Burgs has posted a demo of an interesting drive pedal out of Vancouver, Canada: the Maple Leaf Royal Drive from Aleks K Production.
In the description of this video, he says that this would be his pick for drive pedal of 2018 so far. That’s high praise indeed.
This pedal has two separate drive circuits that you can blend together to find your tone. Burgs reckons that, combined with the tone stack on the pedal, this should allow you to use this pedal with most guitar and amp combinations.
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Burgs has posted a great demo of RYRA’s The Klone pedal. Not only does he make it sound really good, he shows off how to go beyond the Klon thing and many other great sounds out of this pedal.
Despite the name (and despite how others have covered it in the past) the RYRA Klone isn’t actually a straight-up Klon klone. I have one, and not only does it sound different to my Klon KTR, the controls react differently to. I actually have both on my board atm, because of how different they sound.
This video has lots of great advice in it that I need to go away and try! Might just inspire me to rewire my board to make permanent room for the Klone too …
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The first Fender pedal that Henning looked at was the new Marine Layer Reverb. And it’s fair to say that he really liked it.
I haven’t seen him have this much fun trying a pedal in ages. If that isn’t a ringing endorsement of this pedal, I don’t know what is.
For me, this is a pedal that goes in your effects loop. It’s a performance reverb pedal, if you like, rather than a studio tool – because it isn’t a stereo pedal. Which might be exactly what you are looking for, especially if your amp doesn’t have any kind of built-in reverb.
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Henning has taken a look at Fender’s new Mirror Image Delay pedal. And, as Fender isn’t paying him to demo this pedal, we get his truly unfiltered opinion on this one.
https://youtu.be/_TJwGCjela4
If you’re thinking of ordering one of these, you’ll probably find this pedal very useful indeed. We’re seeing Henning’s initial impressions straight out of the box, and it’s likely that you’ll go through a similar experience when you get yours.
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Sweetwater have posted a demo (from Dunlop’s Bryan Kehoe) of MXR’s Sugar Drive mini-pedal.
Looks like MXR are joining the Klon klone party … and in mini-pedal format too. It’s a very short video, making it hard to gauge how this will stack up against the other klones. But at least we know to look out for it now!
I’m tempted to get a bunch of klones and do a demo of how well they perform in the Klon’s main role. I’ve got a genuine Klon KTR, plus a couple of klones, and so far, while the klones sound good in their own right, they don’t do what the KTR does. I’m interested in seeing if there’s any out there that do.
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Over at In The Blues, Shane has posted his demo of Fender’s new Santa Ana Overdrive pedal.
This is a really good demo of this pedal, showing off what this pedal can do for a Telecaster, Stratocaster and for a Les Paul. Shane also points how the Middle EQ tone control is the crucial one for shaping the tone with the pedal.
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Chappers and The Captain have posted their latest blindfold challenge. Can Lee tell a real Tubescreamer from a pool of clones? And which ones will he like?
The Tubescreamer is possibly the most-copied pedal circuit of them all. Most pedal brands have a TS-style pedal in their range, and there’s a TS-style pedal to fit every budget.
It’s not really an overdrive pedal, and that’s very confusing when you get one for the first time. It’s more of a colour pedal, thanks to it’s pronounced mid-hump. Run it into a dirty amp to shape the overall sound, or run it after a gain or fuzz pedal to act as a great boost.
A Strat -> Zendrive -> TS signal chain in particular is a very special sound.
Over the years, I’ve had a few of the pedals in the video, and the one I use is the Mad Professor Little Green Wonder. You can’t get a sense of it from this video, but one of the great things about the LGW (and, indeed, all Mad Professor pedals) is the low noise floor.
I’d love to try a Wampler Clarksdale one day – just waiting for one to turn up at a good 2nd hand price. The J Rockett Blue Note is another pedal featured in this video that I want one day. Burgs did a demo of it years ago now that really sold me on it.
And just how good does the new Hot Rod Deluxe Mk 4 sound?
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Pete Thorn has posted a demo of Seymour Duncan’s Silver Lake Reverb pedal.
When you think of Seymour Duncan, you probably associate them with decades of pickups. In recent years, they’ve been branching out into effects pedals. The Silver Lake Reverb is the latest to hit the streets.
I like how this is a true stereo pedal. Mono reverbs have their place – mainly for amps that don’t have a built-in reverb of their own. Beyond that one use case, I think mono reverbs just fall flat as a feature effect. Reverb needs to be in stereo if you want it front and centre in a soundscape.
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Mike Hermans has posted a demo of One Control’s Baby Blue Overdrive pedal.
This is a pedal designed by Bjorne Juhl. If you haven’t heard of him, you might have come across BJF or BJFe designed pedals from Mad Professor or Bearfoot FX. The guy’s a legend in the pedal community, and arguably one of the top pedal circuit designers of all time.
I’ve got plenty of his designs on my own board or close to hand in my pedal cupboard. Whether it’s the Sky Blue Overdrive, Sweet Honey Overdrive, or the Uber Bee, his pedals have been at the heart of my guitar tone for many years now.
So what about the Baby Blue Overdrive?
This reminds me a lot of the Amber Overdrive – a fuzzy overdrive pedal trying to sound like a cranked Fender amp. [The Amber Overdrive is actually chasing the sound of a vintage fuzz into a cranked Marshall stack – Ed] Both designs need to be first in your signal chain, like an old-fashioned fuzz pedal. In practice, the Amber Overdrive is challenging to dial in. I haven’t found that sweet spot yet on the two examples that I’ve owned.
The Baby Blue looks like it might be a little more forgiving. Had to say for sure without trying one. Speaking of which …
Elsewhere in the same forum thread, Bjorn says that this new version of the Baby Blue OD is built using modern components (the original ones were built using NOS components that he can’t get any more). As a result, it does sound different, and he thinks it’s closer to the sound in his head than ever before.
Unfortunately, I can’t find one to buy just yet. I’ll keep looking. I really want to put this side by side with the Amber Overdrive to see how they compare.
