On The Gain Stage – Page 12

23rd January 2021

First Impressions: Catalinbread Formula 5F6 Drive Pedal

This photo shows Catalinbread's Formula 5F6 pedal on my pedalboard.

There are 5 knobs visible, but their labels are hidden from view by those knobs.

As regular readers will know, tweed-tone pedals are kind of my thing. Good, bad, or indifferent, I’m always on the lookout for an opportunity to try as many of these pedals as I possibly can. The Catalinbread Formula 5F6 is one of the few that’s in regular production.

The day this was delivered, I was pretty down on it over on my Twitter account. Has anything changed now that I’ve had a bit more time with it? That all depends on what kind of guitar you play …

31st December 202029th December 2020

New Arrivals: December 2020

I had a plan for December: keep an eye out for outright bargains or ultra-rare pedals on the second-hand market, and spend more time enjoying what arrived last month.

Then, when writing up my Annual Review blog posts, that all changed. Looking back over the last 12 months made me realise that there was an obvious problem, and I needed to sort it out. So, I have.

I hope you had a great Christmas and a Happy New Year. We filled our house with music, and it’s what gets us through these historic times.

29th December 2020

Side By Side: NABLA Custom Black Tweed and Mythos Lark

In my first impressions of the NABLA Custom Black Tweed, I said that one of the things I didn’t like about it was that I found the tone to sound very dull. This morning, I was going back through my New Arrivals posts, and I was reminded of another tweed-tone pedal with a top-end that I didn’t like at first: the Mythos Lark.

I thought it’d be interesting to throw them both on the board together, and explore them side by side. This isn’t a ‘best’ kind of review: it’s about understanding the options that each pedal offers … and yes, about exploring the top-end of them both.

27th December 2020

First Impressions: NABLA Custom Black Tweed Overdrive Pedal

This arrived all the way back at the start of December, and since then, it’s barely been off my practice pedal board at home. Although that sounds like a really good thing, the reality is a little more complicated than that …

26th December 2020

First Impressions: Wampler Belle Overdrive (in Claymore Finish)

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.

13th December 202026th December 2020

New Arrivals: November 2020

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 🙂

8th October 2020

First Impressions: Bearfoot FX Emerald Green Distortion Machine Overdrive Pedal

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.

The photo shows a top-down view of the Emerald Green Distortion Machine pedal.

It clearly shows a grassy-green hand-painted casing, handwritten labelling, and the all-important 'BJF Design' wording on the front of the pedal.

Read on for my first impressions.

3rd October 2020

First Impressions: ProAnalog Devices Manticore v2 Overdrive / Distortion 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.

This photo shows a ProAnalog Devices Manticore v2 pedal against a butcher's block wooden background. The pedal is finished in a very hard to photograph dark green.

The pedal's five controls are clearly visible: Level, Treble, Savage, Gain and Drive. Also visible is the single on/off stomp switch.

30th September 20208th October 2020

New Arrivals: September 2020

I think this month is mostly going to be defined by what doesn’t arrive.

I’ve cancelled the PRS S2 McCarty 594 SC that I ordered back in January. It’s probably not going to arrive until 2021 now, and I can’t be confident that I’ll have the money to pay for it when it does finally turn up.
After months of insisting that it would ship on schedule, Neural DSP has finally admitted that the Quad Cortex is going to be delayed after all. Given the current state of the world, it’s not a surprise. Delivery dates have slipped twice in the last two weeks alone. If this arrives for Christmas, it’ll be quite an achievement.

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.

14th August 2020

First Impressions: MXR 10-band EQ Pedal

This photos is a top-down shot of the 10 band EQ pedal from MXR. All 10 EQ sliders are shown, along with a volume slider on the far-left, and a gain slider on the far-right of the pedal.

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.