Thorpy revamps two of his best loved pedals - The Fallout Cloud Fuzz and Camoflange Flanger - now in new standard Black Editions

In fact all the remaining ones will be gradually brought across to the newer black edition facias - on a one-by-one basis. Some will be slightly re-calibrated, mostly owing to some slight parts changes. Thorpy tunes everything by ear, and very exactingly tests and refines each pedal over several iterations until they perfectly match their signature frequency curve. Sometimes even extending the range of coverage with a little more headroom and higher fidelity.

Internally the Fallout Cloud is exactly the same circuit as it has been with all the same parts values. While for some pedals - including the Camoflange, some of those earlier parts have been fully expended, and the circuit has needed to be re-calibrated with a slightly different supporting array of components.

For the Camoflange for instance there are two slight differences, while smart parts interchanging delivers the exact same bright and sparkly signature sound. The Camoflange has a slightly different BBD Chip, and a vastly improved power handling section - based on a secret sauce voltage control chip which raises the Voltage from a 9V input - up to 24V, it then steps it down to 18V, before resolving at the optimal 15V integer.

The character of the Vintage Electric Mistress style flanging is exactly the same as before - it's taken Thorpy quite some time to get the new and old pedals perfectly matched. While the latest version has the added benefit of a little more headroom. In truth - if you already have one of the originals, they are so similar to the new ones that it's not worth swapping them out. New customers get that guaranteed pristine vintage sound - with a touch more headroom. Everyone should be happy I believe.

As mentioned, I like both the older etched designs, and the newer more modern white-on-black designs. And no one can dispute the vastly improved legends visibility / legibility of the new designs - for the original pedals it was nigh impossible to discern the control labels from a standing position, and in fact in low light or direct sunshine! The Black Editions are for sure the right move forward - and they look very sharp indeed.

It's propably going to be quite a few months before every Thorpy pedal is a Black Edition - but give it a year or so and we will surely be there. Note there are quite a few more new pedals coming through the ranks this year - and there will need to be some tough inventory decisions along the way - where one or two models may get discontinued - of course all that is a very fluid situation!

Controls - Sustain, Treble, Volume, Bass.

This is the exact same circuit so many of us love - just in a refreshed and more modern enclosure with white graphics onto black - and a darker burnt orange paint-job, versus the etched polished steel of the originals. I actually really like both approaches, while the newer editions are much easier to read - where the legends on the originals were often rendered somewhat invisible in most lighting conditions. This is that same super versatile and chunky original 1969 Triangle Big Muff style of fuzz. I personally have a preference for Triangle Muffs, and this Fallout Cloud is one of the very best of that kind!

One of my very favourite Analog BBD Flangers - which perfectly captures the bright sparkliness of the vintage EHX Electric Mistress. As mentioned in the intro - this sees a change of BBD Chip, and a massive evolution of the power-handling side of the pedal - through a smart secret sauce Voltage Controller / Regulator Chip which steps up the voltage form 9V input - all the way to 24V, which is then stepped down to 18V and further regulated down to the optimal 15V range which delivers the optimal sparkly tone - with a further enhanced headroom.

Both the Fallout Club and Camoflange are two of my very favourite Thorpy pedals - the Fallout Cloud is exactly as per the original version - all parts values are retained. And Thorpy has painstakingly and exactly fine-tuned the updated Camoflange circuit around the new BBD - to render an identical output profile, albeit with a little better power handling, and a touch more headroom onboard.