SPEAKER... CELESTION ...all of them? ...YES! ...every single one ...good luck :-)

CELESTION SPEAKERS

HOW DID WE GET HERE?

A speaker can change your tone as much as a whole new amp can!!!

It can turn an OK amp into a killer amp!

There are 4 brands with a history of great guitar speakers ...in the UK Celestion and Fane and in the US it has been Jensen and Eminence.

Jensen were the first but the parent company were so busy in the early 60's with the Stereo boom they stopped innovating. In fact they even stopped promoting the guitar biz and slowly just shut down that branch of their company down. 

Celestion took over all the British biz. Eminence was a new company that hustled to fill the guitar amp American biz. 

Celestion were very aggressive and had a well funded research team. Eminence did better and better as they went along. Fane started to move ahead with HiWatt but when the owner died they lost their foothold. 

About 10 years ago a handful of guitar players that worked for Jensen started over.

They had no idea of how to build a speaker. One an engineer talked the company in letting them resurrect the business. Not even the blueprints survived nor even a list of material suppliers. They had to find old speakers and reverse engineer the original speakers.They were all self taught and have now got together the complete old catalog and have come up with some very innovative and progressive new product.

There are several small new companies and a couple that survive on budget clones.

But I have digressed enough. So lets have a good look at the Celestions.

CELESTION

EVERY SINGLE ONE ...please bring a lunch

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

I found that the best way for me to choose 

Neo Creamback 12"

was listening to comparisons with a bit of
crunch in a rhythm guitar groove. But not in a band track as there is too much going on. With single note things ...F-all is going on. I was listening like everyone to the basic overall tone. I was specifically  looking for fullness as I only carry a single open back 12". Since I know what I am missing I was looking for something with more bass and/or punch. I realistically felt I may need to add another speaker ...maybe even a 15" to get both fullness and more lows. One really nice surprise is that after choosing three I really liked ...one of them was the Celestion Neo Creamback which is the one I now am using. It incredibly light to tote around and we all like that.

The unusual thing is although the Neo is In the

Creamback 10"
punchy!

Creamback family it generally agreed on that it sounds like a Greenback 30. The Greenback 30 has the rep of being as warm and pleasing as the V30 but with less issues in the highs and lows. A perfect compromise. The tie between the ones I liked was broken when I found that all but my Neo had the power handling capacity. A 15' is indeed a much bigger sound. But the real surprise was a 10" Creamback it had killer punch that came thru in the lower mids and bit in the lows. I really think the punch alone would keep me away from a 15". Add to that carrying a second 10" cab would not cause weight or bulk issues. At 97db for the 12" and 96db for the 10' they should match up OK. But the blend of 2 different speakers sound is never a given.

GUITAR- KRAMER Baretta Vintage ...damned if they didn't finally get it right!

KRAMER BARETTA VINTAGE

Since the passing of EVH everything Eddie is new again. These days with many of us enjoy wanting to explore guitars that were never in our previous comfort zones it is an ideal way to get into a Floyd. They wisely put on the best of the licenced models Floyd's the 1000. The PU is a Duncan JB which is ideal for a single PU guitar because it hot without getting nasty and backs off for cleans. The body and neck was taken from 1984 specs. A basic Strat body and a 25 1/2' scale neck. The Kramer hockey stick headstock and a 14" radius neck.

It is an 'everything you need and nothing that you don't' guitar for playing high gain

music styles.

The all maple neck was the perfect choice. Maple is cheapest of the serious tone-wood's and it avoids any problems with rosewood and all it's controversy. It also keeps the guitar from ending up with dumb down alternative woods for fret boards.

It is offered in white, flat white, metallic blue and a light green metallic and pinkish red.

At the moment on Pewter Gray and Ruby Red are available. The Red I feel is the only disappointment because it looks like a hooker's pink lipstick. lol

$700.00 USD

A WELL KEPT SECRET

Kramer's first owners bailed after a few years. The guitars were doing well but the company was not well managed. A second group took over and were not much better. They decided to close down the factory and have all the guitars made by

Godin up in Canada. Godin made them as 'kits' and shipped them back to be assembled in the U.S. This skirted customs as they came in as parts and allowed them to be sold as made in the USA. Unfortunately the 'kits' were literally assembled in IKEA fashion by untrained staff. Ouch!!!

If a good tech took them apart and reassembled them and set them up the guitars were killer. Godin's woods, fit and finishes were flawless. Unfortunately the

majority of the guitars were just hung on the wall of the stores. Double OUCH!!!

Kramer tanked!!!

Godin though got smart. They set up a factory to assemble their own guitars in New Hampshire and another in Berlin Germany.They produce more guitars than Fender and Gibson on US soil. They are also the biggest guitar maker in Europe. Their quality control is beyond the best! A spec of dust can turn a Godin guitar into a factory second. The fit and finish is Custom Shop level!

WHY THE F. NOT!!!

You have to ask yourself WTF ...why doesn't Gibson get Godin to make the Kramer's in New Hampshire ???? A basic Tele style Godin sells for $640.00 USD.

Yes ...American made for $640.00 USD Surely they can do Kramer's that sell for

the same or close to the imports?

FINAL THOUGHTS

I have have had a prototype of a guitar I designed made in China

Not only is it all hand made having things like original body and 

headstock shapes adds very heavily to the cost because in spite 

of the term 'hand made' ALL company's that sell guitars under $2000 

use a computer aided CNC machine to cut out the bodies and necks.

Doing this by hand can NEVER be mistake free. 

I will get to the point. A new shape requires a program for the CNC

machine and that is damn expensive. Programs to knock off a Strat

body and neck come free in the basic software for the machine.

I digress only to show you in some detail that I really now what costs 

what and what can be done.

SO ...the Kramer above with the same PU but not the Duncan label

could be sold without the Kramer name for about $400.00 USD

No I am not complaining about the price. I am just disappointed no 

one makes this as a clone. 

The big problem is that this guitar without a Floyd 1000

is a $200 guitar. Company's just do not sell a guitar when half it's 

value is in one part. BIG BUT. One can easily up grade electrics 

even tuners. You can not easily upgrade a whole f.ing Floyd.

The only thing I would change is the color. I would only do it white.

stats show the biggest selling guitars are either black or white. Fact!!

I would not choose black only because to older buyers it suggests 

some Metal styles that are ether offensive or simply adolescent.

No one no mater what color they prefer feels uncomfortable on stage

with a white guitar.

OVERDRIVE- AMT ELECTRONICS M-drive ...look out!!!

AMT ELECTRONICS M-drive 

$65.00 USD

These little pedals just can not be ignored. 

I have several Marshall-in-a-Box pedals
with very detailed and richer tone but this 

one is just has so much adolescent 

attitude I just have to love it. It is a take 

on a beefed up JCM 800.

The layout has the usual gain,level and tone,

with a switch on the side for a mid scoop.

These little steel boxes are nano tanks!

CONCLUSION

Small enough to tuck onto any board.

and at  the price what's not to like?

OVERDRIVE- GMR Little Plexi ...early Plexi sound nailed?

 GMR LITTLE PLEXI 

$110.00 USD

This company has been around for years. They sell a lot of kits but a few of their best pedals they sell as a finished pedal. Well maybe assembled is a better word :-) The casing does not have a finish. The layout is simple. 

You get the very standard gain, tone and level.

CONCLUSION

I have owned early Plexi amps and this pedal is damn impressive it sounds just like the amp.

Most Plexi pedals sound like a Marshall that you hear on a record with the sound heavily modded with the EQ on a killer board and a high end compressor and the player is knocking the crap out of the front end with a good OD or Fuzz.lol

I love the many Plexi pedals that fit this description in fact I have several. A real Plexi sounds killer as is to slam chords 

and do cool riffs but it does not have a lot of sustain. 

It is why the fuzz pedal got put on the map. BIG But. 

It is nice to have the real deal too!

PICKUPS ___ The 'Need To Know'

PICKUPS

If you have ever changed the Pickups in a guitar you know it can transform that guitar into an entirely different instrument. Like many I got interested in construction which lead to a curiosity in why PU's cost so much. I was shocked that about a good half of the price is for design. You can buy everything but the wire for about $15. Cloning PU's is not rocket science. Magnets with the same specs can be made by anyone without any audible difference. Wire can have subtle density's and difference variables in circumferences so there are preferred brands. Bought on huge spools in bulk it too can be as low as $5 a PU. Companies like Seymour Duncan can not make quantities of hundreds of PU's of a single model a day so they make all the OEM pickups in Korea. 

Korean, Indonesian  and even some MIJ guitars that have Duncan PU's have the Duncan's made in Korea. No they are not dumbed down they buy the wire from the same U.S. companies. I got hold of a pair of Duncan '59 PAF's and compared them both physically and sonically. If I did not label which was which I would not be able to pick out which was which. Yes they sounded identical. One thing I know for sure it is hard not to love a great vintage PU. They are what they are and most brand names offer them. Getting an excellent made one by a reputable Korean maker who already makes the pickups for Gretsch, BC Rich, Dean, Gordon Smith, Ibanez, Schecter, Guild and Strandberg is a given. In fact I got a set of Strat PU's 2 days ago. If they are as good as I feel they will be I intend to sell them under my LENARD Re-Inventions brand. I hope to sell a complete set for under $100.00.

 

Curtis Novak FB's

FUZZ- KROZZ DEVICES Tzar Tank Fuzz ... more then your granddads Big Muff

 KROZZ DEVICES TZAR TANK FUZZ 

$95.00 USD

I stumbled on this one. The site is in Portuguese my guess it is probably Brazil. The
basic design is a Big Muff. The layout is volume, tone and gain. There are 2 switches. One gives you a choice of a silicon or LED

clipping diode and the second is germanium or silicon.

I have noticed a few of Brazil's builders use

these really nice sturdy steel boxes. I suspect

they are made locally where the standard Hammond casings must be imported. It is probably cheaper ...cool!

CONCLUSION

There are obviously a lot of different tones available from some nice ripping and 

rough sounds right up smooth Overdrive noises.

Unfortunately Brazil has some unusual 

export laws. They want to open up home

online shopping which is slow to catch on in 

Brazil. I can only guess there some kind of 

grants or tax breaks offered by only selling 

both direct and locally. 

OVERDRIVE- AMT ELECTRONICS S-Drive mini ...a little killer Soldano ...one of my faves!

 AMT ELECTRONICS S-DRIVE MINI 

$65.00

There are 7 mini OD's in this series of amps. I have already did a Post with them all in it last October. The company at the time who are based in Russia were having many problems with C-19 and it brought all businesses to a halt. They were probably having a cash flow problem so they were booting out the mini OD's for $45.00 USD.

There was a phenomenal interest with the recent Post of the deluxe version so I thought I would revisit the mini.

It comes in a really heavy duty custom made steel casing. It has a small bar that protects you from bumping the knobs and accidentally changing your settings. The layout is simple with level, gain and tone and a switch for scooping the mids.

CONCLUSION

First the price is a steal even at $65.00 USD. The sound

really has a Soldano SLO 100 vibe to it. The best thing is 

it has a really balzy punchy sound. It does not sound 

like another Plexi pedal that the marketing team decided to call a Soldano. I have several excellent but expensive OD's As much as I love them this one holds it's own. I love this as much as the others. Even if you already have a great Marshall style OD at this price why not have two killer OD's?

I have had mine 6 months. Enough time for the novelty to where off and I still smile when I click on it's switch!

UPDATE

Nov.27/22 I just got the much hyped Soldano SLO from Soldano 

..it lives up to the hype!!! 

I soon found that when I do vocals the AMT lays right 

in behind it still punching away! So WTF ..they do sound the 

same. So I treat the AMT as my Crunch channel and the big

boy does the leads and riffs.

Note: this is the best of 3 demo video's 

and it still does not do the pedal justice.

OVERDRIVE- J D ANALOG Tone of the Gods ... a Masterpiece or just a luxury?

 J D ANALOG TONE OF THE GODS PRE 

The builder wanted his favorite amp asound a JTM 45. He wanted his favourite OD pedal a Jan Ray and a great clean boost to be all built in a pedal. He wanted to have his Strat to get an SRV sound to come through it all. So to do so it had to have the headroom of a real tube amp pre ...that's a scary 150 volts.

So here it is! As soon as the paint dries you can get one. :-)

$445.00 USD

CONCLUSION

I have owned a super high headroom Marshall in a box by as small builder

in the past. The headroom does make a BIG difference but it is nothing that can be

streamed through a demo onto a low fi PC or Smartphone.

So in the end you have to do what you do on any dirt pedal purchase and go by the sound first and your trust in the reviewer second. In short I have 15 pedals that I would call Marshall. I have another 10 or so that are hot rodded but have a Marshall vibe and still another 10 that are great sounding like an OCD that are accepted by a lot of players as Marshall like ...but ...they really are not!

This has a sound not dissimilar to a Carl Martin Marshall. I have his Panama. It is fat and warm but it doesn't have any serious bite. To be fair so does my Empress Cornerstone yet it lets the chime of my Strat come through. The 'Gods' pedal was voiced to be a pedal for a Strat.

The price is not cheap and I had to borrow it from his top price for pedals that have 8 knobs and 2 foot switches not 10 knobs and 3 switches. It may be even $500.00 USD  ...OUCH!

ONE SIZE FITS ALL ?

I wish. 

I love OD's. I have 34 on my board. I use ever one to cover my 25 original tunes

at a gig. In other words they are not pedals that spend days or weeks not being used.

My point is simple ...one OD will not be perfect on every tune. One OD may be acceptable

to you to gig. My original tunes have a  Prog Metal vibe. I want them to sound as close to perfect as I can make them. Who among you strives deliberately to have a second best sound. 

I do not see anyone with their hands up ???

The bottom line there are killer OD's in every price range. 

The OD that is huge and fat may even be sluggish can be the best in a wall of sound slow moving Doom tune. Another OD maybe even a bit thin but is bright and bitting for a fast moving tune with a busy rhythm. Then there is everything in between! Add to that if you are like most players these days you have at least 2 guitars. The best OD for a Strat is not the best for a LP.

I never say never ...but I avoid 'monster pedals' they are meant to do at least 2 distinct sounds. Two pedals usually by 2 different makers do it better. 

I recommend the whole range from low gain to a medium gain a high gain and for some even a Metal style extra high gain. That makes 4 OD's as the minimum. Exceptions? Yes some players play in a style that fits into a small box. Blues players often use an OD as an always on pedal or as a boost pedal for a solo. Players needing at least 2 OD's are getting very, very rare. Others that go for a modeling unit NEVER just use one sound. Even if it is just a light crunch they may use a Vox AC 30 sound as well as a Fender Deluxe. Yes? ...yes.

THE FIRST ROCK GUITAR SUPER STAR ...Without this guy the players you love would not exist!!!

A PERFECT PERFORMANCE
CHUCK BERRY'S 1965 BELGIUM TV APPEARANCE 
I saw the guy live in the 70's. Like everyone I later saw a tune or two on video know and again. Big BUT! This show is killer. Keep in mind he created his style out of thin air. There wasn't other players to copy or learn from. Sure a bit of Blues Country and Jazz was around but the only other guy doing a rock thing was Ike Turner. He was nowhere near as varied or inventive. Everyone started with Chuck. He was followed by an endless chain of the guys starting with Keith Richards and followed by  Hendrix, Clapton, Beck etc. They were followed by an long list of guys who mimicked the last guy and then added something of our own taking playing to the next level. Players listening to all of them took it to a further stage.

The problem with this is our music can can get diluted of any real emotion and become an exercise in athletics and slave to academic form. I have done this myself. I have lost how to crawl and explore and find my own meaning to any mysteries. Listening to chuck takes you full circle back to the roots and encourages to drop the pretense in our playing and musical values and to create something meaningful for our listeners.

OVERDRIVE ____FIND OUT WHICH YOU PREFER ????_____ FIND OUT WHY

HOW MANY KINDS OF OVERDRIVES ARE THERE?

There is a limit to the kinds of OD's that are quite literally possible. They are based from Op-Amps or FETS. 

The Op-Amp is for our purposes just miniature amplifier and FETS are modern transistors. Germanium and Silicon transistors are used for Fuzz pedal so they are not in the Overdrive family.

Each kind of Overdrive obviously has an originator. The 'original' had of course a schematic or drawing of the circuit of how it was made. My point is ALL OD's since are hot rodded copy's of these few designs.

 

The vehicle in the picture below is the first to be propelled by a petroleum fueled engine.

1886 Benz
If this were a pedal it would be a Rat.
or a Tube Screamer
Why would anyone want a 2021 Porsche 911
is it not just a crap clone !!!

I am sure you get my point an Overdrive is great idea but like a automobile. A new one will always be a 'clone' or copy or in 99% of all cases a modified and arguably an improvement over the last one.

WHO MADE THE FIRST ONES?

I often compare OD's or expose to you the one's that are sold as something

new and unique when they are NOT. It is a marketing con. The human ear can easily hear small differences so everyday we are presented with pedals that indeed do sound different. They are like car tires. They are all black and round but if put on the same car the car 'feels and handles' differently. 

My point is every year we get new OD's with very pleasing sounds and are worth purchasing. They sound different because even if they use the dozens of small variables of another's design they buy the parts from a different manufacture and even that can change the sound.

Once again I digress but my point is if you know what makes up the basic types you can best pick OD's based on that design and be able to choose from that category. Better still you can eventually tell just by ear what you are listening to and not get fooled by a lot of bull by company's who claim to have reinvented the wheel.

WHAT'S NEXT?

The Klon is a perfect example of how using tech used by several pedals can be cherry picked and added in different amounts just like a recipe for a cake. The ingredients are the same because a cake is not a cake without them but just like a cake the result is a different taste or in out case a different sound.  

Young engineers are coming into the pedals world in a field that is still mostly trial and error amateurs turned pro. In both case amateur and engineers will also make brilliant mistakes and we get a fresh new sound.

OVERDRIVE- JANIS.LV EFFECTS ...Miesneieks OD ...a contempory classic

JANIS.LV EFFECTS MIESNEIEKS OD

$170.00 USD

Since 2009 a steady trickle of pedals has come from Latvia by Janis Altmanis. Since many reviewers talk about the guy in reverent tones as if he invented the Klon. I was surprised to find virtually nothing about the guy. He has a day job and a band and makes pedals to relax. They have always been sold through Reverb and there is always a handful of pedals to buy. The Miesneieks has always sold very well by word of mouth. It is a low to medium gain pedal. It is a very transparent pedal which responds beautifully to the dynamics of your touch. It is usually found in the hands of 

a Strat owner.

The layout is volume, gain, tone and a switch for added gain.

CONCLUSION

What is refreshing is the Janis sells it as an OD for a Strat. Only an artisan would sell a pedal this way. The marketers would want it to 

be a 'one size fits all'. If you play a Strat or even have Strat PU's 

in a different brand you ignore this pedal at your peril.

OVERDRIVE- AMT ELECTRONICS Legends Amps S2 ...Soldano SLO 100 amp-in-a-Box ...Punch!!!

 AMT ELECTRONICS LEGEND AMPS S2 

$150.00 USD

One of many amp-in-a-box pedals. My only beef is they came out a few years back when putting in a circuit with a faux analog cab sim to record direct was appealing for home recording. The price of modellers has made this idea pointless. I am an analog guy and a pedal, amp and mic are my preference for recording. For direct recording I can not argue that modeling is better. In short my beef is really this part of the pedal pushes up the price for something I will not use. I did buy the Legend R2 ...a Mesa Dual Rectifier pedal which is the same thing but it was on sale. It also has a lot of Marshall left in it's sound. Marshall is for me like a lot of players my comfort zone. Soldano is an acquired taste.

The pedal is as simple to use once you learn to ignore half the knobs and jacks.

CONCLUSION

It has a real PUNCH with it's beefy balzy and tight sound

but you can get the Master Effects X88R that to my ears 

has more of an earthy open sound with very authentic sag 

on it's attack. 

I spent some time listening to the real amp. 

The real amp has a bit more lows than the X88R but otherwise

it is scary close. The S2 is quite a bit grittier than the real amp

but definitely has the punchy lows. 

It is a handmade and you pay for that ...$200.00 USD

Both are killer. It is a trade off.

AMT do a mini pedal the S-drive @ $65.00 USD. I have

one and love it. lol it is not quite as fat as the S2 but it is 

still really tight and balzy.

ATTENUATOR- FRYETTE PS 100 Power Station ...put a full Stack in your bedroom!

 FRYETTE PS 100 POWER STATION ATTENUATOR

So you have a Marshall 100 full stack that is total killer!!! But the damn thing is louder than your whole band and at a club it rearranges the furniture. What-do-ya-do? You get an attenuator. A device that sits between your amp head and the speakers and sucks up the signal leaving as much or as little level as the situation will allow. Does it change the sound. YES! For one thing the speaker is not working hard or indeed moving in and out as much. the Fryette compensates for that ...it is why it is the best.

This is latest version and it does things you could never even think of or once you know you may still think you will never need. Many are near unexplainable without

seeing them applied. Soooo ... just check out Pete's video.

$900.00 USD

CONCLUSION

I only have one criticism. When times are good it is really, really, really hard to get one. When times are bad you can not get one. Period!!!

OVERDRIVE- MASTER EFFECTS X88R ...Soldano SLO100-in-a-BOX ...Scary close?

MASTER EFFECTS X88R

$200.00 USD

Tim Gorjanc is Master Effects he claims to do this as a hobby but his shop has all equipment other shops can only dream of. In short everything is done with high end pro shop equipment like Keeley and MXR use. Yes the pedals are all handmade but you do not get amateur finishes.

There appears to be a dozen pedals to choose from and he does all master of custom work.

I will be certainly reviewing more of Tim's pedals. My first impression is there is a goldmine of interesting and unusual pedals. There are many preamp type pedals that cover a lot amps from the past that 'no one' offers anywhere.

Yes when I say unusual I am talking about things like the pre's not weird bizarre things that unusable toys to a serious player.

The X88R is a Soldano SLO100 lead channel pre.

The layout is simple with a 3 way EQ. Gain and Level.

CONCLUSION

Like any pedal that simulates an actual amp in this case a $4300 amp there is a degree accuracy that can be reached. PedalPalFX are the masters of that and I have 3 of their excellent Marshalls. I have as many or more LPD Pedals which are more like the sound of these same amps in the way we here them post produced on a recording. I love both. One of my fave produced sounding pedals is the AMT S-drive Soldano pedals. Check out the AMT flagship version too the Legend amps S2. They are all quite different.

X88R 

I find the ME pedal to have better clarity and detail. The AMT has undeniable more balz. I took a fair bit of time comparing the ME to the real amp. The real amp  definitely has bit more low end but is otherwise scary close.

If nothing else if you are a Marshall guy having the next generation of amp sound

as an alternative choice fills in a nice balance between vintage and modern sounds.

It pushes you into new and creative playing and keeps your sound fresh for your audience.

Regular readers know I use all 82 pedals live. I am certainly in a ...

'if something comes then something goes mode.'

The thing is ...what goes?  LOL

OVERDRIVE- AMPTWEAKER Tight Metal (Standard) ...NEW ...Biggest seller got small ?

 AMPTWEAKER TIGHT METAL (Standard)  (new)

$190.00 USD

The company was founded by James Brown who was solely responsible for inventing the Peavey 5150 for EVH. He went onto designing many amps for many companies and was a consultant for many more. He sold Amptweaker two years ago to work for EVH designing amps again. I feel that he is getting older and wanted to semi-retire.

The new owners have dispensed with the original elaborate casings.They simplified the Standard guitar OD's They then killed off 34 pedals. Ouch! They now only sell 6 pedals.

Tight Metal formally came as a Standard, a Pro and a Jr. The Pro has been kept in tact but the Jr. has been dumped and the new Standard appears to be the former Jr. as far as features go. 

The company insists it has the Standard's specs and has not been dumbed down. Maybe? It could be true if only because 

it was the goose that laid all the company's golden eggs.

It is also assuring that it is still made in the U.S.

CONCLUSION 

When they sold the old model the Fat and the

The original
pedal

 Tight were 2 separate pedals. 

The only video of the new one is lame. 

The new pedal came out in Jan. 2021.

They need to get the pedal out to some serious reviewers.

There is a 'Will It Chug' video by Ola Englund the guru of Heavy Metal. He reviewed the old one on Aug. 2020. He thinks it is the best Metal pedal he has ever played. The video will not download so you will have to go direct to YouTube. I included video's of the old model. I find the overall sound impressive. This pedal's attack is nicely in hand thanks to both the 'Tight'...high pass filter control and the built in gate.

The previous model went for around $300.00 USD the new one is $190.00 USD.

          Prymaxe has it on sale for $140.00 USD 

HANDS ON

James Brown

The first thing that surprised me was that the casing is robust with a bit of reassuring heft. It has a very cool looking high tech grainy finish. The knobs are metal and have a smooth but firm sweep. 

Unlike the pic the Plexi is labeled 'Thrash'. It has a 3 way switch with Plexi unlabelled in the center position and 'Smooth' has been left as it was. Everything looks and performs totally Pro. All the tone choices are really good and are definitely usable. I could get both a super tight modern metal sound and a very usable fat one. I was also pleased that if you pull the gain back you can get an excellent modified classic Marshall sound. I found for old school metal sounds it is awesome with my Gibson SG Standard with hummies.

I tried a high gain and a Tele for modern settings but the real winner is my Ibanez with P90's.

It needs a few good reviewers to demo it. My only beef is the change of the original 

label with a pick shape that is slanted with the 'a' in the center to an uprighted pick with a skull. The skull thing is trite and cliche. It cheapens the whole vibe of the company not just the pedal. It is definitely very good value for money. With the sale price it is a steal.

UPDATE:

After using it in a very up tempo modern Prog Rock vien it does a totally convincing job of pulling off the gourmet stack thing. 2 Thumbs up!!!

 

_____________________________

HEADS UP

Below is Brett Kingman's review of the Tight Metal Jr.

I figure at a minimum the NEW Standard model is as good 

as the old Jr. and this is an excellent demo.

OVERDRIVE- DR SCIENTIST The Elements ...is this the best OD ever made??? it really could be

 DR SCIENTIST THE ELEMENTS 

$200.00 USD

I have 82 pedals wired up as 4 separate boards. They are attached to 2 boards for portability. These 2 boards are patched into one. 

A switcher lets me turn each board on and off. 

If that sounds confusing try this. At the gig I have and use all 82 pedals that day at the performance. 41 are dirt pedals. 

I play a style of Prog Metal.  ....Big but!

I am missing just one single sound. I do not have a dirt pedal that is as huge as a Doom Metal pedal but with the dead clean attack and definition of a Djent pedal and can do both sounds at the same time 

and still sound killer. Yes Finding such a pedal is very likely improbable and close to impossible to make :-)

Right now I switch between at least 4 different dirt sounds in one tune. Often one or more of those 4 choices has a row of 2 or 3 pedals stacked.

I still am not happy. I play a couple of tunes where there are lightning fast runs going into power chords then back to the fast runs. These changes are too close together to switch between 2 pedals. Think of it as going to a Doom sound then to a Djent and doing this back and forth over a few bars. Switching between a verse and chorus is not hard but going back and forth several times within them is not.

THE ELEMENTS

This pedal has 41 reviews!!! Not even the Ibanez Tube Screamer has more.

The pedal gives you the ability to turn it into anything from a clean boost to low, medium high gain or any genre of Metal pedal. You can also use it as an EQ 

pedal and each separate function is world class.

CONCLUSION 

So why doesn't everyone just get this pedal? It sounds like a miracle??

Simple. The smallest difference in tone created just by a maker choosing an equivalent part by a different manufacturer has its own coloration and the human ear can hear that.

So if you just need a perfect Blues sound or Doom sound or whatever there is a perfect pedal. What this pedal can do is give you the mirror image of any sound but like a mirror you will notice it is an accurate reflection but not the real thing. It's real strength is anything in the 'real pedal' you find lacking can be fixed. For example you like a Tube screamer but hate it has no lows. This pedal will get you really close to the ts ...but fix the lows at the same time. So in my case I want Doom pedal that is tight with cutting attack. I 'think' it may just be able to do that.

THE VIDEOS

As for the video's going from left to right the first is best to cover lower gains and Bluesy stuff.  The second is good for Marshall like settings. The third is aimed at the 'How To'  with lots of knob turning. The fourth is for Metal. 

The second definitely shows you what you have a to work with in general. I like the second because a couple of good Marshall sounds in a pedal are always useful. The first showing low gains is the least impressive. Being picky with lower gain is given. A good low gain can turn a rather average amp into a great one or save a poor amp from making you cringe. I could not fault a pedal not specializing in them to be expected to be anything but passable. 

Really Massive Metal sounds have so much gain that you are judging the bass and lower mids for their ability not to get buried by the drums and bass guitar and you are looking out for any buzz, especially high frequency bee buzz.

OVERDRIVE- CATALINBREAD SFT ...an Ampeg-amp in-a-BOX ... nice change!

 CATALINBREAD SFT OD 

$190.00 USD

Ampeg were all about clean sound in the in the 60's. They looked at and borrowed parts and design from the Hi Fi scene to design there amps. Unlike HIWATT that wanted headroom but still wanted some dirt Ampeg only got dirty by cranking the crap out of the amp. lol But dirt or not that headroom slams you like a bat across the head.

Catalinbread put it all in a pedal. The V.2 added extra gain which opens up a whole new world.

The layout is gain, level, treble and bass which nails a classic Ampeg. A new added boost switch gives it enough gain that if cranked takes you in Metal territory with a much needed punch that you can not get out of the many pedals that are specialized yet do not have it.

CONCLUSION

It is great new choice. If I had it I could easily put it to use.

Check all the video's as it works in styles from vintage to

alternative.

On the other hand checkout the Menatone MenaWatt

$200.00 USD it has that wide open sound but there is

no denying its dead cool and familiar vibe of the early

70's king of amps sound.

GUITAR STRAP- Why...When and Where???

   [] THE GUITAR STRAP * <> * <> * <>  *       

I stumbled onto this and thought you would enjoy it.

DELAY- LPD PEDALS Rival Delay Ltd Ed ...classic analog delay at it's very, very best

$190.00 USD

 LPD PEDALS RIVAL DELAY LTD ED 

These go on sale today and Lawrence pedals are so good that fans of LPD will simply buy one site and sound unknown. 

It ain't no bull you don't have time to weigh it out.

The layout is simple. You get level, time and repeats. You get a very long 750ms. That is more than long enough for ambiance things. Turning off the switch does not kill the tail either.Dead killer pedal for a solo and when pulled back it is ideal to use to replace a reverb for the whole tune.

I play a metal stlye. I would never have it off.

CONCLUSION

I have five of Lawrence's pedals. Every one is a keeper.

Some of my pedals end up on Reverb the day after I bought them A few were replaced when Lawrence put out it's replacement. The damn things are all a total killer.

OVERDRIVE- ORIGIN RevivalDrive Hot Rod ...flawless!!!

 ORIGIN RIVIVALDRIVE HOT ROD 
All analog state of the art Plexi-in-a Box. This is their third pedal. The first can literally a take any tube amp and dial it in. The second was a compact model that was voiced as a Marshall Plexi. The next was a full size 'hot' version and this the one most of us have been waiting for. The Hot Compact!

CONCLUSION 

What's not to die for!!!

$400.00 USD  ouch!

                                       ...<>^ ...<>^ ...<>^    ducking out!