Tone. At Home.
Overdrive, distortion, fuzz – the glorious sounds of dirt and filth!
Late 2020, Wampler Pedals launched the Wampler Belle, which comes in a fetching green. They also did a limited run of these in the Claymore finish, as a tribute to the late Alex Abernathy Clay. Same circuit, just a different finish.
Here are my (long overdue) first impressions of this delightful overdrive pedal.
Continue reading “First Impressions: Wampler Belle Overdrive (in Claymore Finish)”November 2020 is mostly about what didn’t arrive this month, alas.
I ordered a couple of cool pedals from Italy at the end of October, and they only just didn’t make the cut (they arrived 1st December 2020). They’ve both awesome pedals, and I’ll have a lot more to say about them soon.
Another shipping target for the Neural DSP Quad Cortex has been and gone. Both the first and second batch were expected to be in backers’ hands this month, but once again that didn’t happen. With Christmas right around the corner, this is surely going to slip into 2021 now.
The other thing that didn’t arrive? This post. It disappeared without trace from WordPress. Twice. That’s happened a few times in recent weeks. Not yet sure whether it’s WordPress or my new hosting arrangements.
So what did arrive? I got a couple of cool things. Oh, and the world got several COVID19 vaccines too 🙂
Continue reading “New Arrivals: November 2020”Here’s a pedal from (probably) my all-time favourite designer, made by one of the classic American boutique pedal makers, that chases one of the three most famous archetype amp sounds of all time.
Read on for my first impressions.
Continue reading “First Impressions: Bearfoot FX Emerald Green Distortion Machine Overdrive Pedal”Here’s something you don’t see every day. I recently picked up a second-hand Manticore v2, and spent a full week with it on the practice board at home.
How did I get on with it? Read on to find out.
I think this month is mostly going to be defined by what doesn’t arrive.
It’s a good job really, because the car needs some repairs. Whether or not those parts arrive this month or not remains to be seen. [They did not – Ed.] Right now, it’s a really bad time to be repairing or replacing pretty much anything.
Continue reading “New Arrivals: September 2020”
Earlier this week, I bought an MXR 10-band EQ pedal, and finally, the heatwave has abated enough for me to feel comfortable about having an amp on for a few hours.
How have I gotten on with it? Is it an upgrade over the Boss GE-7 that I’ve been using for the last year? Here’s my first impressions.
Continue reading “First Impressions: MXR 10-band EQ Pedal”Long-time readers might well remember me raving over a pedal I called the Little Pink Wonder (LPW for short) over on my personal Twitter feed. (As far as I know, it doesn’t have an official name). That’s a high-quality clone of a boutique boost pedal, and the clone is made by a local pedal builder and sold directly on eBay UK.
Ever since I bought the LPW, I’ve kept an eye out for his stuff on eBay, and tried to win as many of his pedals as possible. Well, except for the fuzz pedals, because fuzz isn’t my thing, and traditional fuzz pedals don’t go well with the dirty power supply we have here in the Welsh valleys.
The Champ Drive is the latest of his pedals that I picked up. From the name and control layout, I was expecting a Lovepedal Champ clone. How did I get on with it? Read on for my First Impressions.
Continue reading “First Impressions: Websmufer’s Champ Drive Pedal”When it comes to pedal manufacturers, I’m a huge fan of Mad Professor pedals. I’ve owned pretty much all of their older (pre-Simple) drive pedals over the years, and I’ve probably logged more hours playing these pedals than any other brands’.
So I was floored when I recently read that the Golden Cello is actually an Amber Drive with added delay (a la the Bluebird Overdrive). How did I miss that?!? But it’s true.
The reason I hadn’t noticed this before? I’ve always used my Golden Cello with the delay turned up a bit (it’s endless hours of fun with an ebow), and it’s an older delay design that doesn’t feature a dry signal blend. ie, the delay colours the sound quite a bit.
Turn the delay off, and hey presto: the two pedals are identical.
So if you’ve always been curious about the Amber Overdrive, but found the second hand prices too high, keep an eye out for a Golden Cello. In my experience, the Golden Cello often goes for rock-bottom prices.
I guess I’m not the only one who didn’t know about this!
In my opinion, Fender’s MTG:LA pedal is a bit of a conundrum. I think it’s got just the one sound, and if that sound doesn’t work for you or your rig, the pedal’s EQ controls can’t save the situation.
I love it with my Strat and my Tele. I don’t like it anywhere near as much with my Les Paul.
Thankfully, we’re not limited to what the MTG:LA can do on its own. We can give it some help, in the form of a second pedal to shape the tone a bit more. And I’m really liking the results.
Continue reading “Tone Stacking: Using Another Pedal To Shape The Fender MTG:LA’s Sound”Recently, I picked up a second-hand Lovepedal 5e3 Deluxe.
What did I think of it? Read on for my First Impressions.
Continue reading “First Impressions: Lovepedal 5e3 Deluxe”