Category: On The Gain Stage

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

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Short Term Review: Fender 57 Custom Deluxe (aka Tweed Deluxe) Re-Issue Amplifier

The mighty Les Paul with my Tweed Deluxe amp.

Last summer, I bought what is probably the bucket list amp for me: a re-issue of Fender’s legendary Tweed Deluxe amplifier.

Nine months or so later, how am I getting on with it? Was it a good decision, or do I regret paying the perceived Fender tax for an almost 70-year-old amp circuit that’s been heavily cloned?

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Second Bite: Wampler Paisley Deluxe

This photo shows two pedals on my pedalboard. On the left is the Paisley Drive Deluxe, made by Wampler Pedals. It has two foot switches, one to activate each side of the pedal. On the right is the Forest Green Compressor, by Mad Professor. This just has the one foot switch.
The Wampler Paisley Drive Deluxe and Mad Professor Forest Green Compressor

Back in March 2020, I picked up a second hand Paisley Deluxe (Paisley Drive Deluxe? Even Wampler’s own marketing uses both terms …), and really struggled with it. And that has bugged me ever since.

A lot has changed since then. Will that make any difference, or will it still be a pedal that just isn’t for me? Details below 🙂

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New Arrivals: January 2022

The Christmas break is always good for getting me to wire up and fire up the home recording studio, and the end of 2021 was no exception. It was a good reminder of just how much I enjoy making music (rather than just noodling around).

So, this year, I want to at least try and have a bit more purpose when I choose which new (to me) gear to try:

  1. Things that will help me record music.
  2. Things that will help me perform music.
  3. Bucket list items.
  4. Things that will help me learn about the gear I already have.

Last year, we had one month when there were no new arrivals to write about. I wouldn’t be surprised if we have several more this year. But not this month 🙂

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First Impressions: Tone City Sweet Cream Overdrive

The Sweet Cream Overdrive, next to the GOAT of tweed-tone pedals.

Back in May 2021 (where did the time go?!?), I picked up a second-hand Tone City Sweet Cream Overdrive pedal. I’ve finally put it onto my pedal board, to see what it can do.

Is it a outright clone of the Sweet Honey Overdrive, or does it have something different to offer? Read on for my First Impressions.

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First Impressions: Mad Professor Amber Overdrive With Midas Touch

This photo is a close-up of my pedal board. There are two pedals shown: the original Amber Drive, and the factory-modded Amber Drive with Midas Touch Mod. The only visual way to tell the two pedals apart is the black 'CUSTOM' sticker that has been added below the footswitch on the modded pedal. Apart from that, the two pedals look identical. Both have 'Volume', 'Drive' and 'Tone' controls on the top, along with side jacks and a power jack next to the 'In' jack on the right-hand side of the pedal.
The Mad Professor Amber Overdrive with Midas Touch Mod, next to the original Amber Overdrive pedal.

I recently picked up a new (to me) factory-modded Amber Overdrive pedal, made by Mad Professor.

This is the third pedal in their Custom series that I’ve tried. I really enjoyed the first two. Will I enjoy this one as much? Read on for my First Impressions.

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New Arrivals: December 2021

There were two pieces of second hand gear that I really wanted to try this month. Both are in stores some distance away. One is a (tweed!) amp that’s only available for collection, and the other is a guitar that I’ve no experience with (so I’d need to try a couple of other examples first to help me understand whether it’s a good example or not).

Unfortunately, the pandemic is back with a vengeance here on Plague Island, and we decided that it wasn’t worth the risk of infection just for a couple of pieces of guitar gear – no matter how nice they might be.

That left the private sales second hand market, where popular and interesting pieces are currently going for quite high prices. Too many buyers chasing too few items, I guess.

I did manage to pick up something though, and I had a blast with it.

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New Arrivals: November 2021

You know the old joke about how you wait ages for a bus, and then three turn up at once? It’s been a bit like that with second-hand gear.

Five of my bucket-list items turned up on the second-hand market this month. I could only snag one of them. The three guitars and the amplifier were well outside my budget atm, and the only sensible thing to do was to hope that they bring joy to the people who have bought them. It just isn’t worth going into debt for a hobby, not to me anyway.

What was the one bucket-list item that I did get this month? And what else found its way to the Hermit’s Cave? Read on to find out 🙂

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