_________ INTERVIEW with TERRY MARSHALL ...he voiced the classic Marshall's

 Terry Marshall  

______ BEST NEW PEDAL FOR 2024

 Demonfx |||Zdrive

Robben Ford not only thought the 2004 Hermida Zen Drive sounded like his

Dumble amp but since he travelled without an amp just a guitar and a few pedals the Zen Drive took it's place.  It still does. He does a lot of writing on the road. He has often found that once in the studio it has become pointless to not simply use the pedal than piss around for hours only to get some amp to duplicate the pedal.

The Z-drive is NOT some great clone it is simply made by using the same 

parts as a Zen Drive. Calling it a reproduction seems a better description. 

A real Zen Drive does not use rare old parts and never did. They are readily available cheap but dependable industrial parts.

I bought mine in June for $30.00 USD with free shipping. 

       Last but not least once you have a Z-drive you have a Dumble sound covered. 

       There is no need to buy the obscenely priced Dumble pedals made by anyone.

Zen Drive > Zdrive

OVERDRIVE- LEKATO B-Breaker... Marshall BluesBreaker clone via NUX

LEKATO B-BREAKER

$26.00 USD

This is of course a clone. It has all the signs of being a re-
branded NUX Morning Star which is the NUX take on a BluesBreaker. 

The name was changed by the NUX marketing dept. to suggest a JHS Morning Glory and as usual thousand's have bought into the con.

Since you asked. The closest clone to the original cheapie is the $40 Mooer Blues Crab. It is bit less fatter and lacks the fine detail in the overtones.

The layout is like the original with just the a basic Gain, Volume and Tone. 

      CONCLUSION __ 

Pedals are like Pickup trucks. The new ones are better trucks but they are also by pure physics totally different. In short a clone can only sound the same if all the parts that make the actual tone are the same. There is zero wrong with finding the Lekato 'pickup truck' a better sound for your music. Big but. Never buy a clone for an exact duplication of another pedals sound.  

 

  thefineprint

What makes a great transparent type pedal is100% in the very small things in the harmonics and overtones. 

I have heard zero clones of the BluesBreaker that have that. In short the reissued Marshall version has that. 

So bite the bullet and whack some luxury $ if you want the real sound.

OVERDRIVE-ALEKS K. PRODUCTION Hot Ice___NEW___ V.2 of their Dumbleish OD

ALEKS K. PRODUCTION

Hot Ice .

$260.00 USD

This company has a rep of high quality plus. Even the casings are custom

made steel. That is not new but these you could be thrown at a brick wall 

and the wall would be the loser, LOL

This is a very Dumble like pedal. It has a stage Gain structure that goes 

from Low to Medium Gain and another that is not just a boost but one that pushes the overtones into never, never land. 

The Layout is Tone, Juice which adds a sweet mid boost with sparkling 

harmonics, it acts like a Tube Screamer boost thing but without the 

any nasal honk or loss of lows. 

      CONCLUSION ___ 

I can not find a speck of lint to pick. 

The whole pedal is a sweet spot. It 

sounds impressive no matter where 

you leave the controls. 

 

FUZZ- FUZZ IMP Creature Fuzz... a rare original, not a clone!

FUZZ IMP 

Creature Fuzz

$150.00 USD

By 2020 Justus Gash had collected 50 fuzz pedals. His main gig was 

doing video demos for independent makers. In 2021 he bought a 

pedal kit and was pleased to find, he not only loved building but had 

an aptitude for the soldering and other skills needed to make them. 

He also has an anal attitude about quality which soon spread word 

of mouth and started his business. So like Brian Wampler and 

Josh Scott of JHS it is a familiar story. 

    ___ 

Justus is all about creating the 'The New' not trying to re-invent a Tone Bender or a Muff of which many have little more to offer than a paint job. 

It would loosely be called a Gated Fuzz but the layout explains the pedals uniqueness. 

Both Squish and Gate act on the BIAS, but not on one set of transistors but two. 

That alone needs two Fuzz units and with 2 you would not get the inter reaction 

that can create new sounds or tweak a sound to something unique. Clang acts 

as OD and Gain control. Fuzz is the classic Gain control of any Fuzz. Oh my, 

I almost forgot it has a Level. We need to hit or not hit an amp with all 

this too much or maybe too little 😇 

CONCLUSION ___ 

An insane amount of crazy yet usable sounds are in this pedal. 

That said if pulled back you can get v.1 Tone Bender like vibe 

with an even wider, fatter sound and with a lot of bite and with 

a sawtooth like, wide grit. A lot of pedal for a reasonable price.

FUZZ- ANANASHEAD Spirit Fuzz___NEW___ a gotta have for this guy!!!

Ananashead*Effects

Spirit Fuzz 

$105.00 USD

Back in the 60's Randy California, Big Brother and the Holding Company and ZZ Top had the gear we would have all wanted. Many small companies sprung up and came and went quickly that had a Fuzz on offer. Most were regional only selling to a State or two near them. Some had to be redesigned every year if not sooner because they self destructed, LOL. But they each had an identifiable sound. The Spirit Fuzz combines 3 Jordan Bosstone versions.  They have had the noise cleaned up and added some much needed lows but have the whole vibe kept in tact. The Big Deal is we get a Fuzz that is not the 

same damn old Tone Bender, Muff etc.

  CONCLUSION ___

What's not to love. A fat gutsy grainy voice with enough balz to punch thru 

the band but laid back enough to not fight the vocals so you can wail away 

on it through the whole tune. It is on my gotta have list for 2025!!!   

FUZZ- MXR Octavio Fuzz... did we just forget???

MXR 

OCTAVIO  ౦ 

$150.00 USD

Dunlop/MXR own the name so this is not their first variation simply their current even if it is 5 years old. There was nothing special about others. These are not handmade using NOS parts, nor were the others. So as it is obvious this is an Octave Fuzz based from the Hendrix one which itself was modified at least 3 times. My point is I will leave it to the 'Cork Sniffers' to decide which is best. I am sure some can agree with each other, LOL. 

My point is that if I love what I hear and think it fits my tunes I will buy both a $30 pedal or one I need to take out a mortgage for. The Layout is Volume and Gain. For more info download the manual, 😇 

           CONCLUSION __ 

It sounds fat and punchy and has lotsa balz. 

The octave never gets totally out of control. 

Yes you can play an actual tune with it. LOL.

 

FUZZ- PAUSE & EFFECTS Filos... Tone Bender MKIII ... NOS parts, priced low

 PAUSE  &  EFFECTS   

$65.00 USD

Filos   Tone Bender MkIII

These pedals are made by Attila. A guy in Hungry who has a day job in IT. He does several old school classics. Being in Hungry finding NOS Soviet era stock of old parts especially germanium transistors in small quantities is 

not an issue to keep his nearly invisible part time biz floating. The unit is thru hole PCB construction. Basically old Boss MIJ Waza Craft tech. 

The layout is Volume,Tone and Gain. 

     CONCLUSION ___ 

I find zero to bitch about. the construction is old school durable and dependable. All the outside connectors are attached to the enclosure too. Even without a hands on this would be a bargain others would want around $200.00 USD. This in the NUX, Joyo pricing for a handmade.

____ PEDAL OF THE YEAR ____ ??? ____

$180.00 USD

AMPLUTUDE TONEX ONE

A very basic Modeler of the profiling type. It literally records an amp or pedals sound and you have the voice. If you have a Fender amp it can clone a Marshall so it becomes your MIAB. Or, you want an Ibanez Tube Screamer TS9, or a Reverb voice etc. Can it sound and respond like the exact thing. Never. But when used in context it can. Think of being fooled thinking someone is walking towards you because they are behind you and you have been fooled by a mirror. 

     CONCLUSION ___

I very much dislike Modelers as they are like a vinyl jacket passing as leather. Vinyl does not pass up close to even looking like leather it does not form to the users body over time. It does not get a patina with age but literally tears or cracks etc.  

A Modeler can sub as the real thing if you need that thing temporarily. You can try a pedal for weeks and decide it is not for you but if you 

love it you can buy the real pedal without feeling you are making a big 

mistake. It can be the world's cheapest back up amp in an emergency.

 

FUZZ- BEHRINGER Fuzz Bender___NEW___ Part 2. ...new videos ...but is it any good?

$70.00 USD

behringer

FUZZ BENDER  

They are indeed using NOS parts. We already know it looks 

the part. It is why we wanted one in the first place, LOL. 

It has a credible Tone Bender switched to original and 

a passable kind of Rangemaster Treble booster sound, plus a cocked Wha sound on Modern.

   CONCLUSION ___ 

I can not help but think if it were $200 we 

would want one. Yes many could not budget

that, but we would want it all the same. 

Sooo, in short, it really is a f.ing good deal.

You may have to pull down the tailgate 

on your board to fit it in. 

      ...count me in!!! 

If you want to know the size of the
Fuzz Bender. It is the size of the Muff
but adding 3 of your fingers under the
edge where you stand in front of it.

thefineprint

...if your thing is grabbing a pedal off a bookshelf playing for an hour and then heading out for a game of golf than this will be more fun than getting new video game. If you gig in a band, or worse still, in a band doing only originals then it is a suicide wish. The pedal is about as dependable as the weather. One night it will give you the perfect sunny day, and the next you get 10 feet of snow followed by a tornado. I have an old Tone Bender with all original parts. Same deal ..same story to tell 

OVERDRIVE- TOPPING/HYNOTONE Ares Distortion___NEW___ American high gain OD

TOPPING

HYDROTONE Ares 

$100.00 USA

A new company that partnered with Topping who make electronic interfaces, Pre's and Amps for consumer HiFi but not pedals.

The pedal is a high gain American voiced OD with a 6L6 tube sound not an EL34 tube Brit sound. A Boost pushes it into a more contemporary Metal sound. 

The layout is Volume, Treble, Bass and Gain. A toggle switches in a good 

Boost. Another toggle tightens the sound with a high pass filter. 

A 3rd toggle adds Bite. 

__

  CONCLUSION __ 

Impressive and well priced for a new company. 

It is a 5 stage FET tube sounding circuit not a 

cheap OpAmp so the price is very good. It is 

very full with excellent harmonics and overtones. 

 

OVERDRIVE- KEELEY Super.Bass___NEW___Marshall 200 watt-in-a-Box ...dead cheap!!!

 K E E L E Y  

Super.Bass 

$100.00 USD

The amp was designed with 200 watts to let Bass players keep up with a guitarist Stack, but guys like Ritchie Blackmore loved the headroom on his Strat and the power to cut no matter what. In short it became a 'thing'. On the whole pedal makers have ignored it. The layout is Volume, Tone and Gain with a toggle that you can choose an open back combo sound or a closed back Marshall cab vibe.

          CONCLUSION__ 

It a 'budget' pedal and a Ltd Ed. only at Sweetwater. I am guessing it will sell out fast.

On one hand it is great to have something interesting to stomp so one isn't playing the same popular sounds all night. The price tag limits much risk if it doesn't fit in. On the other hand it is a bit

thin and spiky.                 

I gave in to impulse and ordered one, LOL  

Well the pedal arrived. I found very, very much to my surprise I had to cut the highs back to 8.5 o'clock.  

I prefer the open back cab voice .  

I stack it on a $75 CKK  Anka distortion. It is a JTM45/100 MIAB. The first Hendrix recordings were made

with this short lived Marshall as the first Plexi arrived a year later. It is a convincing MIAB but it 

lacks the chime.The marriage of the 2 pedals nails it. Sultans of Swing meet the Foxey Lady.