gear giveaway

Distortion Pedals

New Pedal: Mu-FX Boostron 3

A power trio of pedals, the Boostron 3 from Mu-FX (owned by west coast designer Mike Beigel, founder of stompbox pioneer Mu-Tron) totes three classic circuit designs in a compact, pedalboard-friendly housing. This versatile standalone pedal includes circuits emulating the Alembic Stratoblaster clean boost (here named "Blaster"), the Dan Armstrong Squeezer compressor (here called "Squeezer"), and the…Click on the title for more

New Pedal: Mu-FX Boostron 3

The WrightSounds Fuzz-Stang comes to Brooklyn

The '70s were prime-time for deliciously dirty fuzz tones, and the Sam Ash Fuzz-Stainer - a pedal that harkens back to a time when the music retail giant was cranking out their own brand of effects - delivered delirious levels of fuzzy goodness. For most pedal connoisseurs and fuzz-lovers alike,…Click on the title for more

The WrightSounds Fuzz-Stang comes to Brooklyn

Seminal, vintage pedals: the Seamoon Fresh Fuzz – by Tones Machines

It’s 1973 in Berkeley, California, and a young electrical wizard named Craig Anderton has just developed his take on the envelope filter. He calls it the “Funk Machine”, and together with John Lang, starts an innovative and experimental guitar effects brand, Seamoon Inc. Hand-building each individual unit, they launch their…Click on the title for more

Seminal, vintage pedals: the Seamoon Fresh Fuzz – by Tones Machines

AJ Peat Pedals’ Screaming Flamingo and Dirty Buzzard

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AJ Peat Pedals’ Screaming Flamingo and Dirty Buzzard

SNAMM 2016 Stompbox Exhibit: Amptweaker introduces the FatMetal Pro

Amptweaker’s James Brown - whose self-described specialty is not necessarily in the wild ideas but rather in the tweaking of ideas - is becoming one of the most nuanced pedal manufacturers for high gain distortion and we are proud to have him at our Summer NAMM booth next week. Built on…Click on the title for more

SNAMM 2016 Stompbox Exhibit: Amptweaker introduces the FatMetal Pro

Lone Wolf FX at Summer NAMM’s Stompbox Exhibit

We met Joe Anastasio from Lone Wolf FX in Austin back in 2012 when we organized our very first Austin Stompbox Exhibit - at the time he was part of a now defunct manufacturer called Enormous Door FX). To be fair, he never struck us as the most organized of people (you can gather…Click on the title for more

Lone Wolf FX at Summer NAMM’s Stompbox Exhibit

Distortion board at the Bklyn Stompbox Exhibit

Here are the pedals hosted in our Distortion Mixed boards, part of the Brooklyn Stompbox Exhibit at Williamsburg's Main Drag Music. There will be a few hundred pedals for guitarists to try, do not miss!Click on the title for more

Distortion board at the Bklyn Stompbox Exhibit

Matthews Effects’ Conductor and Cartographer

In an industry overflowing with boutique pedal manufacturers, Matthews Effects has delivered two very interesting products with with their Conductor Tremolo and Cartographer parametric overdrive pedal. The Cartographer is capable of delivering everything one could want in an overdrive pedal – clean boost with the gain down and tube amp-like…Click on the title for more

Matthews Effects’ Conductor and Cartographer

New Pedal makers: McCaffrey Audio

Wisconsin' s McCaffrey Audio may sound like a new name in the world of guitar pedals, but the company's CEO and founder Ryan McCaffrey is not a novice to the manufacturing game, having been running RJM Effect before starting this new adventure in 2014. The company's goal is to create…Click on the title for more

New Pedal makers: McCaffrey Audio

JHS Twin Twelve Channel Drive

The smooth buzzsaw. The cloak of delicious grit surrounding a perfectly balanced warmth. The 1963 Silvertone 1484 Twin Twelve is a classic pawnshop amp now rare and coveted. A favorite of many, including Beck and Jack White, this amp's unique tonal qualities are now accessible at a reasonable sum (and…Click on the title for more

JHS Twin Twelve Channel Drive

DOD Boneshaker Distortion by Black Arts Toneworks

There's a new tendency in the pedal manufacturing world we really dig and encourage: we are referring to mainstream companies like Dunlop and DigiTech assigning some of their pedal designs to "emerging" boutique manufacturers. One of the new products of this kind of interaction is the DOD Boneshaker distortion, which…Click on the title for more

DOD Boneshaker Distortion by Black Arts Toneworks

Pedal Reviews: Amzel Electronics’ Cheshire Cat Tone Evaporator

Now here’s a clever pedal that was a blast to demo. Frankly, the Amzel Cheshire Cat Tone Evaporator is just a great idea in terms of a new way to think about distortion. To visualize how this pedal works, start off by imagining a traditional sound wave as a starting…Click on the title for more

Pedal Reviews: Amzel Electronics’ Cheshire Cat Tone Evaporator