Articles in Tracing Journal

Today’s trace is a bit different than our usual process. Back in April, we released the Halo Deluxe, based on the Cornish P-1. We did not release a tracing journal along with it due to time constraints, so …

Today we’ve got a few new Cornish traces to share. Along with the P-1 detailed in another post, we have not one, but two versions of the Cornish G-2. The G-2 was originally designed by Pete for Lou …

The Keeley Compressor Plus was first released in 2017 as an update to their classic 4-knob compressor. Here’s a video demo from Andy Martin: Compared to the earlier version, the input gain (anti-clipping) control has been removed and …

The Catalinbread Octapussy was originally released in 2012. It was modeled after vintage transistor octave fuzzes like the Octavia. Here’s a demo: They compare it to the Octavia but claim it’s an original design. There are only a …

Today we’re releasing two new Xotic traces. The Xotic SL Drive is a miniature drive pedal that was released in the summer of 2013. It was designed to emulate the tone of an overdriven Marshall Super Lead (hence …

The second Xotic trace releasing today (alongside the SL Drive) is the EP Booster. It’s a fairly simple JFET booster modeled after the preamp of the Echoplex tape delay pedal. Here’s a demo video from Mike Hermans: The …

The Amptweaker Tight Fuzz was first released in 2012, a year after the Tight Metal and two years after the Tight Drive. It was James Brown’s take on a classic transistor fuzz, but incorporating his characteristic design style …

Next up we have the Amptweaker Tight Drive. This is the very first pedal from Amptweaker, the pedal company founded by amp guru James Brown, designer of the legendary Peavey 5150 amplifier among many others. Released in 2010, …

The Catalinbread Silver Kiss was first released in 2007. It’s a more traditional overdrive than their other offerings, but with the addition of an active 3-band EQ. Here’s a demo from Gearmanndude: The discussion at Freestompboxes first began …

Next on the bench is the Stamps Drive-O-Matic. Built by Robert Stamps of The Amp Shop in LA in the mid-1990s, it was a very early example of a boutique pedal, all hand-built in small quantities. Despite this, …

While reviewing the Honey Bee Overdrive circuit for the updated Procyon V2, we spent some time digging to see if we could determine why there are so many different versions of the circuit—not just component variants, but actual …

This is the third of three new Cornish traces we’re posting today alongside the NG-3 and P-2. The GC-1 was released in 2021 to celebrate Pete Cornish’s 45 years in the music gear industry. Here’s a demo of …

The second of three Cornish traces releasing today is the P-2. Here’s a demo of it in action: The P-2 was one of Pete Cornish’s earliest designs, dating back to 1981 when it was created as an updated …

Today we’re releasing new traces of three Cornish pedals. First up is the NG-3, a variable-bias silicon fuzz that can go from class A (typical smooth fuzz tone) through class B (gated fuzz) to class C (“velcro” sound …

In this journal we’re covering three related pedals from King Tone: the Duellist, Soloist and Heavyhand. (We also traced the Blues Power, which is covered in a separate post.) The Duellist is a dual pedal that consists of …

In tandem with the Duellist-Soloist-Heavyhand triple trace, we’re also doing separate one for the King Tone Blues Power. Once again, here’s the official demo from Jesse Davey: The Blues Power was originally released in 2017 and described as …

Here’s an interesting one. The Darkglass® Duality is an all-original bass drive circuit that features two parallel fuzz paths that can be blended together in any ratio. Here’s a demo video showing what it can do. The first …

We’ve traced a whole bunch of Catalinbread pedals, and we’ve still got a few more on the way. The Supercharged Overdrive is an earlier design from their first few years as a company, predating their “Foundation” series of …

The gear community is not known for restraint when hyping cool pedals. But you don’t have to be part of the DIY pedal scene for long before you start to understand that very few of the drive-of-the-day pedals …

Some companies like to keep their product line as small as possible so customers don’t get choice paralysis. Xotic is not one of those companies. Think you might want a BB Preamp? Well, a few minutes of research …