Decibelics Pedals Family Portrait
So this article was triggered by two events - firstly my good friend Guillem posted up the below referenced ’Family Portrait’ image of his current Decibelics Range. So I firstly thought I should do a Family Portrait of my own Decibelic Pedals!
Secondly, some ’rando’ on Pedalboards of Doom was going on about how his Mosky Golden Horse had a better output profile than the masterpiece that is the Decibelics Golden Horse! Obviously a cloth-eared individual - where I never confront those unfortunate Dunning-Kruger sufferers direct - there really is no point, misguided and deluded are conditions that are hard to counteract!
We aficionados know the quality and potency of the Decibelics Golden Horse part-for-part mini replication of the Klon Centaur. For sure there are a load of those mini Klones out there now in various degrees of quality and fidelity - including some other really impressive variants, say from Pickdropper and Wampler. While the King of Mini Klones will always be the the Decibelics Golden Horse! It really is still the benchmark beyond its size!
So here follows Guillem’s celebratory visual - where I’ve just colour-adjusted it a little and slightly refined it :
For my own Decibelics Pedals - I have Deluxe and Mini Editions for both Golden Horse / Golden Royale, and The Reverend / Reverend XX. Along with the V2 Mini Angry Swede. I of course have the V1 also - but this is all about 'current' versions. Note that the two Mini Reverends have slightly different internal, and the black label one is the earliest LM308 prototype variant, before Guillem and I settled on the OP07 chips - as the best all-rounder across all 4 Modes.
So my Decibelics Capsule Collection consists of :
- Golden Royale in Hammered Green Edition - €339 / $370
- Golden Horse Classic Black and Gold Edition - €190 / $208
- Angry Swede V2 Standard Edition - €149 / $165
- The Reverend XX Fire Red Edition - €309 / $338
- The Reverend LM308 Prototype - N/A
- The Reverend OP07 Standard Edition - €175 / $190
I had meant to also include a visual of all the different Golden Horse colourway variants - of which there are more than a dozen varieties now - but I was unable to source suitable imagery for that exercise - so that will happen at a later date - as an when Guillem can sort me out with the appropriate pics!
Guillem tends to release these pedals in monthly batches - where you need to get in on the pre-order for each - to be with a chance of snagging one from that batch. You can read up on all the pedal details on the Decibelics Website.
Golden Royale
Controls - CHANNEL A } Gain, Level, Tone, Bass : Original / Bass Boost, Clipping : Original / Schottky + LEDs, Channel A Footswitch; Channel B } Gain, Level, Tone, Bass : Original / Bass Boost, Clipping : Original / Schottky + LEDs, Channel B Footswitch.
The Deluxe Golden Horse with Extras! A fantastic Dual Drive - which I have in absolutely the best colourway for this pedal - Hammered Green. It's kind of a Fabergé Jewel Box really - sounds fantastic - and those extra switches give it quite a bit more range - the ultimate Dual Klone for sure!
Golden Horse
Controls - Gain, Level, Tone.
Everyone should have one of these! I imagine the Wampler Tumnus has probably sold quite.a few more - while this part-for-part replica has always had the exact same original Mojo Germanium Diodes of the original. So many people who had a full-size Klon Centaur have swapped it out for one of these. It's truly the exact same pedal, with the same frequency profile as the original - just about 10 times smaller. I always find it incredible when you get such stellar tones from this tiny pedal. I defy you not to be suitably impressed with Alberto Barreras timeless demo - I certainly was smitten. And this was the start of my journey with Guillem and Decibelics. Back in those early days Guillem produced these in batches of just 10 at a time. Mine is #70 - so I was by no means the first on this trail, but I did latch on pretty strongly. Each of these pedals is a marvel of high-fidelity engineering!
Angry Swede V2
Controls - Level, Distortion, Lows - Color - Highs, Dry > Wet Mix.
Another incredible engineering achievement - unleashing the full might of the HM-2 Heavy Metal Distortion in a tiny pedal. Getting brutal death metal distortion from such small format always brings a smile to my face! V2 saw the addition of a Clean Blend knob on the side. You can see how potent this version is by the fact that Ola England chooses to use it as his HM-2 flavour in his mini rig - per the attached demo video. A fantastic sounding full potency heavy metal distortion with extras!
The Reverend XX
Controls - CHANNEL A } Gain, Level, Tone, Mode : I (Crunch) / II (Overdrive) / III (Distortion) / F (Forbidden Fuzz Mode), Bass Boost : On/Off, Clipping : Stock Silicon / LED / NOS Germanium, Channel A Footswitch; CHANNEL B } Gain, Level, Tone, Mode : I (Crunch) / II (Overdrive) / III (Distortion) / F (Forbidden Fuzz Mode), Bass Boost : On/Off, Clipping : Stock Silicon / LED / NOS Germanium, Channel B Footswitch.
Building on the incredible Mini Expandora that is the Reverend Crunch, Overdrive, Distortion and Fuzz. This further adds in a Bass Boost and 3-way clipping options - allowing you to get even more out of this circuit. No one has taken me up yet on the ultimate Expandora pedal - which for me would include both LM308 and OP07 OpAmps - the added compression and low-end weight of the LM308 is perfect for the 3 lower gain modes - but chokes out on the Distortion and Fuzz in particular. That is why Guillem and I ended up on the OP07 as the best all-rounder chip across all 4 modes. While I generally got the best results for the low gain Modes with the LM308 - and the OP07 delivered the most consistently usable Distortion and Fuzz tones!
The Reverend
Controls - Gain, Level, Tone, Mode : I (Crunch) / II (Overdrive) / III (Distortion) / F (Forbidden Fuzz Mode).
I'm so proud to have been in on this 4 year project to miniaturise and improve the incredibly versatile Expandora pedals. From the early days of discussing naming options - to the later days deciding on which was the best OpAmp across all 4 Modes. This was an even more complex project than the Golden Horse Mini Klone - and Guillem had to call on all his engineering prowess to accomodate all that in a tiny enclosure. And it sounds so impressive - indeed like all 6 pedals listed here - all are essential as far as I'm concerned!
12 Degrees of Saturation 2023 Compact Edition
