Discovering new and exciting pedal builders has always been a great thrill for us here at Pedal of the Day, and the effects we’re checking out today embodies that to a big, fat “T”. Mattoverse Electronics was an unknown company to us not too long ago, and after checking out the Swell Delay, we’re glad that we can witness what they are capable of. A delay/echo/reverb pedal and beyond, this thing is going to put...
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It’s been a hot minute since we reviewed an effect from Throne Room Pedals, but we’re glad we got to check out today’s featured piece of gear. The Atlantis Overdrive is a low-to-mid gain dirt pedal, providing plenty of crunch and boost for any situation. Let’s check it out! The Volume, Tone and Drive controls are standard fare for most overdrives, and the Atlantis is no exception. The Drive in particular has a...
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In the modern world of pedals, there are a handful of companies who are consistently pushing the envelope and getting new sounds and sonic options out to the masses, and have the following and resources to do so. One of our favorites is Walrus Audio, who just put out today’s featured pedal, and knocked another one right out of the park. The Red is a high-gain distortion pedal, complete with a huge range of dirt, a big EQ section...
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Let’s face it: an octave effect can really add another dimension to your sound, period. Whether it’s up or down (or both, in the case of today’s pedal), this one effect has produced some classic tones over the decades, and continues to be a powerful, if underrated, piece of gear to use on both guitar and bass alike. The Octron Octave Divider from Foxrox Electronics brings you the best of both worlds in the octave...
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We have had the pleasure of reviewing and demoing a whole bunch of pedals from our friends at Celestial Effects over the years, and we get to do it again today! The Virgo Rock Overdrive conjures up feelings and sounds of all your favorite classic rock tunes and guitarists from the ’60’s and ’70’s with ease, while adding in some modern functionality and enough options to fill Madison Square Garden. Deceptively...
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Joe Anastasio San Marcos, Texas Lone Wolf Audio www.lonewolfaudio.bigcartel.com How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? Been messing around with guitar and bass for over 20 years, but only really got serious after high school when I bought a high end P bass. Then I started playing guitar shortly after, so I play both. Who have been some of your major musical influences, past or present? This is a...
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We sure love to experiment with anything that comes our way from Mantic Effects near Denver, CO, and that certainly didn’t change when today’s pedal arrived on our doorstep. The Vitriol (which means a sulfate of any of various metals, such as copper, iron, or zinc) Distortion is a simple yet complex dirt box, excellent for both bass and guitar, and one that leaves you hungry for more sonic experimentation. Plus, you can...
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Brent Rademaker aka B_RAD GospelbeacH https://www.facebook.com/GospelbeacHband/ GospelbeacH The Tyde https://www.facebook.com/The-Tyde-119382698079518/?fref=ts Beachwood Sparks www.subpop.com/artists/beachwood_sparks How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? I’ve been playing music since the 4th grade…My Dad is a musician (one of the best on the planet) There was always instruments and music in the...
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Luke Miller Denver, CO Lotus www.lotusvibes.com Luke The Knife (DJ/Produce/Remix) soundcloud.com/luketheknife How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? I’ve been a professional musician for 12 years. I’ve been a musician for about 20 years. I took piano lessons as a kid, but I consider my true origin as a musician when I started teaching myself guitar freshman year of high school. That’s when my...
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Jesse Aycock (Tulsa, OK) www.jesseaycock.com / www.facebook.com/jesseaycockband Hard Working Americans (everywhere USA) www.thehardworkingamericans.com Paul Benjaman Band (Tulsa, OK) www.paulbenjamanband.com / www.facebook.com/paulbenjamanband Lauren Barth (Tulsa, OK) www.laurenbarth.com / www.facebook.com/laurenbarthmusic How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? I guess I’ve been a...
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Jason Boland Oklahoma Jason Boland and the Stragglers http://www.thestragglers.com/ How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? I’m 41 now. I started banging around on a guitar around 7th grade, writing songs senior year, and playing out at 21. The band and I started in September of 1998 and released our first album in January of 2000. I figured if Ralph Macchio could cut heads with...
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Neal Casal nealcasal.com Chris Robinson Brotherhood www.chrisrobinsonbrotherhood.com Hard Working Americans www.thehardworkingamericans.com Circles Around The Sun Skiffle Players (with Cass McCombs) Phil Lesh And Friends Gospelbeach How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? I started playing guitar in 1981. I was obsessed with the Rolling Stones and the bands I saw in the Gimme Shelter film....
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Whenever we get pedals coming to us from halfway around the world, it’s always interesting to see the new and exciting ways used to create effects through the minds of builders in other countries. Today’s featured pedal is the flagship effects from Ratin Pedals in Munich, Germany, a country which seems to keep putting out more and more killer effects each year. The Blue Angel Overdrive is an original design, three-gain...
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We dig it when a pedal arrives that is just plain HEAVY – plug it in, turn up your volume and hope the neighbors don’t get too itchy with their police-dialing fingers. The pedal we;re checking out today is exactly that type – raw, unencumbered, gritty, dirty, nasty and, above all, killer-sounding. The Supercollider is a distortion/fuzz pedal from our new pals at Earthbound Audio, and it’s sure to be a...
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Steve Sterlacci Westchester, New York Jessica Lynn jessicalynnmusic.org How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? So I was trying to play professional baseball until I was about 23. I had played in college on a scholarship and traveled the country going to try outs, but never got an opportunity that made sense. I had already played guitar by that time in a dance/Top 40 wedding band and my now...
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Today’s guest review comes to us from Wesley S. – find him on Instagram (@wesleystuart1) and say Hi! Emerson Custom (though mostly known for their wiring kits) has also dipped their fit into the pedal making business; one of their two offerings being the Paramount Overdrive. I recently bought this pedal as I just wasn’t satisfied with the drive tone I’d been getting from my rig and hated how the pedal I was...
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At Pedal of the Day, we love discovering new companies that are putting out great gear, and today’s pedal and company are a prime example. Ground Control Audio comes to us via Montreal, Canada, and their flagship pedal is what we’ll be looking at today. The Blood Oath Overdrive is a nice, low to mid gain drive that has a great sound and a nice EQ section to dial in whatever dirty sounds you might be after. The Volume knob...
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After the options-laden Aquarius Fuzz pedal we looked at last week, today’s featured piece of gear does a complete 180, and gets down and dirty with a stripped-down enclosure and bare minimum controls. Lone Wolf Audio is well-known for producing some of the most unique, complex noise machines in the industry, so it was both a shock and a welcome sight to see the Bulldozer Fuzz arrive in our mailbox. This one-knob pedal...
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Today’s guest review comes to us from Scott W. – find him on Instagram (@honey.power) and Facebook (Scott Willems). Electro-Harmonix’s Stereo Pulsar is a fantastic variable shape tremolo pedal. The setup is very basic, featuring only three parameters and a switch to choose between square and triangle wave types, but the sounds you can achieve are far from it. The Pulsar has three knobs: rate, shape, and depth. You...
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We can get behind any good fuzz pedal around here, so we were pretty stoked when the cats over at Way Huge Electronics sent over their Havalina™ Germanium Fuzz for us to check out. Featuring a basic three-knob control configuration, this fuzz does what a good fuzz pedal should do: produce copious amounts of fuzz. With a hint of old-school Tone Bender fuzz sound found within it, this is a fun fuzz that will get you groovin’ with...
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Looking for a heavy, bone-crushing, fuzz-riffic distortion pedal? ARE YOU? Well, today’s scorcher might be right up your alley, then. The Headache Harmonic Percolator from Nine of Swords will give you a little bit of hurt, or a lot, depending on what you need or want. Actually sporting great range with just two controls, this is one dirt box that means serious business. A take on the classic circuit made popular by the rare and...
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Mike Gantzer Guitarist for Aqueous Buffalo, NY https://aqueousband.com/ https://www.facebook.com/aqueousband/ How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? Incidentally, when I first started playing music was in the 3rd grade with the standard issue recorder they give out to everyone, and i HATED it. haha I picked up trumpet for awhile, but I recall being sort of turned off with the rigidity of the...
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There’s been a streak recently here at Pedal of the Day where we’ve been able to test and review some awesome old analog delay pedals, and today we bring you yet another gem in this prestigious list of warm and warbly delays of old. This 680 Analog Delay from DOD dates to late 1980, and has had a bunch of updates, upgrades and improvements done to it recently, making it sound like it did right off the shelf more than 35...
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Today’s guest review comes to us from Christian E. – you can find him on Instagram (@chriespiritu) or on his band’s Facebook page (Story Of April). The AMT Electronics P2 is a guitar preamp in a pedal sized stompbox designed to emulate the tone, gain structure and nuances of the Peavey 5150/6505 amp that we all love. Amazing, right? The pedal is built like a tank: it has a great solid steel chassis and I can assure...
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Known for creating some interesting and unique pedals geared more towards the heavy side of music, Pro Tone Pedals keeps on putting out some great gear, and today’s featured pedal is one of their signature effects. The Dead Horse Overdrive is Pro Tone’s take on a classic circuit from a certain famous green box, only with more improvements and better sound. In their words, “It’s based on a Tube...
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We love discovering pedal companies that we have never heard of before, no matter how long they may have been around, and seeing out-of-the-ordinary, innovative and exciting new pedals, ones that really break the traditional pedal molds, and offer something completely new and adventurous. If there was ever a pedal to do that, it’s the Chaosmic Fuzz from Rabbit Hole FX, so let’s see what she’s all about! On the top...
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There’s just something so unique and inviting about each pedal we’ve reviewed from Hudson Electronics, and today’s featured pedal is no different. The Sidecar Overdrive is a special take on a classic “green” overdrive circuit, with some added elements and quality components, to make it a drive that will contend with anything you put it up against. We recently reviewed the Hudson Broadcast Pre-Amp, and...
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We get pretty excited about all the pedals we review here at Pedal of the Day, but when a box arrived from the UK with “Hudson Electronics” on the label, we knew we were in for a treat. Having already reviewed the awesome Buzzard and Fuzz pedals a while back, we were stoked to see what Michael and the crew had come up with this time around. In short, we were not even close to being disappointed – here is the...
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With so many new effects with so many functions and big learning curves, it’s nice to come across an older pedal that has a couple simple knobs and sounds just fantastic, without having a bunch of bells and whistles. Today’s featured pedal, the FX96 Echo FX Analog Delay from DOD was produced way back in the ancient year of 1997, and was billed as a modern improvement on classic tape echo machines like the Binson Echorec...
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Being a pedal review blog, we love discovering new pedals and companies that we hadn’t previously heard of, and developing new relationships with them, which is the case with today’s pedal, the Sagittarius Overdrive Boost from Celestial Effects in Hudson, MA. 2-in-1 pedals are always welcome around here, and you really can’t beat the Overdrive/Boost combination. There’s a Volume knob to start us off, which...
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Today’s pedal builder is a relative newcomer to the community, after trying out some dead-end jobs and realizing building pedals would be more fun and worthwhile. Ruffian Pedals’ flagship pedal is today’s featured piece of gear, The Feels Overdrive/Distortion. A sleek and stylish-looking pedal, it packs a wallop that’s sure to get both your amp and your crowd moving in a hurry. The control layout of The Feels...
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There are a lot of “Screamer” pedals out in the world, being manufactured by a ton of different companies, and rightly so, as it was one of the first truly awesome overdrive pedals in existence. However, with so many floating around, it’s sometimes hard to decipher which one is from where, as they can tend to all start to sound fairly similar. Enter today’s pedal, the Relic Drive from our friends at Greer Amp...
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Well, it’s official: Reverb has been creeping up into our subconscious for a while now, and it has firmly planted itself in the Number Two spot on the list of effects we love the most right now (Delay is Number One, and that will probably always remain). That said, when the opportunity to snatch up a Proverb Reverb from Mantic Effects came up, it was a basic no-brainer, as they create some of the most unique and wacky pedals out...
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Today, we’ve got another awesome addition to our guest reviewer series, this time it’s Rob Compa from the excellent band Dopapod! I’d like to say thanks to him for taking some time out and writing this review on a very rare and unique pedal, looking forward to more reviews in the future, Rob! Enough of my spiel, here’s what Rob has to say: Hey guys! About a year ago, I finally got to that point where my...
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Having reviewed a number of their pedals, I think it’s safe to say that the crew over at Infanem (Instruments For A New Electric Music) make some of my favorite pedals ever. Wildly inventive and a lot of time out-of-this-world, they take on fuzzes, phasers, delays and more, much to the delight of myself and many others throughout the pedal-playing community. Today’s pedal is the 141G, a tough monster of a fuzz, with fairly...
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Guess what? We’re going to review another delay today, making it three in a row (like we’ve said before, we love some delay around here). This one is a truly unique delay, however, one that you’ve probably not seen the likes of before, although I’m sure you’ve heard about it in recent years. Fairfield Circuitry is in a constant state of innovation, with each new pedal they put out topping the previous,...
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We’ve been reviewing a bunch of drive pedals from Diamond Pedals recently, and today’s featured pedal is another in this esteemed list of great gear they’ve been putting out. With many of their pedals having a lot of controls and a ton of options, this pedal is simple, easy-to-use and sounds great. The Nine Zero Two (which happens to be the area code for Nova Scotia) is a stripped-down but powerful overdrive, that...
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Let’s face it – the classic Shin-Ei Uni-Vibe sound works really, really well in some music…and not so much in others. Being that it might not be the friendliest effect on your board, it’s hard for a lot of folks to shell out a couple hundred dollars for a well-made recreation, or even harder to find (and afford) and original, much less one in good working condition. While these sought-after analog machines are...
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There are certain times in every effect freak’s life, when you sit down with a pedal, any type of pedal, really, and once you hit that bypass switch, your ears, eyes and fingers instantly perk up, and your brain sort of says “Whoa!”, maybe even with a little Keanu Reeves overtone. Now, while there are many, many brilliant pedals out there to explore, as we know, there are those rare gems that just have IT, whatever...
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The Big Muff Family of Fuzzes has many, many members, in various forms, models and creations, and should, after being around for more close to 50 years. One of these family subdivisions it the Russian Green Muff, which was made from 1994-2000 or so, and is one of many highly collectable and sought-after versions of this incredible fuzz. The crew at McCaffrey Audio decided it was time to take on the project of developing their own...
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As a bass player, it’s nice to add some grit and dirt to my sound when the need arises. Unfortunately, there are many pedals out there that may sound good at home, but get lost in the mix. From low-end loss to a barely perceptible effect, it’s hard to find a good drive at a good price. Thankfully, Pigtronix is here to save the day with the Bass FAT Drive. I’ve had their Philosopher Bass Compressor on my board for...
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I’m always on the lookout for pedals that not only present themselves in a unique way, but offer unique sound options, too. Today’s pedal, the 1954 Transparent Fuzz from ScreaminFX, covers both of these criteria with ease, as you can see just by looking at the design of this bright orange beauty. Hand-made and built like a tank in Austin, Texas, with a clear shield that lets you peer directly into this fuzz’s soul, I...
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Diamond Pedals have been a big supporter of Pedal of the Day since we first started, and it’s always a treat getting a package from them in the mail, ’cause you never know what to expect. This time around, the delivered box was loaded with dirt pedals, the first of which we’ll be checking out today. Both a drive and a warm boost, the J-Drive Mk3 Overdrive puts out plenty of power and adds great depth to your tone,...
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When you think of the term “heavy metal” and it’s origins, what name inevitably pops into your head? That’s right, it’s Black Sabbath, and if you said anything else, you’re incorrect. And when you think of this legendary band and how it shaped the sound of heavy music today, who do you mostly associate that with? Nope, it’s not Ozzy, but you’re close: Tony Iommi. His dark tones and heavy...
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At first glance, you’ll notice a familiar layout, shape and even font on the Aluminum Falcon overdrive pedal from PCE-FX, perhaps conjuring up visions of a certain $2,000 drive that you’ll never be able to afford, but have always admired from afar (as many of us have). Awesome name notwithstanding, this pedal features some tones that really mimic the pedal I can only assume it’s loosely based on, with amazing boost...
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The Raxxla Chorus is the third pedal we’ve had the pleasure to review from our friends across the pond in St. Petersburg, Russia, Shift Line, and these pedals just keep getting better and better. This pedal is basically 3 chorus pedals wrapped into one neat and tidy enclosure, with a ton of range and warm, lush, organic tones and sounds. If you’re looking for a perfectly versatile chorus that won’t eat up all your...
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Sometimes, you just need a little metal in your life, whether it’s from a CD, a live concert or rocking out in your practice space with a sick, fat, green new pedal added into your sonic arsenal. Today happens to be one of the latter days, and the pedal happens to be from an innovative amplifier and pedal building genius, Andy Fuchs, and Fuchs Audio Technology. Oh yeah, the pedal is the Noxious Distortion. Right away,...
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In this awesome world of pedals, it can sometimes seem like it’s all been done before: sure, there might be a couple of different toggles on this pedal and a new knob or two, but really unique, new and innovative stuff can elude the masses at times, until you stumble across a pedal that truly makes you stop in your tracks. Today’s piece of hardware did exactly that me, as I had never come across a...
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In writing so many pedal reviews, I have had unique opportunities that not everyone gets, one of which is to discover smaller, lesser-known pedal builders and test out their products. I have come to find out that the little guys are putting out some incredible gear, and that you don’t always need to sport a big and popular name on a pedal for it to be great. LS Effects, out of Jacksonville, Florida, is a company I recently...
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As much as I enjoy a nice, small delay pedal that fits beautifully onto my pedalboard, I love the big box delay pedals, the ones that take up too much real estate but sound so incredible that you don’t mind the size whatsoever. In an attempt to satisfy my delay obsession, I may or may not have purchased a number of these pedals over the years, and one that I really dig is the Plush REP-3 Tube-Voiced Delay from our friends at...
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