Friday, October 31, 2025

OVERDRIVE- AQUA-AUDIO Sarcasm .... 12 years on the battlefield's frontline

$200.00 USD

 

AQUA-AUDIO
Sarcasm Cranked Distortion 
A basic old school Distortion pedal. No it is not a clone 
of anything. It has the expected Volume, Gain and Tone. 
   CONCLUSION ___
It looks simple enough but it delivers 
a near transparent sound especially 
on the attack. You get killer definition. 
It has survived 12 years by word of 
mouth sales and they do not show 
up used. Why???  ðŸ˜‡

PHASER- OPFSX Electric Vibe Phaser... impressive plus!

 OPFSX  
 ELECTRIC VIBE PHASER 
$210.00 USD
This is a classic analog old school Phaser but with features you only 
find in high end digital modeling.
You get the basic Level, Speed and Depth but 4 other toggles that 
can change the envelope of the waveform. 
To understand this shape thing think of the envelope of a piano. 
It goes from full loud to a slight decay, then sustains then fades 
away. In contrast an organ goes full loud then sustains at the same 
level then goes completely off. So this pedal can create shapes as different as the shapes that tell your ear if a guy is playing a piano 
or an organ. Remember a Phaser is half effect and half your plain 
vanilla clean signal so the piano/organ thing will not be as
startling but it is good to know what's going on to choose the 
right sound for a specific tune.
            CONCLUSION ___
Features do not make your tone sound great if the basic 
signal sucks. Fortunately this pedal would sound killer 
if set to sound like an old MXR Phase 90.


Thursday, October 30, 2025

OVERDRIVE- THORN SOUNDLABS Silver Spurs____NEW___ MIAB

Thorn  S O U N D L A B S  
$245.00 USD
SILVER SPURS   
Thorn tells us this is a Marshall Silver Jubilee-in-a-Box. The layout 
is Volume, Gain, Damping that I expect is a high pass filter to tighten the lows. A headroom control give you a more open sound by 
increasing the operational voltage. Then Bass, Mids, Treble and Presence. 
     CONCLUSION ___
Many feel that the Marshall S.J. was a beefed up JCM 800. 
Oddly it was it's own thing but with a nod to the first Marshall, 
the JTM 45. Like most of the Amp-in-a-Box pedals they swim 
or sink because they simply sound great, or not. This has 
good beefy balzy punchy sound. I quite like it.

Wednesday, October 29, 2025

FUZZ/BOOSTER- THORPY FX Redacted___NEW___ $mooth

$550.00 USD
Thorpy FX
  R E D A C T E D   
 
The Fuzz side of is likely based on a Tone Bender. The Boost is a 
good ol' Rangemaster. The layout for the Fuzz is Volume, Gain 
and BIAS. Boost is the volume for the amount of it and Range 
picks where in the mids you choose to boost. 
 
            CONCLUSION ___  
Like all Thorpy pedals it sounds very 
good. But do you get $550.00 USD 
worth of goodness???


Tuesday, October 28, 2025

OVERDRIVE- LPD PEDALS Supernode Dual Overdrive___NEW___ Nobels ODR into MIAB

LPD PEDALS 
SUPERNODE 
 DUAL OVERDRIVE  
$300.00 USD
For a start half of this pedal is from the LPD Seventy 4. 
A take on a '74 Marshall. I have v.1 of that pedal and 
for years it has been my go-to #1 pedal. I love it and
I have no lint to pick. Killer MIAB.
The other half of the pedal is take on a Nobels ODR 1. Nashville's favorite low to medium gain pedal and 
often just a booster.
           CONCLUSION __ 
On a small board just this ans a good Fuzz 
and away you go. Your dirt problems are 
solved. 
 

Monday, October 27, 2025

John Hornby Skewes & Co. Ltd. ___The Vintage brand ___Vintage Pedals ___NEW ___

Vintage   PEDALS 
13 pedals are to be introduce over the coming months.These 4 overdrives 
are a look at the first pedals to arrive. They are from $50 to $70 USD.




 PART 2   ...MORE OF
     
                  PART 3    . . .11/21/25 The BEST OF


OVERDRIVE- FUNNY LITTLE BOXES 1991... Pearl Jam in a Box

FUNNY LITTLE BOXES 
1991
$160.00 USD
This UK company makes OD and other pedals where they capture the guitar sounds found of famous recordings. In this case we get Pearl Jam's first LP
 
from 1991. since that sound was a Marshall we get a MIAB but with a very specific sonic vibe.
The Layout mimics a PLEXI's functions. There are two Gains to cover the 
dual inputs on the amp. One is a dark sound and the other is a bright 
sound. You then get a Volume and Treble, Mids and Bass EQ. 
           CONCLUSION ___
I must admit this is a very fresh approach. It gives 
you a take that could work with many of those that 
grew up imitating the band to learn their craft.


      

FUZZ-SKETCHY SOUNDS The Thickness... octave Fuzz that stares, lol

$120.00 USD
SKETCHY SOUNDS 
the THICKNESS 
It is a 2 transistor octave Fuzz cleverly fixed at a sweet 
spot in the mids to give you poke. The layout is a simple 
Volume and Feedback that operates the octave. A second 
footswitch kicks in overkill octave squealing.
  CONCLUSION __ 
Not to pricey for a made in the USA pedal. 
It is not so weird you couldn't use it in a few
tunes but you can get a lot more milage from 
for example the good ol' $30.00 USD 
Behringer Super Fuzz Octave Fuzz.

thefineprint
...there is a very fine line between genius and stupid 

Sunday, October 26, 2025

OVERDRIVE- DRUNK BEAVER Trainer TS-100 ___NEW____ cloned pre of 70's Traynor

$175.00 USD
DRUNK BEAVER
Trainer TS-100
An old school class A/B solid state guitar amp could have had 
balz but not the dynamic feel of a good tube amp. This old 70's 
Yorkville Sound Traynor amp was a big exception. D.B. has 
given us a pedal that cloned its pre and the results need a listen.
The layout is Gain Volume, Bass and Treble.  
 
CONCLUSION __
This is one seriously fresh sound. 
At full gain you get a clean sound 
with total balz!!! 
Not another f.ing 'Same Old'.  


OVERDRIVE- LEKATO DS-2 Crazy Dist. ___NEW___ BOSS DS-1 Distortion clone??

 LEKATO 
DS-2 CRAZY DIST.
$30.00 USD
The company is best known for its wireless. In fact I 
have gone through the so-called best brands. 
The $35.00 Lekato WS-70 NEVER drops out or picks  
interference noise. Yes, it sounds great, but I digress, lol.
This is their Boss DS-1 clone. Oddly enough the Boss was 
a clone of the ProCo Rat, lol. The layout is Volume, Tone 
and Gain with a toggle to cut lows. 
            CONCLUSION __ 
I owned a Boss SD-1 and hated it, I found it 
buzzy and thin. I am fairly certain this Lekato 
mini pedal is not a rebrand. The sound is beefy 
and fat with a nice mild scoop. Not bad!

Saturday, October 25, 2025

DELAY- TONE CITY Tape Delay V.2 ___NEW___ Dunlop Echoplex clone

 TONE CITY  
TAPE MACHINE  V.2  DELAY

$60.00 USD
It is a take on an analog Dunlop EchoPlex. The layout is the same. You get Level, Repeat and Time. There isn't any Tap Tempo feature but the real tape echos did not have any either. It is not meant for ambiance or Shoegaze, 
Star Wars or doing tricks playing along to the pulse. 

            CONCLUSION __   
I own both the Dunlop EchoPlex and the UAFX 
Orion digital clone of the EchoPlex. I use both
everyday. I like the UAFX for cleaner sounds  
and the Dunlop for higher gain sounds. That said
the Tone City is in the ballpark so if you like it, 
go for it.