Tone. At Home.
Overdrive, distortion, fuzz – the glorious sounds of dirt and filth!
I recently picked up Tone City’s Bad Horse off the second-hand market.
Is this the budget-friendly Klon klone for the masses, or (like the EHX Soul Food) is it going to be a case of you really do get what you pay for. Read on to find out.
Continue reading “First Impressions: Tone City Bad Horse Overdrive Pedal”August was shaping up to be a very quiet month, gear-wise. I had a plan: I was going to pick up just the one pedal – as long as I could find it nice and cheap.
But then something came along that I knew I’d regret if I didn’t get it …
Continue reading “New Arrivals: August 2022”#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.
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.
Continue reading “#CoffeeAndKlon 33: The EHX Soul Food”#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.
Continue reading “#CoffeeAndKlon 32: A Digital Klone In The Axe-FX 3?”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?
Continue reading “New Arrivals: July 2022”
A couple of days ago, I finally bought a Walrus Audio 385 Overdrive pedal. It’s my first Walrus Audio pedal, and I’ve been waiting a long time to get one.
I absolutely love it. Let me explain why …
Continue reading “First Impression: Walrus Audio 385 Overdrive Pedal”#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.
Continue reading “#CoffeeAndKlon 31: In Praise Of A Clean Boost Klon Into Overdrive”Towards the end of last month, I picked up one of these:
Read on for my First Impressions.
Continue reading “First Impressions: Earthquaker Devices Special Cranker Overdrive Pedal”I recently picked up another tweed-tone pedal: Catalinbread’s Formula 55 overdrive pedal.
Is this going to be the 5e3-in-a-box pedal that I can recommend to anyone who wants the sound of a Tweed Deluxe without having to buy one of these expensive amps? Or is it going to be three out of three for disappointment with Catalinbread pedals?
Read on for my First Impressions.
Continue reading “First Impressions: Catalinbread Formula 55 Overdrive”Over on Twitter, my friend Alessandro asked for opinions about Mad Professor’s Little Tweedy Drive.
Yes, I have opinions about this particular pedal. I wasn’t a fan when I first got this pedal. Will that change, when I take a second look at the Little Tweedy Drive? Read on to find out.
Continue reading “TweedTalk #3: Mad Professor’s Little Tweedy Drive”