
This one’s a bit different – an overdrive pedal made specifically for acoustic guitar. What do I think of it? Will I be able to gig with it? Let’s find out.
Continue reading “First Impressions: Fender Smoulder Acoustic Overdrive Pedal”
Tone. At Home.
What do I think about a piece of new (to me) gear at first? We all know first impressions don’t last, but at least this way I can look back and see how my opinion has changed from when I first tried something.

This one’s a bit different – an overdrive pedal made specifically for acoustic guitar. What do I think of it? Will I be able to gig with it? Let’s find out.
Continue reading “First Impressions: Fender Smoulder Acoustic Overdrive Pedal”
These were an unplanned purchase. Towards the end of March, I started having some new noise problems with my board; the kind that sounds like there’s a wire loose somewhere. I realised that I didn’t have any spares, so I ordered a whole pile of EBS flat patch cables in three different lengths.
Here’s how I got on with them.
Continue reading “First Impressions: EBS Flat Patch Cables”Back in November 2019, I picked up a set of Kinman pickups from Knighton Music Centre. I’d taken my wife there so that she could look at their impressive range of acoustic guitars, and while I was there, I spotted a promo poster for Kinman pickups.
I didn’t even know you could get these in the UK.
I bought a set, brought them home with me … and then they sat on the shelf here for several months. I’ve finally had them put into my Strat. What do I think of them? Read on to find out.
Continue reading “First Impressions: Kinman Impersonator 54 Noiseless Pickups For Stratocaster”I’m a huge fan of the Danelectro Billionaire series of pedals. I’ve now got all of them except the tremolo pedal, and I’ve been delighted with the sound quality of each and every one of them.
This isn’t the last pedal to arrive before the pandemic lockdown, it’s just the last one for me to put onto the board and spend time with. How did I get on with it? Read on to find out.
Continue reading “First Impressions: Danelectro Big Spender Spinning Speaker Pedal”I don’t have a lot of experience with Earthquaker Devices. Over here, they’re a pretty rare brand, and pricey too. I have had both versions of their Speaker Cranker pedal at various points, and I really liked them.
Am I going to like the Dunes as much?
Continue reading “First Impressions: Earthquaker Devices Dunes Drive Pedal”I’ve actually had this pedal for almost a week. Normally, I try and post my First Impressions within a day or two of plugging in a pedal. In this case, though, I’ve really been struggling to get to grips with the Paisley Deluxe.
Continue reading “First Impressions: Wampler Paisley Deluxe”Earlier this month, I picked up the Xvive Golden Brownie Distortion pedal (a JCM 800-in-a-box pedal), and I really liked it (once I got my head round it!).
With everything that’s going on right now, I wanted to buy something from my local guitar shop to try and support them, and it was my good luck that they had Xvive’s other dirt pedal in stock.
I’ve had a couple of hours with it so far. Here’s how I’ve gotten on with it.
Continue reading “First Impressions: Xvive Sweet Leo Overdrive”I’ve picked up another pedal of eBay to try. It was only £25. I don’t mind taking a chance on a pedal when it’s that cheap. Especially as they often turn out to be well worth the money.
Will the Golden Brownie follow the trend? Here’s my first impressions of it.
Continue reading “First Impressions: Xvive Golden Brownie Distortion Pedal”This is a bit of a difficult First Impressions for me to write. After years of everything being in the same place in the room, I’ve recently moved everything around. I’m still getting to used to how everything sounds in its new location – and in my new listening position.
Anyways. The Anasounds Element has just arrived, and I’ve had a couple of hours with it through my rig. Here’s my very first impressions of this pedal.
Continue reading “First Impressions: Anasounds Element Spring Reverb Pedal”I’m really not a fuzz kind of person. They pickup and amplify all of the noise on the dirty electricity we have here. I don’t enjoy playing through spitty, broken tones. And about the only time I use the bridge pickup on my Strat is to make sure it’s still there.
So what am I doing with one? And what do I think of Fender’s latest fuzz pedal?
Continue reading “First Impressions: Fender’s The Trapper Fuzz Pedal”