Xploration • Curation • Recommendation
Pettyjohn Electronics' Spring Sale ends on 15th of April - only a couple more days to get your 15/20% discount on these excellent 3rd Generation Pedals
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 complicated - as you not only need to decide on which pedal you want - but which Mods may suit you best. They mostly tend to be about Mojo components and more flavour - or higher headroom and more low-gain extension - so often at the opposite end of the scale. I always acquired the ’Mojo’ mods - which were often Germanium Diodes - while the OpAmp mods were often about more ’Fidelity’ and ’Clarity’ - which is usually the opposite to flavour and phatness!
In any case I own 8 of the below featured - from a rundown I did in 2021.
- FOUNDRY } Chime MKII, Fuze Fuzz, Gold MKII, Iron MKII.
- CORE } Edge, ODI, Rail, Rous.
All are excellent and the MKII Chime and Gold spent a very long time on the board.
There then followed some production and enclosure sourcing issues - with a slight period of instability as Pettyjohn found their feet again.
I covered the PreDrive3 in October of last year - which kind of signified Pettyjohn's return to form - with a slightly different but uniform aesthetic now featuring cherry-wood facias onto 1590BB enclosures.
The PreDrive3 was first, but then came the Gold MK3, Iron MK3 and the most recent Chime MK3 - which is currently on Earlybird discount.
I would probably look to acquire the latest Chime and Gold editions if the opportunity was right. I did have some sort of accommodation back doing the MKII Era. While times are now slightly more complicated - with higher pricing across the board - dearer shipping and import costs etc. - which make these kind of acquisitions somewhat impractical from the UK.
If I could strike up some kind of accommodation - then for sure I would look to update my 2 favourite Chime and Gold editions - and perhaps come back for the PreDrive3 at a time when I'm little more flush.
The 4 pedals in the current 3rd Era Pedal Range for Pettyjohn are :
- PreDrive3 High Voltage Channel Strip : Buffer / Boost / EQ / Drive - $499
- Chime3 Chimey Cranked / Top-Boosted Vox style Preamp / Overdrive - $399
- Gold3 Mojo Klone-augmented Marshall Plexi style Preamp / Overdrive - $399
- Iron3 Fender-style Smooth Soft-Clipping Overdrive - $399
Essentially Stephen has incorporated more of his Mods inside each pedal - so you get the full extended range of Mods - while there are still some further component options available - but the stock model is as fully loaded as you would want really!
Until the end of April 15th there is a 15% 'SPRING15' discount on the PreDrive3, Gold3 and Iron3, with and 'EARLYBIRD' discount on the most recent Chime3. Further - if you buy any 2 you can up the code to 'DOUBLEDIP20' for 20% off.
All are available via the Pettyjohn Electronics Webstore of course!
A great deal for sure, and one which I would undoubtedly take advantage of were I based in the US of A!
Further details on each below :
PreDrive3 High Voltage Channel Strip : Buffer / Boost / EQ / Drive - $499
Controls - Level, Drive/Clean Gain Switch, Buffer Level, Large Boost Control, Lo-Cut : 1kHz > 20Hz, Hi-Cut : 1kHz > 20kHz, Lows } ±, 75Hz / 250Hz / 120Hz, Inductor Mids } ±, 540Hz / 1.5kHz / 780Hz, Highs } ±, 3kHz / 8kHz / 5kHz, Boost [Blue] Footswitch, Hybrid LED, Buffer [White] Footswitch.
A fantastic Channel Strip Tone-enhancer - with an exceptional collection of tools for key killer front-of-board status!
Chime3 Chimey Cranked / Top-Boosted Vox style Preamp / Overdrive - $399
Controls - Level, Gain, LED Mod : Yellow / White / Blue, Pre Boost, Clipping Mod : Germanium / LED / Silicon, Lows, Inductor Mids, Tilt EQ.
One of my favourite cranked / top-boosted Vox AC30 pedals in MKII format - and this one is supposedly even better, while there are no demos as yet - so I will refer to my favourite MKII one - which is obviously the predecessor for this MKIII edition!
Gold3 Mojo Klone-augmented Marshall Plexi style Preamp / Overdrive - $399
Controls - Level, Gain, LED Mod : Blue / Ultra-Violet / White, Mid Frequency : 600 / 2K / 900, Clipping Mod : Mythological (Klon) / LED / Gold, Lows, Inductor Mids, Highs.
A fantastic Plexi - with those perfect chewy mids - and particularly spectacular with the Klon Germanium Diode applied. This one's MKII predecessor ruled my board for a couple of years near enough alongside its Chime MKII sibling. There is no Gold3 demo as of yet, so the MKII Shawn Tubbs one will have to suffice!
Iron3 Fender-style Smooth Soft-Clipping Overdrive - $399
Controls - Level, Gain, LED Mod : Original / Ultra-Violet / Red, Clean Level, Clipping Mod : BB / LED / ODI, Lows, Inductor Mids, Highs.
This one's cool if you like the softer / smoother side of things. The MKII didn't necessarily have the full-flavour profile that fully appealed to me. This is a far more subtle weapon of choice. There are more Mods this time around, and more range. Where the more flavoursome Chime and Gold are more suited to what I personally seek out - and this one is more for the smooth operators! I've reference yet another Shawn Tubbs MKII demo, as none has materialised for this new model yet!
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