RSSAmplifier

Blog

Guitar Pedal X News

Guitar Pedals, Guitars and Amps - contextual overviews and comparisons, insights and recommendations

guitarpedalx.comRSS feed ↗10 posts

Latest posts

PigDog's Germanium Overdrive delivers a beautifully rich and harmonic mid-gain overdrive profile courtesy of its vintage RCA 2N270 Germanium Transistor and 2 Germanium Diodes

As expected for a Steve Williams production - this is another superb high-quality build - utilising a super rare late 50’s/early 60’s RCA 2N270 Germanium Transistor. The knobs were set up so they all pointed due south - albeit I had to adjust every single one as they weren’t 100’s in alignment (and it offended my OCD) - so many knobs have odd set-screws, and these are no exception - very good…

4 of a Kind - Superior Germanium and Silicon Transistor Switching 2-Stage Fuzzes

An adventure that started back in September of 2019 and culminated at this year’s July Brighton show! I was very lucky to snag one of the very last Austin Pride editions with the classic pairing of Germanium NTE103 and Silicon NTE123 Transistors. I acquired mine during the peak of Dan Querner’s ’Fabric Wrap Era’ with really colourful designs. Later models are much more single block colours than…

MXR reboots its 1970's Rack Unit Flanger/Doubler, now in reissued mid-size pedal enclosure format

I believe the original MXR Rack Unit Flanger/Doubler was first manufactured in 1976, and lasted most of that early period of MXR before its bankruptcy in 1984. Flanging and Doubling Effects occur at different Delay Times (Manual) - with Flanging normally around 1 to 20 milliseconds, and Doubling around 15 to 35 milliseconds. Thereafter you’re in Slapback territory! So the Doubler button switches…

My superb sounding Boss DS-1 Distortion with Twin Drive Mods has landed!

It turns out that I’m quite a fan of these Twin Drive Mod types - this is my second of that ilk after the Twin Drive OD-3. These are Japanese Mods made by more than one party, I’m not sure who did the very first one, and for us in Europe and the USA - mostly available via Ebay, but in very limited quantities. There are several marketplaces in Japan that carry these Mod types - including…

2 quirky and unique green circular enclosure superb sounding Mode-Switching Fuzzes - the Blue FX Devices Piluxx, and Talisman Audio GP7 Soviet Gas Mask Canister Fuzz

So I’ve reviewed both of these within the last fortnight - they were both picked up at the relatively recent Brighton Guitar Show, while I had ordered the Piluxx just a day or two after the Leeds Pedal Show which took place 3 months earlier! I always see things in terms of patterns, and the Piluxx was already in the bank as such - when I spotted the GP7 - and had to have that one too! Both of…

Wyatt Audio unleashes killer unique full-fat 7-Controls 2-Stage Hybrid Heiress Fuzz

Wyatt very evidently likes to do things differently, and this is about as different a Fuzz Face as you can get! Beautifully conceived and executed. It leans a little more into its wiry and searing Silicon side, but gives you the option of switching in a Germanium MP10B Transistor to warm things up slightly - if that’s more your thing. The 3 top knobs are your usual Fuzz Face style controls -…

Old Blood Noise Endeavors further enhances its Beam Splitter Triple Tracker Overdrive / Distortion, now in improved V2 Editions - Shadow, Cool and Warm

OBNE bills this as ’Further Adventures in Trereo’ - meaning Triphonic essentially - or having 3 outputs (one per Gain Section essentially). This is a really cool parallel multi-stacking gain machine - with added Dual Independent Delay Lines - which can be manipulated to deliver Flanging, Chorusing and Broken Vibrato too. This new V2 one is much more granular and dynamic - coming with 3…

Becos FX's CompIQ Pro Mini is a Mighty Blacmer VCA Studio Grade Compressor with Hard and Soft Knee Compression, Dynamic Fast and Slow Attack and Release, WET>DRY Mix, and Feed-Forward and Feed-Back Modes

So I finally complete my Becos FX CompIQ Pro Compressor Trifecta, which started with the Stella, was followed up by the Yuna, and is now fully rounded out by the most diminutive Mini Pro Edition in the range, there is an even simpler CompIQ Mini One - which is default Hard Knee, has just 4 controls - RATIO, Make-up GAIN, SENSE : Hi/Lo (THRESH), and WET > DRY Mix - alongside a number of…

JHS's NOTADÜMBLË V2 Dumble Drive + Box Later Boost is twice the fun!

I thought I should do a quick update on the recent V2 NOTADÜMBLË which landed a little over a week or two ago - I had other priority reviews to post first - but I though just a few notes on this one would be a worthy exercise. I passed up on the NOTAKLÖN - as I tend to favour more full-featured and expanded variants, while I did plump for the original NOTADÜMBLË. I loved the build process, and…

Keeley offers up limited 100 run high fidelity 12AT7WA pre-release Edition of its Tube Drive Twin Triode Dual Overdrive

This pedal has been long teased now - we’ve seen excerpts and snap shots of it for quite a few months, and Keeley have finally decided that the time is ripe for release, or at least a pre-release! It goes without saying that the limited 100 pre-release run sold out very quickly on the day of release - this past Friday the 7th of August. The actual general release takes place on September 1st -…