2023 March Pedal-Chain Update - Episode III - ChoraKlonik Flux

So basically 2 Killer Klones - while the Bondi Del Mar touches on Blues Breaker and TS808 dynamics too. Then we have the cool EQD 70's hard-clipper, and the current replacements for the Brian and Eddie Slots #17 and #18 - the Bispell Audio Proxy Vox-in-a-box, and Saxon Marshall-in-a-box - all are great.

Note that I have two different visuals for the Bispell Audio ones as although I liked the default DM-1900 style tastefully muted knobs - I thought I might prefer the metallic sheen of some milled aluminium ones instead. I feel each has its appeal - while my knob choices definitely stand out a little more in the pedal-chain.

I also felt it important to keep the colour symbolism - with all Gain and Volume knobs being red variants! :

• Bispell Audio Proxy UL730 style Vox-in-a-Box Overdrive
• Bispell Audio Saxon JTM45 + Plexi Overdrive / Distortion
• Bondi Effects Del Mar MK2 Dynamic Overdrive
• EarthQuaker Devices White Light Overdrive Reissue
• J Rockett Archer Select Multi-Clipping Transparent Overdrive 

It turns out indeed that the Drunk Beaver PD7 Luhansk Hammer is entirely Rat-centric - and sounds like a slightly boosted variant of that type. While I thought long and hard about the Leqtique 10/10 visual.- and the fireworks backdrop is just symbolically perfect for this Mini Firecracker of a Distortion - incredibly versatile and potent! :

• Drunk Beaver PD7 Luhansk Hammer Thrash Metal Distortion
• Leqtique 10/10 Distortion Mini

So a really killer and versatile selection of Fuzzes this month - note that all are very easily manageable - besides the Gleam - which is a proper livewire and has something of a learning curve - with incredibly interactive control - put also really capable and potent. I was all set to do a review on that this month, but Thomas has decided to update the circuit slightly - so I will wait until I have the new edition before doing a proper review.

There's 2 really cool Farmer Factory Fuzzes here - which was a new brand for me this month - and the last 3 mentioned are all equally killer extended range circuits - really distinct, and smartly engineered. The whole selection is really complementary as there's actually fairly little overlap here. Some truly magnificent fuzz tones here! :

I will be reviewing the Rabbit Hole FX Merking along with its Box of Sticks sibling next month!

• Bispell Audio Gleam Silicon Multi-Fuzz
• Farmer Factory Fresh Fuzz
• Farmer Factory Pep Box Fuzz
• Great Eastern FX Co Design-A-Drive Flexible Gain Shaper
• Rabbit Hole FX Merkin Octave Fuzz
• Redbeard Effects Hairy Squid Fuzz (B&M Barnes & Mullins Fuzz Unit+)

I could include the Jackson Audio New Wave again here - as I could not get the first one to work for me - while the second performs brilliantly, The Beetronics Seabee is equally brilliant in its own way - but not quite as intuitive or easy to use - but certainly delivers the tones! And the Flanger X is exactly what I thought it would be - a really flavoursome Rocket Flanger! :

• Beetronics Seabee Harmochorus Stereo Chorus / Harmonizer
• Rainger FX Flanger X

Even though I acquire a veritable boatload of pedals every month - I can't acquire every single one I come across - and some need to be set aside for future adventures! So there's plenty I still want to get my hands on at some stage, these include :

• Basic Audio Fresh Fuzz
• Basic Audio Texsur Fuzz (Jordan Boss Tone)
• Frost Giant Electronics Osiris Overdrive
• Rare Buzz / Spun Loud The Phoezar Fuzz-Phaser
• Unsound Circuitry WOES Dual Band Superdriver
• Vahlbruch Effects V2 Octavia Upper Octave Fuzz
• Victory V1 The Copper Preamp
• Victory V1 The Sheriff Preamp
• Vox Copperhead Drive
• Vox Mystic Edge Overdrive

Those not listed here are either on their way in already, or are surplus to requirements - tune in next month to see what has landed!

I really want to land a V2 Octavia pretty soon - I've been after one of those for a while!

So 15 slots have been switched up this month - Slots #4, #5, #10, #12, #15a, #15b, #15c, #17, #18, #19, #21, #23, #30, #32, #33.

We start with the fairly sensitive Bispell Audio Gleam Multi-Fuzz, followed by the Klone contingent and then the less sensitive fuzzes. Then a mix of overdrives and distortions and finally the 3 updated Modulation slots.

It's rare that I have 2 of the same Modulations in a row, although it's probably happened at least once before. Those 2 choruses are so different though that you can easily justify having both. Longer term one will likely be more dominant than the other. While I have quite.a few more choruses inbound over the next few months - so we may have a month when all the Modulation slots are occupied by choruses!

I've said it many times before - but I have so many different killer iterations of pedal selections and arrangements - and I have such depth in coverage that I could swap out near enough every aspect at least a dozen times!

Since the Beetronics Seabee Harmochorus is fresh on the board this month - I thought it an opportune moment to bring back its equally colourful Zzombee Filtermulator sibling. Eventually that will need to yield to the Subdecay Prometheus which will certainly have an innings or two in the not too distant future. The Zzombee is a really incredible pedal - mixing up so many genres in one devices - envelope filtering, oscillation, pitch-shifting and fuzz!

A proper livewire of a Silicon Multi-Fuzz which utilises 4 cleverly selected Transistors to deliver FZ-1, TB MKI, TB MKII, and of course Fuzz Face. This pedal has to be placed near or at the front of your chain - and you need to use the EQ. Volume and Gain controls - diligently - along with the Impedance and Tone Defeat switches. Further I find myself also using my guitar Volume and Tone to further temper the output of the fuzz. There's certainly a learning curve here - with incredibly interactive controls, while it's so capable of delivery great tones.

Thomas is working on a new version of this with and external Bias - once that is out I will do a full in-depth review.

The first of the Klones! Obviously just recently reviewed in some considerable depth. Lovely sounding overdrive - where my favourite Diode Selections in order of preference are OA10 / 1N270, and then the original !N34A! A must-have for Klone Tone lovers!

The Bondi Effects Del Mar MKII Overdrive is one of the most sought after overrides - and I'm really glad to have it in the reference collection at last. I think its appeal is particularly related to the fairly potent low-end - which means it's very good for those brighter sounding Strats and Teles. For humbuckers you almost have too much low-end - even with the Bass dial cranked right back!

There's plenty of cool tones onboard - but you occasionally need to work for them. This one had a bit of a learning curve for me beau of its fairly distinctive output profile. Probably gold dust for single-coil pickup guitars, and not quite as appealing for humbuckers. Possibly you need a fruterh capacitor switch - which allows you to set the pedal for either Humbicker or Single-coil output. Both options of the switch really have just a fraction more low-end to them than I would like for my own preferences. A rich and really quite complex overdrive therefore base on its output!

Here we have 2 properly killer innovative and non-sensitive fuzzes in.a row - meaning that they will happily sit anywhere in your chain. With the Great Eastern FX Focus Fuzz - David Greeves has pretty much reinvented the Classic 2-Tranistor Fuzz - here with an additional RangeMaster style stage - for incredibly versatility and really easy dial-in ability. In effect the Fuzz, alongside the Fjord Fuzz Berserk II - for those players who really don't like Fuzz. This can be rendered as a very elegant overdrive - and it delivers tasteful and tuneful tones right across every dial. Normally you have to wrestle with and play along with most fuzzes - while this one is pretty much entirely under your control - and so predictable - with ultimate ease of use!

So similar to David Greeves and the Classic Fuzz, Thorpy has kind of reinvented the Muff - where his Harry Squid has a very unique topology that combines Transistors and Opamp. All married to 3 Killer Clipping Diodes Selections - which each totally change the character of the output of the fuzz - indeed imbuing said pedal with 3 very distinct Fuzz Voicings - and given you somewhat superior tonal coverage. Just a really great execution of such a smart approach. The Hairy Squid is kind of the every day fuzz equivalent of tis equals potent and versatile Angry Rhubarb Overdrive sibling.

So I've kind of been alternating 2 pedals on this slot this month.- my recently acquired Leqtique 10/10 Distortion - which is amazing, and the possibly even superior, and my own benchmark Klone pedal - the Decibelics Golden Horse Mini.Meaning that at certain stages this month I had 4 Klones on the board as such!

So the Bispell Audio Proxy Vox-in-a-Box Overdrive is taking over slot #17 for a few rotations - in place of the long-term incumbent Pettyjohn Chime II Custom and more recent Greer Royal Velvet. The Proxy has plenty of everything onboard - while it's quite a lively pedal with very interactive controls. Micro-movements of dials tend to be the order of the day - there are some really great tones to be found in this pedal - which is honed toward the Beatles-favoured Vox UL730 tones - but can actually deliver a really sweet Brian May style top-boosted AC30 tone too.

And here we have the pair of the Proxy - the Bispell Audio Saxon MIAB - which is honed toward JTM45 and Plexi tones - but can touch on JCM800 too if you push it. The Saxon and Proxy make a killer pair - and the Saxon is actually somewhat easier to dial in than the Proxy too - which is a bonus!

The Farmer Factory Fresh Fuzz has been a really great find - as it delivers both gorgeous overdrive and fuzzy-drive sounds - and I can't decide which I prefer more. It never goes fully into proper searing fuzz territory while it has a myriad of interesting breakup and tone variations. I definitely classify this as more of an overdrive / fuzzy-drrive rather than a full-on fuzz!

I have long since wanted the limited Desert Colourway Edition of the Logan Transcend Drive - and the timing proved right when I did my fairy recent piece on vertical BB-size overdrives and Multi-drives. This totally lives up to expectations with really rich and distinct breakup tones and of course massive amount of range via its smart controls. This is truly a really great all-rounder overdrive - and probably doesn't get the respect it deserves - I really like ti!

THE Drunk Beaver Luhansk Hammer Thrash Metal Distortion turned out pretty much expected - a sort of slightly boosted sort of Rat Style Distortion. Not as high gain as you would thinks for its Thrash Metal Distortion moniker - but pretty tasty nonetheless. I see this very much as Rat-adjacent - with a little extra versatility. Of course as this is a Pedal Drop Edition pedal - there are no official demos for it. You should like it if you're generally into sort of Rat style tones - not exactly the same thing by any means - but close enough in many respects!

This was another pedal that turned out pretty much exactly as expected - the Rainger FX Flanger X Rocket Flanger. I expected a full-fat flavour Rocket sound augmented Flanger - and that's exactly what this mini pocket rocket is! I'm probably a little guilty of setting this up too intense - while I love a fuller flange flavour - sounds and works superb - and it's really cool to be able to punch in quick bursts of max modulation rate - via the included Igor expression patch - a really brilliantly executed flanger! Kudos to David and his crew yet again.

The newest Chorus on the block - this takes you into entirely new harmonic territories and really leans into Ramping - with lots of cool variations in playback including random arpeggiations. It definitely has a learning curve - and some aspects of features and functions are a little clunky to arrive at - but it more than makes up for it with unique tones and textures - a distinctly different kind of Analog BBD Chorus!

I didn't get off to the greatest of starts with the Jackson Audio New Wave Chorus / Vibrato - as I failed to get the first one to work. The replacement one though performs brilliantly and this has quickly become one of my all time favourite choruses. It has lots of cool little variations and is incredible intuitive to deploy. Where the Beetronics Seabee is definitely a little more complex to control - with a longer learning curve. I have the feeling that this New Wave is going to live in the chain for quite a while!