May has been a little bit of strange month - lots of delays really, and waiting for pedals to land.

As inevitably happens most months - much was delayed this month, and I was unable to complete some of the larger articles - they will need to wait until next month, there’s certainly lots of projects in progress. Where new and imminent arrivals kind of scuppered several intended projects - hopefully they can be completed in June.

The first event I’m attending this month is tomorrow - as a micropub ...

So the JAM Pedals TS808 take gets another spin around - moving the High Gain option from toggle-switch to Second Footswitch, while we also get a new potent ’No-Diode’ clipping mode - which is a little louder and punchier.

Controls - Level, Gain, Tone, Clipping : Asymmetrical / No-Diode, High Gain Footswitch, Engage/Bypass Footswitch.

I’m sure most don’t necessarily think they need another Tube Screamer variant, I myself have several already. While this is an undeniably cool and handy ...

I only discovered the existence of the LNS Overdrive pedal a day or two before the recent Leeds Pedal Show - which both I and JSA Effects were attending. I had read that Simon had managed to get his hands on 3 super rare original NOS RC3403 quad opamp chips - where his mods included really unique active Treble and Bass controls, along with improved / louder output.

I was determined to arrive at Leeds super early to be in with a chance of snagging one of these. In fact the other 2 had been ...

Back in 2003, Dan Coggin’s Dinosaural created a silicon transistor circuit which sort of combined elements of a Tube Sceamer and a Tone Bender - and hence the ’Tube Bender’ moniker. I believe the earliest models were in Silver sort of 1590BB style enclosures, and the later ones were in Black.

From 2003-2007 a total of around 150 were made. And in the intervening years several takes on that circuit emerged - including the Aion FX Wyvern in 2020, and the Drunk Beaver T-Rex a year later - ...

I got heavily involved with Pettyjohn / Stephen during their MKII Era - which saw further consolidation of the main ’Foundry Series’, and the introduction of a more affordable, more compact ’Core Series’.

Over that period I acquired 4 of each series - including all of the Core ones. It took me a while to understand the nature of how Stephen works - which is always part custom-shop - and there are always additional custom Mods on offer for each pedal - which makes acquisitions more ...

I initially covered this subject in mid-January - where I announced the arrival of the Tru-Fi Minis. 5 were initially made available, but at my time of coverage only 3 had reached the UK. Since then Teddy has released 3 more variants - and now 8 Minis in total have been released.

All 8 Mini Editions are now at Joe’s Pedals in the UK - priced at £199 each, where the original Tru-Fi USA price is $199 - all very fair.

Each of the 8 pedals are equivalent or better than the original larger size...

After the quiet comfort of February, March unleashed an avalanched of work - both in terms of new releases and acquisitions, but especial in the field of Guitar and Pedal expos - where I attended 3 within a month - first The Birmingham Guitar Show at Cranmore Park, then the London Synth and Pedal Expo at Studio 9294, Hackney Wick - and then back to Birmingham for the Noise Maker Market at Centrala, Digbeth - all grand events.

I burned myself out a little this month, and came back willingly empty...

I was immediately attracted to this smart Multi-Drive when I came across it fairly recently - where different clipping mods significantly change the core character of the pedal. My favourite voicing is the Guv’nor one - which adds Red LED’s into the mix - for more gain and sustain, and a really punchy bottom end. That voicing sounds superb.

It’s a really decent standout voicing for sure - where I also really love the OD-1 Asymmetrical Clipping Diodes one, and the AC30 style one - which ...

If you read my recent PastFX OG-1 piece - you would know that I initially intended to pick up an original long-dash OD-1 with the very original 14-pin JRC3403 OpAmp onboard. There’s hardly any of those available in the wild - and typically they are battered and way over-priced. I had intended to get one and have it modified with an additional tone-stack - as I always felt that was a key element missing from the original, and one of the reasons for the greater success of the Ibanez TS808 Tube ...