Diamond Pedals’ original VIB1 and Boss’s VB-2 / VB-2W are most likely historically the go-to Vibrato units for most pro pedalboards - each with a deep and loyal following. So it’s great news for Vibrato lovers - to see the Diamond Vibrato back on the scene, now in smaller compact size enclosure - and with an even greater range of flavour onboard - courtesy of its 9-18 Volts power capabilities.
The original square format had mostly the same controls as this new unit, just in a different ...
Josh Scott goes back to early Shine-Ei and Univox for his inspiration for the aesthetic of his duo of Beach Boys inspired pedals. Using a very streamlined Black and White format - which is nicely punctuated with period-correct Orange Amp knobs!
I rather prefer Keeley’s take on Beach Boy inspired pedals - but wholly understand how Josh arrived at this endpoint - which is most definitely period-correct versus its source origins - but still not particularly aesthetically inspiring.
As a ...
These pedals are part of a bigger project in celebration of The Beach Boys’ eponymous Disney+ documentary - which to me seems to have come out a couple of years early - surely 1966’s Pet Sounds is the signature Beach Boys Milestone - so surely 2026 would have been more appropriate! It’s a project coordinated between Disney+ and Sweetwater - where JHS’s Josh Scott was brought in to make a series of pedals that would represent The Beach Boys signature sound.
Josh Scott then drafted in his ...
There’s a reason why the above background is purple - for it indicates the provenance of this particular pedal - which is sort of based on Tom Majeski’s long discontinued Cooper FX Outward pedal - where the ONWARD extrapolates and expands on the Envelope-based sampling prowess of that device.
This is one of the simplest Chase Bliss pedals to deconstruct / decipher - while as always there are some smart hidden options and secret modes to be found here.
In effect this is a Dynamic ...
You very rarely see a Tremolo pedal without a Rate / Speed function - yet here we have exactly one such variant.
As Tremolos go this is about as simple as it gets, with just 3 simple controls at your command :
Controls - Level, Depth, Shape : Sine > Square Wave.
I can’t help thinking that this pedal could do with one or two more controls. As it is, it’s a really cool effect - but really very one note - as all you can really do here is vary the intensity of the effect.
You can ...
It’s been quite the epic journey for me to get to Lichtlaerm Audio - which goes all the way back to February of 2020 - where I believe I was the first Pedal Blog to feature Daniel Ringl’s original first incarnation line of pedals - which had white graphics onto black facias , on top of wine-red gloss-finished enclosures (Update! - looked like white print in photos, but Daniel says - "the old line-up was silver prints directly on smooth black enclosures - the photos looked a bit white but it was...
Supposedly the world’s best loved Autowah / Envelope Filter - has been improved further - for better headroom to match up with any scenario, a new Side Chain Input, and some refinements to the super clean boost.
The charm of the DiscumBOBulator has always been its simplicity in use - just 4 knobs to thing about - and the Boost one is optional. You simply decide if the Filter Slope is Up or Down, and then you tune in the Funk!
I have a plethora of Envelope Filter pedals that serve as ...
Based on the 60’s Kent Tremolo Pedal - essentially a re-badge of the Schaller Tremolo, the Tru-Fi Ultra Tremolo has a fairly unique sound signature. I heard something I really liked in the YouTube demo and sound samples, while I’m always suspicious of Modulation pedals that come without a Level control.
The nature of LFO Modulations is that you get a noticeable drop in volume as the signal climbs and dips in alternating fashion. To counteract volume drop, lots of tremolos employ a preamp ...
Another totally mad month for sure - loaded with frenetic activity and peppered with highs as well as crushing disappointments. The first give-away for GPX didn’t quite hit the highs I expected (said give-away closes tonight at 23:59 BST). And there are some weird gaps in the entrants’ home countries - certainly no shortage from the USA, UK, Canada, Australia, or much of mainland Europe. I’m active in a lot more countries than have so far entered the give-away, so I don’t fully understand why ...
As well documented on this site - I’m a huge fan of the Flanger modulation category - and the Airborn is my own 19th pedal of that genre - where I already own a number of superb High Fidelity Specimens - many with incredibly rare BBD chips onboard.
This Airborn itself also has a pretty rare NOS Matsushita MN3207 BBD Chip onboard - which is quite evident from its output on first encounter. Flangers are typically fairly variably musical - while this one is a particularly great example of a ...