Mastro Valvola In Memoriam
I always get pangs of sorrow when a pedal brand retires for one reason or another. Late last year Luca Romanelli announced that he was pulling the plug on his Mastro Valvola pedal brand - which at times I have referred to as ’The Strymon of Italy’.
There are so many complications and complexities with pedal-building in general - chip sets and key components increasingly harder to source, and numerous challenges with logistics and red tape. It’s a wonder more of these don’t go to the wire. For many builders these things are very much touch and go much of the time - and when other pressures in life come to bear, then alas something has to give. So much time and effort goes into this profession - and the rewards are often very marginal. I guess akin to launching a Patreon channel at the heigh of inflationary recession!
In any case, Luca has definitely left a mark, and in particular with his LEM, LFO and OFF1 pedals - possibly the TimeLab too - which are his best-loved flagships. I personally only managed to snag the OFF1, I always meant to get an LFO too - but there are seemingly none of those around any more! The LFO is the only one of this selection that I’m still actively pursuing - all the time-based effects here are mono only and therefore not suited to my rig.
My friend Joe Light’s Joe’s Boutique only has the Area Reverb, Love Buzz Fuzz, and Tempesta Lead Channel remaining in stock, and on Reverb.com there are 4 Tempesta’s listed, alongside one each of Love Buzz, Millibar Compressor, and Smog Overdrive. It looks like there is still the odd one out there in dealer channels, while most of the popular ones seem to be taken already. The fact that so few are on the second-hand market is testament to how well-loved those pedals are!
I am sad to see Mastro Valvola go - while they still rightly deserve to be lauded and celebrated.
Below are the usual individual summary details per each of these 9 pedals.
OFF1 Octave Fuzz Filter - €290 | $310 | £249
Controls - Dry (%Dry), Sub 1 Level, Sub 2 Level, Up (Octave) : On/Off, Gain, Mid : Up is Flat / Down is Cut, Tone, Volume, Cutoff (Frequency), Resonance, Filter : Off / On.
This is the only one I managed to snag at the time Mastro Valvola was still a going concern. A really cool combination pedal with some great fuzz textures. My only niggle really is that it could have done with some more output volume! Otherwise this is a pretty great pedal all-round.
LEM Lysergic Emotions Module - Ambient Multi-Head Delay with Pith-Shifting, Reverse, and Shimmer Modes - €290 | $310 | £259
Controls - Wet [Dry], Special [Filter], EXP / CV : Wet [Spec] / Dry [Filter] / Delay [FDBK], [Shift] Button, Delay, Feedback, MODE } Shim / Multi / LoFi-AMB / Low Shim / Multi / LFO Rev / Reverse; SPECIAL } Crush / RevFBK / Crush / Crush/ Wow / 4P Lift / Vibr / Vibr; PITCH } ↑8 / ↑5 / ↑8 / ↓8 / ↑8, Tap Footswitch, Bypass [Preset] Footswitch.
This is the second of Mastro's Delay Pedals - a Multi-Head Delay with 8 Ambience Modes in tow. A really interesting delay for sure, but only mono in its output - which means it was never a candidate for my rig. Definitely one of the best-loved Masto pedals for sure.
LFO Multi-Waveform Optical Tremolo - €215 | $230 | £189
Controls - Wave Set : < A / B >, Depth, Speed, Tap Division : Quarter / Eighth / Triplet, Waves 1-8 A/B : Ramp Up, Ramp Down, Square, Triangle, Sine, Sweep, Lumps, Random Levels, Ram+Oct / Quad Ramp / Quad Pulse / Tri-Step / Sine+Oct / Sine+3rd / Sine+4th / Random Slopes, Symmetry / Duty Cycle, Volume, Tap Footswitch, Bypass Footswitch.
I have a feeling that the LFO is Mastro's all-time bestseller - it was the first pf these to reach major prominence, and the one I featured in my 2018 Best of Italian Pedals and Builders article. A superb 16-Waveform Tremolo. It's a pedal I always intended to get, but never got around to yet! And now it may be too late for me!
TimeLab Multi Dimensional Delay - €190 | $251 | £219
Controls - Delay Time (0ms-1000ms), Mix, Type : Digital / Analog / Resonance / Mod, Repeats / Filter, Tap Footswitch, Bypass Footswitch, Tap Divisions on Top Edge : Quarters / Dotted Eighths / Triplets.
A slightly simpler take on a Delay than the later Lysergic Emotions Module. Here with 4 voicings and covering most of the obvious ground. I'm more of a tape delay guy - so the LEM is the one that's closer to my preferences - albeit that both these delays are mono output only - which kind of excludes them from my stereo rig!
Area Multi-Reverb - €225 | $242 | £209
Controls - Decay, Mix, Type : Reverb / Mod / Shim 8th / Shim 8+5th, Red-Delay (Shimmer), Damp, Preset Footswitch (1-3), Bypass Footswitch
And here is the sort of Reverb companion to the TimeLab Delay - again with 4 Voicings / Modes in tow. It's a fairly decent proposition for sure - while it's mono only also, and I believe there are more capable Reverbs out there at the same price point.
Millibar Optical Compressor - €190 | $203 | £169
Controls - Attack, Sustain, Ratio, Volume.
A simple optical compressor. There are so many fantastic compressors out there now, that I feel that the Millibar is no longer particularly competitive.
Smog Overdrive - €190 | $203 | £169
Controls - Voicing : Modern / Mid / Vintage, Gain, Tone, Volume.
A fairly simply but nicely voiced Overdrive with 3 playback options - a decent proposition for sure, but in amongst to many competing offerings now. I of course in particular have a love for Blues Driver and Dumble style overdrives, so this one was never really on my radar - while it sounds decent enough.
Love Buzz Hybrid Fuzz - €175 | $193 | £159
Controls - Timbre : 2 Intermediate / 1 Brighter / 3 Bassier, Fuzz, Filter (Fat > Bright), Volume.
A Hybrid Germanium/Silicon Fuzz - presumable a 2-transistor variant - while designation and numbers are not disclosed. Another decent proposition - with added interesting 3-way Timbre control. It's something I would pick up opportunistically if / when the price is right!
Tempesta Lead Channel [Distortion] - €180 | $197 | £159
Controls - Deep : On/Off, Gain, Tone, Volume.
A really nicely voiced sort of sustaining distortion really - with simple controls. Another very decent proposition, but possibly not distinct or differentiated enough to fully capture the public's imagination. This is another I might try to pick up somewhat opportunistically!
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