First Impressions: Tone City Dry Martini Overdrive Pedal

Back in October, I picked up a new (to me) mini pedal: Tone City’s Dry Martini overdrive. I’ve seen folks recommending this as a viable alternative to Fulltone’s legendary OCD pedal.

This photo shows two pedals on my pedalboard.

On the left in shades of purple and pink is Tone City's Dry Martini mini pedal.

On the right in a warm cream colour is Fulltone's OCD pedal.
Tone City’s Dry Martini pedal next to the Fulltone OCD

But … is it really? And if not, is it still worth checking out? Here are my first impressions.

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First Impressions: PRS Horsemeat Overdrive Pedal

Back at the start of October 2022, PRS released their first guitar effects pedals. There were three pedals in the line-up: an overdrive, a compressor and a flanger. Only one – the overdrive pedal – actually turned up in the shops here in the UK 🙁

What’s the Horsemeat like? It’s an expensive pedal. Is it worth it? Read on for my quick (if delayed!) First Impressions.

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#CoffeeAndKlon 33: The EHX Soul Food

#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.

The EHX Soul Food

Today, I want to talk klones, and specifically the most important klone pedal ever released: Electro-Harmonix’s Soul Food. Make yourself your favourite morning drink first. This one is going to be a #longread … with audio demos.

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#CoffeeAndKlon 32: A Digital Klone In The Axe-FX 3?

#CoffeeAndKlon is my occasional Sunday magazine-style series, where I talk about whatever’s on my mind about guitars, gear, music and yes, sometimes my love of both coffee and the Klon pedal.

Fractal Audio recently released a digital Klon klone pedal for the Axe FX 3. Knowing Fractal’s reputation, it will have been meticulously modelled against a real Klon Centaur pedal – either one they own, or one they were able to borrow from the community.

Can a digital klone be a stand-in for the real thing? Let’s find out together.

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New Arrivals: July 2022

I didn’t pick up any new (to me) gear last month, and just the one item this month.

The Axe FX 3 has definitely been a big factor in this. I’ve promised on Twitter that I’ll do a separate blog about this soon. The short version is that it’s been much better than I hoped for, and I’ve been putting so much time into exploring what it can do that I haven’t really had time to be curious about other gear.

So what did I find, and how was it interesting enough to wrench me away from the Axe FX 3 for a little bit?

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#CoffeeAndKlon 31: In Praise Of A Clean Boost Klon Into Overdrive

#CoffeeAndKlon is my occasional Sunday magazine-style series, where I talk about whatever’s on my mind about guitars, gear, music and yes, sometimes my love of both coffee and the Klon pedal.

How can I put this? It feels like it’s become a bit of a pastime for some folks on the Internet to mock the idea of using a Klon as a clean boost. So this time around, let me give you a concrete example of why I love using my Klon as a clean boost pedal – with audio clips.

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