Bathroom Break Pedal Reviews

  Preface: Good day to all of you fuzz lovers out there! Over the course of the last 5+ years, I had the pleasure to test out a lot of drive pedals. This blog is supposed to help you find not only your sound, but also a device that is well built, nice looking and, ideally, affordable. And if you are not interested in owning the pedal, the post hopefully makes for a good read on bathroom break! 1. Optics and General Built Quality I´ll be as blunt as can be and wholeheartedly state that I don´t like the Mooer mini pedals, or almost all of them no matter the manufacturer, due to their mostly very simple visual designs and the fact that they tend to flop around on my desk when I try to use them as they are, without a pedalboard and such. On top of that, many of the affordable Chinese pedals use terrible plastic axes for the pots with the large knobs, rendering them susceptible to breakage. Furthermore, they mostly (One Control and Xotic for the win!) have no space for a battery...

  Preface: Good day to all of you fuzz lovers out there. Over the course of the last 5+ years, I had the pleasure to test out a lot of drive pedals. This blog is supposed to help you find not only your sound, but also a device that is well built, nice looking and, ideally, affordable. And if you are not interested in owning the pedal, the post hopefully makes for a good read on bathroom break! 1. Optics and General Built Quality It doesn't mean a lot when it comes to pure quality or tone itself, but I really like all Z.Vex pedals and especially the Vertical Series, due to their utilitarian nature in terms of pedalboard real estate. The pedals, albeit being team-made with a lot of care and quality control, still exhude a home-cooked and artsy vibe that makes me want to pick them up and play them. In terms of optics, the 2018 Limited Edition Instant LoFi Junky I have used in order to write this review, fits perfectly with the Z.Vex theme and is, on top of that, extremely rugge...

Preface: Good day to all of you fuzz lovers out there. Over the course of the last 5+ years, I had the pleasure to test out a lot of drive pedals. This blog is supposed to help you find not only your sound, but also a device that is well built, nice looking and, ideally, affordable. And if you are not interested in owning the pedal, the post hopefully makes for a good read on bathroom break! 1. Optics and General Built Quality As usual, starting with the most subjective of all aspects, I have to admit that I am on the fence when it comes to the Hammertone Fuzz. I dig weird and odd enclosures, however, the slightly rounded-down and chubby nature of the casing is not really to my personal liking and even though I wholeheartedly adore the purple witch hat knobs that they used, the color and font of the lettering on the bare-metal enclosure makes the pedal seem cheaper than it is. Don't get me wrong, it clocks in at a mere 65 Euros here in Central Europe new, thas has to be kept...

Preface: Good day to all of you fuzz lovers out there. Over the course of the last 5+ years, I had the pleasure to test out a lot of drive pedals. This blog is supposed to help you find not only your sound, but also a device that is well built, nice looking and, ideally, affordable. And if you are not interested in owning the pedal, the post hopefully makes for a good read on bathroom break! 1. Optics and General Built Quality As with absolutely every pedal on the market, this part is the most subjective of all. I personally like the bulky, old-school bent sheet metal enclosures EHX has used for what feels like hundreds of years, since we all know that bigger pedals sound better. Compared to the newer version of the Double Muff I reviewed more than three years ago, it does, thanks to the top-mounted output jacks, not even take up that much more space on the pedalboard. There are, due to the use of thin sheet metal by EHX, more disaster-proof pedals out there, but the construction ...

The Last (Standard) Fuzz You´ll Ever Need. Preface: Good day to all of you Fuzz lovers out there. Over the course of the last 3 years I had the pleasure to operate A LOT of drive pedals. This blog is supposed to help you find not only your sound, but also a device that is well built, nice looking and - ideally - affordable. 1.) Optics and General Built Quality Doesn't this piece of hardware look neat? The white metal housing with the cool and imaginative artwork on top of it hits it right home for me. Sex sells they say and I understand that this pedals visual message is a little bit chauvinistic, but I am a man. What can I do? The knobs on the other hand are not so much to my liking. For a $200+ (this pedal was mainly sold on the US market) they feel a bit rough around the edges and they look sort of cheap as well. What they can do however is make you visually and haptically feel what setting they're at, I'll give 'em this much. Both switches (the sm...

Setting a Standard   Preface: Good day to all of you Fuzz lovers out there. Over the course of the last 3 years I had the pleasure to operate A LOT of drive pedals. This blog is supposed to help you find not only your sound, but also a device that is well built, nice looking and - ideally - affordable. 1.) Optics and general Built Quality The modern take on the classic Double Muff circuit comes in your regular one-fx-slot-sized Nano housing, made out of some aluminium alloy, which is partly imprinted with a nice but very standard logo. Everything feels quite robust - from your firm and clicky on/off-switch to the outstandingly descriptive mini one. The two control knobs are also expressly declaring their function just as well. Plus, they have just the right resistance to them. In short: This does not feel like a €59 device at all on the outside! Now let's see what's inside - gutshot time: Well, what did you expect at this price point? Hand-solderi...