Hello everyone and welcome to my little corner of the world! My name is David Lee and my friends call me the Reverend. I earned that title because I have been preaching about “tone” for most of my adult life.

I have been playing the guitar for over 44 years now, and I have been in working bands for the past 35 years. I’d like to think I’ve learned quite alot about tone over the span of those years and it admittedly takes quite an effects pedal to surprise and please me after all this time.

The pedals and other gear that you see reviewed here are the cream of the crop and the ones that I have personally used (or still do) on the road.

There’s so much hype out there about guitar effects that I decided it was time to produce a viable resource for musicians to visit and hear from someone just like them - working it out in local clubs and venues - and making the most of every hard earned dollar to buy only those pedals that truly do live up to their claims.

Pedals that have been thoroughly road tested in real world live performance conditions to prove their road-worthiness - and that have been put through multiple setups of guitar and amplifier combinations and different places in the pedal chain that speak to their versatility and real world applications and expectations.

Tone is not a hobby for me - it is a way of life. A religion so to speak. I have spent hundreds of hours (and dollars) and many years studying the interactions of different effects and their specific personality traits and disorders - where they shine and where they fall short. Only the best of the best - by the very best Master Builders on the planet are reviewed here. Thanks for reading and welcome to my gear resource page - where only the best get in.

Rev

BLUES FOR BOBBIE
Where do I start... this has been a labor of love for over a year now - but some things don't always go as planned and despite a few bumps in the road - I finally found a builder -not just any builder -but Analogman Mike - to finish a concept I had way back when.. the important thing now is that it's finished and it holds a power greater than the sum of it's parts (Thanks Mike!) I also want to give a shout out to Kirk at Pedal Parts Plus for the beautiful paint and screening work on the pedal enclosures - thanks Kirk!

The serial number is the date my Brother Bobbie passed away.. the Chinese symbol is the symbol for HARMONY - to pay tribute to the beautiful harmonies my brother and I shared for over 40 years and (not showing up very well in this photo) is the Sun Lion placed on the top of the pedal by Mike Piera.

Let's get to the detail of what's inside this beautiful tribute effects pedal - from Right to Left:

The Analogman Comprossor (with internal sustain and attack controls) , the Overdrive part of Analogman's King of Tone, and a Clean Boost. Three pedals in one enclosure and the sweetest setup anyone could hope for. You can run each effect independently or all 3 at once or any combination of two effects. It's a Blues Pedal because that's what I wanted - and the lethal combination Mike has come up with here are absolutely perfect - tonewise and in functionality and this has to be heard to be believed. What a fantastic lethal threesome and what a wonderful way to dial in the Blues for Bobbie..

But make no mistake about it -this one can also easily cover a large genre of classic and southern rock voicings without flinching. And it will do the one thing I wanted it to do the most of all -sustain a wailing lead note for days until I lift my finger off the fret... this has brought out a creative wash of emotions and memories and music that I didn't know I could play - it's coming straight from the heart to my Brother Bob - I pray he can hear me up there.. Love to all that helped make a beautiful tribute come true...

2006 PEDAL PICKS

Rev's January, February, March 2006 Pedal Picks!

MI Audio
Tube Zone
SubDecay Studios Flying Tomato Fuzz
Red Witch
Fuzz God
Digitech
Expression Factory
Hot Wire Audio
Boss FA-1 Clone
BjF
Baby Blue Overdrive
Frantone
The Sweet
Emma ReezaFRATzitz
Home Brew Electronics Psilocybe Phaser
Demeter Amplification Fuzzulator
Tone Factor Analogue Filter
Foxrox
Hot Silicon Fuzz

April 2006
Pedal Pick
Hot Wired Audio's
Fuzzwork Orange

May 2006
Pedal Pick
Skreddy Screwdriver

June 2006
Pedal Pick
Effectrode Tube Vibe

July 2006
Pedal Pick
Demeter
Double Drive

2005 PEDAL PICKS

January 2005 Pedal Pick
Toadworks John Bull

February 2005 Pedal Pick
Musician's Junkyard Screamer

March 2005 Pedal Pick
Pedalworx (BENT) Tonebender

April 2005 Pedal Pick
SIB EchoDrive

May 2005 Pedal Pick
Toadworks Lil Leo American Overdrive

June 2005 Pedal Pick
Analogmans BiChorus w/Deep Option

NO PEDAL PICK FOR JULY
Out of respect for our fallen Brother & Drummer Bob Stanley 1951-2005 R.I.P.

August 2005 Pedal Pick
Foxrox Electronics Octron

September 2005 Pedal Pick
HBE Big D Distortion

October 2005 Pedal Pick
Barge Concepts BB-1

November 2005 Pedal Pick
Demeter Amplification FOD

December 2005 Pedal Pick
Foxrox Captain Coconut II

2004 PEDAL PICKS

January 2004 Pedal Pick
Hermida Audio's Mosferatu Series

February 2004 Pedal Pick
Robert Keeley's Fuzz Head

March 2004 Pedal Pick
Foxrox ZIM

April 2004 Pedal Pick
RGW Electronics Bad Bob Booster

May 2004 Pedal Pick
Bigtone Music Brewery's Classic OD+

June 2004 Pedal Pick
Red Witch Moon Phaser

July 2004 Pedal Pick(s)
Steve Webster's V-Stack Classic & BHM

August 2004 Pedal Pick
Monster Effects Swamp Thang Tremelo

September 2004 Pedal Pick
Pedalworx Texas Two Step

October 2004 Pedal Pick
Monkey FX Cheeky Monkey

November 2004 Pedal Pick
Fox Rox Paradox TZF Flanger

December 2004 Pedal Pick
Love Pedal's Karl Fuzz

 

2003 PEDAL PICKS

January 2003 Pedal Pick:
Joe Gagan/Nine Volt Nirvana's Dinosaur Fuzz

February 2003 Pedal Pick
Legendary Tones/Keeley
Time Machine Boost

March 2003 Pedal Pick
Mojo Vibe by SweetSound

April 2003 Pedal Pick
Mr. Squishy by Toadworks

May 2003 Pedal Pick
Keeley Java Boost

June 2003 Pedal Pick
Zinky True Grit

July 2003 Pedal Pick
Ibanez Tube King

August 2003 Pedal Pick
Bennett Music Labs Brown Sound

September 2003 Pedal Pick
Fireman FX Baron Boost

October 2003 Pedal Pick
Toadworks Death Rattle

November 2003 Pedal Pick
Geoffrey Teese
Wheels Of Fire Wah

December 2003 Pedal Pick
Love Pedal's Fab 50

2002 PEDAL PICK

December 2002 Pedal Pick:
Robert Keeley's Compressor

2008 PEDAL PICKS

January's Pedal Pick was the Teese RMC2 Custom Blue Edition!

February's Pedal Pick was
Visual Sounds Angry Fuzz!

March's Pedal Pick was Toadworks Texas Flood Overdrive!

April's Pedal Pick was
Fulltone's GT-500!

May's Pedal Pick Ibanez Flying Pan Reissue FP-777

As part of the recent Midwest Music & Gear Slut Event in Kansas City last Thursday & Friday, Robert Keeley & MrBluetone & myself visited the Musician's Friend Clearance Center (and another big store).

We also spent the night at the Quarterage Hotel - excellent security all around us - and saw Dave Weiner (from the Steve Vai band) and Rob Balducci in concert at the Grand Emporium -what a fantastic show - these guys are killer guitar players - I think most of the audience was made up of guitar players!

They treated Robert Keeley like a ROCK STAR and constantly heralded him from the stage. What a NIGHT OF PURE GUITAR!! A memorable night that I'll never ever forget! Thanks John, Charise & Robert - I love you all. Rev

I wanted to get this posted since today is the 1st of July! It's hard to believe the year is already half over - just goes to show you it's true "Time flies when you're having fun". :o)

Here's some of the manufacturers verbiage for now - I'll be back later tonight with my take on the famous Texas Square Face! Thanks for stopping by everyone.. back after bit.. Rev

"The Cesar Diaz Texas Square face was originally designed as a replacement for Stevie Ray Vaughan's fuzz faces, which were always dying. César built his circuit into one of SRVs dead fuzz face boxes and Stevie used it until his unfortunate death.

The square face is similar to the Dallas Arbiter Fuzzface, has Volume and Fuzz knobs, but comes in a small MXR distortion+ sized box. Here is some info from César:

The square face is NPN not PNP..it comes with two germaniums but it has transistor sockets and two silicon's are included for more gain. They can also be combined, for different tones. Changing positions will also help!! You can really hear it on the SRV album "IN STEP".

All units are now powder coated instead of painted, which is stronger and looks better. Also the inside is coated so it will not corrode.

This pedal has "Absolute Bypass." All Diaz Musical Products effect pedals are individually hand-constructed, wired, tested.:

Here's a shot of the inside (with everything hidden), except the signature of the builder, the month of manufacture & transistors used. The blend of these two (one silicon and one germanium) is PERFECT! That kick ass germanium edge with the tighter focused bite of the silicon are perfectly voiced for both humbuckers and single coils with all amps tested. Teese Wahs LOVE this one too. Rev