I love serendipitous moments, when I stumble upon something new when I’m doing something else entirely. Such was the case of me stumbling upon Tone Freak pedals. I was seeing if the domain name “tonefreak.com” was taken, and at the top of the search results was Tone Freak Effects. You know me and overdrive and distortion pedals. I LOVE ‘EM! And Tone Freak Effects specializes in two kinds of overdrive, two kinds of distortion pedals, plus a buffer/booster and a really nice trem pedal.
The OD and distortion pedal clips I listened to demonstrate a very diverse set of pedals that have a classic character, but also sound fairly unique as well. For instance the Abunai 2 clips sounded a lot like a classic Tube Screamer – nice and open – but with a bit more low-end while maintaining that openness. In fact, all the pedal clips I listened to portrayed familiar OD and distortion sounds, but were also wonderfully different in very good ways. This could likely be because almost all the pedals are the result of collaborations with various guitarists.
No matter, these pedals sound awesome!
I’m particularly interested in the Buff Puff, a signal buffer, plus a clean boost. The buffer is on all the time, and helps restore the signal loss that can occur in a long effects chain. When you switch the pedal on, you get some clean boost. Not sure how many dB, but that is something that I find totally cool. In addition to my love for OD pedals, I’ve really started getting into clean boost – not just to up my volume, but to also slam the front-end of an amp. It’s wonderful!
Anyway, check Tone Freak Effects out at: http://www.tonefreak.com!
Guitar Gear 
Thanks for this. I was aware of ToneFreak before, but I hadn’t really checked them out, thinking it was just another manufacturer of Tube Screamer derivative. But indeed, some of the clips of Abunai 2 strays far enough away to create its own sound.
I’m always on the look out for unique OD/Distortions — just so tired of hearing pedals that try to be “transparent” and emulate classic amps. I feel that it’s about time we have some new (and good) tones to be discovered, kind of like Ty Tabor did with early King’s X albums. (I’m not saying we need to get the early Tabor tone — I’m simply using it as an example of someone who had a fresh, unique and different tone)
ari
You hit the nail right on the head, my friend!