Bed Spins

So... are BJFe pedals worth all the hype and all the money? I just saw one of his compressor pedals that sold on EBay in September 2009, it came from the Doobie Brothers. Yes... I probably missed my chance to get a nice compressor pedal. Granted, the Doobie's can most likely afford the $$$, and they are going to buy a pedal for tone, not as pedalboard candy. I see lots of posts referring to money being better spent for rent, than on a BJFe pedal. Truth be told... BJFe's are some great pedals. They are also hand made and hand tuned (if you can find one) by Mr BJ himself. He is a fanatic and very talented. He is obviously driven (as is gearmanndude) to make a world contribution to tone. BJFe pedals are well constructed, and yes... also very attractive. They have a certain look about them... the boxes are very compact, and attractive. They currently sell used on EBay in the $400 to $500 range. That's 5 Fridays at the bar buying rounds of drinks for your friends... even for those making less than others, it is all about priorities. That's ok... and BJFe pedals don't lead to bed spins either... or chucking up in an alley somewhere... in addition, buy a set for your pedalboard, and maybe your guitar still cost you more.

GEARMANNDUDE...

Whether you think Gearmanndude is Jack Black or not (some of his ... or maybe MOST of his famous youtube videos seem to have his voice-overs, in any case this guy has some seriously great humor... you can watch 'em all for some great entertainment, and learn a lot about guitars and pedals too) I just bought his 'custom painted' version of the 'Lutherdrive Overdrive'... based on the vintage TS-808 Tubescreamer cicuit. The Luther circuit is modified to have a tighter bottom end (in the demo's I've seen...it DOES), and it DOES have better clarity too... and all the artwork to boot....anyway... check 'em out.... more on it when I get it.

Little Green Wonder

Here is my latest addition to my growing pedal collection...made by BJF pedals. They are made by Bjorn Juhl... apparently his pedal genius started with his father ... who told him "What you need you can make yourself". This led to Bjorn using his mother's radio to build his first amplifier. His naming of the pedals is based on 'Adjective + Color + Device Function'... hence other pedals like 'Baby Blue Overdrive' and 'Dyna Red Distortion'. The 'Baby Blue Overdrive' gives overdriven sounds to a clean amplifier... for blues, fusion and country players. My 'Little Green Wonder' is for people who don't like TS Type Pedals (Tube Screamers... like the Ibanez Tube screamer which is an overdrive effect pedal with light distortion similar to the sound created by an overdriven tube amp... and sort of bluesy). Bjorn describes the Little Green Wonder as having high headroom overdrive and a stackable TS of sorts... and it's very much up to overdriving distorting amplifiers, but can also be used on it's own as a smoothing pedal for fuzzes or bright amplifiers (he says... ). Anyway, go to the link to read more about his 'Honey Bee OD' and 'Blue Berry Base Overdrive' too. Also his 'Dyna Red Distortion', 'Emerald Green Distortion Machine'.... 'Candy Apple Fuzz'...'Pink Purple Fuzz'... 'Pale Green Compressor'...'Red Rooster Booster'...'Baby Pink Booster'....hmmmmm...and all the drawings on the inside are made by Eva Juhl.... (Mrs. Bjorn)....my sister-in-law is Swedish, so I totally get all this.