Lovepedal Kanji Arrives

Wow nice gift to myself on a Saturday morning.  Courier knocks on my door and here it is.  Box was a plain white cardboard box which is normal for a boutique pedal.  The Lovepedal Kanji was much better looking than in those PGS pics.  The body is a light tan and the knobs are a dark brown and not black as I had thought.  There's the Kanji calligraphy in the middle which is a metallic gold paint.  Overall nice, I don't have to go find some similar knobs to make it  look like the creme version.

Sound wise I wasn't expecting much as my Fender Champion 101 practice amp ain't going to show up any  Tube Screamer type overdrive pedal.  However I was presently surprised, it did give great overdriven Strat tone on my Am Strat.  You could hear those single coils coming through on both neck and neck-middle positions.  I put it up against a Digitech Bad Monkey and was again presently surprised how bad the Bad Monkey sounded against it.  This is of course on a crappy solid state amp, so any tube amp is mostly likely going to sound hundreds of times better.  Also tried it on my Ibanez RG1570 just to hear how it handled humbuckers.  OK but did not have quite the character of the Strat.

Kudos to ProGuitarShop and UPS for the extreme prompt delivery!  I ordered something else local at the same time as the Kanji  and it still hasn't arrived.  Pics to come.

Van Halen Eruption Guitar Lessons

Ever wanted to learn Van Halen's Eruption?  These are the 5 part video guitar lessons from Peter Thorn aka sinasl1. Before you discount Pete as another YouTube guitar wannabe, this guy is a pro player for the likes of Chris Cornell, Courtney Love, Alicia Keys and others. But forget about that. His videos are simply some of the best guitar lessons you can find on YouTube. In particular the "How to Play Eruption" videos are considered the definitive cover version. The Eruption instrumental featured on the 1978 album Van Halen I.  Eddie Van Halen's ground breaking tapping technique in the solo was imitated by many metal guitarist well into the 80's. 

How to Play "Eruption" Part 1.

Part 1 is just an intro to some of the equipment required to get that Eddie Van Halen "brown sound".

How to Play "Eruption" Part 2.

Here Peter goes into the intro part.

How to Play "Eruption" Part 3.

Peter goes into the middle part with the bluesy style licks on the lower neck.

How to Play "Eruption" Part 4.

This lesson shows us the trill part and the fast alternative picking section.

How to Play "Eruption" Part 5.

Here is the fun tapping section.

Love Pedal Kanji Overdrive

Just put an order in for the Love Pedal Kanji Overdrive at ProGuitarShop.com.  Seems like another limited run. These are evidently built for ProGuitarShop and not even the LovePedal site offers them.  This time the pedal seems to have some uglier black knobs compared to the matching beige knobs of the previous model.  I'd prefer the beige ones but these pedals are hard to come by so I'm keen to grab one now.  I'm suspecting its going to sound like arse on my current solid state amp, as it's in Tube Screamer territory.  I'm gassing on a new amp later.  Can't wait for the pedal!

"Lovepedal Kanji Eternity Overdrive Pedal

The Lovepedal Kanji Eternity Overdrive Pedal is a custom version of the Lovepedal Eternity.  The mysterious writing and lack of information on this pedal have drawn the interest of us here at ProGuitarShop.  We have decided to break open the mystery of the Kanji Eternity and…you will not believe what we have found!  PGS is now enlightened to the Lovepedal Kanji Eternity Overdrive Pedal!  Here’s a hint…

“…the circuit is a bit cleaner and warmer…a touch more low end as well…”
                                                            -Unknown Monk that lives high in the mountains

Find out more about the Lovepedal Kanji Eternity Overdrive Pedal and your tone will be as enlightened as you are…"

Coolest Looking Guitar Pedals

I decided to create a list of the coolest guitar pedals I could find.  This has nothing to do with the sound just the awesome graphic designs of these boutique stompbox wonders.


1. Lovepedal Kanji
It's kinda ugly but so different looking and the tone is so revered.

2. Brown sound
I was looking around for any "brown sound" pedal and came across this.  The Brown Sound has less to do with Eddie Van Halen and more to do with Hendrix.  From the www.rocknrollvintage.com website:
 "Ooh La La Manufacturing has just released their first, Bruce Bennett designed, effect pedal. The Brown Sound has big power amp distortion with a bit of fuzz thrown in. The overdriven Marshall sound, a-la "Foxy Lady"and other classic tones is what you will get with OohLaLa's Brown Sound."

3. Dead Horse Overdrive
Bizarrely strange graphics and even more bizarrely named.  Check out the ProTone Pedals website for some of the most interesting pedals ever seen.

4. Catalinbread Supercharged Overdrive

I like the clean graphic of this pedal.  It's probably not as flashy as some of the other pedal designs on Catalinbread's website.

5. Frantone Sandwich Optical Compressor
Again this is a more subtle looking pedal, just the daring use of colours make it a standout.  The pedal's designer is a woman, hence the name.  Fran looks like she went through the Time Tunnel to give us this stompbox.


7. Germanium Boy
This angry dude seems to be Blues Saraceno's logo.  More angry looking pedals here: http://www.bluessaraceno.com/pedals.html

8. The Thruster Power Booster

Another unique looking effects pedal from ProTone Pedals.  This time featuring a retro rocketship artwork.  I'd buy these pedals just cause the look exquisite.