Following in the wake of the very well received Noble Screamer (ODR-1 + TS808), and Muse Driver (AT / RK Modded BD-2), we now get 3 more in the same series - all at once.
The Blues Order covers Marshall Blues Breaker and Fulltone OCD voicings, the Angry Orange has EHX Civil War Muff and Boss DS-1 Distortion flavours, and the Super Rodent mixes up the Boss SD-1 Super OverDrive with ProCo Rat Distortion.
As before you get to mix or match the Tone Stack and Clipping Character of each ...
This article was actually inspired by the recent Fjord Fuzz SOL Fuzz-Vibe feature - where I got to thinking about extended range Fuzz Face style pedals. To my memory there is only the Carl Martin Purple Moon and Fjord Fuzz SOL in that compact Fuzz-Vibe format. I then recalled the Keeley Electronics Monterey - but realised there weren’t a whole lot of pedals in the extended format category - for Fuzz-Vibes - so I expanded the remit to cover ’Fuzz Face+’ pedals - essentially expanded feature set ...
February can often seem a rather odd month after the hustle and bustle of NAMM Show January - where a lot of new stuff always gets announced - while increasingly outside the NAMM schedule - but certainly in and around it! Projects delayed from the previous year often get released in January, but this year those kind of seem to be more spaced out - with some not feted to happen until March / April. February always seems slow compared to January, and that sometimes extends into March too before ...
This rundown has been a long time in the making - having been iterated many times over, and changed as recently as this last Tuesday - when Keeley brought out its Muse Driver - Super AT Mod replacement!
Readers will know that I’ve cited the Keeley Freak Fuzz Modded BD-2 Blues Driver as my favourite all-time overdrive pedal, and be extension - the Blues Driver circuit and variations of it are my own very favourite gain tones. Some gravitate towards Tube Screamer, others Blues Breaker, Timmy ...
I’m of course delighted by the prospect of another cool take on my favourite overdrive format - Boss’s BD-2 Blues Driver. While I would imagine those that bought the fairly recent limited edition Super AT Mod might be a little miffed - as this Muse Driver is in essence an improvement of that circuit - with an extra 2-way toggle switch - following the format of the very recent Noble Screamer runaway success - where there is also another overdrive in that format which has been leaked, and is due ...
And so to my roundup of the best gear of the year - apologies of course if I’ve overlooked one of your favourites - and note again that this year I’ve split out Boost & Overdrive - and Distortion separately - as there are so many new pedals that it’s tough to fit them all into a single summary overview. Some of these pedals are incredibly extended range - and if I’ve used them more on the distortion side - you will find those listed in the very next Distortion Rundown article - like say the...
This is the kind of ’fusion cuisine’ that was always pretty much destined to happen some day - the two fabled green overdrive pedals combined within a single compact enclosure, and Robert’s done it in a really slick way here. First of all - props to Robert and his gang for their really cool new wedge-shaped aluminium enclosure - and what looks like fairly custom knobs. Both get a big thumbs up from me!
But it’s the way that he’s combined the two different circuits that is the magic here - ...
I’m expecting this post to attract a lot of ’whataboutisms’ as many of my rundowns seem to do. While every single choice / selection here is well considered, pondered upon on and properly weighted up against pertinent criteria and then further rationalised, whittled and distilled down into a top 9 or 16 or 25 - as I always favour symmetrical grids.
If I find 18 or 19 suitable candidates - then only 16 can be featured on the grid etc. - you need to draw the line somewhere. And you can also ...
So it’s only about a month late - but the fantastic looking Custom Shop Light Bending Halo is finally in and on the board. It’s evident from the enclosure how tricky a task the engraving was - as you can see on mine - a tiny flaw on the lower bar of the ’L’ in Halo - that there is a tiny sliver that was somehow omitted from the engraving - also a slight imperfection on the upper middle circle of the Halo logo. But apart from that pretty flawless and unique!
It’s a real boon to me that I don...
So May started with my posting the last of the NAMM Show stragglers, followed by an initial eclectic mix of different pedal types - while gradually leaning into ’Andy Timmons’ Month. I’ve always thought Andy to be a wonderful human being and a particularly fine journeyman guitarist. While it’s only in fairly recent years that he’s become somewhat more elevated in my affections as one of my all-time favourite guitar heroes. You will note that he did not feature in my last article on personal ...