gear giveaway

Guitar Pedals

SubDecay Octave Theory Octave Modulator / Synthesizer

Portland Oregon's Subdecay was one of the first boutique manufacturers to predate the "synthification" of guitar pedals in the beginning of the decade with models like the Octasynth and the Promotheus DLX filter. After a few years spent on focusing on more "normal" effects (although always approached in very personal ways),…Click on the title for more

SubDecay Octave Theory Octave Modulator / Synthesizer

Orange Getaway Driver Overdrive

Known for their guitar amps (very dear to early Oasis, among others), UK manufacturer Orange has entered the stompbox market a few years ago and keeps churning out new gain pedals on a regular basis. The latest one is the Getaway Driver, an amp-in-a box kind of pedal with 18v of headroom and cab sim output.…Click on the title for more

Orange Getaway Driver Overdrive

JHS Pedals’ VCR becomes the Space Commander

The VCR, now retired (but keep reading...), was a collaboration between JHS and North Carolina's alt-country star Ryan Adams. Its name was an acronym for Volume, Chorus, Reverb and it was said to be inspired by the tones of The Smiths, The Cure, and other angsty bands of the '80s - which is…Click on the title for more

JHS Pedals’ VCR becomes the Space Commander

Lounsberry Tall Fat & Wide Stereo Boost and Drive

The Lounsberry Tall Fat and Wide is a stereo boost pedal based on a FET design. It is not just designed for guitar players, integrating very well in a keyboard, organ, or bass guitar setup. There are only two controls with Fat setting the amount of drive, while Tall sets…Click on the title for more

Lounsberry Tall Fat & Wide Stereo Boost and Drive

Mastro Valvola Area Multi Reverb

It turns out Italian "tube master" Mastro Valvola (that's what the company's name means) excels also at designs lacking tubes, like the Area Reverb, a digital reverb featuring 4 mono reverb flavors: Reverb (Room, Plate, or Hall), Mod (chorus with reverb), Shimmer 8th (2 octaves higher) and Shimmer 8th/5th (higher…Click on the title for more

Mastro Valvola Area Multi Reverb

OVNIFX Smoothie Opto Compressor

Portland is a hotbed of pedal manufacturers and OVNIFX is certainly not the most well known in the list. Notwithstanding, the company's only creation, called Smoothie Opto Compressor, has built a very good reputation for itself. This is a transparent, "in-depth" kind of optical reverb with a couple of interesting twists.…Click on the title for more

OVNIFX Smoothie Opto Compressor

SolidGoldFX Athena Vibra-Phase

Montreal SolidGoldFX's fascination for Greek mythology is getting deeper with the release of the Athena Vibrophase - Athena being the daughter of Apollo, the god of Sun in ancient Greece and flagship phaser in SolidGoldFX's world. Athena was a kewl lady actually, goddess of war and wisdom but also handcraft, some…Click on the title for more

SolidGoldFX Athena Vibra-Phase

D-Sound Sunny Distortion

The Sunny Distortion is a one knob distortion (volume, the gain is set at full blast) based on the sound of the Sunn Model T amp, manufacturers by Russian company D-Sound. Here's the video by Shnobel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubfKfCz4aqc This is a distortion pedal, based on Sunn Model T sound. Great way to get…Click on the title for more

D-Sound Sunny Distortion

The Mixed Synth Board at the 2019 Austin Stompbox Exhibit

There was a lot of attention for this board at last week's Austin Stompbox Exhibit, so we thought we'd create an interactive gallery for it, check it out!Click on the title for more

The Mixed Synth Board at the 2019 Austin Stompbox Exhibit

Walrus Audio Monument V2 Harmonic Tap Tremolo

Walrus Audio just released version 2 of the Monument Harmonic Tap Tremolo, which fits the same circuit of the original in an enclosure roughly half the size. Besides the reorganization of the controls' layout, other new features are the momentary speed ramping function triggered by the bypass switch when it's…Click on the title for more

Walrus Audio Monument V2 Harmonic Tap Tremolo

NEO Instruments Drive In Overdrive

Mike Hermans took a shot at the NEO Instruments Drive In Overdrive in the video below, a rich and nuanced medium gain drive for blues and rock players. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3Di1vXxHFc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsaUWsHY3b4 With the advent of the drive in restaurant, the sounds that a guitar could produce changed radically too. They became…Click on the title for more

NEO Instruments Drive In Overdrive

Daredevil Bootleg Dirty Delay

The Daredevil Bootleg is analog, self-oscillation prone delay designed to give classic tones that sound similar to vintage tape machines, increasingly more lo-fi and dirty when driven at intense or longer settings. The Dirt section of the circuit adds gain to the repeats. The decay will become brighter as it tails…Click on the title for more

Daredevil Bootleg Dirty Delay