Here we have 3 variations on the same theme - each with a slightly different timbre and character. Similar to when you talk about fragrances - where you have ’Flankers’ that are variations on a classic signature scent. And that’s exactly what we have here - the Silver Bee and Blue Bee are ’Flankers’ to the core main Honey Bee. Where the Silver Bee is more Modern, Punchy and Super Tight - it has a slightly harder edged and denser texture, while the Blue Bee is kind of softer around the edges, ...
So despite this being a relatively quiet month for releases - I was somehow manically busy throughout!
The month started with custom editions of ThorpyFX and Empress pedals, and I then did 2 massive articles for the Glou-Glou Flancher Series of Stereo Analog Delays / Modulators, and in-depth coverage of Henrik Nordvang’s excellent 1590B3 Series. I’m not sure people realise just how much works goes into those kinds of articles!
Also this month - Mini Pedals were a major feature - all ...
Another article nudged into being by Anderton’s Doom Fuzz feature. I’m obviously still a little fixated on the Mini pedal format currently - and so need to follow that trail unto that curiosity is finally satisfied.
When I did the recent follow-up feature on the Tone City Matcha Cream, I got to thinking about the Mooer Triangle Buff also - which I had long intended to acquire, but never got around to. I hadn’t realised that said Triangle Buff had already been discontinued for a while and ...
So in my usual twisted fashion I’ve somewhat fallen down a rabbit hole of Mini Pedals these days. This project was sparked off by the recent Andertons Ultimate Doom Pedal Shoot-out. That has some very oddly selected pedals within its shoot-out considerations, but where the Tone City Matcha Cream Green Russian did extremely well - in fact winning the most rounds - 8 in total of all the pedals trialled.
The eventual winner was kind of immaterial to me, I was all of a sudden intrigued as to ...
What a magnificent start to the year - I don’t think I’ve ever had such a strong January selection - I could almost stick a pin in it and take the rest of the year off! Several of these slots won’t see much change between now and the end of the year - and so impressive is this latest batch of additions - that I can’t really see what might be improved in order to replace most of those.
I was not expecting to add the Eventide H90 quite so quickly - while the Hologram Microcosm has always ...
So it’s about time for another round of ’12 Degrees of Saturation’ - featuring an updated selection and including most of the more recently released notable Mini Gain Pedals. Please note that as before - this is something of a Grey Science with simply approximated best fit positioning - as all those pedals have slightly different gain ranges, and certain ones within each selection / category can have vastly more extended range than others - and often cover more than one of the categories.
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The BJFE Silver Bee is another of those pedals that I’ve long had on my wishlist - initially intending to get it in early Bearfoot FX edition, then BJFE edition - while favourite now has to be this latest super pedalboard-friendly OneControl Mini iteration.
It has the same side-mounted Vintage / Modern switch and 4-knob topology as the Custom Mini Honey Bee. And while the Honey Bee is originally Supro inspired - somewhat warm and fuzzy - and kind of edging into Tweed territory. The Silver ...
So it’s that time of year again when I trawl through the releases over these past 12 months or so and endeavour to extract the pedal highlights of the year. This exercise is all about drawing a line in the sand and figuring out which pedals deserve to be on the notable side of the line.
Of course everything I publish on Guitar Pedal X is highly curated - those are my own particular preferences and choices, and those are the pedals that I like the look of. So everything that appears on ...
I’m not sure how I feel about this one! Not long after I get my much sought-after 4-knob BJFE Honey Bee - admittedly handmade edition - OneControl has now taken that self same circuit and squeezed it into a Mini Enclosure - as you can see from the above visual. Albeit we get 2 slightly different versions of the Mini with a special Custom Mini Edition too.
Controls - Volume, Drive, Bass, Treble.
Mini Custom - additional Vintage / Modern slider switch (Higher Gain) on left-side
Controls ...
Much like with the recent 32 of the Best Compact Overdrive Selection I now own all these Mini Fuzz Pedals featured here. Actually where the Decibelics The Reverend (Mini Expandora) has yet to be officially released - I should be receiveing the latest prototype any day now, and judging by Guillem Vilademunt’s previous Mini Masterpieces we have every reason to look forward to that one.
Other than that - everything is now in the collection - while this larger quest is nowhere near complete yet...