What a day! After this morning’s release of the new UAFX Enigmatic ’82 Overdrive Special Amp from Universal Audio, this afternoon brings us a release from another one of our favorite companies: Keeley Electronics. Going off the beaten sonic path in a BIG way, they’ve released the Octa Psi Transfigurating Fuzz, which mixes distortion, fuzz, octave and pitch shifting together in some of the most unique ways we’ve...
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Roman Belonozhko over at Shnobel Tone has been making great demos for a long time now, and in the past couple of years, has also taken the plunge into the world of effects pedal building. His first pedal, the Daily Driver, was an original and unique drive circuit that gives you a rich sound full of harmonics and an amp-like response. Today, we’re gonna take a look at the Ratatouille Distortion, a rodent-inspired black box with a...
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When musical gear companies collaborate on a project, it usually ends up being something pretty special. When THREE companies team up with one of the most iconic bands in history, something REALLY special is gonna happen. Today, we’re looking at an effects pedal from the Sweetwater Exclusive Beach Boys Limited Edition collection, which teams up JHS, Keeley Electronics and Benson Amps to celebrate the release of “The Beach...
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We’re continuing our “Asheville Week” here at Pedal of the Day today, with the second of three effects from a company focused on 100% analog sounds. The Asheville Music Tools ACV-1 Analog Chorus Vibrato is a time warp modulator, featuring a reissue Bucket Brigade Delay line to deliver classic Chorus and Vibrato sounds with the most natural modulation possible. The onboard Low Frequency Oscillator and sophisticated...
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After checking out the newest pedals in the Keeley Electronics’ lineup recently, we’re going to head back a little ways to review a classic 2-in-1 effect from our friends in OKC. Combining two popular Keeley circuits into one pedal, the Parallax Spatial Generator Delay Reverb brings ambience and shoegazing right to your feet. Lots of control parameters and a wide range of tonal options here make sure you can create the...
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We’ve had the pleasure of demoing a couple of great effects from Supercool Pedals, the ’77 Fuzz Blender and The Thneed Overdrive. Today, we’ve got their latest release, which moves away from the dirt units and gets into something we really love: Modulation. The Zig-Zag Analog Chorus-Vibrato is a classic mod circuit with some modern amenities and gorgeous tone for days…let’s dive into this brand new gem...
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The EF-X2 Tape Echo and the EF-P2 Spring Reverb from Echo Fix have been some of our favorite units we’ve reviewed in the last couple years, and we’re excited today to bring you their latest creation. Anointing you with a simple control section, but one that’s filled with gorgeous, vintage-tinged sonic options, this modulation machine is sure to conjure up tonal voices, forgotten sounds and beautiful feelings from...
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There’s a good chance that when a pedal company teams up with a musical artist to create an effect, it’s gonna be a good one. Never has that been truer than today, as we take a look at the Artificial Blonde Vibrato, a collaboration between JHS Pedals and singer, songwriter and guitarist Madison Cunningham. Producing always-on tone-enhancement, or off-the-wall modulated, seasick warbles, this baby blue beauty has something...
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We continue today on our journey as we review some new pedals from Caline today, bringing some classic tones to the forefront. The G-003 Orca Chorus and G-006 Timberwolf Vibrato bring modulation to the forefront, allowing you to create both modern and vintage sounds with ease. Let’s get right to it, shall we? Caline’s G-003 Orca Chorus adds a luscious liquid character to your tone, evoking memories of the classic chorus...
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Last month, we had the distinct pleasure of checking out the wonderful and nostalgic Time Traveler Delay from Spürr Audio, a Back to the Future-inspired box that gave us all the feels (and sounded great). When we opened the box for today’s Spürr Audio pedal, the Wild Rat Distortion, we were greeted with a shock and almost dropped the box, as what appeared to be a real rat was lurking inside. After gathering ourselves and...
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Today, we’ve got a special treat from our friends at El Garatge: the WEX Wireless Expression Controller. Consisting of a wireless transmitter and receiver, the WEX system controls your pedal’s parameters, as well as having some tricks up its sleeve to awaken the sonic experimenter in us all. Consisting of a transmitter and a receiver, each device has some dip-switches to configure its parameters… WEX Features: Manual...
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It’s New Release Day from our pals over at Walrus Audio, and by now you know there’s a good chance it’s going to be something special… well, you’re correct. Picking up where the Lore Reverse Soundscape Generator left off, the Fable Granular Soundscape Generator is a sampler/delay pedal spewing forth glitchiness, pitch shifting, time stretching, reverse sounds and much, much more. Step into this wild sonic...
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Continuing our awesome week of reviews and demos, which has included the Eventide H90 Harmonizer® and the Meris LVX Modular Delay System, we bring you the highly-anticipated Chase Bliss Generation Loss MKII VCR Duplicator. A comprehensive study and smorgasbord of tape in all its forms, this effect is somewhat hard to categorize, and those are always some of our favorite pieces of gear. We should also mention that this is the first...
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When you can fit three classic effects into one less-than-normal sized enclosure, you’re doing something right. That’s exactly what has happened with today’s pedal, the Mojo Hand FX RVT Reverb Vibrato Tremolo. Using vintage 60’s amplifiers to help voice this DSP-based powerhouse, this pedal has got all your vintage tonal needs covered… The Mojo Hand FX RVT was created to offer three popular on-board...
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I’ve always been a fan of compressors – I know, it’s a love/hate relationship with a lot of players out there, but they’ve always seemed warm and useful in the majority of pedalboard builds I’ve done. Now, what if you take an incredible compressor and add in a parallel gain stage, fo an incredible 2-in-1 unit? That’s precisely what the folks at Collaboration Devices have done with the aptly named...
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For those of us that really dig the vintage Uni-Vibe sound, but can’t afford to buy (or repair) an original unit, we all probably have a favorite pedal or two that gets that sound done really well. But, did you ever wish that it had something MORE, like maybe, I dunno…REVERB? The brand new J.Rockett Audio Designs Uni-Verb Chorus Vibrato Reverb takes these two gorgeous effects and smashes them into one reasonably-sized...
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Along with many, many others around the world, we love us some Walrus Audio gear around here. And, as always, a new release from these guys exciting our wonder and curiosity, leading up to the point when today’s pedal was finally delivered to our doorstep. The Lore Reverse Soundscape Generator uses reverse reverbs and delays feeding back into each other, for stretching, warping, pitch-shifting, and time-bending glory....
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The RAT. In all its forms and iterations, it has remained one of the most popular distortion circuits in the world for more than 40 years, with many companies tweaking and trying their hand at improving it. We’ve got one of the best throwing their hat in the ring today, as we bring you the Wampler Pedals Ratsbane Distortion. Small in size but big in stature, this mini effect brings all the thunder of the original Rat sound, with...
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We had the recent opportunity to check out our first effect from Handy FX, the Whiteout Fuzz, and it was an impressive piece of gear. We’re back again today to bring you the next gem in their lineup, the Muskrat Distortion Booster, a powerful 2-in-1 that oozes tone and grit, adding a much-needed punch to any rig. It doesn’t just look rad, folks, it sounds that way, too… The left side of the Muskrat is based on the...
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We love the pedals that our friend Mike Trombley over at NativeAudio has been putting out for years, having already checked out the Wilderness Delay, Kiaayo Overdrive and Rising Sun so far. We’re bringing another one to you this fine Saturday morning, the Pretty Woman Bird Chorus Vibrato, a modulation effect that’s perfect for all occasions. The Pretty Bird Woman is a preset-capable chorus and vibrato designed with an...
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Some pedals you just have to try to really see what they can do, most of the time due to a complex structure or a boatload of functions, options and parameters. The BigSky Multidimensional Reverberator from Strymon is most definitely one of these pedals. Boasting 12 different studio-class reverb machines, along with 8 separate parameter control knobs and 300 built-in presets, this is one machine that you MUST sit down with for many...
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We love wild, modulated, ambient machines, as do most of you out there, and we’ve got an amazing one for you today. The Vongon Ultrasheer Stereo Pitch Vibrato & Reverb not only looks incredible, but the sounds it produces are second-to-none. Weaving in and out of gorgeous, wide-spanning soundscapes, this powerful stereo effect combination is inspired by the early digital studio effects units of the late 1970’s. Capable of...
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THE RAT. Few distortion pedals have as much instant recognizability, despite (usually) just bearing the colors Black & White. There are many iterations of this classic effect, but how could you possibly collect them all without breaking the bank? Well, as usual, JHS Pedals comes to the rescue, in the form of the PackRat Distortion. Taking different RAT circuits from the last 4 decades, from different manufacturers, this pedal...
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After diving into the immensely twisted VENA CAVA Filter last month, we were excited to see what the second pedal we received from Intensive Care Audio was going to bring to the table. Well, they did not disappoint, as the FIDELEATER v.1 Lo-Fi Chorus Vibrato Delay came charging out of the gates. This super-pedal not only mixes these effects genres together into a delicious auditory stew, but manages to create new effects as well,...
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Love ’em or hate ’em, compressors have a place in the musical world – on vocal/instrument microphones, recording/studio gear, interface plugins and, of course, pedalboards. Today’s squishy treat comes to us by way of our friends at Crazy Tube Circuits, improving on one of their existing creations. The φ (Phi) Golden Ratio Compressor is an all-analog unit that’s been ungraded to include 3 separate...
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The Univibe has produced a unique and classic sound for 5 decades now, and while the original units are expensive and require a lot of maintenance, we’re lucky enough to know some folks who build killer modern versions. The one we’ve got for you today is the RFO Electronics Real Vibe Chorus Vibrato, a great-looking and gorgeous-sounding vibrato and chorus pedal that gives you all the goods from the vintage units, and more....
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It seems like there’ve been a bunch of chorus and vibrato sounds coming through the office as of late, and more are actually on the way. Smack dab in the middle, we’ve got today’s gorgeous Univibe-esque piece of gear, the R WEAVER FX Violet Vibe Chorus Vibrato. Harkening instantly back to the late 60’s/early 70’s, this purple beauty oozes classic and vintage tones, with specs that honor the original...
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Modulation is a key ingredient to any rig, whether it’s coming from a phaser, a chorus or a vibrato….but what if you could have ALL THREE in one enclosure? That’s where today’s effect, the JAM Pedals Ripply Fall Chorus Vibrato Phaser, comes into play. Combining a couple other JAM Pedals into one, these side-by-side effects will launch your sound and creativity into the musical stratosphere. The Ripple side...
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Analog Delay with Modulation – quite possibly the best four words in the effects pedal world. You know how we love our delays here, and today we are fortunate enough to bring you one of the best ever. The Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man Echo Chorus Vibrato is the fifth incarnation of the Memory Man Delay, which was first released in 1976. This version is from 1980, and boasts some features not available on previous models....
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There have been some incredible modulation pedals coming out recently, and we are excited to bring you another wonderful effect from that list today. The CopperSound Pedals Polaris Analog Chorus Vibrato gives you two independent depth levels for the Chorus and Vibrato sides it contains. Along with a couple of other tricks up its sleeves, this purple beauty has all your wobbling, warbling needs covered. Based loosely on the classic...
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Pedals that can’t be easily explained put a smile on our face. When you try and try but can’t quite place the category you need to put a certain effect into, you know you’re gonna have some fun with it. Today’s pedal is the epitome of this, defying logic and refusing to be corralled into any specific genre. Although we never had the opportunity to try out v1, the Cooper FX Generation Loss v2 sounds just as...
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The crew at Death By Audio has been making incredibly unique pedals, full of varying tones and options, for years now. We’ve had the pleasure to check out some of their classics (Echo Dream 2, Ghost Delay, Reverberation Machine), and today we’re diving into a newer effect. Rooms is a stereo, multi-function digital reverb capable of searing volume, gated walls of sound, and long, trailing reverberant ambiances with an...
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Today, we’re excited to present to you all the third pedal in the dot9 Series from our friends at Eventide, following in the footsteps of the BlackHole Reverb and MicroPitch Delay. The UltraTap Delay is unique, delivering rhythmic delays, huge pad-like volume swells and expressive modulated effects, all in a compact form. Beginning with Eventide’s Digiplex and Multitap algorithms for its legendary SP2016 Processor, this...
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Ever the ground-breaking innovators, Strymon seems to continually push the limit with each new release. Their most recent, the NightSky Time-Warped Reverberator, might deem itself a reverb pedal, but it’s more like a total musical anomaly. Featuring mind-bending pitch and harmonic manipulation to your reverb tails, with synth-like filter sweeps, you enter a world of new sounds that blow away the boundaries of what is possible...
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From the big box Cali76 Compressor/Limiter to the smaller Compact Cali76 to the Compact RevivalDRIVE, we’ve had the pleasure to check out some wonderful machines from Origin Effects. However, everything became completely surreal and eye-opening when we plugged today’s pedal, the MAGMA57 Amp Vibrato & Drive, into an amplifier here in the shop. Suddenly, our hearts and minds were awoken, our brain was flooded instantly...
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We’ve always had fun with the wild creations the folks at VVco Pedals keep coming up with: the Delayrean Analog Delay, Dark Knight Distortion, Pickle (Rick) Fuzz…but today’s just might take the cake, personally. Designed especially for my 7 year-old daughter, to coincide with her Squier Hello Kitty guitar, and built into a die cast Nissan Skyline GT-R R34 model, may we proudly present to you the Kitty Chorus Vibrato!...
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Today’s pedal gets us into some spooky low-end territory, and is as unique an octave pedal as we’ve ever come across. The OPFXS Dig Deep Sub-Harmonic Generator works on just the lower three strings of your guitar, leaving the higher strings untouched and clean. This lets you add in some heavy bass notes, and with all of the options available, you can dial it in perfectly to your rig. It looks like a simple pedal, but trust...
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The Julia from Walrus Audio has become one of the true go-to chorus and vibrato effects pedals since its release a couple of years back. As powerful and accessible as it is, there were a couple of options that the pedal community longed for, and their requests have finally been answered. The all new Julianna Deluxe Chorus Vibrato adds a number of features to an already incredible design, making this the new front-runner for Modulation...
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Delays are our favorite effect, and crazy, innovative delays are even better. Today’s pedal, The Audio Disruption Devices L.A.G. Lofi Atmosphere Generator is a dual circuit delay pedal that can be calm and sweet, or get super wicked and distorted, with wild feedback and unrelenting auditory fury. But, only if you want it to…let’s see what sonic adventures await! Each delay line for the L.A.G. features Time and Regen...
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Like a lot of you, we had been patiently waiting for our chance to get our hands on some pedals from Pladask Elektrisk, and folks, that day has finally arrived. Seemingly always sold out or wicked expensive on the secondary market, we were stoked that we snagged a couple of units during their last release. Today, we’re going to be looking at the Pladask Elektrisk Draume Artificial Reverberation pedal, a mixture of sonic...
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The pulsing, audio ebb-and-flowing, peaks and valleys sounds of Vibrato are some of our favorites in the world. Whether it’s coming from a modern day effects pedal or from the circuit of a vintage amplifier, it’s hard to beat adding that type of effect into any signal chain and being the least bit disappointed. Today’s pedal, the SurfyVibe from Surfy Industries, brings a vintage sound into our modern world, keeping...
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Overdrive pedals that use actual tubes in them are not very common, but we checked on out a couple weeks ago (the Xtonebox Plexi Heritage), and are going to check out another one today! Yay Us! Today’s gem, the GlassJaw, comes to us from Vibrato, LLC, and is a high voltage vacuum tube overdrive pedal.With a dead simple control section and warm, sweet-sounding, amp-driving tones pouring from it, this is the kind of pedal...
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Ring modulators have been often intriguing, sometimes frustrating effects that, if nothing else, always take you on a musical journey of some kind, whether you want them to or not. When you start mixing in fuzz, tremolo, gates and synths with a ring mod, it all really hits the fan, and your brain must adjust accordingly. Today’s pedal is a true face melter, a device of such force and sheer power that it was, at times, difficult...
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Here’s the thing…we don’t really know ANYTHING about the country of Latvia except this: Jānis Altmanis of Jānis.lv Effect Pedals is making some absolutely incredible gear. We’ve had the privilege to check out his Miesnieks Overdrive and Tre Tre Tremolo pedals so far, and he was even kind enough to chat with us for our Weekly Interview Series last summer. Today, we’re jumping into perhaps his craziest...
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The sound of the Uni-Vibe® effect is really specific, and completely unmistakable. Made famous by Jimi Hendrix, Robin Trower, David Gilmour and many more, this swirling, pulsing phaser-infused vibrato chorus effect has been heard on countless classic recording over the decades, and adds a bit of depth and dimension to any music it happens to come into contact with. Today, we’re going to look at one of the now-most-famous...
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Here at Pedal of the Day, we love pedals with tons of options, switches, buttons and levers….but not necessarily ALL the time. Today’s pedal scratches an itch for a simple, stripped-down, no-frills-but-sounds-amazing effect, and it comes in a bright red box, too! The Saturator is a pedal kit available from MOD Kits DIY, and will go from clean boost to crunchy overdrive to rock and roll distortion, all with just 2 knobs....
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What’s better than an absolutely GIANT effects box laying at your feet? Well, maybe some other things, but it’s still pretty cool. From the short but distinguished list of these beasts, we bring you a somewhat underdog in a world of Memory Men and Guitar Synthesizers: the VM1 Vintage Time Machine Delay Echo Chorus Vibrato from Behringer. An analog delay with a few tricks up its sleeve, this powerhouse is big, bad, and...
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What’s better than experimenting with a new effects pedal from Chase Bliss Audio? Experimenting with one they created alongside another pioneering company, Cooper FX, for an extremely Limited Edition piece of gear. We saw them team up (along with Keeley Electronics) for the Dark World Dual Reverb, and now they’re expanding on one of Cooper FX’s own marvelous creations. The Generation Loss is familiar to a lot of us...
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From BB King to SRV to Hendrix to the Smashing Pumpkins to Paul Kossoff and more, the Vibrato effect has been employed throughout the decades, through both effects and playing technique. The results have been a mixed bag of emotional, soaring leads, unforgettable licks and drawn-out chordal arrangements for some of the most memorable music around. We’re going to explore this genre a bit more today, with the VIB1 Vibrato pedal...
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There’s something about a good octave pedal that beefs up your tone and adds a special flavor to any rig. Whether it’s a lower or upper octave, adding another layer of sound to enhance your original signal has always been a tasty option for us, and today we get to check out a truly killer, one-knob octave effect. The Queequeg (what a great name, right?) from KMA Audio Machines is a sub octave generator, a simple, analog,...
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