2023 August Pedal-Chain Update - Episode VIII - Sailing High

3 fantastic enhanced and extended overdrives here - one dual channel one, and two Drive + Boost types - each one a total essential. And funnily enough all of them have been on the cards for a while in one aspect or another. I'm genuinely delighted to own each of these. And thank you again to Adrian and Georgia Thorpe's hospitality for my visit this past Wednesday - I thought I already knew a lot about ThorpyFX - while my visits was a wonderful eye opener on how so much of that magic happens - really great to meet most of the Thorpy Team in the flesh - it's always nice when you can properly associate and picture all the people involved in getting the final product into your hands - I even encountered their favourite neighbourhood courier Craig from UPS!

• Acorn Amps Solid State Preamplifier Compact
• Hello Sailor Effects Punky Alice FreeRange Kossoff Drive + RangeMaster
• ThorpyFX The Dane MKII Compact Drive + Boost

Just the one distortion this month which wasn't quite what I expected - I guess I'm so used to getting my hands on more modern distortion pedals with almost infinite range and super aggressive and loud output. While this Drunk Beaver Chernihiv Moon Metal Distortion is much more of a vintage style distortion - slightly narrower range, and while it still sounds superb - it's possible just a few decibels short of my preferred output level. I always typically go for distortions which have very significant amounts of gain and volume - which is not really the case here. Still sounds great - but I would need to tweak it a touch for it to fully meet my preferences.

There's not a month that goes by without some killer new Fuzzes being added to the collection - Fuzz Face #86, and PLL #7 - but both so worth it - and both giants of their genres. Easily upper echelon and some of my very favourite of all time. The Tark Audio Squidink is particularly innovative in how it moves the PLL format forwards.

• rnrmf guitarworks x Hello Sailor Effects Xenomorph 2-Transistor Germanium Fuzz
• Tark Audio Squidink Analog Octave Crusher PLL

And finally two killer modulations - the EQD Depths new to me - albeit it was original release quite some time ago - somewhat under the radar these days but still definitely worth a look. And the PastFX 80/A is probably my favourite Flanger of all time - alongside the Thorpy Camoflange. My Flanger capsule collection is up to 18 - and included 4 absolutely brilliant varieties from PastFX - which are a must for every flanger fan - and superb in their feature sets, rare component makeup and beautiful output textures - as well as of course those pedalboard friendly enclosures. It turns that Choruses are my most popular modulation type - with 25 in the collection, 18 Flangers, 18 Phasers, 14 Uni-Vibes, and mysteriously just 11 Tremolos - so that will probably be a focus for next year - where I will look to scoop up more Harmonic Tremolo varieties in particular - typically my favourite of that format - and I will definitely be getting the Subdecay Tremcoder II Deluxe in before the end of this year!

• Earthquaker Devices The Depths Analog Optical Vibe Machine
• PastFX 80/A 512-Stage BBD Chip Analog Flanger

Not too many for the list this month - but several pretty essential ones that will be picked off in the forthcoming months.

Top among these are the Blakemore Deus Ex Machina and Farmers Factory Fresh Fuzz Turret edition - while there are several others here I strongly desire too - while it's all about the Benjamins these days!

• Blakemore Effects Deus Ex Machina Fuzz
• Cleveland Music Co Midgeapocalypse Vintage Companion Fuzz
• Farmer Factory Fresh Fuzz 3-knob Turret Edition
• MAE x Holy Island Audio Stop! Dual Fuzz
• Origin Effects Halcyon Gold Classic Klone Overdrive
• Rainger FX Drone Rainger Dubby Droning Delay & Snare Trap Dynamic Beat Box
• Reeves Electro Daughterboard Darlington Flyer Fuzz
• Way Huge Stone Burner Sub Atomic Fuzz

Just 8 slots updated this month - #4, #5, #10, #11, #15b, #26, #30, and #31.

While there were twice as many pedals in action - where those will mostly be revealed next month.

The new additions don't necessarily massively move the board along as such - but there are some truly great new options and alternatives there - and as I said earlier quite a few of these will be in heavy rotation from hereon in.

Some may have to come off briefly again for next month's update - but they will be back on those slots very quickly.

These may be relatively few in number - but there are some real titans among them.

Did you guys pick up any of these - or are intending to?

I tried the Tark Audio Squidink Analog Octave Crusher PLL Fuzz Harmonizer in various positions on the board - and it really needs to be near the front of the chain for maximum potency. It doesn't sound as good further down the chain. This means it bumps out the superb Subdecay Prometheus 3 for a while. I'm just as impressed with the Squidink as I thought I would be - in the flesh it totally responds how I expected it to and is easily my favourite PLL device - of all of those none is easier to dial in than this one - and it totally sounds superb every which way! This is some serious innovation of this format and currently incredibly good value too!

rnrmf guitarworks x Hello Sailor Effects Xenomorph 2-Transistor Germanium Fuzz - I've actually had this in the chain for a couple of months now nearly - where I was waiting for the longest time for the demo videos to materialise. I loved it from first encounter - really great sounding and versatile Germanium Fuzz Face - with that unique Un-Buffering transformer - which together with the Morph knob gives you a distinctly different second voicing - at least that's how I use it! As mentioned in the review - it would be nice to have the toggle switch converted into a footswitch - so you can more easily flip between voicings!

I always had a feeling that we would some day end up with a Compact version of the The Dane Drive + Boost - and here is that much loved overdrive - where I'm delighted to have it in the collection at last - it's been a long time coming. Just 2 Thorpy pedals left to complete the entire set! This Drive & Boost combination is not just brilliant for Telecaster guitars - it sounds superb with pretty much every guitar - with some totally killer dynamics and the perfect amount of range - brilliantly calibrated by Thorpy. In the near future we will all be citing this as one of the key classic Overdrive flavours. Both the Drive and Boost are just perfectly calibrated and complement each other beautifully. Everyone should want one of these - and especially in this new form factor!

I first covered the Acorn Amps Solid State Compact Preamplifier on April 5th - and it's been on the wishlist since then. I was waiting for it to come into stock in the UK - and was delighted when my good friend Joe Light became the official UK dealer. Joe however forgot to tell me when he first had these in stock - so the first batch of Compact Preamps was already sold out before I got to them. I did manage to snag one from the second batch though. Really great 2-Channel Preamp with lots of range and a lot of punch to it - beautifully put together too!

The review for this Hello Sailor Effects Sky-Blue Alice FreeRange Kossoff Drive + Rangemaster was held back by the late arrival of the Xenomorph Fuzz Demos - as I wanted to put out that article first. While I've had both pedals on the board for weeks. I feel truly privileged to have gotten my hands on this particular edition as it's so perfect for my preferences. I initially was after a Princess Leia Rebel Rebel artwork edition - but could not turn down this beautiful Sky-Blue Alice example - loaded to the brim with primo vintage components. I just need to get the Rebel Rebel artwork on my full-fat Dual Rangemaster then! No pressure!

The Drunk Beaver Chernihiv Moon Metal Distortion - based on a combination of the Exar Moon Metal and Marshall SredMaster High Gain Distortion pedals - while to my ears it doesn't go quite as hard and heavy as the Marshall ShredMaster. For my liking it could probably do with a touch more gain, and definitely more output volume. I would file this as a somewhat vintage styled high gain distortion - which doesn't have that full force potency of some of the more modern variants. It's rather more moderately high gain - with that vintage style slightly looser texture - so probably most suited for thrash metal I suppose!

As a Drunk Beaver Pedal Drop - there are no demos for this pedal - I've cited a near equivalent for the review though!

Verlie has definitely saved the best for last - as here PastFX's  80/A 512-Stage BBD Chip Analog Flanger is just superb every which way. Fantastic textures, huge range - and can be turned to pretty much every key flange flavour - excels at those more textured and richer sounding - metallic clangy tones, jet flanging and whale-song! Probably my favourite every Flanger - while I of course still love all the other 3 Past FX Vintage style Flangers - and Thorpy's superb Camoflange.

The last / most recent of the Uni-Vibes to enter that capsule collection. I have had my eye on the EarthQuaker Devices The Depths Analog Optical Vibe Machine for a while - but it was my recent Uni-Vibe roundup that spurred its final acquisition. Really versatile and so easy to dial in. Most worthy of a place in my reference collection - while a few of the others have some extra special sauce about them - and where their modulation texture is just a touch sweeter. The Depths is right up there though!