Mastro Valvola In Memoriam
I always get pangs of sorrow when a pedal brand retires for one reason or another. Late last year Luca Romanelli announced that he was pulling the plug on his Mastro Valvola pedal brand - which at times I have referred to as ’The Strymon of Italy’.
There are so many complications and complexities with pedal-building in general - chip sets and key components increasingly harder to source, and numerous challenges with logistics and red tape. It’s a wonder more of these don’t go to the wire. ...
The Heavy Water serves beautifully as a superb always-on Tone-Enhancer which delivers exceptional added harmonics and texture
While there will be one more Heavy Water feature on the final Monday of this month, that will be more of a roundup and last-minute reminder. So this is the last therefore of the main feature articles.
Most of you will be familiar with the 29 Pedals EUNA Elite Unity Amplifier / Buffer - which combines a Buffer, Harmonics & EQ, High Headroom, and a very unique and potent Power Management circuitry. It’s core mission of course to make your effects chain sound better. The EUNA is a front-of...
Catalinbread travels back to the 70's with its StarCrash Themed Collection - including 2 new pedals - the StarCrash Fuzz and SideArm Overdrive
The StarCrash 70’s Collection re-skins 4 Catalinbread classics (Adineko, Katzenkönig, SFT, and Valcoder) and adds 2 brand new period correct pedals - a Screamer-type SideArm Overdrive, and a 70’s style StarCrash Sustaining Fuzz.
I really like the styling of these - which enclosures come in a really appealing apple-green sparkle, and where prices vary from $179 to $209 for the Adineko delay.
I only own the standard Katzenkönig from this circuit selection, I’ve had the SFT on the wishlist...
Tanabe's Santanabe Drive totally nails those Carlos Santana Singing Sustaining Lead Tones
Before we get into the detail of the Santanabe, it’s important to note that both the May Queen and Santanabe pedals are derivations of the the core Zenkudo circuit - with certain EQ, Voicing and Gain Tweaks / Alterations. For instance the Gain curve on the Zenkudo and May Queen has a Linear B Taper, while the Santanabe is of the Logarithmic A type curve.
Both the May Queen and Santanbe have significantly more gain onboard than the Zenkudo - with 3 times the amount of the Zenkudo at Max ...
The Turbo Dane Rides Again!
Back in 2019 I coined the term ’Turbo Dane’ - meaning using the just then released Heavy Water in combination with The Peacekeeper Overdrive. As I detailed in last week’s Heavy Water Origin Story, the Peacekeeper circuit was involved right at the start of The Dane development project, but where that latterly headed off in its own distinct direction. The Dane (MKI and MKII) is obviously Pete Honoré’s signature Drive + Boost pedal - specifically designed to bring out the very best in Pete’s ...
Drunk Beaver's 20th Pedal Drop is the suitably impressive Ternopil Pentode Preamp Tone Enhancer
The #20 Drunk Beaver Pedal Drop is a major milestone in that series - utilising a special small format Pentode Tube - with the purpose of warming up your core signal, and adding some magic and sparkle to the final output!
There seems to be something of a vogue for tube-powered preamp pedals these days - with each builder seeking rare and unique small format tubes. Vitalii has discoverd a stash of fairly rare / unique Ukrainian small format tubes - including the 6Ж45Б-В ones featured here - ...
And then there were 3 - King Tone adds the Heavy Hand and Soloist Overdrives to its new Recessed-knobs Rounded Enclosure Format Series
This new King Tone format has turned out to be something of a Marmite project for the brand - with consumers having mixed feelings on this new shape - which I feel owes a lot to the Danelectro Billionaire Series, which in turn surely took its form-factor in part from a computer mouse shape.
King Tone is beset with so many grey and black market fakes of its signature pedals, that these new designs are designed to both enhance the specific pedal performance and experience, but also make it ...
Cusack Music's Project 34 Selenium Rectifier Pre/Drive delivers a genuinely new and uniquely richly textured breakup character
You would have thought that I would have been long since bored of 3-knob overdrives, considering how many of those have crossed my path over the years. But every now and again something special comes along which makes you park those prejudices.
And the Project 34 Selenium Rectifier Pre/Drive is just one such magical pedal - verily sounding like it’s loaded with tubes and other primo amp components - so lively is its character. There’s a massive hint of Vox in its tone profile, alongside a ...
Beetronics unleashes its Wannabee Beelateral Buzz Dual Channel Klone + Bluesbreaker Overdrive - for Real!
So this project was first announced right on April 1st - in the middle of all the April Fool stuff - and part of me still isn’t 100% sure this is entirely real - even though the pedal is in wide dealer distribution by now.
It seems a little vanilla to be a full-fat Beetronics style pedal - but there are several smart touches here which make it worthy.
Controls - KLONE } Honey (Gain), Taste (Tone), Volume, Mode : 1 No Clean Blend / 2 Medium Blend / 3 Full Blend, Klone Footswitch; ...
The Origin Story for the ThorpyFX Heavy Water 3-in-1 Boost
The second feature for ’Heavy Water Month’ concerns its provenance and how the pedal came to be!
The story starts all the way back in 2016 with Thorpy’s Chain Home Tremolo - his smart take on the choppy Vox Repeat Percussion. A common issue with early Tremolos was volume drop - perceived and actual, and an output typically under signal-chain unity, for which the remedy was to add a boost circuit - in order to raise the volume back up to optimal / usable levels.
The very first High ...
12 Degrees of Saturation 2023 Compact Edition
