I had always thought that MI Audio Tube Zone was a high-gain distortion pedal. And it is. But then one day I learned that the Gain knob has a special taper, that allows you to finely tune in on its low-gain range. Intrigued — does that mean this pedal is an attempt at do-all? So…
I’ve been plenty surprised to find an overdrive/distortion pedals that didn’t sound remotely to my liking on demo videos but yet in-person, I immediately get hooked on them. For the case of Alairex HALO (H.A.L.O. = Hamonic Amp-Like Overdrive) it was the designer/founder Alex Auilar’s demo videos that made me go “I gotta get my…
I’ve been looking at Kingsley’s line of pedals as a possible pinnacle of overdrive pedals, mainly because of the amazing demo videos that the builder of Kingsley amps/pedals himself, Simon Jarrett, put out. I could tell from the videos that their pedals had supreme feel and broad range. Of his various offerings, Minstrel seems to…
Now, this is a pedal I’ve been curious about for years — there are a number of clips on YouTube but the astonishing thing is, they all sound wildly different from each other! As if they are playing completely different pedals. Both beautifully warm low-gain tone and fizzy, bashing hard rock tone have been sighted.…
If you’re into shredding on guitar, who isn’t fascinated by Tom Quayle? I am — I’m not remotely into jazz/fusion but his legato style seems so effortless, just note pouring out like water from a waterfall. And his tone is smooth yet fast and articulate. So when Wampler came out with his signature pedal, I was…
I’ve been wanting to check this pedal out for a while, as some of the clips I’ve seen indicated this saturated, mid-heavy high-gain tone that I was attracted to. This is my first Wampler pedal to try and it certainly didn’t disappoint. While this pedal is discontinued, Wampler recently announced release of Ace Thirty and if…
All right, I’m a sucker for rarity. As a musician in pursuit of uniqueness, I always get tempted into checking out rare and unique gear — of course, the underlying desire is to find that elusive piece that helps you define your unusual, personal sound. From Ty Tabor’s Strat Elite to Brian May’s Red Special…
Being a single-coil player, I always find it more comfortable to have at least slight compression on when I perform in public. Otherwise my picking technique’s flaws show up — and more importantly, I’d be self-conscious of my picking and will be timid in my playing. Buying an affordable Boss pedal and modding it seemed…
$100 doesn’t get you far in boutique guitar pedals usually. So when I first learned about VHT V-Drive, I was intrigued — here’s a smaller, more “boutique” brand with an overdrive pedal in $100 range. I realize that VHT isn’t quite a household name in pedals, and in fact, I was under the impression that…