At Your Feet – Page 13 – HomeToneBlog.com

15th November 2021

First Impressions: VS Audio Royal Flush Dual Overdrive Pedal

This photo shows three pedals on my practice board.

On the far left is the VS Audio Royal Flush - the subject of this blog post. In the middle is the Analogman King of Tone. On the right is the gold JRAD Archer Ikon.

The Royal Flush has a distinctive graphic on the top, of a woman's face. Half of the face is a skull with Medusa-like snakes for hair. It's really quite striking. — The VS Audio Royal Flush on the left, next to the legendary Analogman King of Tone

I recently managed to snag one of my bucket list pedals: the VS Audio Royal Flush. Here are my First Impressions.

7th November 2021

First Impressions: PC30 Lovepedal Englishman Clone Overdrive

The photo shows a rather dusty-looking pedal in a black enclosure.

There are two control knobs, labelled Level and Drive. Also shown is a toggle switch, which is (if you zoom in a lot) has settings labelled 'D' and 'S'. — The “PC30”, a one-off Lovepedal Englishman clone.

Back at the end of August, I bought a (I suspect) one-off clone of the Lovepedal Englishman overdrive pedal, called the PC30. It arrived in early September, and I promptly forgot about it 🙁

What is it like? Here are my First Impressions.

10th October 2021

Second Bite: Fender MTG:LA Overdrive Pedal, Through The Marshall DSL20HR

The photo shows Fender's MTG:LA pedal sat on my pedal board, next to an MXR Sugar Drive pedal.

This photo really brings out the brushed copper look of the MTG:LA, as well as the LED pipes that light up each of the adjustable control knobs.

The settings shown in the photo are the ones that I ended up settling on by the end of this blog post.

Top row: Tone at max, Treble at max, Bass at 12 o'clock, Tight at just after 3 o'clock.
Bottom row: Level just under 9 o'clock, Boost Level 12 o'clock, Boost Boost 12 o'clock, and Gain at 9 o'clock. — Fender’s MTG:LA pedal, sat on my board at home

I’ve had Fender’s MTG:LA overdrive pedal for coming up on two years now, and it’s fair to say that it’s largely spent most of that time sat in its box on the pedal shelf. It’s a pedal for Strats and Teles, but I play my Les Paul most of the time.

Last July, I had a go at using additional pedals to shape the tone of the MTG:LA, to try and make it work better with my Les Paul. While I liked the results, nothing really stuck, so the pedal went back onto the shelf.

Let’s give the MTG:LA another go, this time by trying my new secret weapon: the Marshall DSL20HR.

10th October 2021

New Arrivals: September 2021

September has been another quiet month for new arrivals – but not quite as quiet as August was! A couple of interesting (to me) pieces came available at prices that suited me.

What did I get? Read on to find out …

13th September 202111th September 2021

First Impressions: Mad Professor Super Black Pedal (Straight Into A Power Amp)

It’s not every pedal that gets not one, but two First Impressions posts here on the HomeToneBlog. In fact, I believe this is the first one that I’ve done this for.

How does the Mad Professor Super Black preamp pedal sound, when I run it straight into a power amp? Let’s find out.

11th September 2021

First Impressions: Mad Professor Super Black Preamp Pedal (Into The Front Of An Amp)

This photo shows a top-down view of the Mad Professor Super Black pedal.

The pedal is rectangular; slightly taller than it is wide.

There are two rows of control knobs. Each row has four knobs.

The top row says: "Bass", "Middle", "Treble" and "Gain". These are all in white lettering.

The bottom row says "Volume" and "Presence" in white lettering. Then there are "Volume" and "Drive" in orange lettering.

Below these controls, there are two toggle switches. The switch on the left says 'Bass Cut' in white lettering. The switch on the right says 'Compression' in white lettering.

There are two footswitches on this pedal. The foot switch on the left says 'ON/OFF' in white lettering. The foot switch on the right says 'ON/OFF' in orange lettering.

The controls in white lettering control the blackface side of the pedal. The controls in orange lettering control the Sweet Honey Overdrive side of the pedal.

Finally, we can see that this pedal has side jacks. The 'IN' jack is on the right of the pedal, and the 'OUT' jack is on the left of the pedal. — Mad Professor’s Super Black Preamp Pedal

I recently managed to tear myself away from my beloved Tweed Deluxe amp long enough to snag a second-hand Super Black pedal. And I swear that I didn’t realise this is (partially!) a tweed pedal when I bought it!

31st July 202130th July 2021

New Arrivals: July 2021

This month has been a very special month. A couple of purchases I’ve been working towards unexpectedly all came together at the same time. And then I learned that you really do need to be careful what you wish for!

The second-hand market remains pretty flat. I did miss out on one of my bucket-list pedals though. It’s going to take me a while before I stop kicking myself over that one. I managed to pickup another great BJFe-designed pedal instead, so it wasn’t all bad 🙂

30th July 202127th July 2021

First Impression: Bearfoot FX Emerald Green Overdrive Pedal

The photo is a top-down view of the Bearfoot FX Emerald Green OD guitar effects pedal.

Input and output jacks can be seen on the right and left side of the pedal casing, respectively. The power input jack can be seen on the right hand side, just below the input jack.

On top of the pedal, there are four black control knobs. Clockwise from the top left, these are labelled Volume, Drive, Treble and Voice. — The Bearfoot FX Emerald Green Overdrive pedal.

I recently picked up another Bearfoot FX pedal: the Emerald Green OD. Read on for my first impressions.

18th July 2021

Second Bite: NABLA Custom Black Tweed Overdrive Pedal

This photo shows my Marshall DSL20HR amp head on a shelf, and my pedal board on a second shelf below.

The Marshall DSL20HR is on the clean channel, and the controls can be seen as follows:

* reverb: off
* resonance: about 8 o'clock
* presence: about 12 noon
* bass: just below 10 o'clock
* mids: about 10:30
* treble: about 1:30
* volume: about 10 o'clock
* gain: about 11 o'clock

On the pedal board, we can see three pedals: the NABLA Custom Black Tweed, the MXR Sugar Drive, and the JRAD Archer Ikon. — My rig for exploring the Black Tweed, second time around.

First time around, the NABLA Custom Black Tweed overdrive pedal just fell a little bit short of what I was hoping for. While I loved the feel of playing the pedal (honestly, it’s like playing an amp), I struggled with the EQ controls and the lack of top-end presence in the overall tone.

That was last year. Six months or so later, do I still feel the same?

2nd July 20211st July 2021

First Impressions: The MXR Sugar Drive

This photo shows three guitar effects pedals on my pedal board.

On the left is the Sweet Honey Overdrive pedal. In the middle is the MXR Sugar Drive (the subject of this blog post). On the right, a somewhat dusty Klon KTR. — The MXR Sugar Drive, sat between the Klon KTR and my beloved Sweet Honey Overdrive.

Back in June, I picked up an MXR Sugar Drive. How does this mini Klon klone compare to the real thing? And is it a cheaper alternative to any of the other klones that are in my collection?