Fender – HomeToneBlog.com

8th July 20255th July 2025

First Impressions: One Control Honey Bee OD 4K Mini Standard

I recently bought the Honey Bee OD 4K Mini Standard, from One Control.

This is a photo of three mini-sized guitar effects pedals on my pedalboard

On the left, in blue, is the One Control Blue Bee OD 4K Mini (BBOD4K-mini for short).

In the middle, in yellow, is the One Control Honey Bee OD 4K Mini Standard (HBOD4K-mini-standard for short). This review is about this pedal.

On the right, in a crimson red, is the One Control Honey Bee OD 4K Mini Custom (HBOD4k-mini-custom for short).

Each mini pedal has four control knobs, for Volume, Gain, Bass and Treble.

Although all part of the same family, and based on the same circuit design, all three pedals sound quite different.

What do I think of it? I’ve made my photo of it the wallpaper on my phone …

6th July 20255th July 2025

#CoffeeAndKlon 42: Can I Learn To Love My RYRA The Klone?

#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.

I’ve had my RYRA The Klone pedal longer than this blog’s been going, so why haven’t I featured it at all until now? Why hasn’t it had the love from me that its fan base says it deserves?

And is that about to change? Can I learn to love my RYRA The Klone?

3rd June 20252nd June 2025

First Impressions: Tone King Imperial MKII Synergy Preamp Module #TweedTone

Synergy have just released the Tone King Imperial MKII preamp module.

This is a photo of the Imperial MKII preamp module in a (dusty!) Synergy SYN-1 housing.

On the left of the module, there are two rows of three pots, one row per channel.

The top row of three controls are for the Lead channel (the tweed-voiced overdrive channel). They are labelled Volume, Tone, and Mid Bite.

The bottom three controls are for the Rhythm channel (the blackface-voiced clean channel). They are labelled Volume, Bass and Treble.

Next to them are two large, fixed stepped controls. These are the Attenuation controls, one for each channel.

There's a mini toggle switch nestled in between the two large controls. This enables a high-frequency cut.

On the right, there are two more toggle switches, to switch on the built-in, valve-driven tremolo. Next to them are two more pots, for controlling the speed and depth of the tremolo circuit.

I found one in stock here in the UK the day after launch, and ordered it straight away.

Now that it’s here in a very dusty Hermit’s Cave, what do I think of it? Here are my (very positive) first impressions.

26th March 202525th March 2025

#PlexiTone: Synergy Plexi Module + Axe-FX 3 For Reference Marshall Plexi Tones

After last week’s success with my Synergy BMan module, I decided to see if the same approach would work with my Synergy Plexi module and the Axe-FX 3.

This is a bit more of a quick and dirty effort. But hopefully you’ll agree that the results are, at the least, very promising.

18th March 202516th March 2025

#TweedTone: Dialling In A 5F6 Bassman Reference Tone For 2025

Recently, I posted about my latest attempt at creating a reference tone for my 5e3 Tweed Deluxe reissue amp. I’m still wrestling with creating a similar 5e3 reference tone purely in the Axe-FX 3. Sadly, I’m nowhere near ready to write up my promised comparison of the two.

I decided to take a break from that, and work on another reference tone that I’m going to need for future #TweedTone blog posts: capturing the mighty 5F6 Tweed Bassman sound.

Here’s how I got on. There’s audio demos to listen to, and a full breakdown of the signal chain that I used, with plenty of photos / screenshots to show you everything.

5th February 20254th February 2025

Quick Listen: Ritual Devices Grey Overdrive With Strat And Tele Bridge Pickups

Quick Listen is where I capture and share guitar tones that I’ve dialled in. No exploration; little discussion – just a quick audio demo or two along with a documented signal chain.

A close-up photo of the Grey Overdrive guitar effects pedal, made by Ritual Devices. — The Ritual Devices Grey Overdrive pedal on my pedalboard.

Today, I’ve grabbed my Ritual Devices Grey Overdrive, to find out how well it can rock out when I’m playing single-coil bridge pickups.

4th February 20252nd February 2025

#TweedTone: Dialling In A 5e3 Tweed Deluxe Reference Tone For 2025

New year, new (and hopefully improved!) reference tone from my Fender 57 Custom Deluxe amp.

All made possible thanks to a late 2024 freebie from Origin Effects … and me figuring out how I’d been using my Fryette Power Station PS-100 wrong …

28th December 202428th December 2024

2024 Review: Guitars For Home Playing

Rather than do a ‘best of’ style post, every year I’m doing a rundown of what guitars I’ve had my hands on, and what I’ve learned from the experience.

This post covers guitars that I play at home for fun. I’ll cover the guitars that I gig with tomorrow.

Previous years: [2019] [2020] [2021][2022][2023]

26th December 202424th December 2024

2024 Review: Pedal Platforms & Other Amps

Rather than do a ‘best of’ style post, every year I’m going to do a rundown of what amps I’m using for pedal platforms, and why. And, this year, I’m expanding it to talk more about using amps for more than just pedals.

Previous years: [2019] [2020] [2021][2022][2023]

25th December 2024

First Impressions: ThorpyFX The Dane mk2 Overdrive / Boost Pedal

Father Christmas has been, and left me something very purple indeed 🙂

The Dane mk2 guitar pedal from ThorpyFX. A brushed black gunmetal top, with five white control knobs and two foot switches. Purple accent sides.

What do I think of it? Read on to find out.