2024 March Pedal-Chain Update - Episode III - Exotica Japonica

Obviously 2 Dumble Drives - both pretty stellar including one Champion of Champions!, a really decent Adjacent Breaker/Driver, and a killer 14-Leg OD-1 remake with OD-3 Tone Stack!

• Buzzing Bugs BB04 Full Range Drive
• Drunk Beaver Khelnytskyi OD 1+3
• Menatone Dumbstruck V2 Dumble Overdrive
• Tanabe Zenkudo Dumble Drive

2 very distinctly different Distortions - one sitting somewhere between a DS-1, Rat and a Muff, and the other one of the Thickest, Hairiest Octave Distortions you will every encounter - made with Selenium Diodes!

• Oneder Effects Onederbolt Distortion
• TWA Octoverdrive Thick Drive + Octavia

A killer Fuzz-Face-Vibe, High Gain Super Sustaining Fuzzstortion, and 2 legendary Japanese-Australian Fuzz gems!

• Fjord Fuzz SOL Radiant Shimmering Sunrise Fuzz-Vibe
• Hello Sailor Effects ShipWreck High Gain Distortion
• Lastgasp Art Laboratories 46 Sooper Fuzz
• Lastgasp Art Laboratories Super Oscillo Fuzz

2 supreme modulations - a super-expressive Chorus / Vibrato / Ambient Lo-Fi Chorus, and a Dual Analog Opto-Isolator Phase-Shifter with superb Phasey and Vibey voicings - with super smart controls!

• Buzzing Bugs BB03 Lo-Fi Chorus
• SolidGoldFX Aurras Phase-Shifter / Vibe

2 unique but best-in-class utilities - the Peterson StroboStomp Mini Tuner, and El Garatge killer Tripl3X 3-in-1 diminutive Passive Experimental Expression Controller.

• El Garatge Tripl3X 3-in-1 Experimental Expression Controller
• Peterson Mini Strobe Tuner

I pretty much picked up the vast majority of what I waned this month. Were the 2 ones I really wanted but didn't have budget for at the time - were the Coffee Shop Pedals London Fog, and Lepgrechaun FX Paddy Whacker. I'm still in ongoing collaboration with Joe at Hello Sailor Effects - and have a few more of his to feature no doubt. Where most of the rest will be acquired - if at all - very opportunistically! I have several major commitment for April already - so most of the budget has been allocated even before the start of that month - some very interesting launches and features forthcoming for sure!

• Coffee Shop Pedals London Fog Tape Style Delay
• Death By Audio Octave Clang Octave Distortion
• Hello Sailor Effects Abbey-Range Fuzz/Master
• J Rockett Airchild SixSixty Tube Style Compressor
• Keeley Electronics 4-in-1 : Blues Disorder, Angry Orange, and Super Rodent
• Keeley Electronics Monterey Hendrix-in-a-Box
• Leprechaun FX Paddy Whacker High Gain Rock 'M Roll Distortion
• Line 6 POD Express
• Walrus Audio Fundamental Ambient Pillowy Atmospheric Reverb
• Wampler Ego76 1176 Style Compressor
• Zvex Fuzz Factory 7 Vexter

12 Slots updated this month - and 1 Expression Device Added - Slots : #1, #4, #5, #9a, #9b, #10, #11, #12, #23, #24, #30, #31, + Expression on #33.

Killer additions in every area - as per the acquisition list - just really strong and capable pedals throughout - I don't thing there is a weak link among them!

Doesn't drastically change the outlook of the board - but there are some bona fide classics that have been added there that will remain in high rotation - another great month truly!

I finally have a Peterson StroboStomp Mini! Courtesy of my good friends Bruce, Phil, Tom and Yeni at Audio Distribution Group. My favourite pedal tuner to-date. While I still mostly use my V2 Roadie Tuning Peg Tuner for day-to-day stuff. Great to finally have it in the collection - while its residence on slot #1 will be limited - and we will soon see the return of the Keyztone Exchanger Pro Pickup Modeller / Enhancer.

Two superb fuzzes jointly occupied this slot for the month - the Lastgasp Art Laboratories Super Oscillo Fuzz 88, and 46 Sooper Fuzz - both hugely flavoursome and versatile!

The Fjord Fuzz SOL Radiant Fuzz-Vibe is indeed a very special pedal with beautifully well calibrated and expressive Fuzz Face and Uni-Vibe voicings. Both very much leaning into vintage tonality, and both have a slightly lower output volume profile.

The Buzzing Bugs Full Range Drive Blues Machine is a really dynamic and versatile blues overdrive which with the Body switch can approach both Blues Breaker and Blues Driver voicings - from an adjacent context - meaning it does not exactly sound alike but gets you nicely into those territories. Someone mistook my words and tried to say it sounded nothing like either Breaker or Driver - while they entirely missed the point! A really capable and expressive bluesy overdrive.

Something I've always wanted is a 14-Leg very original Boss OD-1 variety - but with added tone controls. Which is exactly what the Drunk Beaver Khelnytskyi OD is - it is basically the 14-Leg OD-1, with a Tone Stack from the OD-3 - sound great! Now I kind of want a 3-Band EQ version of this circuit with extra Keeley Phat Mod switch!

Note that no demo exists for this pedal - so I've used a suitable sound-alike reference instead!

My second Oneder Effects Pedal - the Oneder Pedals Onederbolt Distortion certainly doesn't disappoint - it sits somewhere between a DS-1, Rat and Big Muff on the spectrum - a great mid-ranging distortion for sure. I still want to complete my Oneder Trifecta with a wood-facia Red Ryder (discontinued!) - hopefully I can make that happen this year!

I was delighted to track down a Menatone Dumbstruck V2 Dumble Drive - something I had been chasing for a while, and which I believe is now discontinued. The original version had rather unusual controls - Resonance, Push and Accent, while the V2 replaces those with a more traditional 3-Band EQ - which is somewhat easier to navigate. I don't believe too many of the V2 Edition were made - it's sill not the easiest of Dumbles to dial in but rewards patience and due diligence with some great Dumble Tones. One of the greats as far as I'm concerned, but not nearly as immediate or impactful as the Tenabe Zenkudo on the neighbouring slot!

I'm currently thinking that this Tanabe Zenkudo Dumble Drive has to be my favourite Dumble now - so immediate is its impact - with such a lively and vibrant tone. My good friend Henry Kaiser obviously swears by these and says they're so potent that you can send them straight into a recording interface. I have to say that I was really wowed by this pedal - it's so beautiful to look at - how the light dances off those polished surfaces and Abalone Facia. I'm totally smitten by Tanabe-San's pedals - and will be acquiring the whole of the compact line - next up is the May Queen, then Santanabe, and finally the Sunkudo Buzzaround. These are slightly pricey but genuine high carat pedal gems every which way. If you're into Dumble Tones - then you have to have either the Dumkudo (Single Coils) or Zenkudo (Humbuckers) on your board. I'm a little sad for the Demon Kondo Shifuku which has served me so well all these years - but the Zenkudo is for sure the Champion of Champions as far as the Dumble format goes!

The TWA Octoverdrive Thick Drive + Octavia is exactly per expectations - beautifully thick and richly textured overdrive / distortion at its core - then further augmented by a searing Upper Octave. TWA pedals are always of the utmost quality - beautiful construction and attention to detail. I would have arranged things a little differently - I don't really like the inverted EQ Section - and I would have combined the Drive / Otave status LEDs into the main Pumpking motif - other than those two tiny niggles - this is fantastic looking and sounding octave distortion!

My good friend Joe Halliday delivers another killer format here - in the guise of his brand new Hello Sailor Effects ShipWreck Sustaining Fuzzstortion. I was fortunate to be kind of in on some of the testing side for that pedal, and the final version is wonderfully vibrant and has amazing sustain. Joe typically refers to this has a high gain distortion - but for me you can definitely feel its Fuzz underpinnings - kind of like a very high gain Searing / Singing Fuzz Face with incredibly amounts of sustain. He also designed the perfect enclosure for my sensibilities. If you're not onboard the Hello Sailor Effects Train yet - then you're definitely missing out!

The SolidGoldFX Aurras VibraPhase 2-Stage Phase-Shifter / Pseudo-Uni-Vibe is a superb versatile compact modulation unit which cleverly digitally manipulates dual analog opto-isolator - delivering a vast variety of Phasey and Uni-Vibe-like sounds. I like to have this with Depth and Dry Mix maxed out pretty much at all times and then I play with variation of speed and offset across Frequency and Phase Modes. Just a really clever pedal all round - in particular the Up and Down Speed Ramping by holding down either of the 2 footswitches. This is a beautifully constructed pedal and very well priced. I'm filing this in with my Uni-Vibe Capsule Collection!

Buzzing Bugs' BB03 Lo-Fi Chorus is a superb straight-up Analog Chorus / Vibrato at its core, but where you can load on Lo-Fi Warble and Ambience via two dedicated controls (Age and Room) - to further modulate the output. The Room Reverb style Ambience peaks with a sort of Slapback delay - which you can also work into your sound.  It's a really fantastic Chorus on its own with Room and Age knobs dialled fully back, and you can then take it in all kinds of interesting directions. Very responsive and easy to dial in - one of my favourites for sure - would be even more so if it was stereo - but it's nigh perfect anyway within the scope of its execution!

And finally El Garatge's Tripl3X Triple-Action Experimental Expression Controller - which I've been getting great results with for the Lossy in particular. The Tripl3X is pretty much essential for Chase Bliss pedals as it allows you to ramp multiple parameters simultaneously via a pocket, take-anywhere passive device. It's of course more suited for tabletop setups, but can work well for adjusting multiple parameters via just one control - really cleverly engineered, and smart every which way!