Tag: Tone City

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First Impressions: PRS Mary Cries Optical Compressor

At the end of September, seemingly out of the blue, PRS dropped their first three guitar pedals ever: an overdrive (the Horsemeat), a double-flanger (the Wind Through The Trees) and this one, an optical compressor (the Mary Cries).

The photo shows the PRS Mary Cries optical compressor, sat on my pedal board.
The PRS Mary Cries Compressor Pedal

Mine has just arrived. What do I think of it? Is it worth the price? Read on for my First Impressions.

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New Arrivals: November 2022

The end of the month saw a huge change in the second-hand market here. For the first time in … I don’t know, it feels like 18+ months … there’s a lot of very interesting (to me) amps and pedals available. And I swear there were more Les Pauls listed during a 5-day period than overdrive pedals. It sure seemed that way, anyway.

Sadly, I think most of these pieces are being listed because people need the money. The mood of the country is pretty grim right now. We’ve had 12 years of single-party government, and they’ve led us into the worst cost of living crisis in living memory. The worst of it is still come too, too.

I was working abroad for part of the month (it was educational taking my new company to Web Summit for the very first time), and had no time to do very much at all with a guitar.

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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: 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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New Arrivals: May 2021

Regular readers are probably bored with me talking about the state of the second hand market here, so I’ll keep that brief. Anecdotally, there still isn’t a lot of second hand gear turning up, and (again anecdotally) it’s becoming more and more common for sellers to list second-hand guitars at above-retail prices. eBay has really cut back on its offers this month too, which probably isn’t helping the situation.

This month, though, there has been a number of interesting (to me) items crop up. Unfortunately, I’ve been unable to even think about bidding on them because I’ve been into hospital for an operation, and it’ll be July before I’m fully recovered and able to lift amps and guitars again.

I was able to pick up a couple of pedals off my wish list, thankfully. And this month saw the release of a new guitar that’s completely blown me away. Read on to learn more!

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