I’ve been meaning to do something with Fuzz Imp for a while now. I’ve actually been following Fuzz Imp’s Justus Gash for quite a few years - from early Fuzz advocate and enthusiast to fully fledged pedal maker - from his earliest grassroots beginnings up to a fairly mature profile now with a range of different pedals on offer - 16 or so varieties now all told.

It’s been a really interesting journey to witness, and I don’t think Justus has put a foot wrong yet! Hopefully my shining a light ...

So a brand new Source Audio NEURO 3 App Extension released today gives you a really innovative way to explore the entire library of Source Audio Tones / Effects - across all its individual devices.

This new App Extension is a mix of Presets Manager and Effects Emulator / Sampler. Here the older non-synth meaning of sampler - more akin to carpet and wallpaper swatch samplers - and indeed say Pantone Colour Swatches.

You can call up any of Source Audio’s devices on the NEURP 3 App  - ...

It’s fairly well documented by now that I mostly favour Single Compact Enclosures - especially when there’s only a single footswitch present. I do go larger for the occasional pedal - like my various Stereo Workstation Pedals for instance, and my Drum Machine - while by and large I always try to get something in a fully practical and easily slottable form factor.

My rig / board is highly congested, and has been for a while, now with 52 pedals in the signal chain - so in many circumstances I...

Compared to yesterday’s Standard Fuzz Machine Harmonic Octave Fuzz - which was supremely well behaved and really easy to dial in - this one (the clue’s in the name!) is somewhat more unruly and ’nasty’ gated sounding - and really makes you work for your musical tones!

Controls - Gain, Volume, Blend, Tone, Scoop, Blend Bypass Switch, Tone Bypass Switch, EQ : Tone into Scoop / Scoop into Tone.

Tim has designed this pedal so smartly - and the Blend obviously makes it very useful for Bass ...

So the history of the slightly mis-named AC Booster is a really interesting and tangential one. The AC Booster was first introduced in 2002 - where the AC is a reference to the Vox AC30 amplifier. The AC Booster was Xotic Effects’ original smooth overdrive - where the RC Booster (Rig Conductor - supposedly) was a lower gain version for those who liked a lot of headroom.

Scott Henderson loved using the AC Booster with his humbucker-loaded guitar, and wanted a similar sound for his stock ...

I do like my Ocave Fuzzes - and this one - kind of based on the Ibanez Standard Fuzz - which is somewhat adjacent to the Univox Superfuzz - This Fredric Fuzz sounds blistering - in the best sense - for that perfectly balanced cutting upper ocatave - beautifully supported by a warm and well balanced core sound - derived from 5 silicon transistors.

Controls - Fuzz Depth (Intensity), Balance (Volume), Ocave Off/On Switch, Tone Change Footswitch : Flat / ’Garagey’ (Red) / Scooped (Green), Fuzz ...

Maybury Guitars - Jason

mayburyguitars.co.uk

So here are the highlights from the very first Woking Boutique Guitar Show - which  took place this past Saturday at the Fiery Bird venue - just 5 minutes walk from the train station / town centre.

The show was organised by my good friend Jason Snelling of Maybury Guitars, alongside John Smith of JAS Guitars. The venue was perfectly centrally located, and was spacious - with a lot of natural light - which did make some of the photography somewhat...

I’m very familiar with the original signature Eddie Haddad BoostDrive multi-gain + boost pedal. Where the Lil Ed is the mini version of the V2 improved and refined BoostDrive follow-up - the Session Drive Edition. We then have the excellent Billini beautifully textured Germanium Drive, and searing upper octave fuzz - the Quiggling Octofuzz - all sound excellent!

The three pedals featured with their Controls :

• Billini Germanium Drive - Gain, Level, Low, High
• Lil Ed Session Drive - Gain,

I was down for getting the original black ToneX One edition - one was offered to me, but never quite arrived. Which turns out I’m quite happy about in the end really as it was the much better looking Chrome Joe Satriani Edition that finally landed for me. So thanks to IK Multimedia for their assistance!

Considering I’m mostly a classic stompbox guy - then the ToneX One isn’t always going to be he most natural fit for me. While as a Multi-Gain / Versatile Multi-Drive and Distortion pedal - ...