVER

Not a lot about this European company. Even less about the pedal. It apparently is using transistors instead of OpAmps which is in general bonus. The Layout is Boost, Gain and Level The switches are preset voices with levels of saturation, lows, etc. 

     CONCLUSION ___

The labels are needless baffle gab. The jacks being all down one side 

are a great way to show the world you too can as builder be 

part of the problem instead of the solution. 

It produces a same old. You like it or not. The pedal sounds good but 

the pretentious stab of the maker at trying to be Oscar Wilde is about as welcomed as finding that the washroom at the mall has run out of toilet paper after you just had a very messy and unpleasant dump.

MODELER- SONULAB Stomp Station ___ NEW___ prototype ???

SONULAB Stomp Station 

This pedal uses NAM modeling It may be misleading but I put this in the category of Profiling which in effect is a digital snapshot of

an amp set to specific sound. Modeling creates the sound based on components of the amp just like a house uses and mortar to build its walls. NAM captures a real amp in a Profile but it samples its whole range of sound. It's major handicap is it can not be modified. What you get is it. You can EQ it but only like you would do on an external studio board. In short the sound itself is unchanged. If you like what you hear it will be as close to perfect as perfect gets. 

It will not miss or misshape the tiniest thing. It does not have what I think of as digital mud a kind of smearing of some of the harmonic details and overtones. It also has near zero lag time.

It appears it will have an IR loader, an EQ, Compressor, Reverb 

Noise gate and Tuner with software for both phones & Computers.

CONCLUSION___

It is a wait and see. I suspect it will show up at 

the January NAMM show.

____ HISTORY OF THE FENDER TELECASTER ____

 75 YEARS of the TELE  

1950 Tele

When I started playing in the mid 60's I had a Harmony Rocket and a one knob National amp, lol. There was a club within walking distance near my house. I could go there Friday night and watch Rock-a-Billy and Blues bands. I was introduced to tunes by Bo Diddley, Jimmy Reed, Eddie Cochran, John Lee Hooker and Chuck Berry where they have impact ...LIVE!!! 

Even on some nights I saw Robbie Robertson who's main gig was in Ronnie Hawkins. The Hawks. All the players played a faded white Tele with a maple fretboard. Mostly 50's that the guys bought as very affordable used guitars. They sold for about $175.00 to $200.00 for a near mint one. I was not allowed in but I could climb up onto the roof. I lowered myself down to 

a ledge and could watch and hear the bands through an open window. Eventually I was seen from the stage but the guys were cool. No one 

ratted me out and so the owners never came out and ask me to leave. 

  

I can also remember at that time coming out of a barber shop and watching guys unload for a gig 

beside the barber at a cafe/pub. The singer guitarist had just only an hour earlier scooped an 

Esquire and he was dying to show someone so asking him what he had was heaven for both 

of us. I got to hold my first Pro guitar. 

 

...the guy at the barber shop
had his Esquire in the trunk of a 55 Ford
painted pink & black.
I remember thinking...
I wanted both the guitar and the car, LOL

MULTI-FX- THIRD MAN HARDWARE Triple Threat Donner FX pedal ...cool! or hype?

THIRD MAN HARDWARE 

TRIPLE THREAT  Donner Effects Pedal

$100.00 USD

Third man claim that the pedal was created by Donner by marrying their Pearl Tremor Phaser and Yellow Fall Delay and 

a ? Distortion mini pedal. Total bull. Donner have never made anything. They go to other small companies and find cool things and get those companies to put Donner on the product and sell that. The 2 mini pedals are the Mooer 90 Orange Phaser and the Mooer Ana Echo analog delay. Mooer will put your name on a pedal if you order a few thousand. To date they have done that for 34 companies.  

Go to my very first Post Dec 30,2015 ...WHERE TO BUY CHEAP. I have a list of every one. On the day I wrote it I told every one to buy Donner because I didn't know better. A year later I deleted that part and told everyone to buy other brands that were also Mooer but cheaper than Donner. I have kept it up to date for the last 10 years.

Since the recession Mooer now discount some of their mini pedals that they do not offer others as a rebrand. Third Man to not say what the distortion in it is and Mooer have many. So this whole pedal will have been made by Mooer. Mooer own their own very high tech factory. They make guitar electronics for many brands.  

                 CONCLUSION ___ 

If you like it buy it. You are only paying $30 a pedal for

it. Keep in mind you can likely get all 3 pedals separate with one or more of the other 33 companies that sell Mooer rebrands. I do not know what the Distortion sound is on the pedal but I suspect it is the Mooer Ultra Drive ...Boss DS-1 clone.

If you just want the distortion part the best deal is the Mooer clone sold as the... 

Rowin LEF-301D DIST-IV   

on Ali-Express for $24.00 USD w/free shipping

OVERDRIVE- MAYFLY AUDIO SYSTEMS Creamsicle ___NEW___ JTM45 edge of breakup

$145.00 USD

MayFly Audio Systems 

Creamsicle

The term transparent is the cliche of the day. Making a Marshall 

JTM45-in-a-box is hardy new. The big but is making one that is the classic clean sound banging away on hundreds of hit records all 

through the 60's. The attraction of the very earliest Marshall was 

its fat but mildly Crunch sound that you could play anything on 

and get a nice fat chunky sound. 

The layout is Volume, Tone and Gain a toggle labeled sparkle 

adds a magic touch of just right chime to the sound. 

Another toggle gives 3 levels of gain.

     CONCLUSION __ 

An excellent clean sound is never clean. It is why vintage and gourmet amps sell at such a premium. There have been a few pedals that have addressed but but I find they were antiseptic 

hi-fi treatments. Not a builder with an ear for an organic 

sound. This is a welcome exception.  

Handmade in Ottawa On. Canada by a guy famous with stereo buffs for his unique speaker cabs. 

In short a guy that is all about quality. The Hi-Fi guys are anal about that. He must love what he 

does because the prices are budget level but the product is not.