Xploration • Curation • Recommendation
Also Engineered by Thorpy!
This has turned out to be something of a Thorpy month! - following on from the recent Manson Supermassive Black Fuzz and 3 Thorpy acquisitions this month - indeed the Supermassive is also engineered by Thorpy!
I thought I should do a quick retrospective of pedals and projects that Thorpy has been involved in.
I selected my favourite pedal from those 4 brands (some singular options!) :
- Redbeard Effects : Bearded Vulture Direct Drive with Octave
- Victory Amps : V1 The Jack Guthrie Gowan Distortion
- Manson Guitar Works : Matt Bellamy Supermassive Black Fuzz
- Rose Morris : Shaftesbury Duo Fuzz (Super-Fuzz)
Obviously for Manson And Rose Morris we have just single examples - while I was able to pick out the best of the best from Redbeard Effects and Victory Amps!
Further details below :
Redbeard Effects : Bearded Vulture Direct Drive with Octave - £220
redbeardeffects.com/collections/effects
Redbeard Effects is obviously a collaboration between Skindred Riff Lord Mikey Demus and Thorpy. It's as well I love Mikey's output and indeed every pedal he has released which of course I own - they all sound exceptional, while the one that really stands out for me is the recent Bearded Vulture - based on the Culture Vulture Rack Tube Preamp. It delivers Overdrive, Fuzz and Distortion - all with an optional added Upper Octave - it's super dynamic, super richly textured - and just sounds every-way superb.
I really like all of those - and regularly make use of each of them!
Full Range :
- Angry Rhubarb Paradynamic Overdrive MKII - £200
- Bearded Vulture Direct Drive with Octave (Culture Vulture) - £220
- Hairy Squid Colossal 3-way Fuzz - £200
- Honey Badger Sub-Octave Fuzz - £220
- Red Mist MKIV High Gain Distoriton (Orange Rockerverb 100) - £200
Victory Amps : V1 The Jack Guthrie Gowan Distortion - £199 / £179
www.victoryamps.com/the-v1-series/
I own most of these - in fact all but The Duchess - which I still intend to get, just haven't got around to yet!
These are all excellent - while of course there's one that stands out! And that one is the Guthrie Gowan The Jack Collaboration - which delivers such an exceptional musical distortion - elegantly touching on one of the great Liquid Distoriton tones too - sound amazing, and everyone seems to love it.
All of the range is good - but The Jack is even more special!
Full Range :
- V1 The Copper Vox AC30 style Overdrive - £199 / £179
- V1 The Duchess Fender Blackface style Overdrive - £199 / £179
- V1 The Kraken Rabea Massaad High Gain EV5150 inspired Distoriton - £199 / £179
- V1 The Jack Guthrie Gowan Distortion - £199 / £179
- V1 The Sheriff JTM45 / Plexi style Overdrive - £199 / £179
Manson Guitar Works : Matt Bellamy Supermassive Black Fuzz - £259
www.mansonguitarworks.com/manson-supermassive-black-fuzz
Thorpy's most recent collaboration - this time with Matt Bellamy and his guitar company Manson Guitar Works. Somewhat inspired by the song of the same name - but massively expanded via smart EQ and a toner of gain - delivered by 3 x Silicon Transistors, 3 x OpAmps, and 2 x Blues LEDs.
You also have two types of filter to call upon - a Band Pass one, and a more acuter All-Pass Static Phase Filter.
The Supermassive occasionally makes you work for it - but sounds exceptional - and can deliver tones with in the trifecta ballpark of Fuzz Face + Tone Bender + Big Muff. A powerhouse filter fuzz for sure!
Rose Morris : Shaftesbury Duo Fuzz (Super-Fuzz) - £249
rosemorris.com/products/shaftesbury-duo-fuzz
This one is my least favourite of this featured quartet - but still merits consideration. As a great reproduction of that early 60's Super-Fuzz circuit - OEM'd for Rose Morris. Thorpy has exactingly reproduced those pedals to the exact same spec and sound profile - which does involve though a typically vintage style circuit - with lower output.
I would have preferred if Thorpy had done a similar exercise to what he and Dan Cogging did with the Big Cheese / Field Marshal. That was a modern evolution of that vintage circuit - with more gain and significantly more output volume too. My only quibble with the Duo Fuzz is its low output profile - it really needs more volume for my preferences - while it does perfectly capture and replicate that original Japanese 60's fuzz sound!
The Duo Came in vintage single footswitch format (sold out I think) - with the controls on the side - or the more pedalboard friendly format pictured here - with controls on the front, top-mounted jacks - and dual footswitches - much my preferred version!
