This month, I was able to tick off three items from my gear bucket list.
One of the things I’ve been (re)learning this year is this: the kind of gear I’m interested in trying is only getting rarer and rarer. If I see something, and don’t get it, there’s a very good chance that I’ll be waiting a very long time before I see another example.
And it’s always hard to tell whether or not an item was worth getting until you have it in your hands …
Way Huge Conspiracy Theory Overdrive Pedal
This is another unapologetic entry into the klone family of pedals. Along with the Warm Audio Centavo, the Conspiracy Theory has been one of the more-hyped klones over the last year or two.
That hype led to examples commanding almost-new prices on the second-hand market for quite a while. I haven’t seen many come up for sale, and the ones that did were being chased by a lot of buyers. Eventually, though, I was able to snag one at a good price.
So the question is simple: is the Way Huge Conspiracy Theory an accurate Klon klone? Does it offer anything new or interesting to the family of klone pedals? Or is it just another pedal that will leave punters with the wrong impression of what a Klon does? I’ll answer those questions in a future blog post.
Bearfoot FX Gee Willikers (Model G) Overdrive Pedal
Regular readers will be aware that Bjorn Juhl (of BJFe fame) is my favourite pedal designer. He designed the original lineup for Mad Professor, and after that collaboration ended, he struck up a similar arrangement with Bearfoot FX. That too came to an end, but it left a rich legacy of fantastic pedals behind.
The Model G overdrive is an amp-in-a-box pedal, chasing the tone of old Gibson amps from the tweed era. Tweed tone is my thing (although that might be changing soon …), so when this pedal came up on the second-hand market, I had to try it.
If you like the sound of the Mad Professor Sweet Honey Overdrive or any of the Honey Bee pedals, but wish they sounded more vintage and more amp-like, you should try the Model G. For me, it’s right up there as one of the very best tweed-tone pedals I’ve tried to date.
Gibson ‘Cloud 9’ Chambered Reissue R8 Les Paul 1958 Historic Reissue
Back in 2019, I got a set of Snakebite pickups from Sigil Pickups in Canada. I’ve been looking for a permanent home for them ever since. (These pickups are just too good for me to sell on.)
For whatever reason, that ‘something’ became a search for a Gibson Les Paul R8 in some kind of lemon colour. I’m not sure why … maybe I just wanted that older vibe?
On the way home from a recent trip, I found something a little bit special. Not just an R8 with a really nice faded lemon look, but also one of the rare chambered reissue (CR8) Les Pauls. This is from the 2012 run. It’s pretty tasty, even with the stock Burstbucker pickups.
I’m really looking forward to hearing it once the Snakebite pickup set has been installed.