Tone. At Home.
Pedals, pedalboards, and anything to do with these little boxes of joy :)
This conversation was originally posted to my Twitter feed.
For this week’s #CoffeeAndKlon I want to talk about what got me into Klons and Klones in the first place. Because I don’t have a klone on my practice rig atm.
This week, I’ve gone back to the two pedals that give me *my* sound: the Blue Brit into the Sweet Honey Overdrive. For me, this is home.
This conversation was originally posted to my Twitter feed.
Good morning! I thought I’d do another #CoffeeAndKlon today This week, complete with authentic rat’s nest wiring!
This conversation was originally posted on my Twitter feed.
Good morning, and welcome to #CoffeeAndKlon. Starting off with this question from last night: can the Klon make the Mojomojo sound any good? (PS I’ve dusted the Klon for y’all this morning)
The Mojomojo isn’t a ridiculous pedal like the Metal Zone or Digital Metalizer are. (See last night’s thread for context). It’s probably the worst drive pedal I’ve got to hand right now.
Can the mighty Klon help it out?
Continue reading “#CoffeeAndKlon 1: The TC Electronic Mojomojo”Last month, I made a very unplanned purchase – the Custom Shop Les Paul Special. I got it for less than a brand-new Gibson USA Standard costs (not the first time that’s happened), but still … The next few months are going to be about exceptional bargains or rare items only – or things I need for gigging.
Not that it really matters. The 2nd hand gear market seems to have dried up quite badly this month. Even eBay “sell for £1” weekends haven’t had their normal impact. Will things pick up in May?
Here’s a list of all the new gear that arrived in April, along with my first impressions of each item. I’ll post a separate, detailed post about each item when I’ve had a bit of time to get to know it better.
Continue reading “New Arrivals For April”So March has been and gone. In the end, February’s absolute deluge of available 2nd hand gear wasn’t repeated this month. But a road trip later in the month brought a chance encounter with something a little bit different …
These are my initial impressions of this month’s new arrivals. I’ll do full articles on each of them when I’ve had some time with them.
Continue reading “New Arrivals For March”Today, I’m going through my guitar pedals, making sure there’s no old batteries forgotten in them. Along the way, I ran into a bit of a surprise regarding my Mad Professor Silver Spring Reverb pedal. Let me explain …
Continue reading “Troubleshooting The Mad Professor Silver Spring Reverb Volume and Tone Drop”February has been a very strange month for gear.
The Winter NAMM announcements are over, and now we wait for actual stock to appear in the shops. Some items – like Marshall’s new Studio line of heads, combos and cabs – have arrived quickly (and largely sold out just as quickly). Other pieces – not so much.
eBay started slow, but in the middle of the month, there was a lot of great gear up for grabs at surprising prices. I was expecting most people to be waiting for the “free for private sellers” changes coming at the start of March. I was wrong.
Here’s a list of everything I’ve picked up in February, along with my initial impressions. I’ll write up a full article on each of them once I’ve had a bit of time with them.
Continue reading “New Arrivals For February”At Winter NAMM 2019, Marshall made a major announcement: they launched not one, but two 20W amps based on classic designs. The Marshall Studio Vintage 20 is based on the famed plexi-era amps, and the Studio Classic 20 is based on the JCM 800 – the amp of 80’s rock.
And, by all accounts, both of these amps absolutely nail those tones.
Where does this leave last year’s big new amp, the Marshall Origin? Will the Origin finally find its audience, or is it going to disappear?
Continue reading “Initial Thoughts On The Marshall Studio Amps vs Marshall Origin For Pedals”
The turning of the year can be a great time to hunt for new (to you) guitar gear. The second hand market is normally flooded with folks who are moving on gear they no longer want – or sadly can no longer afford to keep. And there’s Winter NAMM, where brands large and small drop announce new products.
I’ve been lucky enough to pick up some stuff that I’m interested in, and I thought I’d share it with you. Some of it is new to me, and some of it is me taking a second look at things I’ve had before but didn’t gel with. And there’s a few very special items too.
I’m going to do full articles on each of them, once I’ve had a bit of time with them. For now, here’s the very first impressions for you.
Continue reading “New Arrivals For January”It’s finally here – the Wampler Pantheon overdrive pedal. Based on the original Marshall Bluesbreaker pedal circuit, it aims to be an alternative to that legendary pedal: Analogman’s King of Tone.
As well as Brian’s own demo (above), there are plenty of demos from the YouTube pedal demo community and several retailers.
As is usual with Brian, he hasn’t made a straight-up clone on the King of Tone. There’s an extra – and active! – bass EQ knob, and external switches both for the amount of gain and the kind of clipping available.
The Analogman King of Tone is possibly second only to the Klon when it comes to restricted supply and hype-fuelled demand.
The KoT is still in production. To buy a new one, you have to send an email to Analogman to join the waiting list. Unfortunately, they don’t send acknowledgements, so you’ve no way of knowing if you’re actually on the list or not. Then you have to wait until you’re at the front of the queue. At the time of writing, the queue is around two years long.
As a result, there’s definitely demand for a KoT-type pedal that is easy to obtain, and easy to replace if it stolen or otherwise lost.
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