Tone. At Home.
The magical beast that turns potential into sheer tone!
I recently bought a KAT Load*Star speaker attenuator, to use with my 5e3 Tweed Deluxe amp.
I’ve only had this for 24 hours, and it’s already in the running to be my best purchase of 2026. Why? Read on for my first impressions.
Continue reading “First Impressions: Using The KAT Load*Star Speaker Attenuator With My 5e3 Tweed Deluxe Amp”#CoffeeAndKlon is my (irregular!) Sunday morning magazine series, where I talk about whatever’s on my mind right now. There’s always coffee, and there’s normally chat about the Klon and its many competitors.
This week, I want to talk about the new products that were announced at (or around) Winter NAMM 2026 that I’m very interested in … and the ones that I wish had been.
Continue reading “#CoffeeAndKlon 43: Winter NAMM 2026”This month, I’ve mostly been looking at gear to solve problems I’ve run into (or questions that I want to answer) for my upcoming Marshall Origin 20H long-term review.
Continue reading “New Arrivals: January 2026”I recently bought a Palmer PCABM.
What do I think of it? Here are my first impressions.
Continue reading “First Impressions: Palmer PCABM”Did you have a good Christmas and New Year?
I did: I spent a lot of time with my old Marshal Origin 20H amp and the Wampler tcd drive pedal. Great-sounding combination.
And that got me thinking about what I want to cover in my long-term review of the Marshall Origin 20H, and why I still want to write about this amp at all after nearly 8 years of owning it.
Continue reading “Marshall Origin 20H in 2026: Planning The Long-Term Review”Rather than do a ‘best of’ style post, every year I do a rundown of what amps I’m using for pedal platforms, and why – along with other amps I’m using at home with both electric and acoustic guitar.
Previous years: [2019] [2020] [2021] [2022] [2023] [2024]
Continue reading “2025 Review: Pedal Platforms & Other Amps”Regular readers may have noticed that most of the tweed amp in a box pedals seem to be chasing either the legendary 5e3 Tweed Deluxe or the sublime 5F6-A Tweed Bassman sound.
But every now and then, I get a pedal that chases the sound of a 5F1 Tweed Champ. And I think it would help if I had a reference tone to compare those pedals against.
So let’s see what I can put together in the Axe-FX 3.
Continue reading “#TweedTone: Dialling In A 5F1 Tweed Champ Reference Tone For 2025/26”Traditionally, November is a quiet month for me. With Christmas on the horizon, I normally hold off on buying things, in case I end up accidentally buying something that Kristi’s decided to get me.
Not this year 😁
Admittedly, the haul looks a lot bigger than it was, as I bought a guitar that came with three free pedals. But still. There’s plenty in here to keep me busy well into 2026.
Continue reading “New Arrivals: November 2025”I recently bought a Blackstar Debut 100RH amp head.
This is going to be an additional pedal platform amp. Read on for my first impressions.
Continue reading “First Impressions: Blackstar Debut 100RH Amp Head”