Category: On The Gain Stage

Overdrive, distortion, fuzz – the glorious sounds of dirt and filth!

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#TweedTone: Is The Tech 21 NYC SansAmp Blonde A Good Alternative To A Real Tweed Deluxe Amp?

I’m lucky enough to own a physical Tweed Deluxe amp. I also think that a Tweed Deluxe amp rig for home use has become so expensive in 2023, it’s difficult to justify. So I’ve started looking at alternatives, to see how they compare to the real thing.

The Tech 21 NYC’s SansAmp Blonde on my pedalboard

This time around, I’m looking at Tech 21 NYC’s SansAmp Blonde pedal.

Continue reading “#TweedTone: Is The Tech 21 NYC SansAmp Blonde A Good Alternative To A Real Tweed Deluxe Amp?”
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#TweedTone: UAFX Woodrow vs NUX Sixty-Five For Stratocaster Tones

I’ve just finished writing up both my First Impressions of the NUX Sixty-Five and my look at Universal Audio’s UAFX Woodrow Tweed Deluxe amp simulator pedal. Seeing as both are on the board at the minute, I thought: why not get some Strat tones out of both, and see how they compare?

This is a photo of three guitar pedals on my pedalboard. On the left, there is the UAFX Woodrow. In the middle, the NUX Sixty-Five Overdrive. On the right, the NUX Horseman.
UAFX Woodrow, NUX Sixty Five Overdrive, NUX Horseman on my pedalboard

I think this is worth doing. As much as I love tweed tone, there might be times where something else is a better option for me. And clean-ish Strat tones just might be one of those times.

Read on to find out what I think (with audio demos!).

Continue reading “#TweedTone: UAFX Woodrow vs NUX Sixty-Five For Stratocaster Tones”
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#CoffeeAndKlon 35: TPS Compares A Klon Against The Jeff Archer

#CoffeeAndKlon is my (irregular!) Sunday morning magazine series, where I talk about whatever’s on my mind right now. There’s always coffee, and there’s normally chat about the Klon and its many competitors.

This week, TPS have compared a couple of klone pedals against a real Klon Centaur:

Thought you might be interested 🙂

At around the 1:54 mark in the video, Mick pointed out how important it is to use a pedal switcher when doing these kinds of comparisons. Thank you, Mick, for saying so!

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Side-By-Side: Marshall Shredmaster and Warm Audio ODD Box v1

When I looked at how Marshall’s The Guv’nor sounded next to Warm Audio’s ODD Box v1, I came away with some questions. One of them was this: is the ODD Box closer to the Shredmaster than the Guv’nor in sound?

Marshall Shredmaster and Warm Audio ODD Box v1 on my pedalboard

This is just a quick blog post to find out.

Continue reading “Side-By-Side: Marshall Shredmaster and Warm Audio ODD Box v1”
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#TweedTone: Is The UAFX Woodrow A Great Alternative To A Real Tweed Deluxe Amp?

I’m lucky enough to own a physical Tweed Deluxe amp. I also think that a Tweed Deluxe amp rig for home use has become so expensive in 2023, it’s difficult to justify. So I’ve started looking at alternatives, to see how they compare to the real thing.

This is a photo of the UAFX Woodrow guitar pedal, from Universal Audio. We're looking down on the pedal from an angle. The pedal is sat on my practice pedalboard at home. On the front panel, there are four rows of controls. The first row contains three knobs. They control INST volume, NORM volume, and OUTPUT volume. The second row contains three toggle switches. They control the selected speaker emulation, whether or not to save the current settings as a preset, and the kind of boost that is active (if any). The third row consists of three knobs. These control the amount of room added to the sound; the overall tone of the signal; and how much boost to use. The fourth row consists of two latching footswitches. They control whether the pedal is in live mode or bypassed; and whether the pedal is in preset mode or bypassed.
The UAFX Woodrow pedal on my pedalboard

This time around, I’m looking at Universal Audio’s UAFX Woodrow pedal.

Continue reading “#TweedTone: Is The UAFX Woodrow A Great Alternative To A Real Tweed Deluxe Amp?”