This conversation was originally posted to my Twitter feed.
Good morning, pedal fans. Let’s do another #CoffeeAndKlon. I haven’t done one of these in ages.
Continue reading “#CoffeeAndKlon 28: Three Stores, Three Stories”Tone. At Home.
This conversation was originally posted to my Twitter feed.
Good morning, pedal fans. Let’s do another #CoffeeAndKlon. I haven’t done one of these in ages.
Continue reading “#CoffeeAndKlon 28: Three Stores, Three Stories”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.
Read on for my first impressions.
Continue reading “First Impressions: Bearfoot FX Emerald Green Distortion Machine Overdrive 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.
Continue reading “First Impressions: ProAnalog Devices Manticore v2 Overdrive / Distortion Pedal”I think this month is mostly going to be defined by what doesn’t arrive.
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.
Continue reading “New Arrivals: September 2020”Last week of August 2020, I bought myself one of Squier’s limited-run Esquire guitars (think single-pickup Telecaster), and I’ve been having a right blast with it.
It might be a cheap and cheerful guitar, but it’ll comfortably hang with anything out of the Fender USA factory line-up.
Continue reading “First Impressions: Squier Esquire in Butterscotch Blonde”Going into August, it was shaping up to be another quiet month for new (to me) gear.
While the second hand market on eBay UK has picked up (a bit) in the last couple of weeks, I’m just not willing to pay what’s being asked. There’s a growing trend of sellers listing second hand gear for more than it originally sold for brand new. I’m still seeing buyers piling onto the same items that I’m interested in, too.
Did I get anything at all? Read on to find out.
Continue reading “New Arrivals: August 2020”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.
Continue reading “First Impressions: MXR 10-band EQ Pedal”Long-time readers might well remember me raving over a pedal I called the Little Pink Wonder (LPW for short) over on my personal Twitter feed. (As far as I know, it doesn’t have an official name). That’s a high-quality clone of a boutique boost pedal, and the clone is made by a local pedal builder and sold directly on eBay UK.
Ever since I bought the LPW, I’ve kept an eye out for his stuff on eBay, and tried to win as many of his pedals as possible. Well, except for the fuzz pedals, because fuzz isn’t my thing, and traditional fuzz pedals don’t go well with the dirty power supply we have here in the Welsh valleys.
The Champ Drive is the latest of his pedals that I picked up. From the name and control layout, I was expecting a Lovepedal Champ clone. How did I get on with it? Read on for my First Impressions.
Continue reading “First Impressions: Websmufer’s Champ Drive Pedal”By my track record, June 2020 was a very quiet month for trying gear. The second-hand market’s been very quiet, and to be honest, my appetite for new (to me) gear has been too.
With music kind-of on the back burner at the start of the month, I went into July without any real plan for the month. Did I get anything at all, and if so, why?
Continue reading “New Arrivals For July 2020”When it comes to pedal manufacturers, I’m a huge fan of Mad Professor pedals. I’ve owned pretty much all of their older (pre-Simple) drive pedals over the years, and I’ve probably logged more hours playing these pedals than any other brands’.
So I was floored when I recently read that the Golden Cello is actually an Amber Drive with added delay (a la the Bluebird Overdrive). How did I miss that?!? But it’s true.
The reason I hadn’t noticed this before? I’ve always used my Golden Cello with the delay turned up a bit (it’s endless hours of fun with an ebow), and it’s an older delay design that doesn’t feature a dry signal blend. ie, the delay colours the sound quite a bit.
Turn the delay off, and hey presto: the two pedals are identical.
So if you’ve always been curious about the Amber Overdrive, but found the second hand prices too high, keep an eye out for a Golden Cello. In my experience, the Golden Cello often goes for rock-bottom prices.
I guess I’m not the only one who didn’t know about this!