FUZZ- TWILIGHT AUDIO ELECTRONICS FZ-1... a Maestro Fuzztone clone

Twilight Electronics 

FZ-1 Fuzz   

$300.00 USD ...WTF

The Maestro FZ-1 Fuzztone was the first Fuzz. Until the Stones used one on Satisfaction they couldn't give them away. Even when they started selling the general vibe in the community was they were an ugly sounding noise that hid the fact you had no talent and could not play, lol. 

I bought one as a kid from a country guy who got one free when he was paying for buying a new Gibson amp. He had just plugged it in ....then played two chords, unplugged it and thru it across the room screaming loudly that it was a piece of sh@t. I asked him if he would sell it. I had $14 and change and he took it. I picked it up off the floor where he thru it and left. So as a kid I got my 

first pedal.

      CONCLUSION ___ 

This is definitely modded. The Mastro had a thinner sound with a nasal thing. This is not even close. 

The price is beyond a rip off. It has at most 9 or 10

parts on the board. The casing is 4 times the size

needed. Speaking of which the finish couldn't be

more ugly. Wait for the $250 OFF Sale.

BOSS CHORUS PEDALS ___ AN OVERVIEW

ROLAND/BOSS 

...the spin off that became gold

Roland invented the Jazz Chorus amplifier in 1975. They wanted an amp to rival Fender which had offered the Tremolo and later a Vibrato in their amps. It had made Fender the king of amps so Roland wanted a modulation in an amp that would be a first. The amp was a success but the effect is all anyone talked about. 

 

                 BOSS   

THE CHORUS   

A Roland Fuzz and other pedals they had built at the 

time were always held up so they realized they needed 

a separate Dept. and space to build in. They came up 

with Boss for the name and it ran as a separate unit 

not worried or busy making the latest Roland Synthesizer. 

So was born both the Company Boss and the Boss CE-1

Chorus pedal. To be followed by many re-inventions of it.  

 

OVERDRIVE- BOSS OS-2 Overdrive/Distortion ....a quick look at a one off failed pedal

 BOSS  

 OS-2 Overdrive/Distortion 

Is it Cool or Crap or Cool Crap? 

    

MODULATION- JAM PEDALS Ripley Fall... undeniable quality ...although a few but$

JAM PEDALS

RIPLEY FALL

This Greek bilder has been around for years. They started by building clones of the classics using identical parts but soon added other features. The pedals not only sounded exceptional when used dialing in old school sounds but the added feature kept away from gimmicks and added new sounds you can actually use more than once.

$380.00 USD

The pedal has the Waterfall which is a chorus/vibrato on one side and Ripple a 2 stage Phaser on the other.  

CONCLUSION __ 

The best way to describe the sounds is this is 

a pedal like all Jam pedals rarely, rarely show 

up used. shows up used, lol. In short you pay 

the price of a good practice amp but you have 

the pedal for life. Think of it as 3 pedals at $125 each and it starts looking better, 😟>oh!

 

thefinepint

..for most guys the $80.00 USD  CKK Waterdrop Chorus is a great substitute. 

  It does chorus, vibrato and even a good Rotary effect. The overall tone is scary, 

  scary close to a Jam pedal. ...check the Post from June 2023

FUZZ- TWILIGHT AUDIO ELECTRONICS V.1 69' Triangle Muff ...cool? or did they muff it?

Twilight Electronics

V.1 69' Muff   

$230.00 USD

There are endless choices of a Muff, no matter what model.

Many are hot rodded and others have a rep of nailing the original even using NOS vintage parts. This one is a take 

on the Triangle and definitely in the hot rod dept. 

The layout has no extras just the basic Volume, Gain & Tone. 

      CONCLUSION __

This just doesn't impress me. It is hardly a dead on 

repro nor a Fuzz that makes me shout "WOW!"

BUT! ...I can recommend the Mooer Buff Fuzz Triangle. 

In a shoot out with a real Electro-Harmonix Triangle 

Big Muff, it easily held its own in a shootout. 

Many know Mooer make 35 re-brands. They are the

same pedal but in a another color and with different graphics. I bought one and love it. I got the 

iSET PD-11 Wheat Fuzz. It's only $18.00 USD.

MULTI-FX- BOSS PX-1 Plugout Fx___NEW___ The first 16-in-a-Box

BOSS PX-1 Plugout FX

$250.00 USD

Not rocket science. Take the hard work of the many Modeled algorithms that Boss already has in their other large pedals 

and put the classic vintage ones in a pedal. 

The layout knobs are multifunctional and a small screen acts 

as the labels etc. It comes with the first 8 pedals that Boss made, the second 8 can be downloaded. Others are promised as downloads in the future but those will not be free.

   CONCLUSION ___

Even if the Plugout tones are convincing the old dirt pedals are analog & you have a 'feel' under your fingertips that digital doesn't duplicated. On the other hand most guys including me will avoid buying a pedal that we only find useful on one or 2 tunes. Another problem is where to  

put it on a pedalboard??? A dirt pedal or a modulation pedal can seldom be put in the same location.

...the enclosure is NOT a standard Boss pedal. The footswitch has a screen in it.  

I strongly expect it may be used for new digital pedals that are more specialized. 

FUZZ- STUMPBOX PEDALS Get Fuzzed Gold Knob ...Sam Ash Astrotone Fuzz...clone

STUMPBOX  

$175.00 USD

     Pedals 

GET FUZZED GOLD KNOB

A take on the infamous Sam Ash, Astrotone Fuzzz Boxx. 

It is silicon based and it's own thing. The layout is Gain, 

Volume and BIAS. 

           CONCLUSION __

It is a high gain near hard clipper distortion 

pedal. 

In short not the same but much like the 

Rat pedal or even the BOSS DS-1 Distortion.

Very usable for nearly any genre. 

NOTE: Sam Ash is out of biz. 

GIBSON TONY IOMMI Signature PU ___NEW___ a John Birch clone???

GIBSON  

TONY IOMMI Signature PU 

$230.00 USD

The video is all about the Gibson Tony Iommi PU but what Gibson doesn't say is it is virtually a John Birch Guitars Magnum 4 clone. You will note 

that the Birch has a row of adjustment screws across the top. Gibson 

found since they could be easily pre adjusted that a totally enclosed PU would sound the same. The PU has both a ceramic coil and a Alnico 2 

coil. One key difference is it is not wax dipped but the wax is replaced 

with Epoxy. The coils can not move or vibrate the slightest. This makes 

the sound tighter than a gate. It also allows every PU made to sound 

100% the same. 

      

CONCLUSION ___

In short what is in Tony's guitar is swappable with what you can put 

in yours. I owned and played a Birch for about 10 years and had these  PU's. It is fat, aggressive and cuts like a knife with incredible definition. It has everything a great active PU has without losing any of the 

warmth and harmonic detail of a classic passive PU.

DELAY- BLACK MOUNTAIN Roto-Echo___NEW___ ingenious

BLACK MOUNTAIN PEDALS | ROTO-ECHO | 

 THIRD MAN HARDWARE  

The company has a volume pedal using this same 

tech that many may find easier than a treadale.

Check out the Post in January  2024.

I will refrain from describing how it works as it is 

mind fu*k to take in but  a video is worth a dozen 

paragraphs, lol.

  CONCLUSION __

It really is a very usable effect. 

It could be like the Wah Wah 

and be in a lot of players arsenal.

   

OVERDRIVE- JHS PEDALS Sweet Tea V.3 ....discontinued with a good-bye sale

JHS PEDALS

SWEET TEA V.3 

$345.00 USD ...blowout $200

So after 9 years the pedal is to be discontinued. It was ol' Josh's take on a Marshall JCM 800 being pushed by a Tube Screamer. The MIAB side is still available in the form of the Angry Charlie.

The layout has a Volume and Gain for both pedals. The TS has a Tone control and Clean to adds some cleans for definition. The MIAB has Bass, Mids and Treble. A toggle determines the stacking order and another adds more gain.

CONCLUSION __ 

I was never a fan 9 years ago.

The Weehbo MIAB pedals had twice the balz. 

I never got either as both were to pricey, lol. 

Never say never. I keep getting close to getting 

the Weehbo JMP 50 Drive $200.00 USD.

Now I find such pedals simply fit some tunes I write 

so I need both. LY ROCK makes a $100.00 USD clone.