I was pleasantly surprised to see that one of my very favourite Fuzzy-Drive / Fuzzstortion pedals is being reissued. An American interest has taken on the Bixonic Expandora trademark and these Made-in-the-USA pedals are now branded solely under the Expandora Pedals name.
I have a single authentic Bixonic Expandora to date - the 2000R variety with the external switches, also the Drunk Beaver Bloom, and JHS Kilt V2 - with the Decibelics The Reverend Mini due to show up on the cusp of the New Year! All 4 of those were featured in my recent 28 Favourite Fuzzy-Drive Pedals article, and I’m very excited to have an Expandora Squared LM308 Edition on its way to me.
Expandora fans will know exactly how the two toggle-switches engage - and I’ve included a reminder in the above visual - which shows the 4 Modes, and 4 of the varieties being released. Note that on the Compact Editions the toggles are horizontal - where right = up, and left = down!
Only the left two seem to be available to buy now courtesy of Expandora’s Reverb.com Store - where the authentic round Vintage LM308 Reissue is priced at $275, the Compact Expandora Squared LM308 Edition is at $250, and the Compact Expandora Squared OP07 Edition is at $225. The LM308 editions render slightly warmer and more open output.
The largest variety has an extra Modern/Vintage toggle-switch - which allows you to flip between two Opamps - typically OP07 and LM308. For me the Expandora Squared LM308 Edition is the preferred choice because of its greater practicality / narrower footprint. But if I didn’t have the 2000R, I would be tempted by the Vintage Round Reissue. I don’t really see much point in the larger enclosure editions - even though the largest one has switchable Opamps.
I will of course feed back further insights once I’ve had mine in the mix for a while - hopefully it will land in about a week or so. Further details can be found on the Expandora.net Page.
Are you guys as excited as me about this surprising turn of events?