Thorpy FX Deep Oggin

Chorus gets a bad reputation. Too much 80s rock association, too much wash, not enough character. The ThorpyFX Deep Oggin exists to change that — and it has. Welcome back to Edge of Breakup.

In this episode the ThorpyFX Deep Oggin takes center stage — running into my Nash Guitars JM63 Jazzmaster with Lollar Pickups, into my Benson Amps Vincent.

The Deep Oggin is a collaboration between ThorpyFX founder Adrian Thorpe MBE and Dan Coggins — formerly of Lovetone, one of the most revered boutique pedal companies in history. Coggins designed the Lovetone Meatball, the Brown Source, the Doppelganger, the Ring Stinger (heard on Radiohead's Kid A), and others before Lovetone closed its doors in 2000. The Deep Oggin is his first modulation circuit since those days, and it was worth the wait.

The circuit is 100% analog, built around NOS BBD chips — the same bucket-brigade delay chip technology that gives vintage chorus pedals their lush, three-dimensional, organic character. The components are immaculate: 1% metal film resistors, Wima and Panasonic capacitors, Neutrik jacks, Burr-Brown op-amps. Powder-coated steel and stainless steel laser-cut enclosure. This is ThorpyFX's standard — no shortcuts.

Five controls. Depth and Rate shape the intensity and speed of the modulation. Volume and Treble allow level and brightness adjustment. The Blend knob is where the entire tonal palette lives: at minimum you're running fully dry through the pedal's preamp circuit; at maximum you're running fully wet — pure vibrato, pitch-shifting and disorienting in all the right ways. Anywhere in between is chorus — thick, chewy, analog chorus with that three-dimensional quality that digital chorus simply cannot replicate. The Blend knob is not a wet/dry mix in the conventional sense. It's a portal.

Dry and wet outputs for stereo operation — a significant feature for players who want to send chorus wet signal to one amp and dry to another.

🎛️ ThorpyFX Deep Oggin: https://thorpyfx.com/products/the-deep-oggin-chorus-vibrato

🎸 Nash Guitars JM63 Jazzmaster: https://nashguitarsusa.com

🎸 Lollar Pickups: https://www.lollarguitars.com

🔊 Benson Amps Vincent: https://www.bensonamps.com/amps/vincent

Subscribe for more boutique tone explorations.

🎸 Nash Guitars JM63 Jazzmaster | Lollar Pickups

🎛️ ThorpyFX Deep Oggin | Analog Chorus/Vibrato | Dan Coggins x Adrian Thorpe | NOS BBD

🔊 Benson Amps Vincent

Recording: Universal Audio Apollo x4 | Royer R-121 & SM57 on 2x12" cab | Royer R10 on room

Acorn Amps Solid State

2,962 characters — under 5,000. Here's the full package:

What if your pedalboard had its own amp head? The Acorn Amps Solid State is exactly that — and I'm honored to help announce it. Welcome back to Edge of Breakup.

In this episode I'm running the Acorn Amps Solid State in both configurations: as a preamp/overdrive into the Benson Vincent, and direct to my Benson Amps 2x12" cabinet with Celestion G12H speakers. Guitar is my Nash S63 with Emerson Custom wiring kit, treble bleed, and a KingTone Switch in the secondary tone position.

The Solid State is a full circuit recreation of a famously overlooked low-wattage practice amp that was revealed in 2021 to be a secret studio weapon in the hands of players like Josh Homme — responsible for wiry, aggressive tones on guitar, bass, drums, and vocals. Acorn built it around the same TDA series Class-AB power amp device found in the original hardware, making it the most authentic reproduction possible in a modern pedal format. This is not an amp-in-a-box. This is an actual amp, in a box.

Two output jacks define the whole concept. The instrument-level output sends the signal into your normal pedal chain or amp input — Normal and Saturation modes, Low/Mid/High EQ, and a toggle switch to select whether the signal exits before or after the power amp circuit. This is the preamp/overdrive use case.

The speaker output is something else entirely. Run a speaker cable from that jack to any cab and the Solid State becomes a 10-watt amp head — no wall plug, no head, no rack. Powered by a Strymon Ojai R30 set to 18V from a single power port. Output scales by impedance: 10W into 4 ohms, 7.5W into 8 ohms, 6W into 16 ohms. I ran it at 16 ohms into the Benson 2x12" and the results are some of the most interesting guitar tones I've gotten all year.

The Boss Waza Tube Amp Expander is in the loop between the preamp out and the cabinet for reverb — and it works beautifully in that configuration.

Note: In the video I refer to Acorn as operating from Austin, Texas — they co-operate out of both Austin and Atlanta, Georgia. Apologies for the error.

Speaker and instrument cables by Caulfield Cables — use code "EOB" for 20% off.

🎛️ Acorn Amps Solid State: https://www.acornamps.com/gear/solid-state-amppreamp-pedal
🎸 Nash Guitars S63: https://nashguitarsusa.com
🔧 Emerson Custom Wiring Kit: https://emersoncustom.com
🔊 Benson Amps 2x12" Cabinet: https://www.bensonamps.com/amps/2x12-cabinet

Subscribe for more boutique tone explorations.

🎸 Nash S63 | Emerson Custom Wiring Kit & Treble Bleed | KingTone Switch
🎛️ Acorn Amps Solid State | 10W Amp/Preamp Pedal | Normal & Saturation Modes
🔊 Benson Amps Vincent (Amp-In Input) / Benson Amps 2x12" Cabinet with Celestion G12H (Direct)

Powered by: Strymon Ojai R30 at 18V

Walrus Audio Slotva

The coolest ambient reverb pedal I've ever played. Welcome back to Edge of Breakup.

In this episode the Walrus Audio Slötvå Multi Texture Reverb takes center stage — paired with my Nash S63 Stratocaster loaded with Lollar Vintage Blonde pickups and an Emerson Custom wiring kit, into my Benson Amps Vincent.

Also watch: Slötvå in a full band mix: https://youtu.be/vpUm0xyZslE

The Slötvå is an evolved version of Walrus Audio's celebrated Slö reverb, adding the ability to save three presets — a significant upgrade for live use. Three algorithms, six modulation wave shapes, and a set of momentary functions that transform it from a reverb pedal into a full ambient performance tool.

Dark — a deep, wide, nightmarish reverb with a -1 octave signal feeding the reverb trail. The X knob controls the level of that low octave, letting you dial in everything from subtle subterranean weight to a full low-octave doubling of every note. Aurally dizzying in the best possible way.

Rise — an auto-swell reverb for cinematic, breathing ambient textures. Notes play into silence and the reverb swells in from below rather than presenting itself immediately. The X knob controls the rise time — lower for shorter swells, higher for longer, more patient blooms. A stunning mode for clean playing.

Dream — a lush pad reverb with a latching function that is genuinely the most fun I've had with a reverb pedal. Press the Sustain switch once: the pedal captures and holds the current reverb decay indefinitely, creating a sustained pad you can play over for as long as you want. Press it again and the pad decrescendos according to the Decay knob setting. The X knob adds vibrato to the held pad. This is its own instrument.

Three modulation wave shapes selectable via secondary toggle function — Sine (smooth pitch up/down), Warp (asymmetric pitch-up, warped record character), and Sink (asymmetric pitch-down, Bigsby-style detune). Mix, Filter, and Depth controls shape and tame the reverb tail. Full wet — no dry signal — is a legitimate and beautiful way to run this pedal.

🎛️ Walrus Audio Slötvå: https://www.walrusaudio.com/products/slotva-multi-texture-reverb

🎸 Nash Guitars S63: https://nashguitarsusa.com

🎸 Lollar Vintage Blonde Pickups: https://www.lollarguitars.com

🔧 Emerson Custom Wiring Kit: https://emersoncustom.com

🔊 Benson Amps Vincent: https://www.bensonamps.com/amps/vincent

Subscribe for more boutique tone explorations.

🎸 Nash S63 Stratocaster | Lollar Vintage Blonde Pickups | Emerson Custom Wiring Kit

🎛️ Walrus Audio Slötvå Multi Texture Reverb | Dark / Rise / Dream

🔊 Benson Amps Vincent

Universal Audio Starlight

The most authentic tape, bucket-brigade, and digital delays ever placed into a stompbox — three iconic delay circuits from three different decades, all in one enclosure. Welcome back to Edge of Breakup.

In this episode the Universal Audio Starlight Echo Station takes center stage, running in the effects loop of my Benson Amps Vincent with my Prisma Guitars Sunset loaded with Lollar Gold Foil pickups.

UA built the Starlight around their dual-engine UAFX processing platform, and these are end-to-end circuit emulations, not approximations.

Tape EP-III — UA's complete circuit emulation of the early 1970s Echoplex EP-3 tape echo, the most beloved and sought-after tape delay in recorded music history. Every eccentric trait of the hardware is present: wow/flutter randomness, the sound of the tape splice, and the incredibly musical preamp circuit. Three tape age settings — New, Used, and Worn — shape the character of the repeats from clean and clear to saturated and weathered. Delay time: 80-700ms. Self-oscillates realistically at high feedback. This is not a simulation of a tape delay. It is a tape delay, running in a stompbox.

Analog DMM — bucket-brigade emulation based on the EHX Deluxe Memory Man, the vintage American bucket-brigade delay that defined studio echo in the 1970s and '80s. Syrupy repeats, thick modulation, and mind-bending textures. Delay time: 110-1068ms with pitch-shifting artifacts when delay time changes — just like the original hardware. Self-oscillates at high feedback.

Precision — UA's own studio-grade digital delay derived from the UAD plug-in library, emulating early 1980s rack-mount digital delay units. Pristine, transparent repeats with optional modulation. Delay time up to 1500ms. Will not self-oscillate — sustains indefinitely at max feedback without spiraling, which is the behavior of that actual circuit.

Cooper Time Cube — free at registration. Based on the truly obscure 1970s studio effect that generated delays via a coiled length of rubber garden hose. A spatial doubling effect that sits unlike any other delay in the pedal, up to 2500ms of delay time.

All four algorithms feature analog dry-through, spillover on bypass, tap tempo, preset storage, and true or buffered bypass selectable via the UAFX Control app.

This is the third demo in my UAFX series — check out the Astra Modulation Machine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6rPncQ6rww and the Golden Reverberator: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiu8evGd-zc

🎛️ Universal Audio Starlight Echo Station: https://www.uaudio.com/products/starlight-echo-station

🎸 Prisma Guitars Sunset: https://www.prismaguitars.com/collections

🎸 Lollar Gold Foil Pickups: https://www.lollarguitars.com/gold-foil

🔊 Benson Amps Vincent: https://www.bensonamps.com/amps/vincent

Subscribe for more boutique tone explorations.

🎸 Prisma Guitars Sunset | Lollar Gold Foil Pickups

🎛️ Universal Audio Starlight Echo Station | Tape EP-III / Analog DMM / Precision / Cooper Time Cube

🔊 Benson Amps Vincent (Effects Loop)

Thorpy FX The Dane

Boost into overdrive is my favorite thing in guitar. And the Thorpy FX The Dane might be the most elegant execution of that idea I've found. Welcome back to Edge of Breakup.

In this episode, the Thorpy FX The Dane Boost/Overdrive takes center stage — running into my Nash Guitars T63 Telecaster loaded with Lollar Vintage Blonde neck and Lollar Special bridge pickups, wired with an Emerson Custom 4-Way Tele Wiring Kit and Treble Bleed, into my Benson Amps Vincent.

The Dane is the signature pedal of Peter "Danish Pete" Honoré, built to cover the full palette of his tones from pristine clean headroom to singing lead saturation in a single enclosure. Two sides, two footswitches, three distinct tonal states.

The right side is a high-headroom, super-clean boost — but crucially, not a simple volume push. The Lows control adds a targeted low-end boost that specifically addresses the thinness and spank that single-coil players hear when they hit a clean amp hard. Single coil into a clean amp can feel like it's missing body — The Dane's Lows control fills exactly that gap. The Boost and Lows knobs together transform the right side from a utility boost into a genuine tone-shaping preamp.

The left side is a complex light-to-medium gain overdrive — Volume, Drive, and Tone controls, toothy and purposeful with the kind of clarity that doesn't get clinical. Great on its own. But the routing design is the key to everything: the boost runs directly into the drive. When you engage both, the boost slams the front end of the overdrive circuit, dramatically changing the harmonic texture and dynamic responsiveness. Three distinct states: overdrive alone, boost alone, or boost into drive — the last of which produces full, fat sustain that somehow stays clear and pick-sensitive.

Built with Burr-Brown op-amps, Wima and Panasonic capacitors, Neutrik jacks, 1% metal film resistors, gold-plated PCB, and dust-sealed Alpha pots. The internals are as immaculate as the tones.

The boost-into-drive combination is also a substitute amp channel for players without attenuation. Set your overdrive as your core rhythm tone, and use the boost as an ignition switch — it's a second channel in a single compact enclosure. With attenuation? Park your amp on the edge of breakup and hit it with The Dane's boost — the results are spectacular.

🎛️ Thorpy FX The Dane: https://thorpyfx.com/products/the-dane

🎸 Nash Guitars T63 Telecaster: https://nashguitarsusa.com

🎸 Lollar Vintage Blonde & Special Bridge Pickups: https://www.lollarguitars.com

🔧 Emerson Custom 4-Way Tele Wiring Kit: https://emersoncustom.com

🔊 Benson Amps Vincent: https://www.bensonamps.com/amps/vincent

Subscribe for more boutique tone explorations.

🎸 Nash Guitars T63 Telecaster | Lollar Vintage Blonde (Neck) & Special Bridge | Emerson Custom 4-Way Wiring Kit & Treble Bleed

🎛️ Thorpy FX The Dane | Boost/Overdrive

🔊 Benson Amps Vincent

Jam Pedals Rattler & Wahcko

In high school, the pedalboard was a ProCo Rat and a Crybaby Wah. In 2022, we're running the JAM Pedals Wahcko Custom Shop and JAM Pedals Rattler into a Benson Amps Vincent. The vibes are the same. Everything else is better. Welcome back to Edge of Breakup.

JAM Pedals in Athens, Greece sent over a package that triggered some serious nostalgia — and inspired a direct comparison between the gear I played at 17 and what that same idea sounds like when it's done right.

The Wahcko Custom Shop (Point-to-Point version) is as serious as a wah pedal gets. A red Fasel inductor, 0.5W carbon comp resistors, and tropical fish capacitors in a fully point-to-point hand-wired build with an ever-changing custom shop finish. The core Wahcko circuit features a bufferless proprietary design — meaning impedance-sensitive pedals, including germanium fuzz boxes, can sit after the Wahcko with no interaction issues. A 6-position rotary switch adjusts the frequency sweep range, giving you everything from a dark, vocal character to a bright, slicing peak. An internal trimmer adjusts input gain. Nile Rodgers, Steve Lukather, Richie Sambora, Bill Frisell, Sean Ono Lennon, and Dweezil Zappa are among those who've made the Wahcko a permanent fixture. There's a reason.

The JAM Pedals Rattler is a ProCo RAT-style distortion built around the NOS LM308N chip — the same chip found in the original early '80s RAT boxes that defined a generation of rock tone. Asymmetrical clipping circuit, carbon comp resistors, and years of R&D to make it more responsive to picking and fretting nuances than the original. The result is an open, dynamic, overdriven tube-amp character — fat, creamy sustain with genuine sensitivity to how you play. It looks like a piece of modern art and sounds nothing like the $49 Rat I had in high school.

Wah first, distortion second. That's the chain. Through my Frank Brothers Arcade loaded with Lollar P90 pickups, clean and dirty on the Benson Amps Vincent, this is exactly what 16-year-old me was reaching for and couldn't afford.

🎛️ JAM Pedals Wahcko: https://jampedals.com/shop/wahcko/

🎛️ JAM Pedals Rattler: https://jampedals.com/shop/rattler/

🔊 Benson Amps Vincent: https://www.bensonamps.com/amps/vincent

Subscribe for more boutique tone explorations.

🎸 Frank Brothers Arcade | Lollar P90 Pickups

🎛️ JAM Pedals Wahcko Custom Shop (Point-to-Point) | Tropical Fish Capacitors | Red Fasel Inductor

🎛️ JAM Pedals Rattler | NOS LM308N Chip

🔊 Benson Amps Vincent

Recording: Universal Audio Apollo x4 | Royer R121 & SM57 on cab grill | Royer R10 on room

Jam Pedals Ripply Fall

What happens when two of JAM's most beloved analog modulation pedals live in the same enclosure? You get the Ripply Fall — and it's been on my list for a long time. Welcome back to Edge of Breakup.

In this episode the JAM Pedals Ripply Fall takes center stage, running into my Frank Brothers Arcade with Lollar P90 pickups, through the Benson Amps Vincent on both its clean and dirt channels.

JAM Pedals built the Ripply Fall after years of recommending the WaterFall and the Ripple together as a natural pairing — eventually deciding the combination deserved its own dedicated enclosure. The result is a 100% analog, all-BBD dual modulation pedal handmade in Athens, Greece, with some unique features that make it more than just two pedals bolted together.

The left side is the WaterFall — JAM's smooth, lush-sounding Chorus/Vibrato circuit built around BBD chips. A toggle switches between Chorus and Vibrato modes, and a second toggle shifts to a wetter, more immersive effect character. Speed and Depth controls shape the movement.

The right side is the Ripple — JAM's smooth, sweet, transparent 2-stage phaser. A different sonic personality entirely — the Ripple adds a warm, organic sweep that sits underneath and behind your tone rather than in front of it.

The magic is in combining them. Both sides can run simultaneously for three-dimensional layered modulation that no single-effect pedal can approach — chorus or vibrato on top of a phaser sweep creates a depth and movement that makes your amp sound like it's breathing. A center footswitch triples the WaterFall's speed at any given moment, generating tones ranging from Leslie speaker simulation all the way to ring modulator effects and deranged warble. Two expression pedal inputs allow real-time control of WaterFall Depth and Speed independently.

Premier Guitar called it "lovely and truly musical individual and composite modulation effects" — and they're right.

🎛️ JAM Pedals Ripply Fall: https://jampedals.com/shop/ripply-fall/

🎸 Frank Brothers Arcade + Lollar P90s

🔊 Benson Amps Vincent: https://www.bensonamps.com/amps/vincent

Subscribe for more boutique tone explorations.

🎸 Frank Brothers Arcade | Lollar P90 Pickups

🎛️ JAM Pedals Ripply Fall | WaterFall Chorus/Vibrato + Ripple 2-Stage Phaser | BBD Analog

🔊 Benson Amps Vincent

Recording: Universal Audio Apollo x4 | Royer R121 & SM57 on cab grill | Royer R10 on room

Universal Audio Astra

What if you could have the classic studio modulation of a 1976 bucket-brigade chorus, a legendary '70s rackmount studio flanger, and the optical tube tremolo of a '60s American amp — all in one pedal on your board? That's the Universal Audio Astra Modulation Machine. Welcome back to Edge of Breakup.

In this episode the UAFX Astra takes center stage, running into my Prisma Guitars Sunset loaded with Lollar Novel Foil pickups in the bridge and neck.

Universal Audio built the Astra around their dual-engine UAFX processing platform, and the modulation models are genuinely end-to-end circuit emulations rather than approximations. Three onboard modes plus two additional downloadable effects cover the full classic modulation spectrum:

Chorus Brigade — UA's complete circuit emulation of the legendary Japanese bucket-brigade gray chorus stompbox, circa 1976. Lush, thick, saturated chorus with vibrato mode available — the most authentic recreation of this pedal's preamp section and BBD chip ever placed in a stompbox.

Flanger/Dblr — the only end-to-end circuit emulation of the legendary late-'70s rackmount bucket-brigade studio flanger/doubler. Organic whoosh, complex doubling textures, and a density that goes well beyond anything a conventional flanger can produce.

Trem 65 — stem-to-stern model of tube-driven optical tremolo from classic 1960s American amps. The real amplitude tremolo feel — the same movement and depth you get from a vintage circuit, not a digital simulation of it.

Free at registration: the Phaser X90 and Dharma Trem '61 — a MXR-style phaser and a uni-vibe-style tremolo that round out the palette significantly.

Dual-engine processing means you can run two instances of the same effect simultaneously — two bucket-brigade units at once, or two tremolo circuits — for a full stereo spread of complex, layered texture. Live/Preset modes, silent switching, preamp coloration, and true/buffered bypass complete the package.

The Prisma Guitars Sunset — built from reclaimed hard rock maple skateboard decks by designer Nick Pourfard — with Lollar Novel Foils in both positions brings the kind of clear, harmonically complex single-coil voice that makes every modulation effect sound three-dimensional rather than flat.

🎛️ Universal Audio Astra Modulation Machine: https://www.uaudio.com/products/astra-modulation-machine

🎸 Prisma Guitars Sunset: https://www.prismaguitars.com/collections

🎸 Lollar Novel Foil Pickups: https://www.lollarguitars.com/novel-foil

🔊 Benson Amps Vincent: https://www.bensonamps.com/amps/vincent