Wanted a reverb pedal for lap steel and I get near-cost deals from a music store where I also have some credit, so I took home a Gamechanger Optical Reverb to check it out. It makes some fucked-up, wonderful sounds and I really wanted to like it. The deal breaker for me was that it's too vibration sensitive for live use, at least for lap steel with a volume pedal. Even with the damper switch on it makes that kicking-the-reverb-tank thunder sound when engaging the switch, and I imagine a loud bass player or drummer would have it rumbling constantly unless it was on a rubber platform or something. To get around this it has a gate control that cuts the effect when the input volume goes quiet, but then you can't get outrageously long reverb tails - which for me was the whole point. Gotta say it is a very cool pedal and it would be a blast for recording. Anyway I ended up swapping it out for a Strymon Blue Sky. Not half as exciting but you know, totally fine. My El Capistan still works flawlessly after seven years of heavy use so I figured it was worth getting it over the other (cheaper) stuff available.

Nobels ODR-1 - great sounding overdrive that has a ton of low end. Definitely glad I got the version with the bass cut as I think it needs it on guitar. I'm not sure if I like it more than some other things I've got in this vein (Hot Cake, Benson Preamp), but I've always wanted to try one of these. Def more my style than a Tube Screamer.

Strymon Deco - Cool pedal. Kind of an EP-3 preamp and chorus/flanger in one pedal. Love the auto flange function that works like the Zero Point (but stereo). Can't wait to try tracking two guitar signals at once and using that feature. Sounds surprisingly great on bass with both sides of the pedal turned on. I was hoping the tape drive side would sound better in my normal guitar setup than my Epoch Boost so I could take the place of two pedals on my board, but it doesn't. Oh well, just means this pedal is going to be a floater for tracking multiple things.

Bought a used MXR badass 78, because it seemed like a good idea at the time. Been looking for a pedal with a really hard/snappy drive sound and this fits the bill brilliantly. Still not entirely convinced by 'crunch' button, but I like the pretty light so it stays on!

ProCo Rat Yellow Edition

My friend got me the limited edition Yellow ProCo Rat for a graduation present. It is a Rat 2, but yellow. I know most people gush for the white one, but what do they know. I have a Piss Rat.
Probably will not use it for anything but home recording. Salut, Bax. The perfect gift.

Eden EC28. 180W Class D bass amp with two 8" drivers in a ported cabinet, 27Kg.
They don't appear to manufacture this one anymore but four other models are still out there and I'd jump on any of them.
Really loud and clear, the compressor and EQ sound great, sounds grand with my guitars too.
Has a DI output, an extension cab output, and an FX loop.
Never selling this thing.

Gretsch Rancher Penguin Parlor Acoustic/Electric Plays super well, looks incredible, very affordable! Kinda on the quiet side but records real nice.

love that color with the gold hardware

As they say, gold hardware means you're number one.

if you're not first, you're bass

Piggybacking on this from the Interesting Gear Developments thread

tommy wrote: Tue Aug 16, 2022 3:20 pm

tallchris wrote: Tue Aug 16, 2022 3:04 pm So Electro-Harmonix is putting out a J. Mascis signature Muff, but no information on whether it's actually different from the current Ram's Head circuit they're selling. I'd guess it's pretty much the same, eh?

They don't say, but the reg Ram's Head is based on a 1973. Mascis is known to favor a specific 1976. Stomped Under Foot does a clone traced from his (Amherst). They've already done a few on these so I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt on this being slightly different than the other version. We'll know when someone takes a screen shot of the PCB.

EDIT: actually, some of the copy for this release says 73. I know Reverb and Chicago Music Exchange are separate now, but given the history of CME getting exclusive colorways from pedal companies, I'm thinking it's just a paint job...

I've been debating getting the ram's head one anyway and ditching my russian and op amp reissues...

Because I suspect this is a repainted Ram's Head reissue and because I saw for only $30 more I could get a B-stock Wren & Cuff Garbage Face Jr (which might be one of the ugliest pedals of all time, btw. I almost went with the SUP Amhert instead because of that alone) I went ahead and picked up the GFJr as a last ditch effort to find a Big Muff that works for me. It also helped that a couple of video demos seemed to be close to the sound I was looking for. I've owned a lot of Big Muffs over the years and have pretty much been chasing the Mascis tone since around 1990. I've found every one of them muddy as hell and just didn't work with my stuff, mostly sitting on a shelf. First impressions of this are that it RULES! The tone knob is useful nearly the entire range. It seems to sweep a mid emphasis point almost like a parametric EQ. I can't wait to see how it sounds at practice through the Marshall and see if it disappears with drums like a lot of Big Muffs do. Will report back more later.