Joe's Pedals is Exclusive UK Dealer for Acorn Amplifiers' superior Preamp, Distortion and Fuzz pedals
I’ve been a significant fan of Acorn Amps Pedals over the years and have hitherto had to acquire mine direct from their Atlanta, Georgia Webstore which is not ideal in terms of overseas customs / import and shipping charges. I already had two to my name via said route - the ADHD Synth Fuzz and Kakarot 2-Transistor Fuzz, and I fully intended to get the Compact Solid State Preamplifier fairly imminently too.
I’ve reviewed quite a few of the Acorn Amps Pedals over the years on this site - including the TMA-1 Fuzz - which has been on my wishlist all the while. Since my good friend Joe Light’s Joe’s Pedals Boutique now stocks these - I did not hesitate to get in the Solid State, and I may very well pick up a TMA-1 Fuzz although my Muffs are now way over the 100 mark. The Mink Killer Dual Distortion is also of some interest - I need to process that a little more to decide where it sits on the nice-to-have to must-have scale - as always I am forever juggling priorities.
In any case Joe has smartly selected six of the best Acorn Amps pedals currently available - per the above visual, and the individual details below - which are all in stock right now at the time of this article going live! :
Transistor MIGFET 50P Preamp - £189
Controls - Bass, Middle, Treble, Master, Volume.
Essentially a vintage Sovtek MIG-50 Amp in pedal format - a little surprising that uber MIG fan Josh Scott / JHS Pedals did not get there first - this is a classic sort of garage rock amp much loved by the indie crowd - expertly distilled into a Medium enclosure pedal preamp.
Solid State Compact Preamplifier - £169
Controls - High, Mid, Low, Post Gain, Thick switch, Pre Gain, Norm / Sat Channel Footswitch, Bypass Footswitch.
My latest Acorn Amps pedal acquisition from Joe's Pedals of course this time around - this is the further distilled take on the Peavey Decades preamp - where the larger / medium size edition covers both preamp and power amp sections of the circuit, while this smaller compact just covers the preamp section - but still comes with the 2 channels, and an additional really handy 'Thick' switch. I much prefer the practicality and looks of the compact edition - with those sleek aluminium knobs, and light-up Green / Red ACORN LED - just a really cool looking pedal - which is something that Acorn do so well.
Solid State Amp/Preamp Pedal - £289
Controls - Output Switch : 1 - Mute - 2, Pre Gain, Post Gain, Low, Mid, High, Bypass Footswitch, Norm / Sat Channel Footswitch.
The original larger Pre and Power Amp section take of the Peavey Decades solid state amp. Has a couple of differences to the compact edition, along with a little more range and granularity in many ways. Also a dedicated Speaker Out jack.
Mind Killer Dual Distortion - £215
Controls - 2 x Spice (Gain), Life (Level), Bass Boost switch, 2-way Clipping Diodes Options switch, Channel Engage switch.
Dual Channel Stackable Distortion pedal with separate Opamp circuits in series each with its own Gain and Volume Knobs, and Bass Boost and 2-way Clipping Diode Option Switches. Obviously based on Dune Kwisatz Haderach lore, and featuring a styled Paul Atreides with light-up eyes.
ADHD Synth Fuzz - £139
Controls - Threshold (Drone), Frequency (Drone Pitch), Level, Balance (Oscillator to Fuzz Mix), Tone (Bandwidth).
A fantastic pseudo-PLL style Synth Fuzz which delivers a cool pitch droning oscillation fuzz type concoction. Like a slightly simpler to deploy Beetronics Swarm - but equally capable of quirky sonic mayhem - great fun to play with.
TMA-1 Muff Fuzz - £189
Controls - Volume, Tone, Gain, Clip 1 : I / Off / II, Clip 2 : I / Off / II [I Germanium / II Silicon].
Obviously inspired by 2001 Space Odyssey's Hal 9000 Artificial Intelligence Unit - this is a non-specific Big Muff style fuzz, with the typical 3 main controls - Volume, Tone and Gain (Sustain), but then 2 x 3-way Germanium and Silicon Clipping options at the Input and Output end of the circuit - to give you a vast range of different characters and textures here. This is another great sounding Acorn Fuzz - although I would quite liked to have seen an additional Mids control here - sounds pretty cool as is in any case!
