Normally when you encounter 3-transistor fuzzes you assume Tone Bender territory, but that is not always the case - in the Horrothia Lütz the output profile is mostly classic Fuzz Face, and for this Freaky Fuzz the output has an interesting sort of rasp to its character - it’s more textured than your typical Tone Bender, a little more ragged - but with a similar gain-range. It’s like a slightly unruly / wilder cousin to Tone Bender.

Pedal Pawn described their fuzz perfectly here :

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As part of a pedal’s packaging you typically get an inner protective pouch / drawstring bag - usually made of canvas, cotton or hemp, but also in a variety of more exotic materials and fabrics. A lot of those are unbranded, but a fair amount of them have logos stamped, embossed, printed, appliquéd or embroidered even.

This post was prompted by 2 fairly recent arrivals - my first 2 Asheville Music Tools pedals, and my first Pedal Pawn pedal. I had actually first thought about doing such an ...

BluesBreaker aficionados will know that the Marshall original was famously underpowered - and even with the Volume dimed it never got quite loud enough.

Chris and his lead engineer Paul identified 3 weaknesses to the original circuit and set out to solve them. PedalPawn deploys a similar philosophy to JAM Pedals where they’re all about full-fat enhanced output with maximum flavour!

The Great British Drive delivers :

• Huge Output
• Soaring Sustain
• Expanded Headroom

Controls - Level,...

We’ve had a slew of evolved / Tube Screamer adjacent pedals recently, where I felt each one wasn’t a big enough story on its own, while all 3 together here are worth a consideration, even though the humble Tube Screamer is the most copied and most ubiquitous circuit out there - there really should not be a need for any more into that category - but here we are.

I’ve lined them up in order of their feature set - with the simplest one at the start, and the most enhanced at the far end. In ...

The very first pedal in this sequence was the Marshall Guv’nor - its take on its own legendary JCM800 amp - which pedal most famously went on to become the signature sound for virtuosos guitarist Gary Moore. There was then an approximate 4-year hiatus until a set of 3 pedals was issued in fairly short order. Some say the first of these arrived late 1991 - while 1992 properly captures them all.

Most notable was the BluesBreaker which launched a million other pedals - and ended up on John ...

I’m always a strong advocate for worthy and imaginative charitable works - and Andertons Pedal Raffle for the Teenage Cancer Trust - is one of the most creative events yet. And open to all the countries Andertons can ship to - which should cover most. There’s an individual Raffle for 6 different LEGO takes on classic pedals - with tickets going for £5 each - and you have 7 days remaining to lend your support!

While Andertons are sort of championing this project, it’s actually mostly thanks ...

I knew the ’These Go To 11’ website long before I was introduced to owner / founder Sebastian Nylund. It was the core reference for me for brands like BJFe and DanDrive and several more rarer boutique brands - and I have always admired Sebastian’s smart curation and selection process - and often used that in my own pedal discovery process.

These Go To 11 is an incredibly eclectic, but selective mix too of both mainstream and boutique pedal brands. It’s not exclusively guitar pedals like Joe...

And here is the first of the category overviews for the year - combining those Overdrive and Distortion pedals which sparked some interest for me. Note that there will be 4 of these types of articles - Overdrive & Distortion (this one), Fuzz, Delay and Reverb (exc. Reverb Workstation already covered), and Modulation + Pitch + Untility pedals. Before I then reveal my overall 25 or so favourite favourite pedals for the year in a Best-of-the-Best listing - with possibly some sneaky additions....