Before we get into the detail of the Santanabe, it’s important to note that both the May Queen and Santanabe pedals are derivations of the the core Zenkudo circuit - with certain EQ, Voicing and Gain Tweaks / Alterations. For instance the Gain curve on the Zenkudo and May Queen has a Linear B Taper, while the Santanabe is of the Logarithmic A type curve.

Both the May Queen and Santanbe have significantly more gain onboard than the Zenkudo - with 3 times the amount of the Zenkudo at Max ...

Upon first glance you just surely can’t but concede that this Nero Fuzz is a most magnificent detail-oriented design masterpiece as ever there was -  and for sure one of the very best-balanced designs currently out there. I love Emilio’s new gun-metal grey / titanium coloured and engraved knobs, the raised surrounds for the mini knobs, and the back-lit lights - including the main Cornerstone Logo Ident.

The enclosure finish is beautifully textured too - with a fetching gleaming metallic ...

So scanning through this month it seems to have been mostly about Guitar / Pedal Shows, Japanese Pedals, and Pedals Delayed and Missing in the Post!

The Guitar Shows have been pretty fast and furious for March - with two of the most significant ones of the year, along with a fledgling grassroots one : The Guitar Show (Cranmore Park - Birmingham / Shirley), London Synth & Pedal Expo (Studio 9294, Hackney Wick, London), The Alternative Guitar Show (The Fighting Cocks, Kingston).

I of ...

So I’ve finally hit the trigger on a Tanabe Zenkudo - Tanabe-San’s humbucker-optimised Dumble Drive variant (Dumkudo is the one for Single Coils). I thought I had snagged one of these on Ebay a few weeks back, but the seller had gotten mixed up between Dumkudo and Zenkudo - and the one he had in stock was actually the former - which is generally much more available out there in the wild than the Zenkudo variety.

I had kind of been putting this off, as I knew that this would likely be the ...

February can often seem a rather odd month after the hustle and bustle of NAMM Show January - where a lot of new stuff always gets announced - while increasingly outside the NAMM schedule - but certainly in and around it! Projects delayed from the previous year often get released in January, but this year those kind of seem to be more spaced out - with some not feted to happen until March / April. February always seems slow compared to January, and that sometimes extends into March too before ...

This is an incredibly exacting shrink-down of 2021’s Dumble-style Lightkeeper Preamp with the full flavour and all features fully intact - just in a significantly more compact and pedalboard-friendly enclosure.

I’m a little late to Vacuum Tube powered pedals - having dithered on the larger varieties by Kingsley and Tubesteader for quite a number of years. I once came pretty close to acquiring a Kingsley Minstrel V3 - but that was about it for a long while. Effectrode’s Tube pedals are cool ...

Both these pedals materialised around the same time - in and around the recent NAMM Show - although the Herculean Deluxe has not been officially launched yet (21st February) - but there is plenty of coverage of it online already.

I thought it made sense to cover off both of these in a single post - as they are kind of competitors to each other - each with its own unique elements. And the Herculean DLX contains that very rare mix of Dumble and Bluesbreaker.

I like the look / sound of ...

I’ve long been a fan of Mad Professor’s gain pedals - which of course mostly owe a lot to Björn Juhl - bar the Simble Overdrive (Dumble) by Lassi Ukkonen. Which by coincidence happened to be my very first Mad Professor pedal several years ago - and in fact my very first Dumble style overdrive - of which I have several now.

So the Simble was my first Mad Professor - and the Custom Stone Grey Distortion the most recent - alongside the 20th Anniversary Royal Blue Overdrive. The Royal Blue came...

I’ve waxed lyrical for a long time about the potency of the Daily Driver - where I originally acquired it based on how close it came to the tone and timbre of the Pete Cornish CC-1. The CC-1 can replicate / reproduce the tones of the TS808, Timmy, Klon and Blues Breaker with ease - and this new Boost addition makes it even more versatile.

The original had those 4 key corner knobs - and a single toggle switch for More Hi-Cut / None / Some Hi-Cut. Those 5 controls gave the pedal an incredible...