A popular and highly regarded emulation of a JCM amp, from a builder that’s grown a stellar reputation for manufacturing great-sounding Marshall-style amps (the pedal is said to be a compact version of the Friedman BE100 amp). The Golden Boy became my Blues Breaker of choice this year - essentially a circuit update to the Broken Arrow Overdrive - with all that functionality and Clipping and Boost EQ options in place. In fact the Broken Arrow Tube Screamer style circuit was simply swapped for a warmer Blues Breaker equivalent - while all the other essential elements of the Broken Arrow remain largely in place. Interesting how there were a number of Plexi + RangeMaster / Boost style pedals this year - not just the two here (PlexiRanger and The Engine), but also the Nabla Custom 1987 V2 - and I will probably do a roundup early next year and include the Bogner La Grange too! A stompbox rendition of channel 1 of the company’s Small Box, a compact Plexi-style amp. More nuanced and classic sounding than the popular Friedman BE Overdrive, the Smallbox features six controls, just like its big brother amp: Level, Gain and four EQ knobs: Bass, Mid, Treble and Presence. A toggle switch on the side panel changes the effect’s gain structure, delivering an extra push for a more in-your-face, high-gain Plexi tone. The pedal that started the Plexi trend is still in production and hand-built. It serves up medium-high gain sounds via 2 footswitchable channels and an exta 20dB of clean boost controlled by a knob. There is a single gain knob for the crunch and high-gain channels, and they share tone and output volume controls.

The Bogner La Grange is equipped with 5 control knobs, allowing players to shape their ideal sound. There is a Boost control, which lets players adjust the volume level of the independent Boost function, as well as a footswitch for engaging the boost for added volume. The Volume knob enhances the pedal's overall projection, whilst the Tone control adjusts the colouration of the effect and the Gain increases the overall intensity of the effect. The Channel Blend knob alters the mix of the two different channels, which simulate those of a 67-69 plexi amplifier. Fine Tune Your Sound With 4 Switches If you are on the market for the Plexi sound, but in the more portable stompbox format, you need to thank the Carl Martin Plexitone, a 1994 device that started the Plexi-in-a-Box trend. Since then, dozens of similar pedals have been released in this niche. This Chinese stompbox sounds like a dying Marshall that is turned up all the way with tubes that are fighting to produce a blissful dirty tone. It captures the essence of playing through a cranked amp. Pedal enclosure has some cosmetic flaws; could be a dealer issue (I added another flaw to seem impartial, although it's a minor one)

This is arguably the first “amp in a box” pedal ever created and many of the pedals on this list wouldn’t be here today without it. The late 80’s stompbox found popularity after it was discontinued in the early 90’s and is still the “go to” dirt box for many players who want to add some British-tuned distortion to their rigs. The one pictured here is Version 2. There are 4 switches on-board the La Grange, including Gain, Variac, Presence and Structure. The Gain switch offers 3 positions including High, Medium and Low, and the Variac switch adds dynamic compression to the sound and enhanced harmonics. The Presence switch has two options, including high for a bright, clear tone and low for a more mellowed and well-rounded sound. Finally, the Structure switch has 3 positions which are indicated with 3 dots. The smaller dot yields a tight structure, the open circle offers a looser sound and the solid dot provides an 'in-between' structure. Features A full but natural-sounding high gain pedal with smooth high end and tight low end. Delivers hunky drive at lower gain settings and singing lead tones. It offers an excellent playing experience as the Classic mode gets you girthy full low end and does a good job of making your 1×12 speaker feel like a 4×12. The Lead mode footswitch adds a lot of gain but keeps it sounding like a nice old vintage tube amp. This pedal adds to the Plexi-style three typical controls (Gain, Level and Tone) a Damping knob that tightens the low end, allowing, when necessary, the achievement of a less flabby, more focused tone.

I’m not sure I’ve properly communicated before how much of a fan of Reinhold Bogner’s pedals I am - another essential part really of the Boutique Amps Distribution Family. I have acquired 6 or these to date - the Burnley Bubinga Distortion, Ecstasy Blue Mini Overdrive, Ecstasy Red Distortion, Harlow Bubinga Boost & Bloom, Oxford Bubinga Fuzz and Wessex Bubinga Overdrive. While the La Grange is down for a definite acquisition on the wishlist, and the Lyndhurst Bubinga Compressor is a maybe / nice-to-have. If you are considering the Ecstasy versions then the Blue variety is great in both original and Mini editions, while the Red Mini is somehow less good sounding and you really need the original variety of that in the same way that I have them. An LED light turns: green when the preamp is on, red when the Plexi-style drive is on, and yellow when they are both on. While the Vibrato controls are Intensity dial with 3-way Blend Switch, and Speed dial with 3-way Speed Multiplier toggle-switch. You have separate footswitches to engage Drive and Vibe. What we can also quite evidently see is that the new V2 variety sports a significantly changed enclosure - which appears to be approximately 15% smaller than the V1. Here we don’t know if the Smaller enclosure came first and then possibly the former Rupert Neve Transformer no longer fitted, or whether a newer Transformer type used allowed Bogner to make the pedal smaller. What is for certain sure is that these are no longer exactly the same pedals - and Bogner describes them as significantly re-voiced - with more dynamics and gain on-tap, and a more modern and more punchy/aggressive signature tonal profile.

I have acquired 13 of these to-date, and have the following 10 still under pretty intense active consideration :

This offers a sufficiently differentiated feature set to the BE-OD Deluxe to be a viable solution for many - it is a fairly large pedal though - as is he Friedman equivalent. That has individual Presence controls (mini) and Tightness toggle-switches, while the LPD variant has 2 modes per channel, and additional internal bright switch per channel. It has a 12AX7 tube inside of it to give you the “real deal” kind of distortion. This pedal sounds really rich and beefy with a lot of range for you to play with in the mids department. The tonal shaping options can be a bit excessive at first but with this remarkable unit you can really go from boomy to scooped mid distortion and anything in between. A pedal with a bit of a saggy distortion that really nails the Turned Up To 11 Marshall sound. The Mid Selector really helps define how present the guitar is in the mix and can get you from 70’s crunch a la’ Free or Led Zeppelin to Metallica or Megadeth scooped mid metal! Further "research" into solving said problems revealed the pedal wasn't truly bypassed. I had guitarfeak fix the issue (footswitch changed).In some ways my favourite favourite Blues Breaker voicing is to be found on the Wampler Pantheon, while that can't really compete with the extended user experience the Golden Boy provides. This is a very responsive Plexi-sounding pedal that has tons of gain on tap but still fairs equally well on low gain settings and high gain settings. At this price, you could buy two and still have plenty of space on your pedalboard. I will unlikely end up with all of those - but you never know - will most likely lead off with the HotCake, Smallbox and ODI in any case for early next year - as soon as I’ve decided which opamps are my preferred configuration for the ODI!

The Asabi is identical to the El Guapo - bar for the addition of the modularity - so if you buy it by default - it's essentially the same pedal with a series of JCM800 voicings on the left-footswitch, and a series of Plexi voicings on the right - in fact 4 of each. Two channels of high-gain Plexi-style BE-OD circuits in one pedal with an added mid-range knob, by one of the best living amp makers. The Channel footswitch alternates between the two. There’s also a one channel version, in the following categories. A classic British distortion pedal paired with a colored boost. It offers plenty of tonal shaping possibilities, plus an optional extra gain stage to really ramp things up. While in the other Bogner pedals the Boost can only be engaged when the main drive is on the La Grange works differently by have both parts of the circuit be completely independent. So now it is really easy to get a wider range of tones from just one pedal. Use the boost function to slightly dirty you clean sound, use the drive section as your main rhythm and then turn both on to get to your saturated and sustaining lead tone that will pop through the mix. Here's what Bogner say about the La GrangeFor me it’s a case of wait and see really, but don’t necessarily hold your breath. I already love what I have, and all those Bogners of mine are keepers as far as I am concerned - and my priority will more likely be on getting the La Grange added to the collection finally. I prefer the sound of this to the RevivalTrem edition as this has slightly richer and more lively dynamics to my ear. The “Plexi sound” was so influential that it became the signature sound for Marshall, inspiring a lot of the company’s post-1965 production – here’s a video with a rather comprehensive overview of many different models belonging to the Plexi category. The LPD Pedal is comprised of 2 complete Eighty7 pedals in single enclosure each with 3-Band EQ, Green and Red Modes + shared universal Presence control and internal individual Bright switches.