I landed a Limited Blue Sparkle Edition of Funny Little Boxes' Skeleton Key QOTSA-inspired OpAmp Dirty Boost at the Birmingham Guitar Show

Andy thought he had long since sold out of the Limited Edition Skeleton Keys as not many were made, but rummaging through his storeroom before the Birmingham show he managed to uncover a handful of unsold ones - which he then brought to the show with him. It was the only one of his pedals I did not yet have, as we’re still waiting on some of the components to come through for the new Treasure Island pedal.

I arrived at the Funny Little Boxes stand - with the intention of picking up a Treasure Island Modified Dual Boost Klone-Screamer, but that pedal was not yet ready, and still only on pre-order. Andy did not want me to come away empty handed, and so I came away within one of his beautiful rare editions - the photo really doesn’t do it justice as it has that really striking shimmery sparkle finish.

It’s an interesting pedal - very much a Dirty Boost - with actually not much gain or volume onboard, but works brilliantly in front of amps - to shape that output. On its own it’s all rather mild - but into an already cooking amp or another gain pedal - it really turns on its charm!

For my purposes, as I run a Clean Pedal Platform setup - the Skeleton Key does nothing really in front of my two Clean Amps. While when stacked with other pedals - like for instance my tube powered Brelliott TODP Preamp - it sounds utterly superb and really shapes the output of that pedal towards that somewhat clipped QOTSA sound.

It pairs brilliantly with a number of my gain pedals currently on the board - even into the Strymon Sunset Treble Booster voicing it sounds wholly killer.

I typically have all 3 dials dimed out - that delivers the crispest output.

Most will use this as an Amp Booster - straight into the front of their already cooking amps. While for Clean Pedal Platforms this is an excellent tone-shaping boost - to be used in stacking combinations with other boosts, drives and distortions. As mentioned - it sounds particularly great for me into my Brelliott TODP - that really sounds magnificent and it adds extra vibrancy, verve, and bite to the core sound of that preamp!

I feel pretty certain that all those Blue ones are likely gone now - but it’s still worth double-checking with Andy if you fancy one. The cool Standard Red Edition is still available at the usual price pf £99 - on the Funny Little Boxes Webstore. An essential for QOTSA fans - but good for a whole lot more - as you can see in the second of Matt’s demos below!