Tone. At Home.
It’s impossible to talk about the King of Blues without comparing it to the Analogman King of Tone – because that’s the question everyone wants to know. Is it a King of Tone clone, or (at the very least) a passible substitute?
No, it isn’t. The King of Blues is its own thing. And I really dig it. Read on for the full details, including audio demos to demonstrate why.
Continue reading “First Impressions: Tone City King of Blues Dual Overdrive Pedal”With recent problems behind me, my enthusiasm for music has started to return this month. While I haven’t picked up a lot of new (to me) gear, the items I did snag are all very special to me.
Continue reading “New Arrivals: June 2023”This month, I had – and took – the opportunity to add a couple of increasingly-rare tweed tone pedals to my collection. In both cases, I’m very glad that I did.
I also tried out a new (to me) pedal brand for the first time: NUX. I grabbed a couple of their pedals. Both were excellent in their own way.
Finally, I picked up another clone-in-a-box from my favourite pedal clone maker, websmurfer. It’s always a delight for me to try one of their designs.
Read on for all the details.
Continue reading “New Arrivals: May 2023”A week or so ago, I picked up a new (to me) NUX Morning Star overdrive pedal.
Is it going to be another fantastic find, a big disappointment, or somewhere in between perhaps? Read on for my First Impressions of this pedal.
Continue reading “First Impressions: NUX Morning Star Overdrive Pedal”I recently picked up a new (to me) Bearfoot FX Honey Bee X overdrive pedal.
Is this going to be the Honey Bee variant to rule them all? Will it be the Honey Bee that finally knocks my beloved Sweet Honey Overdrive (SHOD for short) off my pedal board?
Read on for my First Impressions.
Continue reading “First Impressions: Honey Bee X Overdrive Pedal”I recently picked up the black sheep of the legendary Honey Bee pedal family: the Honey Beest.
And I’m going to get through this First Impressions review without making any jokes at all about it being a beast of a pedal 😂
Continue reading “First Impressions: Bearfoot FX Honey Beest Overdrive Pedal”At the tail-end of April, I picked up a new (to me) Les Paul. It’s a little bit different to a regular R8 Historic Reissue … and it just might be my new #1 guitar.
Read on for my First Impressions.
Continue reading “First Impressions: Gibson Les Paul ‘Cloud 9’ Chambered Reissue 1958”Regular readers will have noticed that this blog has been very quiet over the last few months. One of the main reasons for this? I’ve been dealing with problematic audio noise which started after we had a solar PV system installed at the house.
What was the problem? And what was the solution? That’s what I’m covering in today’s Studio Diary entry. Grab a drink … this is going to be a long post.
Continue reading “Studio Diary #38: Dealing With Noise And Solar Power”I recently picked up another tweed tone pedal: the Gee Willikers (Model G) overdrive pedal from Bearfoot FX.
What do I think of it? Read on for my First Impressions.
Continue reading “First Impressions: Bearfoot FX Gee Willikers (Model G) Overdrive Pedal”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 …
Continue reading “New Arrivals: April 2023”