gear giveaway

Mooer Hustle Drive

Mooer’s Hustle Drive distortion pedal ($88), packs a surprising amount of versatility into a very small package. Though the Hustle Drive’s footprint is not much bigger than a couple of packs of chewing gum, you’ll find mini-knobs for volume and tone, plus a two-way switch for choosing high-peak or low-peak distortion characteristics, basically…... Click for more

Mooer Hustle Drive

Pedal Review: VFE Blues King

For irredeemable tone tweakers, this “low-gain” distortion pedal (it actually has plenty on tap) VFE’s Blues King (street $144) is a Pandora’s box of grind. Built by hand by a small family business out of Pennsylvania, the Blues King has “Buy American” credibility right off the bat. Couple that with…... Click for more

Pedal Review: VFE Blues King

Pedal Review: Pigtronix Fat Drive

In a world where you can’t swing a guitar without knocking 10 Tubescreamer clones off the shelf, new entrants to the oversaturated overdrive market had better have something new to say. Pigtronix’s new Fat Drive (street $140) accomplishes this by exploiting what some might perceive as a weakness in Fender-style…... Click for more

Pedal Review: Pigtronix Fat Drive

Pedal News: Mad Professor’s Golden Cello

Pedal and amp manufacturer Mad Professor recently created a new guitar pedal to be sold exclusively through Guitar Center and its subsidiary, Musician’s Friend. Available later this month for $199, the Golden Cello is an Overdrive/Fuzz with a Delay circuit, designed to give you that classic late 70’s/early 80’s lead…... Click for more

Pedal News: Mad Professor’s Golden Cello

Review: Way Huge Red Llama MkII

Way Huge’s Red Llama MkII is a simple pedal that does one thing awesomely well: highly musical overdrive/distortion. While the name implies a redesign, it’s more of a second coming. The Red Llama (street $120) is a reissue of what became a highly sought-after pedal after it disappeared in 1999,…... Click for more

Review: Way Huge Red Llama MkII

DIY Pedal Review: Mod Kits DIY Persuader

The Persuader from MOD Kits DIY (available at modkitsdiy.com for about $65) is a U-build-it, starved plate, 12ax7 distortion box kit. It arrives as a collection of parts to be assembled into a powder-coated purple, pre-drilled Hammond-style cast-aluminum box. A 16 page assembly manual identifies all the included components, and…... Click for more

DIY Pedal Review: Mod Kits DIY Persuader

Pedal Review: T-Rex HOBO Drive

The T-Rex HOBO DRIVE is one of the best sounding, most flexible distortion pedals I’ve ever come across. That said, calling this pedal a distortion pedal is a little misleading; it’s less a distortion pedal, and more of a preamp. Manufactured in Denmark and assembled in Taiwan, the HOBO DRIVE (yes,…... Click for more

Pedal Review: T-Rex HOBO Drive

Emma Electronics Reezafratzitz – Pedal Review

If the crazily named Reezafratzitz distortion pedal from Denmark’s Emma Electronics (street $245) has a dual personality, both of them are nasty. But for lovers of saturated distortion, the pedal’s double-trouble approach to fuzzing up sound waves offers musical, usable tones. The magic in the box is the Reezafratzitz’s “Bias”…... Click for more

Emma Electronics Reezafratzitz – Pedal Review

Video Review: Gig-FX VOD

Our friends at Vertigo Venus shot this video review of the Gig-FX VOD (3 stage variable overdrive), which was also showcased at our very own Stomp Box Exhibit at CMJ in Manhattan last October. Enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vbl28S972EE... Click for more

Video Review: Gig-FX VOD

Review: T-Rex Yellow Drive

New from T-Rex Engineering, the Yellow Drive is a dual channel overdrive that covers a lot of territory. Both channels A and B are equipped with their own set of volume, gain and tone controls, and are voiced differently to access a wider range of tonal options. An A/B Select foot…... Click for more

Review: T-Rex Yellow Drive

TC Electronic MojoMojo Review

A few months ago, I had the pleasure of reviewing TC’s TonePrint line. Since then I kept thinking to myself... I really wish there were an easy go-to distortion that featured the same quality and no-brainerness. The TC tone gods have answered my prayers! Usually anything that claims to have…... Click for more

TC Electronic MojoMojo Review

Maxon RTO700 Review

This summer, Maxon released the latest in a line of great overdrive pedals, the RTO700. The “RTO” stands for real tube overdrive, and indeed houses a tiny dual triode preamp tube instead of the usual clipping diode. Maxon certainly isn’t the first manufacturer to use real tubes in its overdrive…... Click for more

Maxon RTO700 Review