We love exploring new pedal companies, and we also love a good Klon-inspired piece of gear. Luckily, today’s pedal checks off both boxes, putting a delicious spin on a classic circuit and sound. The Harby Pedals Centauri Clean Boost/Overdrive brings a wide range of sounds to the table, ranging from simple volume boost to amp breakup to glorious tube-amp overdriven tone for days…let’s jump in and see what makes this...
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We’ve always been impressed with the modulation and delay effects that Pigtronix has put out into the world, but today we’re looking at a pedal that heads into a different sort of direction. The Star Eater Analog Jumbo Fuzz blends legendary old-school fuzz sounds with modern tone-shaping versatility, for an interesting and intriguing take on the genre. With simple controls and a wide range of tones, this one was fun to...
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It’s been a while since we saw an effects pedal from Wounded Paw Audio, and it’s also been a while since we had a bass pedal to review and demo. Luckily, both of these are getting fixed today, with the introduction of the Attack Goat OD DI Bass Pre-Amp, a 2-channel fuzz, overdrive, EQ and more. If you’re looking for a tone-shaping, amp-pushing, low-end machine to handle your 4, 5 or 6-string needs, you’re in...
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Amp emulator pedals are always a delicate topic of conversation amongst guitar players, and while some of these pedals can be hit or miss, the three we’re checking out today from Universal Audio are completely legit, and more. Drawing inspiration from three classic amps first released many decades ago, the Dream ’65, Ruby ’63 and Woodrow ’55 allow you to easily lose yourself in vintage tone, and save your back...
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The effects we’ve checked out so far from Malaise Forever have been glorious, starting with the magnificent Clubber Lang Harmonic Percolator Fuzz, and continuing with the Rage Monster Germanium Gain Stage. For Pedal #3 today, we’re helping with the release of the brand new Iron Fistula JFET Preamp Drive, a swiss army knife of incredible tones and dialed-in dirt for days – let’s see what’s in store, shall...
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The Klone. Since the majority of us think it’s absurd to spend $5,000 or more on a pedal, klones have become a musical godsend, offering a ton of different sonic flavors without the hefty price tags that go with the originals. We’re bringing you another lovely offering today, in the form of the My Little Klony from Daddy Daughter Pedal Works. This pink beauty is dialed in sonically to the mythical units, with a couple of...
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When it comes to the 3-knob Overdrive, you’ve got to make it pretty creative and fun in order to stand out from the hundreds, or thousands, of other similar effects out there. Today’s pedal does just that, with intriguing graphics, a fun outer space backstory and, of course, incredible sound. The Interstellar Audio Machines Octonaut Hyperdrive brings classic, inspired tones to the forefront, creating a perfect addition to...
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Recently, we had the privilege to check out the Acid Cat Fuzz Distortion from our friends at Stacks FX. Part of their Ohms Series, it had a nice sonic range, going from mild crunch to all-out sonic destruction. Today, we’ve got another pedal from that Ohms Series for you – the Distorter of Worlds, another fuzz distorter that packs a myriad of options into one perfectly-sized enclosure. Lots to explore here, let’s get...
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The infamous Klon has produced more clones than perhaps any other circuit (well, maybe the Tubescreamer has it beat). We love a good Klone here at Pedal of the Day – hell, we even have a series dedicated to them on our YouTube channel. Today’s pedal brings another mythical creation to the table, this time in the form of the Handy FX Minotaur Overdrive… With the familiar layout and classic oxblood knobs, you’ll feel...
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Like a lot of you out there, we can’t get enough of a good fuzz tone, especially one that’s based around the classic Tone Bender circuit. Today’s pedal, the Minotaur Sonic Terrors Evil Eye MKIII Tone Aggravator, is based on the Sola Sound Professional MKII Tone Bender, but with some modern tweaking done under the hood. Instant amp-crushing is in the very near future – prepare for total annihilation. The Evil...
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We’ve got another Klon-inspired beauty to bring to you today, only this one takes everything up a couple notches. Recently, we had the pleasure of checking out the KCM-OD Silver V10 from Studio Daydream Handmade Pedals, and today we’re bringing you their next version, the KCM-OD Gold V9.0 Overdrive. Looking and sounding similar to a certain horsie-laden and ridiculously expensive pedal from the ’90s, this one has a...
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Last month, we had our first taste of the power and presence of the pedals coming from Minotaur Sonic Terrors, in the form of the exquisite Saturnine Fuzz. We’re lucky enough to be able to check out a second effect from these guys today as well – the Swamp Lord Cyclopean Tone Wizard. This fuzz/drive/distortion can easily cover all of your dirt needs, from ’70s-inspired overdrive to ultra-heavy, and everything in...
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Last month, we checked out our first pedal from Sundance Electronics, the HI-1 Fuzz, and it was a complete ripper. Needless to say, we were excited for a second pedal from these guys, and we’ve got it for you today. The Clean Fuzz is anything but, as it is a super versatile distortion/fuzz aimed to work wonders on both guitar and bass. There are three simple control knobs present on the Clean Fuzz – Volume, Clean and Gain....
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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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Greg Loiacono & Tim Bluhm Marin County, CA / Fairfax, CA The Mother Hips motherhips.com Greg Loiacono Band gregloiacono.com Green Leaf Rustlers Tim Bluhm w/ The Coffis Brothers timbluhm.com How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? Greg Loiacono: I started playing guitar at age 11. I wanted to learn as soon as I heard “Purple Haze” for the first time. I stopped for a bit and got back...
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Turning the effects pedal world upside down, thinking outside the box and creating something brand new is harder and harder to do these days. Luckily, we’ve become pals with a company who is doing just that, with an effects unit that’s gonna be a game changer. The Modal Effects Disruption Modular Gain pedal utilizes individual effect modules, or “Mods”, that are easily swappable, to create an entire customized...
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HAPPY HALLOWEEN!! Well, almost, but it’s close enough, right? Today’s spooky, end-of-October-themed pedal comes in the form of a vintage circuit, modernized for today’s differing climates. The Vaderin Pedals HP-X Harmonic Percolator takes after the original unit from Interfax, but with a couple differences to ensure years, maybe decades, of wonderful, fuzzy playability… The HP-X has been designed to capture the...
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The Harmonic Percolator. Is it a fuzz? Is it a distortion? Is it its own entity entirely? We’ve had the pleasure to check out a couple pedals based on the revered Interfax model, and we’ve got another for you today. The Malaise Forever Clubber Lang is a love letter to the original unit, with a couple of changes and additions to bring it into the modern world…let’s check it out! The Clubber Lang features a...
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Today we’re continuing down the path of Dual Enlightenment, thanks to the wonderful DCP Dual Series from our friends at Caline. The DCP-08 Nightwolf Overdrive Fuzz combines two of our favorite effects into one box, perfect for adding a bit of tone-shaping or completely annihilating your clean sound. These two classic effects make for a great team, let’s check out some more details! The Left side of the Nightwolf is a...
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Ever since Night Owl Industries sent us their first pedal three years ago, we’ve had the pleasure of reviewing and demoing their entire lineup. That wonderful streak continues today with the Parabellum Preamp Drive Distortion, a collaboration between Night Owl and Dunwich Amps. A mix of three distinct voices, each being processed independently then mixed back together, this one creates a dense, complex distortion not attainable...
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We’ve had a couple of pedals from Discomfort Designs come through the shop recently, and they just keep getting better. Today’s machine, the Black Tooth Doom Octave Distorter, sounds as mean as its name might suggest…and then some. Not for the weak, faint-of-heart or tender-eared, this crushing black beauty is all geared up to rip some speakers and melt some faces… The Black Tooth is a high gain, hard-clipping...
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We’ve got a real treat for you all today, one of the most anticipated and highly-hyped effects pedals of the year…maybe the decade. A collaboration between Boss and Sola Sound, the TB-2W Waza Craft Tone Bender is a fuzz pedal that brings vintage tone into the modern world. Based on the classic Tone Bender MKII, the TB-2W has been painstakingly scrutinized and researched, to bring you possibly the finest Tone Bender...
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Sometimes, the easier a pedal is to operate, the better. Today’s effect is just about as simple as it gets, while still offering up a nice range of sounds. The Weird Noise Pedals Fuzz It features one big knob and one little toggle switch….and it sounds HUGE. The Fuzz It is a hybrid fuzz pedal that’s actually two circuits in one. With the toggle set to the left, you’ve got a germanium fuzz that has a thick, warm...
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We were first introduced to KHDK Electronics, the brainchild of Metallica’s Kirk Hammett and industry pro David Karon, when they first started releasing pedals in 2016. The Ghoul Screamer is their take on the classic Tube Screamer, on steroids, and we really dug it. So we were pretty excited to dive into the Unicorn Blood II Octave Fuzz, a mammoth of a dirt pedal not for the tame or timid – this thing crushes eardrums and...
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Today’s pedal has been on our radar for a minute now, and we were stoked when the head honcho of Heather Brown Electronicals tapped us to review and demo her flagship effect. The Blessed Mother Overdrive works as a boost, low-gain drive and overall tone-shaper, and found its way instantly into our demo rig. Heather learned her skills from industry wizards Mike Matthews of EHX and Robert Keeley, so you know you’re in for a...
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We love pretty much anything that has a retro or vintage vibe, look or feel around here, and today’s pedal checks off all of those boxes with ease. The SolidGoldFX Imperial MkII Fuzz looks like it was made in the 80’s, sounds right out of the 70’s and has a modern feel that makes it a perfect fuzz all-around. Inspired by the vintage JEN Jumbo Fuzz, the MkII has four simple sliders that control a wide range of tonal...
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Three knobs, a toggle and a footswitch. That’s all you need to flat out rock and roll, as today’s pedal will prove. The Lake Effects FVD Overdrive is a mow-mid gainer, based loosely on the Rat distortion philosophy, with an extra option. If you’re looking for an excellent first/second stage drive for your rig, you’re in the right place. A visually clean and sonically dirty pedal, the FVD Overdrive boasts the...
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Today, we’re going to take a look at a wild, bold, bright dirt pedal from Tone.ElectroniX, which was conceived, born and raised in Figueira da Foz in Portugal. The Animalizzer (“the MufferFuzzer” as originaly was called) is a distortion…wait…is a fuzz…no…. it’s BOTH. Yes, it’s a distortion/fuzz effect pedal for guitar and bass – still, it can even sound like mild overdriven...
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Our first foray into the world of products from Warm Audio was just about a month or so ago, in the form of the Jet Phaser. A powerful recreation of a vintage classic, we were blown away by how great it looked and sounded. Well, we’re back at it again today, with the second device in the current WA lineup. The Foxy Tone Box Octave Fuzz reinvigorates another classic effects pedal, the Foxx Tone Machine, complete with velvet...
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The music of Dinosaur Jr is known throughout the world, and for guitar fanboys, so is lead singer and guitarist J Mascis. With one of the most recognizable fuzz tones in the business, he has become synonymous with the Big Muff family of pedals, both as a player and as a collector. Today’s pedal, the Garbage Face Fuzz Boost, is a collaboration between J and Matt from Wren and Cuff, featuring a uniquely Muff-inspired fuzz side, a...
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Custom, limited edition pedals have become a staple across the board the last couple of years, and we were able to get our mitts on another rare one today. The Seraphina Fuzz Octave is a collaboration between Red Witch Pedals and Reverb, featuring a wide range of fuzzy options in a simple control package. Unlike any fuzz Red Witch has created before, this one takes it to the next level. Featuring just three top-mounted controls, the...
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The InterFax Harmonic Percolator has a weird story. A distortion/fuzz pedal made in the fabulous city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the 70’s, it has become a mystical unit of legend. Probably made most famous by Steve Albini of Big Black and Shellac, these rather bland-looking boxes have a wide range of tones to investigate. Since originals are relatively scarce and spendy, it’s nice when a re-creation comes our way, and...
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Over the years, we’ve seen a boatload of overdrive and distortion pedals come through, and after all that time, and all those effects, it still puts a giant smile on my face to plug in a new sonic creation and let ‘er rip. Case in point: today’s pedal, the Tone Fox Overdrive Distortion from Vaderin Pedals. Three controls, no toggle, easy as can be, right? Wait, there’s a TEETH knob….?? The Tone Fox...
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Happy Thanksgiving Week, all! Today’s pedal is not only a badass fuzz, but we’re also giving it away as a part of our MOVEMBER campaign. If you don’t know, Movember raises money and awareness for Men’s Health, suicide prevention and prostate cancer. The Pedal of the Day Team has been growing moustaches and raising money all month long – there’s still time to donate and enter to win this great...
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Continuing on this Boost-happy weekend (check out the Bad Penny FX Smoothflow from yeaterday), we’ve got a PAIR of pedals to show off today. Coming to us from R2R Electric, these One and Two Knob Treble Boosters each offer gorgeous components inside, as well as amp-driving bliss for your eardrums. Let’s check out the features for each of these sonic marvels: One-Knob Mullard AC107 Germanium Transistor NOS Piher 10K...
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There have been a lot of Tone Bender-ish pedals coming through the shop as of late, and we couldn’t be happier about it. We’ve got another one for you today, this time coming from our friends at Animals Pedal. The Sunday Afternoon Is Infinity Bender, despite having a wildly long and potentially confusing moniker, is a fairly simple and straightforward fuzz. That said, there’s still plenty here to investigate. Another...
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Our first venture into the world of Sitek Guitar Electronics has turned out to be a wild one, folks. Today, we’re going to run through the Pandora Fuzz, a versatile, high-gain effects pedal that mixes some beautiful, natural upper octave tones in with the powerful, dirty fuzz. There are a bunch of controls and options on this one, so let’s dig right in! The two main controls are Level and Fuzz on the Pandora Fuzz –...
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Ah, the infamous Klon Centaur. That mythical sound that can be yours for the low, low price range of $2,000-4,000, if you can find one. For those of us who think that staggering amount of cash just might be able to be spent elsewhere, we’ve got the Klone. Surfacing in many forms, colors, configurations and sizes, these homages to the original give the masses that Klon tone, without the hefty price tag. We’ve got another...
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Many times throughout the course of a year, there are certain pedals that have a TON of hype around them, that just about everyone in the industry is waiting for their release to the public. Today’s pedal might just top the list for 2020, even though we’re only halfway through (really, only halfway?). The Chase Bliss Audio Automatone Preamp MKII is not only a collaborative effort with Benson Amps, but a surge forward in...
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A few months back, we brought you the first pedal we’ve reviewed from Industrialectric, the Generator 7446 Fuzz Tremolo Ring Modulator, and it was a magnificent noise-making wonder. Eager to see what they came up with next, we were stoked when today’s pedal landed on our doorstep, for sure. The Industrialectric Actuator OD-187 Overdrive gives you an overdrive, yes, but in only the way that these guys from up in Toronto,...
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The Legends of Fuzz series from JHS Pedals is a tribute to the world’s most historic, rare, and sought after fuzz circuits. Since the originals are extremely hard-to-find, extremely expensive when you do and prone to the problems electronics might have after 50 years, this series brings these sounds and tones to the masses, for all to enjoy. There are four pedals in all, and we’re going to run through each one, what they...
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Some of you may know Area 51 from their impressive line of wah pedals, but they also do buffers, fuzz, mod kits and more. Today we’re going to look at The Alienist Voicing Boost, another impressive creation of theirs which gives you a ton of tonal options in a wicked rad enclosure. Hand-wired and designed to specifically drive your favorite tube amp, this futuristic-looking machine is the ultimate in treble-boosting, giving you...
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As is evidenced by our series on YouTube, The Klone Wars, we love a good Klon clone here at Pedal of the Day. We’ve had many such a pedal come through the office, but today’s effect has a special feature not often added into this mystical enigma of a pedal. It looks killer, it sounds killer – lets have a look-see at the Klone from 68 Pedals. The Drive, Treble and Volume controls are present here, as they have to be...
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Anyone who knows the band Fu Manchu knows they have a pretty signature sound, and the bass is a big part of it. What you might not know is that the bass player, Brad Davis, is also the mastermind behind Creepy Fingers Effects, and he was kind enough to send us a pedal to check out today. The Fuzz Nugget is just that: a tasty little morsel of fuzz wrapped in a big old gold box, Eatin’ Dust and just waiting to be unleashed on the...
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As you might guess from our “Klone Wars” series on YouTube, we love a good klone pedal here at Pedal of the Day. With so many to choose from, we’ve had a great time exploring each one we can get our hands on, and test the differing nuances and tonal subtleties that make each one unique in their own way. Today, we’re going to check out yet another one, this time from our friend to the north in Winnipeg, Canada,...
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There are a lot of Klone pedals out on the market, with each seeking to replicate the sounds of the mythical Klon pedal from the 90’s, and we love ’em all (check out our Klone Wars demo series as we search for the best of the best). We’re going to check out another one today, one that boasts “no major tweaks or adjustments from the original unit.” Hey, that caught our attention right there, and probably...
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We always love it when new gear arrives from our friends at Big Joe Stomp Box Company, and they have provided a killer pedal for you today. One of two different models, the Freakshow Fuzz (Silicon) puts a totally whacked-out, freaky fuzz right at your fingertips, offering up ample fuzz sounds with that signature bite only silicon transistors can provide. We’re excited about this one, let’s check it out… The B-312...
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Michelangelo. Obviously, he was a fairly famous artist in the 1500s, and was also arguably the coolest of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the 1980’s and 90’s. Today, however, his name adorns an effects pedal, one coming straight from his home country of Italy, and one that sculpts your tone and paints vivid images of sonic waterfalls in your mind. The Michelangelo Overdrive Plus from Dophix is an overdrive and boost...
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The Infamous Klon. Tons of debates about this one: some swear by it, some think it’s incredibly overpriced, some just want one to add to a collection of status symbol pedals and some just like the way it sounds, period. Since the majority of us don’t have roughly $2,000 to drop on one pedal, there are companies like Kink Guitar Pedals who make it easy for us to get the Klon sound affordably. Their Femtaur pedal is what...
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We’ve had the pleasure of checking out a couple of pedals from StoneFly Effects up in Canada, so we were pretty stoked when we heard that Marc-Eric was unleashing a new beast on the world. Even better, he was teaming up for this release with our friend Eric Calvert of Frost Giant Electronics and Switchblade Jesus fame, which peaked out interest that much more. The result is today’s complete monster of a fuzz, a RAT that...
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