The first time I tried the Oddfellow Effects Caveman Overdrive pedal I plugged it into the clean channel of my 50 watt valve amp head which has a relatively warm tone. After about 20 minutes of playing I actually forgot I was using a drive pedal. The feel and dynamics was that of a real valve amp gain channel. The Caveman Overdrive is transparent and gives you nice volume and tone roll off with that nice sustain you get from your...
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The $87 I spent on this used pedal might have been the best $87 I ever spent on anything guitar-related…or not guitar-related, who knows? What I do know is this: the Reverb sounds coming out of the Hall of Fame from TC Electronic are incredible. The options are pretty much open to any type of reverb you could want, plus it has the super-cool Tone Print feature, like a lot of TC Electronic’s pedals have, which I think is a...
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They should have called this “The Luxury Suite of Tone”. I’ve been searching for a pedal that would liven up my rig without taking over the sound of my guitar and amp. If that makes sense. Something that thickens it up without making things muddy. Gives me some sustain and makes my notes sing, without fuzz or distortion. I’ve not been able to find an overdrive that suits me or doesn’t get too loud too...
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JHS has been making great drive pedals for a while now, and the Double Barrel keeps the tradition going strong. Their version of a low-to-medium gain overdrive, the Double Barrel features 2 independent sides, which can be used separately or together, making for some interesting and extremely useful combinations. The Right side of the pedal is the JHS 808, which is their standalone version of the classic Tubescreamer. Featuring that...
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The Happy Valley Analog Clean Boost is an extremely well built hand painted and hand wired boutique clean boost effect pedal. Happy Valley Analog is a relatively new boutique effect company with fantastic customer service. They use nothing but the highest quality parts and it really shows in the sound quality of their effects. The HVA clean boost is a very straight forward pedal with great sound designed to be used with a tube amp....
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This is the NashPedals Bronco Billy clean/treble boost. I’ve been using this hand painted version for 6 months now, and I am always impressed with how transparent and usable this little guy is. With the toggle in the up position, the Bronco Billy acts as a treble boost. I really love how you can dial it in if you need just a touch to cut through, or really use it to push the amp without getting big, boomy bass. I often use this...
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We’ve got another VIDEO review for you today, this time it’s the Vintage Machines Guitar Pedals Red Rocket Fuzz! Transparent Fuzz… I know sounds to good to be true. The absolute most transparent Fuzz I have ever gotten my hands on. Check it out and subscribe to my channel! Please go give Vintage Machines a ‘LIKE’ on Facebook, too! Click ‘PLAY’ and enjoy the show! Submitted by...
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The Blackeye Effects Palmetto is a great boost/light overdrive pedal. It only has two controls, Gain and Volume, but that is all you need. The Palmetto is true bypass and there are many great settings on this pedal. And for under $100 new, you can’t pass it up. Let’s review a few of my favorite settings. With the gain backed down and the volume up, the Palmetto will make your clean tone full and shimmering, giving you a...
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Transparent Overdrive. Those words seem to be everywhere in the guitar effects community these days, and have for a little while now. But, there’s a good reason: they help to beef up the sound that already exists between your guitar and amp, but without coloring it in a way that changes the overall tone. They work as kind of an enhancer, as some say, to really get your amp to shine and pour out the awesome tones everyone is...
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The Aerolite Compressor from Dr. J Pedals in Scandinavia is a unique pedal in a sea of compressors, as it has a couple of variables that enable it to sing a different tune than most. The COMP knob obviously controls the amount of compression you are applying to your signal, and the OUTPUT controls the volume boost coming from the pedal itself. The ATTACK knob, another compressor staple, adjusts the dynamics and reacts to your playing,...
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Yet another overdrive based on the famous Klon, the Soul Food from Electro-Harmonix was created to bring great-sounding tone to musicians everywhere…at an VERY affordable price. As with all great Klone-type pedals, the Soul Food provides sweet, creamy, transparent overdrive, but can also go pretty balls out if need be. Volume, Tone and Drive controls are also typical, but like so many other pedals have come to find out, one trip...
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Look what we’ve got for you today! It’s the Sick As Overdrive from our friends at Bondi Effects. The Sick As is a transparent overdrive (supposedly based around the famous Klon), and a really well made and great-sounding one at that. The Level knob does, well, you know what Level knob does, I hope. One feature I love about the Sick As is that it has Treble AND Bass EQ knobs, and on this pedal (as opposed to a number of...
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The Euphoria Overdrive from Wampler Pedals is a classic, great-sounding OD with a few extras to make it stand out from the crowd. Based in part off of the tone of D-Style Amplifiers, the Euphoria produces clean dirty sounds (if that makes sense) by not muddying up your tone, and giving you a range of tonal options with the 3-position toggle switch. With the switch Up, the sound is overdriven and creamy, really for sparkling leads with...
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What the hell is an Underdrive? That’s a good question, and I’m gonna try to answer it today. The Snowjob from Lotus Pedal Designs is a unique design, a dual-mode underdrive, as they call it, which simply means the pedal drives from the guitar, NOT driving the amp. Very cool and transparent, adding full body to your signal, as well as being able to get a good amount of crunch. The knobs are unique as well: the left is the...
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Alright, I gotta tell ya, I was a little skeptical about this Bad Monkey being a really good overdrive. I have played many sub-$50 overdrive over the years, and that has been exactly what they all sounded like: sub-$50 Overdrives. So, when I stated reading about this pedal and the ‘Badder Monkey’ mod from Humphrey Audio, I didn’t run out and get one immediately. But it kept showing up and getting rave reviews, and...
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The Suhr Koko Boost is a unique boost pedal that serves basically 3 purposes. First is a clean boost which can be toggled on and off with the switch on the left side. I have used a several different OD/clean boost and this one is by far the most transparent one I’ve ever heard. Works really well with an amp that is crunching up just a bit to drive it to further overdrive. Sounds just like turning up a gain knob. I could hear a...
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The Übermut is an all-analog, hand-wired, true bypass, mod-ready overdrive pedal. What is Mod-Ready? Its a socketed pedal that allows you to change out a few parts using just your fingers and takes a few seconds. The pedal is capable of literally thousands of tones ranging from clean boost to warm overdrives all the way to raging fuzz and distortions by just swapping out our “Tone Packs”. For an excellent demo by a couple...
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Most of us are familiar with the famous ROSS Grey Compressor from the ’70’s, and the RC-3 from Barge Concepts uses that original design as a launchpad to a great new stompbox. The Volume, Sustain and Attack knobs allow you to control the output signal, the sustain amount and how much your signal is “squished”. Plus, there’s an added bonus inside, in the form of an internal switch for selecting a larger...
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The BD-2 Blues Driver delivers the creamy, yet crunchy sound associated with great blues guitar. This popular pedal provides instant access to the kind of warm overdrive and emotive distortion usually reserved for 30-year-old tube amps. With the JHS Blu-Drive mod, however, the BD-2 becomes very transparent and extremely amp-like in its response and character. You will notice a huge range of gain that reaches from clean boost to all...
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