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 ...
The SOL Fuzz-Vibe is a very personal pedal - both for Daniel himself, and all Fjord-dwelling Scandinavians in particular. In those jagged fjords the sun never manages to rise far enough above those craggy peaks through the depths of winter (which in some parts can be almost half the year!) - the first hint of spring is the sun finally cresting those fjord peaks and releasing the land from darkness. We Icelanders call this fabulous natural phenomenon ’Sólarkaffi’ - when the first appearance of ...
I’m a huge fan of the Uni-Vibe / Vibe format of modulation, and Krozz Devices’ Murilo Carozza has created a very special and supremely versatile take on that format here in it 2nd evolution. You can immediately pick out the core Uni-vibe controls - of Level, Depth, Rate (Pulse), and Dry-Wet Mix (central toggle-switch).
But then we also have two very unique output shaping controls - labelled Spectrum and Shadow. The Spectrum is a core voicing / character control which accentuates Mids ...
Interestingly this is SolidGoldFX’s second take on a 2-Stage VibraPhase pedal - where it originally had the Athena VibraPhase out back in 2019 - which seems to have been discontinued for a while now. I’m not sure how much overlap there is between the two - while the new Aurras seems to be more of a carte blanche re-development than a straight-up evolution or iteration.
The text for the Athena does not mention the Optical components / Opto-Isolators - while both are described as being sort ...
The Modutility roundup combines Modulation, Utility and Pitch type pedals - it also includes Multi-FX and Multi-Modulation pedals of course. Some years this selection is relatively sparse - while this year it’s totally chock-a-block! In fact it was a struggle to whittle the Longlist down - and inevitably some pedals I wanted to feature did not make the cut - including the Endorphin.es Ghost Pedal Multi-FX and Subdecay Prometheus 3 Dual Super Filter.
I still feel that this selection of 26 is...
Here follows an in-depth look at the ALABS Audio Adam Adventures Series NovaDrift 9-Mode Modulator.
A pretty decent mix of algorithms - Vibe (Uni-Vibe), Chorus, Multi-Chorus, Phaser, Filter, Rotary, Flanger, Tremolo and Ring.
In my opinion really only missing the Roland/Boss Dimensions Chorus and Harmonic Tremol for a full house!
Generally I cite the Wampler Terraform as the Modulator which has the most perfect mix of Algorithms for my preferences - Auto-Wah, Envelope Filter, ...
I’m really proud to be supporting a small fledgling audio products brand based in Singapore - which has only been around for a couple of years or so, and was originally known for making studio quality Microphones, Wooden Earcup Headphones and Mixing Consoles. ALABS Audio’s Jinbo Hui reached out to me back in September - to ask if I would want to support the launch of their new Adam Adventures Series pedal range - and I of course said I needed to be properly impressed by those pedals for me to ...
Quite a number of us bought the Eventide H9 at least in part because of Josh Smith’s Leslie / Rotary Speaker Preset among other choice modulations, reverbs and harmonizers. We didn’t get a Uni-Vibe voicing until the relatively recent H90, and now for the first time we now have a stand alone edition of Eventide’s Uni-Vibe Algorithm with two slightly different voicings in tow - a Classic Uni-Vibe swirl, and a deeper more Phasey alternative. On the other Channel we have two versatile Drive ...
So Strymon delivers another first for them - this time around tackling the Uni-Vibe format in their usual fashion. This Ultraviolet is not quite as evolved and enhanced as its two predecessors - the Cloudburst Reverb and Brig Delay.
And instead of putting the Mix on a fully variable knob - they’ve instead implemented that with a 3-way toggle - which has the classic 50:50 Chorus on the left, a new 70:30 Blend in the middle, and a 100% Wet Mix Vibrato on the right.
So apart from their ...
August should have been more celebratory really considering the grand achievement of at last getting to 10,000 followers on Instagram. There’s a few shining lights among you that acknowledged and responded to my Crossing The Rubicon Post - while all too few have really thus far - where the overall response from everyone has been rather muted and somewhat underwhelming really.
In fact overall August has been kind of a month of disappointments. My ’Best of British’ article seemed to have been...