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What’s new at Zystrix? Read on… August 5, 2024 Thanks for stopping in. Sad news and great loss. Guitar pedal circuit guru, Jeremy Lucas, dies at 83. People have broken in and sacked his Mackinaw Island work area looking for guitar pedal circuit ideas. We’ll also check out some excellent Joyo guitar pedals like the High Gain Distortion, US Dream, Ultimate Drive, Extreme Metal, and the Uzi. And the artwork that surrounds this page, as you may know, is invisible to cell phone users, so we’ll check it out. So sit back and relax. Welcome to Zystrix, the heartbeat of the universe. Where creativity and free-thinking have more value than conformity. Background Artwork Unfortunately the artwork that surrounds the edges of this website is invisible to many cell phone users. The artwork for today is included here on the left for your enjoyment. Multiple copies are tiled together for a cohesive and seamless background board seen all around this page. Enjoy. INTRODUCTION Here are some guitar pedals I thought might be of use to someone looking for champagne tones on a prison hooch budget. I do not get any kickbacks from any of these click-throughs, or from the Joyo Company, nor do I make any income or residuals from anything listed here. This website doesn’t allow that. I put them here simply because the sounds are exemplary. They rock like hell. I suspect you’ll like them too. Give them a listen. High Gain Distortion by Joyo This pedal goes from crunch to metal, and many say it’s a clone of the Marshall Shredmaster, but it’s not. The inspiration for this one comes from the Son of Hyde pedal by Visual Sound. It gets a wide range of sounds using the somewhat limited EQ controls, but if I had my druthers it would also have a bass control knob. However, using the Mid Control along with Drive, Treble, and Volume knobs will produce quite a variety of rock to metal tones. And it easily goes from a scooped to a throaty mid-range EQ setting. This raucous, angry, and deceptively simple pedal definitely peels the paint off the walls, and I like that. I found one brand new on sale for only $37.80 USA with free shipping from Starlite Distribution. To me that’s a steal deal. Click here to purchase a High Gain Distortion pedal or learn more about it. US Dream by Joyo This one simulates the high-gain distortion tone of a driven tube amp. Tweak the Volume, Distortion and Tone knobs to slam your clean channel with excellent sounding overdrive, or plug it into a high gain amp channel for over-the-top distortion. This pedal also features True Bypass so the natural tone of the guitar comes through when the pedal is turned off. It’s a simple but very effective design. This pedal sounds suspiciously like the Suhr Riot pedal, and it’s a fraction of the price. I found this one for $34.80 with free shipping at Starlite Distribution. Click here to learn more or purchase the US Dream pedal. Ultimate Drive by Joyo This pedal is designed to replicate the dynamics and harmonic gain structure of tubes (valves). It can go from heavy crunch to light distortion, and still deliver the attitude of a great tube amp. This pedal also responds well to your attack and playing style. Truth be known, this one sounds suspiciously like the OCD pedal by Fulltone, but it seems to be slightly more of a scooped sound. This pedal’s High/Low switch takes the pedal from a clean boost to sustain-laden distortion. It also features True Bypass for no loss of guitar tone when switched off. I found one brand new for only $37.80 USA with free shipping from Starlite Distribution. Click here to purchase an Ultimate Drive pedal or learn more. Extreme Metal by Joyo This pedal nails the metal distortion sound, offering the same effect as many modern high-gain amps. The gain from this pedal can sound buzzsaw- like and is well defined, but I especially like the EQ controls. It features high, mid, and low EQ control knobs, so if you prefer a scooped sound it’s easy to attain that gain structure, but it’s also possible to bring up the mid-range for the clarity needed to cut through a mix. If you like to play thrash you’ll probably like this one a lot. I’ve heard some guitarists say this pedal is a rendition of the Metal Muff by Electro Harmonix I can’t honestly say I hear that, but you’ll have to be the judge. I found one brand new on sale for only $37.80 USA with free shipping from Starlite Distribution. It’s a giant sound at a dwarf price. Click here to buy or learn about the Extreme Metal pedal. Uzi by Joyo The Uzi is inspired by the Friedman BE-OD, and has a British style distortion similar to a hot- rodded JCM Marshall amp. Click here to read about another very similar pedal, the BE-ODX by DemonFX, covered in the June 24, 2024 issue. Unfortunately the original Friedman BE-OD does not have any mid-range EQ control, and that has been a common complaint among guitarists. However, Joyo fixed this problem in their version giving this Uzi pedal even greater mid-range EQ control. This one also has some cool ambient lighting on the bottom and top of the pedal (if you like that sort of thing) so a person can turn off all the lights and trip to the ambient light. You can also turn off the ambient pedal lights completely. This pedal doesn’t have a battery compartment so you’ll need to use your own power supply (not included). I found this pedal for the low price of $47.80 USA with free shipping from Starlite Distribution. For this kind of sound that’s an unusually good price. Hell, get two for a double or triple channel amp type setup. Click here to purchase an Uzi pedal or to learn more about it. Tell them Fred at Zystrix sent you. Don’t touch that dial… Stay tuned next time… There’s a few more pedals I’d like to go over that don’t really have an in- your-face massive sound; their forte is more of a delicate finesse. Are they boring? Well, maybe if your inspiration is face-splitting rock, but if you enjoy the sound of blues to early 1970s rock then the prices make them inviting to most guitarists for their added versatility. But then there’s always the argument, “I don’t need no stinking versatility”. Ahh well, maybe I’ll see you next time. I was going to start a professional hide and seek team, but good players are hard to find. Knowledge, art, and music for all…

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There are also free sample downloads of the book reading. There are free downloads of music samples. There is a free “Look Inside” download of the paperback. There is a free glossary of the largest list of mortuary slang in the world. The Free Dangerous Neighbors Album The Fluid, Embalmed for Life comes included as part of the audio book and parts are available here as a free download. The paperback book is available for sale at Amazon dot com. I have no control over these sales; because of the Amazon agreement I cannot offer complete paperback or complete audio books here. I’m sorry for any inconvenience. Click here for free audio books, book reading samples, music samples, etc. Take me back to the top of the page. Zystrix Privacy Policy THE FINE PRINT: Zystrix is a world leader in personal privacy and we take your privacy very seriously. 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