2025 March Pedal-Chain Update - Episode III - Hot Pink and Tube Overdrive Sync

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For this month there are 3 tube-powered overdrives in the chain for the very first time - I've gone from a standing start to around 10 of these kinds of devices in relatively short order. It was a case of further innovation of that format - in terms of some of these having just a standard 9V input with a not overly high current draw - where for instance we have 500mA at 9V for the CTC Venus.

All 3 of these sound fabulous and are all-time favourite overrides of mine - for met the Tube Overdrives have really come of age!

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3 fantastic shows were attended and reported on this month - each and every one was exceptional - and I really enjoyed myself throughout!

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19 New Pedals added in March (2 x Satch ToneX One)

11 New Fuzzes!!!

Another exceptional month - with Fuzz pedals kind of ruling the roost this month - there are rarely these many fuzz pedals on the board at one time!

• 4 Overdrives
• 1 Distortion
• 11 Fuzzes
• 1 Spatial / Time-Based Effect
• 2 Utilities

4 really strong Overdrvies this month - each excellent in its own way - all 4 went onto the board, and I was lucky enough to snag a Rockman X100 before the end of the month - that one arrived just in the nick of time!

• Brelliott TODP Tube OverDrive Pro [Tube OD]
• Crazy Tube Circuits Venus Tube Preamp (Tube Driver) [Tube OD]
• MXR Fat Sugar Overdrive [Hot Pink]
• MXR Rockman X100 Overdrive + Chorus

Just the one Distortion pedal this month - for which I'm mostly using this Satch ToneX One for - it has a fantastic selection of key Joe Satriani Overdrive and Distortion tones - where I particularly seem to favour the latter!

• 2 x IK Multimedia Joe Satriani Chrome Edition ToneX One

Rarely is the monthly fuzz selection this potent - with that I had more suitable slots to accommodate all of these - everyone of these had the innings - with a constant head-to-head and winners stay on methodology! I truly love each and everyone of these!

• Farmer Factory Horny '66 Germanium Fuzz Face [Hot Pink]
• Foxgear Muffin Gilmour Civil War Muff [Hot Pink]
• Fredric Effects Deeply Unpleasant Companion MKII Fuzz
• Fredric Effects Silicon Harmonic Percolator
• Fredric Effects Standard Fuzz Machine
• Goliath FX Vintage Components Silicon MKII Fuzz
• Great Eastern FX Gold Focus Fuzz Deluxe
• Great Eastern FX Obsolete Devices Series OC201 Preamp [Hot Pink]
• Reeves Electro Darlington Flyer - Etched
• Ritual Devices EVOL Primal Hybrid 2-Stage Fuzz
• Wampler Cryptid Multi-Fuzz

Just the one Spatial Effects this month for me - and somewhat unusually - a Mono variant - but totally exceptional sounding - especially on the edge of Oscillating Feedback - I really love the way the echoes decay here!

• Hello Sailor Effects Compact SeaWolf Delay

The Parallelarator arrived just at the right time - as I was having some operational issues with my GigRig Wetter Box - that was a real godsend - and it performs superbly for me! The Thorpy FLIR is really mostly a 10 year Anniversary Memento to ThropyFX!

• Cosmic Loop FX Parallelarator Parallel Blender - WDW
• ThorpyFX FLIR Buffer - Birthday Cake Edition

Some excellent future targets for me here.

A lot of these are a little speculative, but I will definitely be getting in a Black Country Customs Spiral Array Chorus,  Intensive Care Audio Death Muff, Mad Professor Simble 10th Anniversary Dumble Drive, Rainger FX Echo-X Gated Delay, Tampco x Nelson Martins Distorter 3-Part Parallel Gain Machine, TC Electronic mini Ditto 2 Smart Looper, VS Audio Royal Flush+, and Xotic Effects AC Booster V2 Smooth Overdrive at some stage!

• Aclam Go Rocky Go 1967 Vox Conqueror Preamp
• Audio Cultivation Project Fourth Solid State Distortion
• Benson Amps Deep Sea Diver Fuzz-Echo
• Black Country Customs Spiral Array Chorus
• EQD x LCD Soundsystem Chelsea Low End Fuzz Driver
• Eventide Knife Drop Synth Fuzz
• Formula B That Screamr Overdrive Pro 4558
• Fuzz Imp Creature, and Machina II DLX Fuzz
• Ibanez Tube Screamer Overdrive Pro - Handwired
• Intensive Care Audio Death Muff
• Licthlaerm Audio As Above So Below Octave / Shimmer Reverb
• LPD Pedals JMP79 Plexi
• Mad Professor Simble 10th Anniversary Dumble Drive
• Messiah Guitars Billini German Drive, Lil' Ed Session Drive, Quigglini Octofuzz.
• Mooer Prime Minimax 2 Intelligent Pedal
• Mythos Pedals x TPS Argo Boost Deluxe
• Rainger FX Echo-X Gated Delay
• Tampco x Nelson Martins Distorter 3-Part Parallel Gain Machine
• TC Electronic mini Ditto 2 Smart Looper
• VS Audio Royal Flush+
• Xotic Effects AC Booster V2 Smooth Overdrive

13 Slots updated : #3, #4, #5, #10, #12, #13, #14, #23, #24, #25, #38, #39, #51.

Fuzz Bonanza! - 10 Fuzzes on the board in total - including 5 of the latest arrivals - marked out in bold below!

• Farmer Factory Horny '66 Germanium Fuzz Face [Hot Pink]
• Foxgear Muffin Gilmour Civil War Muff [Hot Pink]
• Fredric Effects Deeply Unpleasant Companion MKII Fuzz
• Fredric Effects Silicon Harmonic Percolator
• Fredric Effects Standard Fuzz Machine
• Goliath FX Vintage Components Silicon MKII Fuzz
• Great Eastern FX Gold Focus Fuzz
• Great Eastern FX Obsolete Devices Series OC201 Preamp [Hot Pink]
• Reeves Electro Darlington Flyer - Etched
• Ritual Devices EVOL Primal Hybrid 2-Stage Fuzz
• Wampler Cryptid Multi-Fuzz

This selection obviously typefied by the Hot Pink Colour Sync, and the 3 Tube Overdrives on the board. I thought I had reached peak madness last month - but I've gone even bigger for Mach - the board is kind of at the peak of its prowess now - 52 Pedals would seem to be the upper limit possible!

I've been hugely impressed by this all-rounder Fuzz - Wampler Cryptid Multi-Fuzz - which delivers excellent Tone Bender, Fuzz Face and Big Muff tones - and plenty more besides - really clever fuzz for sure - but has to be at the front of the chain!

The Great Eastern FX Co. Focus Fuzz Deluxe is a superb multi-gain pedal - delivering exceptional Boost, Overdrive and Fuzz tones - with an additional Octave Fuzz Mode. At its core the Fuzz is a classic 2-transistor Hybrid Fuzz Face type, where the Octave / Overtone circuit is unusually warm and musical.

The Farmer Factory Horny 66 Germanium Fuzz Face is one of my very favourite of that type - It's super bold and harmonic - with some really unique textures - sounds immense! And the three different gain / gain structure settings are inspired!

My long-awaited Great Eastern FX Co. Obsolete Devices OC201 Fuzz / Preamp - David had one set aside for me that I picked up at the recent London Synth + Pedal Expo. This is another everyday excellent textured fuzz-drive / fuzz pedal - the break-up fabulously richly textured.

The budget Foxgear Muffin Ram's Head Gilmourish Muff Fuzz is surpringly good - with a great deal of warmth and zing to its profile. I was very pleasantly surprised - particularly since I acquired it for you £45 brand new!

I was inspired by the TPS Episode featuring James Dean Bradfield - who uses the MXR Fat Sugar to replicate Ernie Isle's 'Summer Breeze' Big Muff tones - and it really works well for that purpose - delivering a beautifully smooth sustaining voicing. I of course have the Ernie Fuzz from Skreddy - which does a rather more fuzzy version of the sound - while in some ways and for some purposes I do enjoy using the Fat Sugar - and particularly with its relatively expabsive output volume!

Vitalii of Drunk Beaver has delvered yet another killer fuzz - the Volnovakha Super Fuzz being a superior take on the Super-Fuzz circuit - with range extension and more potent and visceral output. Sounds really bold and beautiful!

The Crazy Tube Circuits Venus Tube Driver is one of those relatively rare devices that earns it hype! It's sold out everywhere currently with the second batch still a few weeks out. Just a wonderful sound Tube Overdrive - with singing sustain - and expansive control options to get the most out of the voicing - including a Tightness  / Bass Cut switch, 3-Band EQ, and a Line-Drive Buffer / Volume Boost! Exceptional really - Christos has played a blinder here - with undoubtedly the best take on the B.K. Butler Tube Driver to date!

And so onto the Brelliott Tube Overdrive Pro Modular which is possibly my most favoured Tube Overdrive yet. Its modular nature allows for it to be forever upgraded and modified - where the Clipping Diode Board and Overdrive Board are fully modular and swappable. I have 3 different Tube Overdrive Boards, but just the one Clipping one to date - which already delivers and incredible versatility and expanded range of sounds. I'm hoping to get a ew other builders to create their own specific module updates / options!

I finally managed to get my hands on an MXR Rockman X100 Overdrive + Chorus Tom Sholz signature sound in a single pedal - the same sounds used my several contemporary bands at the time - including Def Lepar. A wonderfully Mids-forward 80's sound - especially with the Chorus option in the mix!

Very unusually for me -  the Hello Sailor Effects Compact SeaWolf Delay (Deep Blue) is a Mono Delay - while the Decay of those Echoes is glorious. And perfect for more dubby sounds! I use it in combination with the Beetronics Larva Dual Morphing Phaser - which delivers an amazing output!

The Satch signature ToneX One was a real surprise for me - particularly for the Distortion Tones - which sound superb. There is some sensitivity with the Noise Gate and the High Frequencies Output - while overall it deliver wonderfully well-balanced and really potent sounds. Anyone interested should read my deep dive on that pedal!

The Cosmic Loop FX Parallelarator is an incredible 3-Loop Parallel Mixer and Wet-Dry-Wet Gateway. Rich has rally thought this one out very cleverly - and It works flawlessly currently within my rig. I'm not running it in WDW configuration - and am only using 2 of the loops thus far - but it immensely inrpoves the clarity and tone separation for my rig.

There is no demo to-date as yet - so do read my full review for every detail!