Xploration • Curation • Recommendation
Celebrating Redbeard Effects' Fabulous Five Pedal Legacy - the Red Mist, Honey Badger, Angry Rhubarb, Hairy Squid, and Bearded Vulture - All Killer! All Thriller!
Key Points
Mikey Demus (Skindred) and Adrian Thorpe ran Redbeard Effects seven years. Mikey is leaving due to touring and a #1 album, You Got It! Stock is discounted.
Red Mist MKIV — High Gain Distortion. As of 2026-07-13, the price was £139.
Honey Badger — -1/-2 Sub-Octaves Fuzz. As of 2026-07-13, the price was £153.
Angry Rhubarb Paradynamic Overdrive MKII. As of 2026-07-13, the price was £139.
Hairy Squid Fuzz Multi-Clipper. As of 2026-07-13, the price was £139.
Bearded Vulture Direct Drive Octave Fuzzstortion. As of 2026-07-13, the price was £153.
1 = -30%; 2 = -40%; 3 = -50%. https://redbeardeffects.com
Riff Lord Mikey Demus of Skindred fame and Adrian Thorpe of ThorpyFX have collaborated for nigh on 7 years now on the Red Beard Effects project - but all good things must come to an end eventually - and that time is now! Mikey has become a proper chart-topping Rockstar with a #1 Album (You Got It!) and massive European and Australian tour in progress. Pedal Brands need a lot of time and effort invested in them - particularly on the promotional side of things, and Mikey just doesn’t have time for that any more - he’s almost constantly on tour these days, or in the recording studio - and something’s had to give in the end!
I thought there were more pedals on the roster - but these fantastic five are an amazing legacy whichever way you look at them. All of those are killer pedalboard weapons - still secret weapons for many. I’ve loved each and every one of these releases, with the last release - the Bearded Vulture being my overall favourite - it does Overdrive, Distortion, and Fuzz, with an optional Upper Octave on-top - surely the flagship of the range, while each one of those excels in its chosen category - the depth and breadth of gain those 5 pedals cover is incredible - and they’re all stand-outs in their own way.
In any case - Mikey D is moving on, and the remaining pedal stock all needs to go! - so as a further incentive, Mikey and Thorpy are giving serial discounts - depending on how many of these you buy. All 5 for me are essential! And as mentioned, if you just had to have one - then that should ideally be the Bearded Vulture!
These are the mechanics of the sale :
Buy One Pedal = -30% Off, Buy 2 = -40% Off, Buy 3 = -50% Off.
The Pedals are Priced originally at either £199 or £219 1x(£139/£153) 2x(£239>£263) 3x(£299>£329)
If you don’t have all of these yet - go get whatever you’re missing now - redbeardeffects.com - I would think these would go pretty quickly!
Here below are the usual further details and notes on each of the 5 pedals :
Red Mist MKIV High Gain Distortion (RockerVerb Evolved) - £199 > £139
Controls - Gain, Volume, Bass, Mids, Treble.
Mikey's first pedal replicates and expands the sound of his signature Orange RockerVerb 100 amp - which has served him so well throughout his career. Beutiful high gain, high octane crunchy distortion - capable of reaching well beyond the RockerVerb into high gain Mesa and Diezel territory too! I've always loved the somewhat crunchy Orange RockerVerb sound - and this is very likely one of the best of that type. It's not quite up there in terms of extreme range - with say Fortin, Lichtlaerm and Sinvertek, but it's a magnificent versatile high gain pedal - and very much top tier!
Honey Badger -1/-2 Sub-Octaves Fuzz - £219 > £153
Controls - Volume, Divide : -1 > Both > -2, Octave Intenstity, Treble, Bass, Fuzz, Bypass Footswitch, Octave Footswitch.
This is my favourite Sub-Octave / Sub-Octaves Fuzz by far. I did a head-to-head comparison article with the supposedly similar category Way Huge Stone Burner - and it's just no contest - the Honey Badger blows the Stone Burner out of the water every which way - the Honey Badger is so visceral and mighty - that the Stone Burner is positively anaemic next to that - it's just not a fair fight in the slightest - the Honey Badger utterly annihilates the Stone Burner. It's a really thick and glorious sounding -1/-2 Sub Octaves Fuzzstortion - really super potent!
Angry Rhubarb Paradynamic Overdrive MKII (Single Parametric) - £199 > £139
Controls - Volume, Post Drive, Pre Drive, Frequency Gain : -6dB > 0dB > +5dB, Frequency : Bass > Middle > Treble.
Not to so long after Redbeard released this wonderfully dynamic and versatile single parametric EQ overdrive, Catalinbread released a weak sort of imitation ironically called the 'Tribute' which I just refused to cover on the site - as I saw it essentially as a way inferior copy - whether intentional or not. The Tribute is long since discontinued, a cool looking pedal - with an attractive sort of viking artwork, but really for me - an anaemic and poor imitation of the mighty Angry Rhubarb. The beauty of the Angry Rhubarb is in how simple it is to operate, and how wide-ranging and versatile it is with those controls. A fantastic all-rounder foundational overdrive!
Hairy Squid Colossal Fuzz Multi-Clipper (sort of evolved Muff) - £199 > £139
Controls - Volume, Tone, Gain, Clip : A Silicon | B LED | C Germanium
- A : Silicone Mode (Think creamy, smoother vintage 'Muff' sounds a la Gilmour)
- B : LED Mode (Massive modern headroom, loud & crazy sustain)
- C : Germanium Mode (Edgier, 'Bender'-esque tone)
This one is essentially a Multi-Clipping Multi-Fuzz - which kind of started off originally as a modified take on a Big Muff - kinda sorta, and then morphed into more of an all-rounder - where it touches on other classic fuzz timbres and flavours - for some serious all-rounder action. You need to dial in all those different clipping somewhat differently - but this is another super smart versatile all-rounder gain pedal - with a high degree of versatility. Touching on Gilmourish Muff, vibrant fuzz-face-iness, and a soupçon of Tone Bender! All Redbeard Effects have this inherent versatility - they always deliver more!
Bearded Vulture Direct Drive Octave Fuzzstortion (Thermionic Culture Vulture) - £219 > £153
Controls - Volume, Drive, Bias, Timbre; OCTAVE } Level, Drive, Drive Footswitch, Octave Footswitch.
And we saved the best to last in many ways - this one perfectly encapsulates the brand - based on the Thermionic Culture Vulture 15 Tube 2U Rackmount Distortion / Saturation Unit. It delivers exceptional Overdrive, Distortion and Fuzz tones, with an optional Upper-Octave on top. I mostly use it as an Octave Fuzz and Octave Distortion - or Octave Fuzzstortion as I call it. This is just an every way fantastic, majestic pedal - super potent, super versatile - and sounds supreme. Each one of these is fabulous - but if I had to pick one out for special treatment - it would be this one. If you own just one Redbeard Effect it should really by the Bearded Vulture - where you should really have all 5 ideally - it's an incredibly potent weapon's great assortment of finely honed gain machines!
