2023 October Pedal-Chain Update - Episode X - Transformation Multipliers
Wow what a wild ride of a month - one of the busiest to date - bookmarked with two superb events. You really need to read my event round-ups - they’re so full of little details - and of course personalities - the bigger friendship network and sort of family that makes up this magnificent sector in many ways. For sure everyone is in hard competition with each other for the same customer money - but there’s genuine warmth of spirit - a friendliness and willingness to cooperate and get along. Both Bristol Wassup Nerds and Sunday’s Kempton Park events were superb - I throughly enjoyed both!
Outside of NAMM week I don’t think I’ve every covered so many pedals - and the quality and innovation for so many of those is just brilliant - genuinely thrilling to be involved in by and large - despite the backlog stacking up into the horizon. I everything had landed this month like is was meant to - then this would have been a record breaking month - but as often happens things get waylaid and delayed - and some of those pedals are trickling though next month or December even - with the odd few now unlikely to materialise until the new year.
Good for me to a degree though - as I already have plenty to talk about next month - and I’m waiting for some really cool pedals to land - with some magnificent reveals to that I believe a lot of my readers are going to be excited about!
I’ve still not finalised the Patreon - getting somewhat conflicting advice there, and the whole Merch Mission is proving to be more fraught with difficulties than I had envisaged!
At least my first batch of custom Hawk ToneBird 7 picks of destiny had landed - and I'm overjoyed how well Hawk Picks' Rob E has made them - they really are mini marvels of engineering - and feel so good in the hand. Obviously just a custom version of my all-time favourite picks.
I handed out a few at the recent Kempton Park show and it was wonderful to see the reaction of some seasoned players with how they respond to the touch, feel, warmth and articulation of those picks - they really are special! £12 may seem to be a lot for a pick - yet these really are the creme-de-la-creme - and there are even more pricey varieties out there - like the $35 / £40 BlueChips, and some of my recent Honey Picks whose Peek and Casein models are far more pricey than the Hawk varieties.
I will be getting some more Honey Picks in eventually - and at some stage I may stretch to the odd BlueChip or too - but I'll always be a Hawk guy though-and-through!
The first of my embroidered hats should be materialising fairly soon - that's taken way too long. And I've already given up on a couple of Embroidered T-Shirt suppliers - whose conduct is just so far from professional that it's staging they're still in business. I'm also in a quandary as to which Global Print Shop I should be going with - whether say CreatoSpring, Printify, Shopify and otherwise - would be very interested in hearing opinions on those and any others I may have overlooked.
The Merch will eventually be going up on a store page - and I will continue to hand out picks at the various events I attend - if I deem you worthy. Of course you're welcome to buy some from me - which will be via PayPal to start off with until I build up a proper shopfront as such.
November is already looking crazy busy - I'm really looking forward to revealing some of those killer new pedals to you.
And I've already set up a number of studio visits for early next year - which will be an interesting venture hopefully.
And on the subject of fearing readers Pedalboards and giving insights and recommend improvements or just alternatives really - I will probably kick that off with one of my long-term followers Cyril Demaegd. And I would like to do something with my good friend Henry Kaiser too at some stage!
So plenty still happening - and lots more to come!
October Acquisitions Update
±20 Pedals Added to the Reference Collection this month!
Not quite the 35 it was supposed to be - some of those have been scattered by the 4 winds - and are not dropping next month, in December, or even early next year.
We had 4 very significant categories this month - the Tone-Shaping Boosts, Hybrid Fuzzes, Textured Distortions, and Two Phasers - where the overall category breakdown was as follows. Note pairs of Electric Eye Audio pedals - where Silas generously sent me one of each.
Here is the general overview :
- 7 Boosts / Overdrives
- 6 Distortions
- 4 Fuzzes
- 2 Modulations (Phasers!)
- 1 Time-Based Effect
7 Boosts / Overdrives
What a killer selection of Tone-Enhancing Boosts / Preamps and Overdrives - so many favourites here. The DigiTech Screaming' Blues being part of a Blues Drive article I'm working on - which I kind of touched on in my piece on the Electric Love Aquatone!
The Tark Audio 144 review has been written for some time now - I'm just waiting for Marc to build up some stock before I publish that - so that it can really hit the market at the right time - just waiting on Marc to give the all-clear - should be any day now!
I truly love all of these - which is why they near enough all had to be on the board this month!
- Boss BP-1W Booster / Preamp (RE / Nat / CE)
- Digitech Screamin' Blues Overdrive
- Electric Eye Audio Mud Killer - Standard and Black Stealth Editions
- Muir Audio Design Silicon Steel Overdrive
- Tark Audio 144 Tape Machine Preamp / Boost / Overdrive / Distortion
- Tone For Punk Trebled Youth FuzzStortion
6 Distortions
6 Distortion Thrillers here - including 2 versions of the EAU The Thrasher - that so deceivers to be doubled down on! In fact each of these will be in long-term high rotation going forward - all of them sound fantastic!
The Intensive Care Audio Vena Cave Filter / Distortion Review is coming up real soon!
- Bardic Audio Devices Rival Hard V MESA style Distortion
- Drunk Beaver Kyiv Lead SD-2 style Lead Channel Distortion
- Electric Eye Audio The Thrasher Trash Metal Distortion Red and Black Editions
- Intensive Care Audio Death Drive
- Intensive Care Audio Vena Cava Filter Distortion
4 Fuzzes
4 more killer fuzzes - 3 part of that Hybrid Fuzz Face style thing - where I have a head-to-head article coming though next month. And then of course the all-conquering Rainger FX Dr Freakenstein XII, Chop Fuzz MKIII - one of my very favourite fuzzes of all time - concept, output and design - it's a wonderful device for sure!
- Hello Sailor Effects Abbey Road Hybrid Fuzz
- Loe Sounds Blow Fuzz
- Rainger FX Dr Freakenstein Chop Fuzz MKXI
- Spaceman Effects Charon Ge/Si Hybrid Fuzz
2 Modulations
Both Phasers are superb - each delivers something a little different - the All Pedal being very much about those 16 Waveforms, and the Tornado it Dual Range switching with killer Ring Mod voicing and In and out of Phase Modulation. Those are truly two of the best for that genre - and I already have so many killer Phasers in the reference collection - we're really being spoiled for choice these days!
- All-Pedal Microdose Multi-Waveform Optical Phaser
- Drunk Beaver Tornado Phaser V2
Time-Based Effect
Colortone's new Spring Reverb II is so much more than that simple name implies. In fact the start of the show in some ways is its secondary RotoTrem voicing - just one of the best modulation sounds ever - and particularly in stereo. Only tiny niggle here is that I could have done with full stereo ins and outs as you can only accommodate one Mon-to-Stereo pedal in the rig - and that slot is already being occupied by the Boss DM-101 - which is likely the Pedal of the Year for 2024. That doesn't really diminish how great the Spring Reverb II is - as that sounds totally superb every which way - just for my rig - and for ultimate utility - it really needs the stereo in too!
October Infinite Wishlist Additions!
So much happened in October - that it's sometime a struggle to keep up. And of course I can't acquire everything I want - it would be entirely practical in any case even if I were the wealthiest man on earth - which of course I most certainly am not - and definitely not at this moment!
There are so many here that I wanted to get my hands on - including the very first mentioned - Custom Shop variety of course - but budgets are limited - and one needs to play things smartly - hedge bets and all that stuff.
There are certainly several here that I want - but nowhere near the funds to cover it all - or even part - so inevitably a lot of these won't happen - at leats not for a long while!
We all live in hope though!
- Beetronics FX Nectar Tone Sweetener Drive + Fuzz
- Bolt & Forge Appaloosa Germanium Overdrive, and Bad Hoss Harmonic Sustainer
- Drunk Beaver Halloween Special Editions x 5
- Electric Eye Swedish Steel Death Metal Distortion
- Endorphin.es x Andrew Huang Ghost Pedal Multi-FX
- Endorphin.es Golden Master Stereo Chanel Strip Sound Mastering Utility
- EHX Spruce Goose Bluesbreaker style Overdrive
- Gecko Pedals O-Face Optical Modulating Overdrive
- Meris Mercury X Stereo Reverb Workstation & Sound Designer
- MXR x Wylde Audio 2023 20 Anniversary Overdrive
- Old Blood Noise Endeavors Beam Splitter Automatic Triple Tracker Parallel Distortion
- Red Witch Synthotron III Analog Monophonic Synthesizer
- TC Electronic 2990 P Dynamic Digital Delay & Effects Processor
- Thermion Freeway Analog Interface Amplifier
- TWA Octoverdrive Drive + Octavia
- Universal Audio UAFX Lkion '68 Super Lead Amp
- Vemuram Butter Machine Michael Landau Distortion
- Walrus Audio 385 Dynamic Overdrive MKII
October Pedal Chain Status
15 slots were updated this month - #2, #3, #4, #5, #10, #11, #12, #15a, #21, #23, #24, #26, #27, #30, #31.
A pretty significant number - with some of those - #5 in particular having a number of pedals in rotation during the month. A very busy month all round - a real mix of long-termer and more fleeting updates. And of course I'm not going to have that many boosts on the board all at the same time under typical conditions. But it was important to be able to compare and contrast them in those various and correct placements.
As mentioned in the new additions overview - roughly 4-5 key target sections here - tone-enhancing boosts, killer textured overdrives, even more textured and enhanced and extended Distortions, and then Twin supreme Phasers - both of which cover off every bit of swirly magic you would ever want and each with their own specialist deployment.
There's some degree of duplication on this current incarnation of the board - but it's all a worthwhile stepping stone as part of that longer ToneQuest journey. You always learn something new - and must never give up on the need to experiment and try something different. Not because you don't like where you're at - but just because you want to check out different destinations. Travelling abroad doesn't mean you're wanting to up sticks and move to another continent - it's just all part of exploring the universe we live in! While Home is wherever you feel at your best!
Slot #02 : Octaver / Pitch-Shifter / Harmonizer / Modulator / Bitcrusher / Utility (Typically!)
Electric Eye Audio's Mudkiller Tone Enhancer / Clarifier is such a clever tone-shaper - cutting low frequencies up to 200Hz and cutting or boosting High Frequencies between 2.5 Khz and 6kHz - with Pre and Post Gain, Amp Remote, and Compression shaping too - still the benchmark ultimate gain shaper / tightener.
Slot #03 : Guitar Synth normally, occasionally another EQ or other pre-gain effect (Typically!)
Not a pedal any of us very necessarily expecting - but a clever tangent by Boss for its BP-1W Booster/Preamp - harnessing two of its legendary preamps - RE-201 and CE-1 and combining them into a single compact - also with 3rd Clean Boost voicing and Dual Buffer options. Really sounds great and has a tonne of range - the RE side is suitably Fat and Warm, and the CE side Bright and Bell-like with increasing degrees of Asymmetrical clipping - leading to a fairly crunchy breakup!
Slot #04 : Envelope Filter / Auto-Wah / Fixed Wah / WAH (Typically!)
Marc Christiansen's Tark Audio 144 Tape Machine Emulator / Preamp is such a clever all-rounder preamp with some really cool and unusual controls and superb headroom and gain range - that you can really turn it to any purpose EQ and gain-wise - sounds amazing. It's also another different flavour to add into the mix of Boss RE and CE preamps, and of course the slightly ubiquitous Echoplex Preamp of course!
Slot #05 : Germanium / Sensitive Fuzz
A month of Hybrid Fuzzes - Hello Sailor Effects Abbey Road, Loe Sounds BLow, Spaceman Effects Charon, and MXR Hybrid Fuzz - mostly 2-transistor - while the Loe BLow throws one more silicon into the mix. That one is the fattest, the Abbey Road the most searing, the Charon the most nuanced - and the MXR Hybrid a little off the pace compared to the other 3 but still decent enough!
Slot #10 : Mid Gain / Dynamic / Blues Breaker / Harmonic Overdrive / JTM45 / Screamer
Muir Audio Design's Silicon Steel Output Transformer Overdrive delivers wonderful Silky Smooth Sustain in the mould of Carlos Santana - a really beautifully textured overdrive.
Slot #11 : Mid Gain / Blues Driver
Cool Flattley Guitar Pedals Revolution 3-Voice Dynamic Drive goes far beyond your typical Tube Screamer - an overdrive with hidden depths for sure - sounds particularly fantastic on opamp mode!
Slot #12 : Mid Gain / Dumble / Expandora / Fuzzy-Drive / Mostortion / OCD / TrainWreck
One of the very most versatile gain pedals I've ever encountered - the Tone of Punk Trebled Youth 3-Stage Gain Machine delivers everything from Overdrive through Distortion and onto Fuzz. Easily does the rough and ready garage punk stuff - but so much besides - a truly magnificent all-rounder gain machine.
Slot #15 (a) : Main Multi-Drive - Oversize
Rainger FX's Dr Freakenstein Chop Fuzzz Dual Modulated Gated Fuzz is one of the pedals of the year for sure - just a wonderful, next level fuzz machine with so many interesting tones and textures onboard - beautifully put together and looks totally amazing with its many lights and custom knobs.
Slot #21 : High Gain Fuzz 1 / Fuzzstortion
Drunk Beaver's Kyiv Lead SD-2 style Lead Channel Distortion is the 14th Pedal Drop to date - and one of the very best so far. Seems a very obvious think to do - to expand the Lead Channel voicing from the cult SD-2 pedal - works beautifully!
Slot #23 : High Gain Fuzz 2 / Modern Metal 1 / Mid-Pushed High Gain
Two of Intensive Care Audio's very best have been in the chain for quiet a while now - and both perform superbly - the Death Drive Doomy Sustaining Distortion is the most accessible of 'Dr Patrick's' pedals - both in terms of price and ease of use - and brilliantly delivers top notch Shoegaze and Stoner Rock tones.
Slot #24 : Brown Sound / EVH / JCM800 / Liquid Distortion
The Intensive Care Audio Vena Cava Filter / Modulated Distortion is for sure my favourite of Patrick's to date - an amazingly textured full-on modulated distortion how I use it - while you can always dial the gain out and use it more as a modulation or Ring Modulator - a truly magnificent gain machine!
Slot #26 : Modern Metal 3 / High Gain Metal 2
I must say that the Electric Eye Audio The Thrasher Dual Boost Trash Metal Distortion is a genuine surprise in just how magnificent it sounds straight out of the gate - and pretty much on any setting. I also love both the 2 different Boost modes - this pedal has such a lovely core texture to it - and it's been superbly calibrated by Silas Fernandes - one of my very favourite high gain distortion pedals - like a properly Full Fat JCM800 with just more of everything - superbly conceived and executed - and perfect for if you're a dan of Metallica, Anthrax, Slayer or Megadeth.
Slot #27 : Modern Metal 4 / High Gain Metal 3 / Extreme Saturating Distortion / Rectifier / Diezel / Orange
I'm so proud to have been involved in the process of developing the Bardic Audio Devices Rival Hard V MESA MKV style High Gain Multiband Distortion. I had the original idea, name and schema - but Tim at Bardic Effects did all the heavy lifting here. Sounds particularly fantastic on Solo Modo - be aware that there is some sensitivity in dialling in the 5 Band EQ just right - but the same is of course the case for the amps that this high gain distortion is inspired by.
Slot #31 : Analog Phaser / Rotary
I have no control over when pedals launch or land - and we often get two killer pedals of the same kind landing at the same time - as is the case with this Drunk Beaver Tornado V2 2-4-6 Stage Dual Range OTA Phaser and the All-Pedal Microdose Multi-Waveform Phaser. Both are superb and totally do their own thing - and have their own pros and cons. I'm not typically a big fan of Ring Modulation - but there's a superbly voiced Ring Mod onboard the Tornado - and which at lower speeds delivers beautiful chorusing tones too - a really beautifully textured and proper live performance device!
Slot #32 : Analog Vibe / Uni-Vibe / Other Modulation / Phaser 2
All-Pedal does it again with its Microdose Multiple Waveform Microdose Phaser - a superb follow-up to its Macrodose - both really beautifully put together pedals with properly smart extended-range control topologies. This Microdose's success has a lot to of with its properly varied 16 different Waveform Modes. Really beautifully textured and a joy to deploy!
Final Thoughts
What a thoroughly hectic month - even at full throttle I did not get anywhere near to what I wanted to get down.
Within the Merch Quagmire I spent far too much time chasing people up. In fact some days it seems that's all I do chasing people up for updates and answers - part of this work is so muck like trying to get blood out of a stone. Riven with ongoing frustrations - but so satisfying when things finally come trough and start to happen.
There was just too much going on this month - and no matter how hard I worked - I just could not keep up with everything that was happening - so I go into next month with a little bit of backlog of recent releases. That's all about be wanting to do a proper job for you - read the manuals etc. and get a deep and meaningful appreciation and understanding for those pedals.
And I don't always get it right on first attempts - I'm the King of Iteration as much as Daniel Thornhill, Verllie, or Vitalii are with their pearls - updating visuals dozens of times before I'm happy with them - and then refining them further when the builder is still not quite satisfied.
I don't alway get all the information I need - for instance in terms of pedal sensitivities and there need to be near the front of the chain for instance. Obviously anything Germanium Transistor goes near the front - but Silicon can typically have a more free placement - but not always, I've been caught out a few times recently when Silicon and Opamp fuzzes in particular were overly sensitive to impedance and pedalboard poison - and were not functioning optimally mid-board where I usually place those types. Pedals really are unique animals in so many ways - and they do most have some degree of sensitivity somewhere - where indeed the relative position can matter and matter a lot.
I'm always cool with a do-over though - as I feel it's important to be authentic and right as you can be - while all rigs have their own idiosyncrasies. It's also come to my attention that too many builders don't test pedals within a properly representative environment - rather just going direct form guitar into pedal and out to amp, While everyone I know has a pedalboard of say circa 20 pedals - surely that should be part of the benchmarking exercise,
Most also don't deploy a TheGigRig style MIDI Loop-Switcher - where each pedal's position and routing can be fully isolated. I do feel it's important to have more details on how pedals sit and interact in series with other pedals - on and off - as that's how the majority deploy them. The guitar > pedal > amp thing is OK for basic testing to see if the pedal works - but there needs to be more testing in relation to other pedals - as is the way in the real world.
The more details people can furnish me with the better - but the truth is that those details are rarely to hand - as no testing has been done beyond the simple one-to-one make sure the pedal is working testing.
So there have been a few do-overs this month - and one I'm still working on! I guess I was getting complacent with how well everything was working all the time - and you don't always have time to try out every pedal in half a dozen different positoins on the board - particularly when your'e having a month as busy as this October has been - I'm almost at PTS levels - so I'm hoping things will wind down a little heading towards Christmas!
I trust you're all doing well - thoughts are with my good friend Konstantin of Analog Music Company who's currently undergoing hospital treatment for a persistent spinal injury - I do hope he recovers well!
Pleny more coming for November - and please don't be shy to share your ideas on what I should be doing next. While for October I really did burn the candle at both ends - and still did not have nearly enough time to accomplish everything that I wanted to do - I'm not sure I can really get by on less than 4 hours sleep a night!
Upwards and onwards as they say!
