Many, many moons ago, when we were first getting started here at Pedal of the Day, one of the first companies that took a chance on us and helped us get going was Vaux Flores, a small company from Baltimore, Maryland, who continue to create some super-unique pedals at super-affordable prices (check out their Gold Standard Fuzz we reviewed). Today we look at the Pejibaye Overdrive, a simple but powerful pedal that unleashes beautiful,...
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Today’s guest review comes to us from Sean G. – find him on Instagram (@TheNoiseReel), Twitter (@TheNoiseReel) and Facebook (The Noise Reel).Sometimes I find myself not wanting to share a special piece of gear that I use only because it feels like I found something so in tune with what I hear in my head that it would somehow become less special. Like the more people that know about this the less special it somehow becomes....
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The enclosures that Classic Audio Effects are known for are some of the coolest around, and we’re super-stoked to be bringing you guys our review of their new gem, the Stumphouse Drive. This inventive brown stompbox defies all pedal building logic, and introduces a rad new way to adjust the gain in your drive, building on the technology they started with their popular line of Volume Roller pedals. A new innovation to add to your...
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Tube Screamers are one of the most popular effects pedal models of all time, whether you dig ’em or not. There have been many, many recreations of these fine machines as well, some with excellent tones that nearly match the originals, some that don’t get as close or fall a bit short in overall sound. Today’s pedal absolutely falls into the former category, in the fine tradition of well-defined craftsmanship and tone...
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For those of you who don’t already know, we’re crazy Star Wars fans here at Pedal of the Day, so when the chance arose to check out a pedal with an semi-iconic robot plastered on its enclosure, we knew we’d be in for a treat, regardless of how it sounded. Fortunately, it didn’t disappoint in the sonic category, either, making it a definite Win-Win for us, and really for anyone who plays this pedal, if they like...
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Today’s featured pedal is yet another overdrive in a long line that we’ve reviewed, but this one has a couple of secrets up its sleeve for some great tonal functionality. The Smooth Driver is the first offering from Burnt Audio Effects, and is an excellent first stage pedal to really push your amp and add some much-needed crunch to your overall sound. With a simple setup and broad range, this baby blue beauty really get...
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The third pedal in the current lineup of Cathouse Pedals that we get the pleasure to check out today is a complex and option-filled distortion/overdrive. The Screamer will keep you on your toes as you attempt to figure out just what it is, and how it can benefit you sound. Relatively simple but full of flavor and oomph, this thing comes at you like a ton a rock and roll bricks. Gain, Tone and Volume all show up on the control panel,...
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Today’s guest review comes to us from Daniel N. – find him on Instagram (@danielguitarist) and say hi! The .45 Caliber by J.Rockett Audio Designs is one beast of an OD pedal. It is based on a 1962 plexus and strives to get that AC/DC sound (Malcom and Angus). It does that sound very well and also has many other tones that are extremely useful. It can be a great low gain pedal, perfect for neck pickups. It can just easily...
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The band Mastodon has been one of our favorites for years, so we were super-stoked to check out a signature pedal from their bass player, Troy Sanders. Working with the crew from Wren and Cuff, the Elephant Skin Distortion was born, and havoc was unleashed on metal fans everywhere. Featuring a well-known Wren and Cuff pedal on one side and a boost on the other, this is one piece of gear that’s sure to find it’s way onto...
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We love it when a pedal works equally for both guitar and bass, and today’s pedal is exactly one of those rare beasts. The El Oso Bass Distortion from Heavy Electronics adds some great dirt and crunch to both instruments, but somehow manages to walk the fine line between the two without overpowering either one. This doesn’t happen very often in the pedal world, and we’re excited to see what it can do for us. Aside...
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It’s always a welcome sight when a box wrapped in clear Walrus Audio tape shows up on our doorstep, and their latest offering is one for the ages. The 385 Overdrive is actually based off of an old film projector (huh?), giving it a unique sonic flavor and tone. How they replicated this circuit remains a mystery, but we sure had fun putting it through the ringer to see what it could do. Apparently, using tube-powered audio...
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3-In-1 effects pedals usually require, well, 3 switches, a huge enclosure and a control panel that rivals something at a NASA launch site. Today’s pedal brings the versatility of 3 pedals to one super-small enclosure, providing a bunch of tones all with a user-friendly mindset. The Bipolar from PFX is a Buffer, Boost and Overdrive all rolled into one – curious yet? The Bipolar features just three control knobs, but they...
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Robert Keeley and the folks he employs just keep releasing more and more dynamite pedals, and we’re going to take a look at another one of them today. Considered rather normal by the standards of most of the Keeley effects we’ve reviewed recently, the Oxblood Overdrive takes on the world of mystical creatures, powerful tone enhancers and ridiculous pedal price tags all at once. Sort of their answer to the gold and silver...
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A while back, we reviewed a couple of pedals from the Big Joe Stomp Box Company, the B-304 Analog Delay and the B-309 Texas Screamer, and were impressed by both. This time around, Big Joe has sent us a unique 2-In-1 pedal, with more options and features than most dual pedals we have come across, and with a tone of tones and sounds. The B-502 Empire is a dual-preamp overdrive, complete with an adjustable buffer, independent but...
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Today’s featured pedal come to us from a special place: Boone, NC, where we lived for seven years before venturing out West to our now-home in Boise. Our pal Brian is holding down the fort in our small mountain town for us, though, continuing to create some excellent musical gear as Keisman Pedals has been since 2011 in the High Country. Today’s particular gem is a boost/overdrive combo, with tons of tones on tap to enjoy...
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The crew at Westminster Effects in South Carolina has slowly crept onto the pedal scene, and has amassed a nice little lineup of pedals, of few of which we’ve gotten to review. Their first effects we got our hands on was the Piper Drive, a great little overdrive/boost, and today’s featured pedal expands on that model a bit, with some more options and tones to play with. Let’s take a look at the Edwards Overdrive,...
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A few weeks ago, we got to review one of the coolest and most effective rehouse pedal projects we’ve ever come across: the DD-20 Rehouse by Chesapeake Effects. As it turns out, they not only do rad rehousings, but they make a pretty mean overdrive pedal as well. Let’s check out the Flagship Overdrive, shall we? Based around the popular Marshall Blues Breaker circuit, the Flagship adds in a couple key elements to make it...
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We recently reviewed an excellent overdrive pedal from our friends to the north, Canadian-based Ground Control Audio. They’re back at it again, this time with their newly released “discrete distortion”, the Locust. Pushing silicon amplification into loud and sluggish distortion territory, this pea green monster has a lot of power, and will put a smile on your amp’s face as soon as you plug it in. Volume, Gain...
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Years and years ago, I bought a fuzz from a new company called Wren and Cuff: it was green, with a single silver stripe down the front, and is to this day one of the favorite fuzz pedals I’ve ever owned. Sadly, I had to sell it many moons ago to help pay rent, and have regretted it ever since. Fortunately, I’m now in a position to have befriended the owner of said pedal company, and he decided it would be a good idea to...
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Right off the bat with today’s featured pedal, there’s something very unique. While most pedal enclosures feature some kind of graphics or etching or something along those lines, the Scenic Drive from Square Amps is completely see-through, letting us all see the insides for all their glory (well, at least to those who can understand what’s going on in there, which definitely leaves us out of the loop). Not to mention...
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2-In-1 effects pedals are always an adventure, and today’s featured pedal takes us on yet another glorious sonic journey. Having previously reviewed the Battering Ram from Wounded Paw Effects, another 2-In-1, we were pretty stoked to be able to check out another one of their marvelous creations. The Echo Drive is a delay and reverb pedal, with additional overdrive on just the delay signal. Basically, your original tone still...
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Today’s guest review comes to us from Sean G. – find him on Instagram (@TheNoiseReel), Twitter (@TheNoiseReel) and Facebook (The Noise Reel). It’s bright or it’s dark. The name makes me think of mint cotton candy at a circus. So I wanted to make a demo in a fast, chromatic circus fashion. Do you know how hard it is to find elephants in midtown Manhattan? Simple controls for a low to medium gain in the Mint...
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Today’s guest review comes to us from Max F. – find him on SoundCloud (@MaxFaith)! The Boss DS-1 is a classic circuit that most of us are familiar with. Players have been modifying the little orange boxes for years and the amount of modifications and spinoffs are too numerous to mention. Despite the variety of DS-1 circuit configurations, most specimens seem to impart the same familiar gain-structure that originally made the pedal a...
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Classic pedals are classic pedals, no bones about it. However, in today’s world of klones and circuit-borrowing and all the rest, there are a lot of great pedals “based” on vintage units from the past, that tend to offer similar tones as well as modern upgrades that actually improve on the original. Today’s featured piece of gear comes to us from a fairly unknown company, but the Rat Fink Distortion from...
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Ever since I first the opening notes of ‘Battery’ off of Metallica’s 1986’s masterpiece album ‘Master of Puppets’ as a youngster, I’ve been a fan of Kirk Hammett’s playing. Today’s pedal is not only a pretty kickass overdrive, but it comes to us from Kirk’s new pedal company, KHDK Electronics, making it just a bit more special coming from one of my idols. The Ghoul Screamer...
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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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Today’s guest review comes to us from Max F. – find him on SoundCloud (@MaxFaith)! Darkglass Electronics’ products are quickly becoming the hottest way to sculpt tone in the bass world. The Finnish company makes some of the most musical bass preamps, distortions, and amps on the market right now. Today’s pedal is the Darkglass Microtubes B3K Bass Overdrive. The B3K Overdrive has simple and intuitive controls for sculpting a wide...
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Today’s little piece of overdriven glory comes to us from a long ways away – Voronezh, Russia, to be exact. The crew at Blacksoil FX sent their first creation across the pond for us to check out, and what arrived was the excellent Alpha Centauri Overdrive. This little silver bad boy is based on the legendary Klon schematic, so the controls are a cinch to understand, but there’s also an added bonus feature to mix...
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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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Today’s guest review comes to us from Harrison L. – find him on Instagram (@Harrison_xx), Twitter (@Harrison_Caesar), Facebook (HarrisonCaesar) or his band’s website (The Baxter Loop)! The TC Electronic Dark Matter distortion pedal is an OUTSTANDING distortion and drive pedal. With it’s sleek black finish and variable controls over Gain, Level, Bass AND Treble, not to mention a ‘Voice’ switch to...
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New pedal companies always bring a smile to our face, as we can’t wait to see what exciting features, designs and sounds creative minds at work will produce. Sometimes we have to wait a while for said pedals to arrive, especially when they’re traveling all the way from Europe, but in most cases, it’s worth the wait, and today’s pedal is no exception. The Distortion General from Orion Effekte is a simple but...
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We’d been seeing the name Providence floating around the forums and gear pages, but until now hadn’t had the opportunity to test one out and see for ourselves what the hype was all about. Luckily, our good buddy Sean Williamson, who we interviewed a few weeks ago, is a Providence artist, and set up talks between the two of us to get some reviews rolling. Our first foray into their world is the mighty Heat Blaster HBL-4...
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After reviewing the new Mu-FX Mu-Tron 3X a little bit ago, we were blown away by what Mike Beigel and Co. have done with their new lineup, and couldn’t wait for more. One day, a magical box arrived at our doorstep, and what lay inside was an incredible 3-In-1 pedal that gives new meaning to an “always on” pedal: the Boostron 3 Boost Compressor Distortion box from Mike and Mu-FX. The Boostron 3 is based on three...
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We’re taking next week off to get settled into our new office space, so we have a rare Saturday review for you to tide you over for a bit. Today’s featured pedal comes to us from Ninevolt Pedals, a company from Japan who we are featuring throughout the next few months, and will be reviewing their entire lineup of pedals. This little black beauty is the I Was A Wolf In The Forest Distortion, and while the pedal is great in...
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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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Today, we’ve got yet another powerhouse pedal from our friend Jorge Tripps and Way Huge Electronics to throw at you. The Saucy Box Overdrive is a downright simple pedal, but with a wide range of sounds available and an excellent clean boost, this Klon-esque gem will make you rethink your whole gain section. Three controls for an overdrive pedal: nothing new or ground-breaking here, featuring Volume, Tone and Drive knobs. The...
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Continuing our streak of evaluations from the great pedal lineup over at Celestial Effects, today’s featured gem is a big green monster in a little green box. The Taurus Blues Overdrive features some unique controls and excellent overdrive tones, giving you all the blues sounds you can handle in one well-sized and expertly-priced package. Volume, Tone and Gain start off the controls, and will give a nice mix of boost, low-gain...
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Today’s guest review comes to us from Sean G. – find him on Instagram (@TheNoiseReel), Twitter (@TheNoiseReel) and Facebook (The Noise Reel). The Third Rail is a dual overdrive with multiple switching modes. Both sides have clipping options via a toggle for Schottky Diodes, Standard Silicon Diodes, or no diodes. Volume, Gain, and Tone available on both sides. The right channel features a low cut toggle while the left side...
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A couple weeks ago, we reviewed a pedal like none we had seen before, the S-AMP Cabinet Simulator/Headphone Amp from Nunomo LLC. Today, we’ve got their next adventurous piece of gear for you to check out, and it’s defying all logic and traditional overdrive building as well. With a new set of controls to dial in some excellent overdrive tones, let’s check out the new and exciting Limbo Overdrive, k? While most...
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A while back, we reviewed a pedal from a company whose pedal designs are as unique as the graphics on their enclosures – that pedal was the Blinding VOIP! Boost from Jellyfish Electronics. Today, we’re going to take a look at one of their overdrives, the Girthquake (great names, don’t you think?) and see what it has in store for us! The control section of the Girthquake features your basic overdrive controls: Volume,...
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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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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 Tube Screamer is probably the most famous pedal of all time and it has its spot on pedalboards of players from all over the world. The pedal itself is built like a tank. The all metal construction makes a very solid stompbox and you’ll feel like you could gig...
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After hearing so much about and seeing the Caveman Overdrive all over the place over the last year, we were super-excited when the guys from Oddfellow Effects said they wanted to send us their newest pedal, The Bishop Overdrive, to check out and review. While the Caveman is a dual-channel drive, The Bishop is a more basic, stripped-down overdrive, but with a ton of punch and kick to get your amp sounding incredible. We’ve got...
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We review a lot of pedals around here, as you may have noticed, and a lot of them have quite a learning curve to figure out all the ins-and-outs, how they work, what they’re capable of, and how to use them to fit a particular style of music. Today’s pedal is pretty much the EXACT OPPOSITE of that: a one-knob gem that has one function and does it brilliantly, with no fuss, no muss and just some straight-up great tones to...
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Sometimes, pedals are labeled as one type of effect, when they maybe should have been labeled differently, with a title that suits what they do better. The PDF-1 from Stone Deaf FX is labeled as a distortion, but it really is so much more than just that. Dabbling in boost, overdrive, distortion and all-around sweet tone-shaper, today’s featured pedal is a true jack-of-all-trades in the effects department. Loosely based on the...
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If you’ve been to a concert, read a guitar magazine or had a jam session with anyone, there’s a good chance you’ve seen today’s featured pedal in one form or another. The DS-1 Distortion from Boss is one of the pedals that really made Boss famous, and has been used on more records and tours than any of us could ever count. Today’s model is a “vintage” one from the 80’s or 90’s,...
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The resurgence of Way Huge Electronics via Jim Dunlop over the last few years has been a treat for the effects-using world, and we’ve had the pleasure of checking out a bunch of these rad pedals (with more reviews to come!). Today’s reddish-pink enclosure brings us the Red Llama™, the first of the original Way Huge pedals, and one that is highly coveted for it’s great tone and response. Two knobs, one goal: to rock...
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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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With yet another 2-in-1 pedal review coming at’cha today, we’ve been fortunate to be able to check out some great multiple-use pedals recently, and today’s featured bit of gear keeps the hits coming. While the Overdrive/Boost combo isn’t too uncommon, there aren’t many with both the simplicity and options of today’s gem. Combining two already fantastic pedals from PB&J Pedals into one, the...
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Combining 2 pedals into one is always a fun and semi-rare treat, but when it combines 2 effects from completely different genres, that’s where the magic happens. Today’s featured pedal, the Science Friction Interplanetary Delay Drive mixes the grit of overdrive with the echoes of delay, in a most creative way, we might add. Not your normal pedal, or even your normal 2-in-1, this thing will really get the creative juices...
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