Tone. At Home.
By my track record, June 2020 was a very quiet month for trying gear. The second-hand market’s been very quiet, and to be honest, my appetite for new (to me) gear has been too.
With music kind-of on the back burner at the start of the month, I went into July without any real plan for the month. Did I get anything at all, and if so, why?
Continue reading “New Arrivals For July 2020”When it comes to pedal manufacturers, I’m a huge fan of Mad Professor pedals. I’ve owned pretty much all of their older (pre-Simple) drive pedals over the years, and I’ve probably logged more hours playing these pedals than any other brands’.
So I was floored when I recently read that the Golden Cello is actually an Amber Drive with added delay (a la the Bluebird Overdrive). How did I miss that?!? But it’s true.
The reason I hadn’t noticed this before? I’ve always used my Golden Cello with the delay turned up a bit (it’s endless hours of fun with an ebow), and it’s an older delay design that doesn’t feature a dry signal blend. ie, the delay colours the sound quite a bit.
Turn the delay off, and hey presto: the two pedals are identical.
So if you’ve always been curious about the Amber Overdrive, but found the second hand prices too high, keep an eye out for a Golden Cello. In my experience, the Golden Cello often goes for rock-bottom prices.
I guess I’m not the only one who didn’t know about this!
In my opinion, Fender’s MTG:LA pedal is a bit of a conundrum. I think it’s got just the one sound, and if that sound doesn’t work for you or your rig, the pedal’s EQ controls can’t save the situation.
I love it with my Strat and my Tele. I don’t like it anywhere near as much with my Les Paul.
Thankfully, we’re not limited to what the MTG:LA can do on its own. We can give it some help, in the form of a second pedal to shape the tone a bit more. And I’m really liking the results.
Continue reading “Tone Stacking: Using Another Pedal To Shape The Fender MTG:LA’s Sound”
In 2019, Fender released not one but two tube-based drive pedals: the MTG Tube Distortion Pedal, and the MTG:LA.
I’ve had both pedals for several months. During that time, I’ve also played quite a few other tweed-tone pedals from Boss, Mythos and Lovepedal, which has helped me with my understanding quite a bit.
How do they compare? What are the differences? I’m going to try and answer that in this blog post.
Continue reading “Side By Side: Fender MTG & Fender MTG:LA”Recently, I picked up a second-hand Lovepedal 5e3 Deluxe.
What did I think of it? Read on for my First Impressions.
Continue reading “First Impressions: Lovepedal 5e3 Deluxe”Recently, I bought a Lovepedal High-Powered Tweed Twin (HPTT for short) from the second-hand market.
What do I think of it? Here’s my First Impressions.
Continue reading “First Impressions: Lovepedal High Power Tweed Twin (HPTT) Overdrive Pedal”In February, I decided to change the layout of the room at home that doubles as my home office and home studio. It was a good decision. Now I just have to work through the consequences.
There isn’t the same amount of space for my amps as there was before. I needed new furniture to put them on. In a world of metric measurements and largely imported furniture, amps and their dinosaur imperial measurements are a very awkward fit. I wasn’t able to find anything in the shops that would suit.
I had to make my own. And, partway through, the pandemic lockdown started.
This one’s a bit of a long read, as much about the story as step-by-step instructions. If you’re interested in making your own, I hope you find it useful!
Continue reading “Studio Diary #21: Homemade Shelving For My Amps”Today, I learned that my Analogman King of Tone shipped from the factory with the top-mounted toggle switch disabled.
Fortunately, it’s an easy thing to sort out, and well-worth doing so.
Thanks to its association with That Pedal Show, the Keeley Electronics D&M Drive has to be one of the most well-known drive pedals to launch in recent years.
I’ve finally taken the plunge and bought myself one. What do I think of it? Here’s my first impressions of this award-winning pedal.
Continue reading “First Impressions: Keeley D&M Drive”Back in May 2020, my pre-ordered Mythos Lark drive pedal arrived. It’s been on the practice board most of the time since then, sharing time with various other tweed-tone pedals that I’ve been looking at.
How has it gotten on? Here’s my First Impressions of this drive pedal. It’s a bit of a long read …
Continue reading “First Impressions: Mythos Pedals’ Lark (Rhett Shull Signature) Overdrive Pedal”