12 cool pairs of Vox-in-a-Box and Marshall MIAB / Plexi style Pedals which have occupied slots #18 and #19

EGDM Controls - Volume, Drive, Voice, Treble.
 
Super Crunch Box Controls - Volume, 3-way Clipping switch, 3-way Mode switch, Gain, Presence, Hi, Mid Low.

My very original pairing - which still sounds fabulous - and which actually endured the longest - a couple or so months beyond the Pettyjohn pairing. I guess you could argue the the EGDM voicing is not wholly fully authentic, and doesn't quite have that fully chimey and Top Boost bite - but it still sounds glorious - as does the Super Crunch Box - which I still rate as one of the finest Brown Sound takes to this day! I dip into these every now and again and I still very much love both of them. While as I mentioned in the intro, their endurance was as much do to with the timing and acquisition of other releases as their winning formula. From memory I thought that the Pettyjohn ones had endured further - but no - the original pairing is still the longest serving one to-date!

Proxy Controls - Bass, Mids, Treble, Volume, Presence, Gain, Mid Boost, Bright Boost.

Saxon Controls - Bass, Mids, Treble, Volume, Presence, Gain, Bass Cut, Bright Boost.

So I've had 2 versions of the Saxon already, and there's yet another edition out there - where Bispell's Thomas feels he's managed to eke a little more out of that circuit. My final pairing of these is still pretty solid - where the Proxy is the more potent one in the pairing, and the earliest variant of Saxon was a little bit mild-mannered for me. Nothing wrong with the final set though - just note that those controls are very interactive, and need to be tweaked very much in tandem - and the sweet-spot is rarely at the peak of those ranges. I think my second version of Saxon could still have done with a little more output volume - but it had enough onboard really for most. For the Proxy - that is obviously based on the earlier Vox UL730 'Beatles' amp, and doesn't have the full bite of the Top Boosted Brian May sound, but - as it shares lot of similarities with the Fuzz Face topology - this still goes pretty crisp - while the purists would probably say it doesn't quite reach full escape velocity as such!

Combo Drive Controls - Level, Bass, Treble, Sound / Gain / Structure.
 
Power Stack Controls - Level, Bass, Treble, Sound / Gain / Structure.

These were both on the board for a relatively short stint - as part of a series of Boss acquisitions at the time. I always felt that the Power Stack was a little dense and dark for my preferences - versus the more open-pored elastic Marshally profiles that I tend to prefer. You can dial it in pretty well, while the Power Stack never quite hits the sweet spot for me - not that it doesn't have a decent sound - rather that is just didn't compare that well to what I was used to. I do still really like the Combo Drive - but since both are using the Boss COSM / MDP DSP technology - the dial-in can be a little tricky on occasion. For me though - the Voxy Combo Drive is the more satisfactory of the two - but each has some oddities about its output profile for me while indeed still sounding pretty decent!

Galileo Controls - Volume, Tone, Gain.

Dirty Little Secret Controls - Treble, Middle, Bass, Master, Pre-Amp.

The Galileo was one of my very first Voxy / Brian May style pedals - I kind of like its profile, but it's always seemed a touch underpowered for me - both in terms of gain, and especially in terms of its volume output. While my Dirty Little Secret Red is also more of that dark dense tone - a la Boss Power Stack - rather than the more elastic chewy Marshally tone that I prefer. All these early subsequent pairs were compared to my original EGDM and SCB pedals - which performed so well across their respective output ranges. It's something of a trend here that some of these pedals are a touch underpowered, that affliction does not impact on any of my favourite pairings - which all have a great range of outputs with typically some in reserve at my preferred peak values. While a number of these don't seem to get much above unity. Funnily Andy Martin really rates the DLS, while it's far from my favourite of that type!

Royal Velvet Controls - Volume, Gain, Tone.

Black Mountain Controls - Volume, Gain, Tone.

A really well matched pair with decent core tonality, not as generous output profiles as some of these others, but pretty decent all-round. I feel that these could have done with at least an extra control to help dial things in more finely - like say a contour knob on the Black Mountain. Also - the Black Mountain seems to be a touch short on its output - it's nicely crisp up to about 3/4 of its range before the getting progressively spongy - where the final quadrant seems a touch inadequate - both are pretty decent pedals though while somewhat simplistic overall.

TBIAC Controls - Treble, Bass, Hi-Cut, Level, Gain, Boost, Sag, TBIAC Footswitch, Boost Footswitch.

King of the Brits Controls - Treble, Bass, Mids, Level, Gain, Boost, Presence, Voice : 1 | 2 | 3, Brits Footswitch, Boost Footswitch.

One of my favourite pairs for sure - these had a decent stint on the board - where I'm still a huge fan of Brian Mena's pedals, and am expecting a couple more to land any day now! The TBIAC is one of only 2 here with a secondary Boost footswitch - so that you can kick that in on the fly. Both these pedals have generous profiles for gain and volume, and absolutely the right complement of controls. Some of my favourites to this day!

'63 Diamond Controls - Volume, Master, Cut, Top Boost (On is down).

Plexi Crunch Controls - Master (Level), Preamp (Gain), Tone, Presence (Brightness + Gain + Saturation).

This was certainly an interesting experiment - several of my readers tasked me to check out the '63 Diamond - where it made sense to check out the Plexi Crunch at the same time. I had seen an Andertons demo with Rob Chapman - which sounded pretty excellent, while now it seems most of that core sound came from the amp. My experience of the '63 Diamond was pretty good - not that I feel its Top Boosted mode is particularly authentic, but it has a decent satisfying core sound to it. The same was not true of the Plexi Crunch - which sounded nothing like the Chappers demo - it just doesn't carry the typical Marshall richness and crispness that I'm accustomed to. Note that all of this is comparative and in-context - and my Clean Pedal Platform Rig really exposes any weaknesses in a pedal's profile. So the Plexi Crunch is by far my least favourite of the Marshall pedals featured here, and while the '63 Diamond is decent enough - it doesn't quite match the richness in texture of my favourite ones here. That said - I still feel that the '63 Diamond sounds pretty decent, but it's not that close to my favourites here! I had an interesting chat with Cohen Harman at the same time - where he deliberate avoids budget pedals - as none of them come close to the rich textures and delicate nuances of those pedals that he's accustomed to. I'm not quite at that degree of dogma - while I agree with much of what Cohen says - in that most budget pedals rarely get to the same degree of texture and nuance compared to the boutique ones - which tend to have more time spent on their sound design, and are largely made with superior audiophile parts! The '63 Diamond is pretty decent in this pairing - but I really didn't get along with the Plexi Crunch!

Chime II Controls - Level, Clip : GE > LED, Drive, Tilt EQ, HPF : 700 > 30, Boost.

Gold II Controls - Level, Mid Frequency, Gain, Lows, Mids ±, Highs.

The second most long-serving pair, and one which I still very much love! The Chime II doesn't quite reach those Top Boosted tones, but boy does it sound gorgeous - same goes for the Gold II - I elected to have the custom Mojo Harmonic Diodes on both pedals - and that seemingly makes a big difference. The core tonality of both of those pedals still fills me with joy! These 2 really imprinted on me as such - and are in some ways still the reigning champions - slightly richer sounding than the killer earliest pair and the Menatone ones - but where the Chime II doesn't really go all the way to Top Boost unaided - I typically need to throw in another boost there to help it along a little - while I could still very happily continue to rock this pair on account of their superior harmonics!

Copper Controls - Volume, Gain, Bass, Tone, Treble.

Sheriff Controls - Volume, Gain, Bass, Middle, Treble.

These are both really decent too - in particular the Copper Voxy one. The Sheriff leans a little more into the JTM45 thing - it's a bit softer than most - still sounds great, but doesn't really properly hits those Brown Sound style tones. While The Copper is one of the 2 killer ones in the Victory V1 series  alongside The Jack - those are definitely the pick of that bunch for me. And as I said - The Sheriff is just a little milder than I would overall want it, not quite a chewy or crunchy as I need really - but still sounds suitably Marshally! Where The Copper is definitely the star of this pairing, and one of my favourite Voxy voicings still!

Mystic Edge Controls - Volume, Bright Switch, Gain, Bass, Tone Cut, Treble.

Copperhead Drive Controls - Volume, Bright Switch, Gain, Bass, Middle, Treble.

As a reader rightly pointed out to me - these sound a lot better in PRE rather than STD Mode (top Mode switch), while there is still a little of that damp blanket over the speaker cabinet feel in the tonality. A producer friend of mine explained that way before the Korg Nutube - there have been several previous experiments with fluorescent tube technology for audio - and that none of those took off - as the default electro-static nature of those tubes produces a lot of unwanted high end fizz - you can kind of hear that when you turn on those kind of lights! That extra fizz then needs to be filtered off the top end supposedly - which results in a slight dampening / softening of the output profile. So even on the Preamp Mode - some of that softness is still tangible - which is unfortunate for these pedal types - as both of them need to be fairly crisp to be reasonably authentic. These don't sound bad as such - there's just something about them that doesn't hit quite right for me. Not an unpleasant sound at all, just a somewhat very slightly muffled one (the damp blanket and trumpet mute analogy seems appropriate in this context!) - where the specific outputs here are very distinct within in head-to-head testing, while other players don't seem to sense it quite so much. My rig is particularly adept at exposing any inherent weaknesses in a pedal's output profile! And interestingly outside of group tests you may not be fully aware of intrinsic differences in output timbres!

Jangle Master Controls - TOP BOOST } Gain, Bass, Treble, Boost Footswitch; BOOST TYPE } Treble Boost / Clean Boost; MASTER } Volume, High Cut, Main Bypass Footswitch. Plus internal Presence Trim-Pot (default set to Min / CCW).

Platinum Preamp Controls - Input Gain, Presence switch, Output Master, Bass, Middle, Treble, Bypass, Lead.

This is a really interesting pair - both gorgeous sounding, and the testing would probably have gone slightly differently if I had not played the Platinum Preamp Silver Jubilee first. The Platinum just sounds immense every which way - with a huge output profile and plenty of volume in reserve. While however gorgeous the Jangle Master sounds - its overall profile is somewhat marred by a much lower output. The difference between the output profile of those two pedals is vast - and for me the Jangle Master very much comes across as slightly underpowered which is a shame, as it can produce some really exquisite tone. I still really like both of these - love the Platinum one even, while I merely rather like the Jangle Master as I feel its output volume is somewhat compromised. VS Audio were going to do some further work for me in that area, but it seems that is no longer a priority, and both of us have moved beyond that since. I do really like the Jangle Master - it delivers some really lovely chimey tones - and is one of only 2 here with a properly independent Top Boost secondary footswitch. But I can't get over the diminished output volume - I always try to look at these as 'matched' pairs, and this volume discrepancy makes these very much 'unmatched' at that level. The Platinum is one of the very best of its kind, while the Jangle Master is not quite where I'd want it to be - that means it kind of drops down a tier overall from where it could be - but more of that later!

May Queen Controls - Gain, Volume, Tone, Jali (Smooth > Rough Character), Mode : Red Hi Compression, Blue Compression, Green Rhapsody Main.

Eruption Controls - Volume, Gain, Variac (< Classic Plexi | Instant Eddie >), Tone.

And here to my final pairing - which have both independently and individually been on the board previously - but never occupying those two hallowed #18 and #19 slots. The May Queen delivers absolutely my favourite 'Bohemian Rhapsody' solo tones - and so really kills on those Brian May harmonic distortion lead tones, and the same goes for the Eruption - which is spot on for the EVH Variac Brown Sound Distortion. Both of these sound really amazing, and for me really end up in the S-tier on their own - they have the perfect mix of verve and harmonics with plenty of gain and volume in reserve - while for a lot of the pedals in this listing you're having to dime the volume and gain pretty much to reach the right sort of tones, and you have little or nothing in reserve. In any case - in the Final Thoughts segment below I will try to rationalise and rank all of these in the most appropriate way!