admiralchew

The Black Pearl has now moved to preorder only. I’m glad for Will that they seemed to sell quickly!

It’s a fabulous pedal. I’ve been looking for something to sit at the end of the chain and perform a similar function to a Cali76-TX and this does it very nicely. It’s not sterile or pristine, instead imparting a bit of warmth. It seems to make each note quite mellow and fat sounding. It’s quite subtle though, I didn’t notice a massive change with it on, but I did notice it. The notes seem to bloom gently and musically and it brings harmonics out nicely. There aren’t many settings to mess with either so I can basically just leave it to do its thing. I’ve realised I like the way the LA-2A works and sounds though (there are a lot of YouTube videos covering it) so if that’s not your preferred flavour it’s worth bearing in mind this is basically a facsimile. It’s also worth pointing out I always intended to run it at (or almost at) the end of my chain like in a studio (only the reverb and the console-like BP1 preamp sit after it). I suspect it may be a little too saturating to be run through my various octaves and fuzzes. I also think it may be overkill if you already use something like a Noble as there would be crossover with the natural tube compression. It’s brilliant with a solid state preamp like the BP1 though and the clarity/precision of tone is very hifi and articulate. It’s a 12v centre positive 1.5A monster though so powering it is tricky (I’m using a Cioks Crux) and the fact it has tubes and is quite tall makes it a little tricky to want to keep putting in a case. I think it’ll be worth it for the tone though. Reading the above back it sounds more negative than expected but that’s because it’s an expensive bit of kit that’s hard to try before you buy, so I feel the need to be a bit more reflective. I waited months for the second release though with the intention of having it as a cornerstone pedal on my board and I don’t regret it at all.

The pedals I was waiting for (two compressors) arrived so I've now put my main board together. There's one more board to go; a certain sci-fi film series themed board but there's one pedal I'm waiting on which will hopefully be here in the next couple of weeks or so. I've finally got a board where I have an octave, fuzz, octave, fuzz chain (I actually quite like fuzz into octave even if logic suggests I shouldn't but now I don't need to choose). It's power-hungry (it needs three IEC cables) and the settings pictured reflect those decided by my bedcover when the pedals were upside down while I was wiring it, but after some twiddling it sounds good! The chain is: BP1 > BP1 Loop Send: Strobostomp > Opti-FET > Octabvre > Doom 2 > Subsonic > TAFM > Frantabit > MBD3 > Cave Bear > XD > Type Two > AFG-1 > ADG-1 SE > Slow Loris > DLA-2A > Nimbus SE > BP1 Loop Return > Element (underneath board)

I’ll take that as a positive I think, so thanks? I’ve been pestering Russ at Doc Lloyd about these four about four months so I’m thrilled it’s here. I’m waiting on a couple of patch cables before I fully assemble the board but I’ve run it with the pedals that will form the board and they all sound great with it. Only the reverb and preamp will be after it in the chain.

I’ve been waiting for the release of the second batch of Doc Lloyd DLA-2As to use as the cornerstone of a pedalboard build and received mine earlier last week. It’s a recreation of the LA-2A compressor and it sounds sublime. It’s in the same territory cost-wise as a Noble but it’s an incredible bit of kit: https://www.doclloyd.com/products/leveling-amplifier-model-dla-2a It runs on 12v centre positive power at 1.5A so I’ve been running it off a Cioks Crux. Another batch is due in Autumn.

Did Andertons say they weren’t going to stock L-1000s or just that particular colour? Mine is match green, so a bit odd and I wasn’t surprised that I needed to specially order that. The more standard core colours were in stock at the time though. I’ve only ever heard people say good things about the Tributes too.

I hope it’s nothing bad too. I really like my G&L! It is tricky getting them though. In addition to my L-1000 having to be a special order, the JB-2 Tribute I ordered from Thomann in December is still yet to arrive (originally expected 1-2 weeks and quickly updated to April).