NAMM 2018: JSH Andy Timmons V2

The Andy Timmons pedal from JHS has been a huge success for JHS. Guitarist have loved the original so much that JHS has come back with a version 2. So how the guys at JHS have found a way to squeeze a boost into their compact pedal. The boost is selectable via an addition footswitch. If you are a fan of the original, then you might dig applying the AT just the way Andy does. With a specially designed and tuned boost, you can boost it just like Mr. Timmons too.

More Info From JHS:


In 2016 we brought you the AT, Andy Timmons artist signature pedal and we're really proud to bring you the next iteration of this phenomenal stomp box, The AT+.
The JHS Pedals AT is Andy Timmons signature overdrive pedal that gives Andy his unmistakable lead and rhythm tone. Upon purchasing a JHS Angry Charlie in 2013, Andy began using it as his primary tone and soon after got in touch with Josh Scott about modifying it for his needs. Through going back and forth and tailoring it to Andy’s tastes, the “@“ was born and eventually released into production in 2016. This pedal gives you all the soaring overdrive and distortion that you hear from Andy with plenty of options to craft your tone with your rig.  So pay ATtention and we’ll see what makes the AT rock.


Does the AT+ sound the same as the original AT?


Yes!  The drive channel of the AT+ is identical to our original AT pedal.  No changes were made whatsoever and the controls remain the same.   They include Volume, EQ, Drive, Air, and a three-way toggle for 25-watt, 50-watt, or 100-watt modes. The Volume gives you plenty of headroom to play with, while the Drive control has a wide range from high gain blues to thunderous distortion. The tone controls work together to give you the ability to shape your tone and sit perfectly in a mix. The EQ works as a standard bright/dark tone control, while the Air control rolls in top end like a presence control so you can have just the right amount of brightness for articulation and clarity. The three-way toggle gives you the feel of different wattage amplifiers. The up position is the 25-watt setting with the most compression and saturation with the least amount of volume. The down position is the 50-watt setting for a good balance of compression and openness. The middle position is the 100-watt position for tons of volume and open crunch while being less focused.


Two channels are better than one!  


New to the AT+ is an independent foot-switchable Boost...essentially creating a second channel and gain stage for the pedal.  The boost side of the AT+ is a slightly dirty and overdriven pre-boost that allows you to hit the front end of the AT drive channel and achieve more saturation and definition for applications where you need more.  Since the Boost is independent, it can be used alone to drive your amp or other drive pedals in conjunction with the AT+ drive channel.


This pedal requires standard 9V DC Negative power, consumes less than 100mA, and measures 2.2"x4.8"x1.6".


You can safely run “The AT“ at 18 or 9 volts.

NAMM 2018: Fender Santa Ana Overdrive Pedal

The Santa Ana Distortion from Fender is bold offering. In fact, all of the pedal in their new range at NAMM 2018 are surprising. In the past, Fender have played it safe when dealing with effects. Most recently they've produced pedals that resembled far east micro-clones of three knobbed overdrive, distortion and the like. But it looks like they are ready to blaze a new path. The Santa Ana features a brushed aluminum body and a full range of features. I'd say that Fender has a winner on its hands, but I'd need to hear a better demonstration than the NAMM Show floor can provide.

More Information:

Santa Ana - Sounds Like Santana?

The Fender Santa Ana Overdrive pedal is a dynamic and nuanced overdrive effect that is perfect for generating the types of tones associated with the guitarist from which this pedal (most likely) gets its name - Santana.
The Santa Ana is designed to be an open sounding and dynamic pedal that can achieve a wide range of overdrive flavors, from edge-of-breakup tones through to thick, rich and sustaining lead sounds. It responds very well to your playing dynamics, and will clean up simply by rolling down the volume control on your guitar.
For blues and rock players who like an amp-like response, this pedal will give the balanced range of dynamics that you require, and help to bring out every nuance in your playing.

Multiple Controls

The Santa Ana pedal has a 3-band EQ and presence control to shape your sound. It also dual independent voices for different flavors of overdrive.
A boost switch is a handy addition to the Santa Ana that lets you set up your core tone with the pedal, and then engage the boost effect to push your sound even further into saturation. This effectively gives the Santa Ana two separate tones making it a very versatile pedal.

Professional Features

The Santa Ana has a rugged and lightweight aluminum chassis with a brushed metal finish. This gives it both read-ready durability and a classy-aesthetic that can take pride-of-place on your pedalboard. The pedal is built by Fender who have a multitude of experience in amplifier design and you can be sure that this pedal will last a lifetime of gigging, rehearsing and recording.

Magnetic Battery Door & Jewel Light

The jewel LED light not only looks great, it also adds a handy on-stage visual indicator of the pedal's operation. The pedal has a clever battery compartment door; it has a magnetic latch which means you can easily change the battery with no fiddly screws to worry about.
This is a thoroughly professional pedal - both in tone and appearance - and would make a welcome addition to your pedalboard.

Features

• Rich and open overdrive with great pick dynamics and nuance
• 3-band EQ plus presence control for maximum tonal shaping
• Two voices
• Boost switch
• Drive and level controls for wide ranging tone from edge-of-breakup to thick saturation
• Responds to guitar volume control and cleans up when volume is rolled down
• Rugged anodized aluminum construction
• Classy brushed finish and jewel light
• Battery door with magnetic latching opening (no screws needed)
• Powered by 9V battery or DC

Specifications

• Effect Type: Overdrive
• Controls: Bass, Middle, Treble, Presence, Output Level, Voice Toggle (A/B), Drive, Boost Footswitch, Bypass Footswitch
• Inputs: 1 x 1/4'' Instrument
• Outputs: 1 x 1/4'' Instrument
• Power Requirements: 9-Volt Battery or DC Negative AC Adaptor
• Power Consumption: 120mA
• Input Impedance: 1M ohm
• Output Impedance:5k ohm
• Material: Anodized Aluminum
• Color: Red 

NAMM 2018: Hotone Nano Legacy Floor Amps

Hotone has been teasing us on social media with their new Nano amps. Some time ago, Hotone gave us a series of super portable, tiny amps. Just ahead of NAMM 2018, they have unveiled the Nano Legacy Floor amps. These units combine two amps from the previous line into on compact, pedalboard compactable unit. Currently, there are two models. The Britwind combines their British Invasion (Vox) and Purple Wind (Marshall) amps into a single unit with foot-switchable reverb and boost, Fx loop, Cab sim balanced, and unbalanced out. The Mojo Diamond has the same features but gives a Fender/Mesa combo.

This looks to be a step above what they've been doing with the Nano Legacy heads. The Nano Legacy line, by all accounts, is much better than it has any right to be. Following the trend that seems to be set by the Orange Micro Terrors, Hotone seems to have a knack for fitting impressive tone into incredibly small places. Many of their effects could get lost in your pants pocket, so it really shouldn't come to any surprise that they are able to give us these cool little amps.

Details From Hotone:

Portable Dual Channel Floor Amplifier
Hotone’s Nano Legacy amps are so in demand that it only made sense for us to combine two of them into one, put it in a convenient floor-based stompbox, and let it rule as the core of your professional sound system.

More than simply combining two Nano Legacy amps in one, the Nano Legacy Floor amps feature upgraded sound quality, increased output power (up to 75 watts) and extended onboard functions/effects. Plus, these portable dual-channel amps let you integrate a complete rig that is always ready for touring and recording: just connect to a cabinet/mixer/interface and you’re ready to rock!

Features:

✪ Portable dual channel floor amp for your pedalboard

✪ Up to 75 Watts output power

✪ Unbeatable Nano Legacy tone with upgraded sound quality and dynamic range

✪ Dual channel design combining 2 best-selling Nano Legacy amps in one: 

✪ High-quality tone with independent volume, gain, and 3-band EQ 

✪ Built-in boost provides up to +12dB of clean volume boost

✪ Built-in reverb with clear, natural decay

✪ Compatible with cabinets of different impedances ranging from 4-16Ω

✪ FX LOOP for using external effects

✪ Line and XLR outputs with switchable cab simulator

✪ 18-20V DC power supply (center positive)

Conclusion

I've been on the fence about pulling the trigger on one of the Nano Legacy head for a minute. I mean, a Marshall Plexi that you can drop in your gig bag? Sure, these aren't going to completely nail the tones that they claim, but they're just so darn cute, right? These Floor units may be the real deal though. Forget that they are selling you, "upgraded sound quality" whatever that means. This might just be the solution for those guitarists that want their amp tones on a "quiet" stage, or you could have your amp on your pedal board. I haven't seen any price point of these amps just yet, but they could easily ask $200 for these. Considering they have twice the voices and 15 times the power, they are worth it. Don't throw down your money just yet though. Vox has their hat in this ring too. Last year they debuted their Nu Tube micro amp heads. Could they have something waiting for us at NAMM 2018? This could get very interesting.

Ugly Guitar Truth: NUX Masamune Booster Komp

NUX is mostly known for making affordable pedals with plenty of options. However, they have recently released some pedals that look strikingly similar to Strymon. Now, I don't think you are going to actually confuse one of these for an actual Strymon pedal, but it seems that they are going for a more premium look. And they'd have to look a little more premium, because when asking what these pedal will go for. I was told, by NUX that they would fetch $160 street.

Here's what Nux Says about the pedal:

Booster and Compression Pedals are the gigging guitarist’s secret weapon.  Both pedals are now available in one convenient metal housing, and it comes with selectable signal routing.  The Boost Section comes with Boost Level, Drive, and Hi-Cut controls.  The Compressor Section comes with Komp Level, Sustain, Blend, and Clip controls.

NUX Masamune is a sound-crafter pedal.  It forges your dry-signal, enhancing your sound before sending your signal to your amp, and/or any effects unit.  The Booster adds beneficial color to your signal, and, if necessary, after you adjust the boost & drive levels, you can cut high frequencies on your Input signal with the Hi-Cut Toggle Switch.

Masamune’s Kompressor does a remarkable job managing and enhancing your signal:  Komp Level knob adjusts the final Output level for the Compressor, perfectly balancing your Input and Output signals.  Sustain knob adjusts the compression ratio, and increases sustain. Higher sustain levels will squash your signal harder when you hit the strings and creates a longer, richer sustain.  Blend knob adjusts the compressor transparency from 50% to 100%, so you can dial-in the exact amount of compressed dry-signal blend you want.

Clip Toggle allows you to choose the clipping range of your Input signal.  The Toggle-UP position will squeeze the signal for voluminous sound, and Toggle-DOWN will open up more space on your clipping range.

NUX Masamune Booster & Kompressor has inside routing with 3 Functions:
1_Use both effects in parallel connection.
2_Choose which effect you want to come first on your signal chain.
3_Toggle-UP the MUTEX to engage only one effect at a time.

NUX Masamune has an external foot-switch jack Input. You can add Masamune to your pedal chain, and/or you can operate the pedal by using an additional remote switch.

Conclusion

$160 is not an insane amount of money for a nice pedal, but NUX has made a name for its self as being an affordable direct from China. It would be hard to recommend this pedal when there are similar pedals made much closer to home (or rather, assembled here). There is a big difference between buying a cheap Chinese pedal for $20 and buying a $160 pedal from a company halfway across the world. What happens if it breaks? How's the customer service? There is an inherent risk of buying a pedal like this and the high than average price tag takes away one of the strongest advantages to buying from a Chinese manufactorer.

Ugly Guitar Truth About Keeley Eletronics D&M Drive

NAMM showed us lots of interesting pedals and gear, but something stuck out like a bad pun about British dental work. I'm talking about the Keeley D&M Drive. Sadly we can't call this the DM Drive because then we could pretend that it was some allusion to a D&D dungeon master. I mean, nerdy table top RPGs are better than out-and-out product hocking. Yes, this pedal in question is specifically designed for That Pedal Show's host's D-name and M-name. What does this mean and why is it ugly? Ehh... let's see:

Let's Face It


Basically this is a three knob drive pedal glued to a three knob boost pedal and sold as a custom(?) pedal. They did do something right. They made the pedal order switchable. You will be able to boost into the drive circuit or drive into the boost. That adds a great deal of range to the sounds this pedal is capable of. However, they'd be able to do more if you allowed for a loop in-between the two sides, but that is a little over-the-top for a drive boost combo. However, with a G2 system you can have full functionality with the press of a button. So, There's that.


Speaking Of Faces


Just that. You have D-name and M-name looking at you from the top of the pedal. It looks like that got the same guy that did the Rhett and Link logo, but they paid him in high-fives, and he was hung-over... from meth...(you get hung over from meth, right? you know what, don't answer that). It's not that bad. However, if you didn't know that D-name and M-name had a YouTube show about pedals, then you'd probably wonder why there is a bald man in front of a setting sun and a reject Doug character on the pedal.


It's Hard To Find


Right now there is little information about this pedal. Just finding an image is tough to do. In fact the most information right now is the actually video that D and M did at NAMM for Keeley. In the video, They quote the old joke about NAMM: NAMM, Not Available Maybe May... So, we might be looking a few months off before common folk like us can get our hands on it.


Conclusion


Based on the very little information that is available, it is very hard to come to any real conclusion. But what we can here in the NAMM video is pretty telling. There isn't anything objectionable in the video as far as I can hear. The drive is officially described as 'Tight' and the boost is called a 'mid-boost'. The best thing is to take a listen to That Pedal Show, and if you like their tones then this might be up your ally. So, when 'maybe-May' get around here and you have $229-249 to spare. You can have you're very own D&M.

Support the blog by shopping on Amazon by using my link!

There should be an ad below:

Klon Announces A New Pedal At NAMM

Klon is surrounded be a mystic cloud that plucks magic and pixie dust out of an another dimension, then mixes them with electronic components and creates other-worldly pedals that entrance the unwitting player. That very same Klon has now bestowed us mere mortals with another creation of pure essence

...and it's a boost.

Klons first 'new' pedal in years and it is basically a Klon overdrive without the overdrive. As it was explained, This is the same pedal, but without the clipping section, so to give you a boost without the drive. This came about from the typical use of Klon pedal. Mostly use to boost the signal in a chain of other effects. Now we have a unit to do just that, but nothing else. May this is a lower cost offering from Klon. Maybe this is just an uninspired follow up to an outragously popular pedal. I don't know.

Support the blog by shopping on Amazon by using my link!

There should be an ad below:

Ugly Truth: Jet City Buffered Line Driver

I picked up a pedal a while back because I was temped by the price. For less than $40 I picked up a Jet City Buffered Line Driver. I've always been interest by Jet City's offerings. The designs are pretty impressive and the costs are rather low, so of coarse they are interesting. Jet City doesn't seem to design very much. What they seem to do is take a licensed circuit and lower the manufacturing costs by taking to the far east. This seems like a rock solid plan to sell gear to cash strapped musicians. However, few guitarist are using their stuff. Why is that?

The Line Driver Is Designed By Non-Other Than JHS

Yes, no matter how you feel about them, there are tons of people pay top dollar for JHS pedals. The average price of any pedal is about $200, some go for more than $300 and yet a $40 pedal design by the same minds that brought you the Color Box (one of the most heralded pedals of the recent past) gets overlooked. The JHS buffer sells for over $70. Considering that the Jet City pedal is a buffer, boost, and A/B, it seemed to be a whole lot more pedal for your money. JHS designed both of them. They may even share the same buffer circuit.

The Boost Is Clean...ish

Yes, it is a very simple boost. One knob is all it takes. No tone control, which puts you at the mercy of the circuit. This one is voiced a little fat. It's very transparent but it tames the highs. When using pedals like the Klon and other treble heavy pedals, a boost can send your tone into 'ice pick' territory very quickly. A single knob makes it foot-friendly. I paired this pedal with an AC15 with a Top Boost channel. It was practically the only thing you'd needed to have a load tones at your disposal. The A/B switches channels and the boost hit the pre-amp to add some overdrive. The fact that it's buffered lets you travel far from the amp without worry about your cable's impedance

Conclusion:

This pedal plays nice with a pedal board and all by it's self. It's a useful tool and one that has found a steady place on my board. With the popularity of true bypass pedals, buffers are becoming something people are starting to consider. Before, Boss and Ibanez pedals provided the buffers. Now, people get very particular about where and what kind of buffer they use. There is nothing wrong with that. In fact,. it's good that people are taking control over their tone. It's important to under just what happens to your signal as it passes through all those feet of cable. I can't speak for everything that Jet City makes, but this pedal is solid choice.

Support the blog by shopping on Amazon by using my link!

There should be an ad below:

Ugly Truth: Fulltone Catalyst

Lately I noticed that a couple of the Fulltone pedals have been marked down to a reasonable price. $80 for a Fulltone pedal used to be unheard of. The Catalyst and Fat Boost have both been marked to a discount price. I don't keep tabs on Fulltone, so I don't know when this happened, but everything looks like it has been recently. Used prices are still floating around previous levels. I was reading about the Catalyst on some forums and found where someone was over the moon to find one used for $99. I had a little experiences with the pedal a few years ago. I was playing some sessions with a group of guys, and used some borrowed gear. I dug the pedal then, but it was traded/sold. I haven't thought much about the pedal since, but when I saw that it was so affordable I decided to visit it again.

It's Flexible

You read the description on the Fulltone website and it makes this pedal sound like it can do anything. Boost, Overdrive, Distortion, and Fuzz. There are tons of pedal that want to do "everything" but few actually do more than one thing very well. Once you start to play with this pedal, you notice that it achieves several sounds. You might not like all of them, but there is probably a few you might. I ran this into my Vox AC15. It wasn't magic right away. I am a pretty big fan of the Vox on its own, but I did like the Catalyst as a Boost/light OD. It thickened up the sound and acted like a nice EQ. It sounded nice with Chords, but I think this pedal is more flexible than articulate.

It's Underwhelming. 

For a pedal that debuted well over $100, it kinda under-preform. This pedals actually acts better when the front of the pedal is hit pretty hard. I put a Klone in front of this pedal and it really opened up. This pedal seems to have plenty of head room, which is odd for a dirt box. So I'm guessing that it's a holdover from it being capable of a clean boost. However the boost isn't very "clean". It colors the tone in a very noticeable way. I liked it with my Vox. But I found that heavier gain setting were better with my American voiced amp.

I Like It

But I don't love it. It comes up a little short of awesome. My biggest complaint is that is not articulate enough. Chords sound thick and rich, but the single note runs don't translate well. Also, picking patterns get muddy. That's my biggest complaint, but you don't buy a fuzz to be clean and clear. But you think that your fuzz could be a boost, or work as and overdrive... So maybe Fulltone didn't really hit it out of the park with this one.

Conclusion

Fulltone may be clearing out the Catalyst and Fat Boost. They aren't the most popular pedals. They haven't been updated. Mine still say V1 on the PCB. This pedal is a little confused, but it still has a some good sounds. Its flexibility and versatility are what set this pedal apart. Would it be better if you had single pedals that did fantastic jobs of each one of the things that this pedal can do? Of course. However, this pedal is enough to do several different functions, and it has a voice that is unique. If you considered picking one of these up, then it may be time to grab one.

Support the blog by shopping on Amazon by using my link!

There should be an ad below: