Stefan Jonsson, Sweden:

8th April 2016: rehearsal of ‘Somebody To Love’ at Karlstad Sweden. Stefan is using the Treble Booster Deluxe and Mayday overdrive pedal with a Vox AC30.

See: http://www.nightofqueen.se/

Hi Greg: here is my rig:

PRS as main guitar, Les Paul for drop D tuning songs and nylon string guitar for Innuendo

into these pedals and Vox AC30 reissue 1990s

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Marco Giuseppe Di Marco from Rome, Italy very kindly produced in 2015 some videos using one of the original Mayday prototype pedals which I made in early 2015:

9th March 2015: Marco tests his prototype Mayday pedal at stage volume levels with the Vox AC30 CC2X. Normal channel is used and set at approx 1/2 volume.

21st Sept 2015: Marco tests the Mayday using a delay pedal and one AC30:

5th Sept 2015: Review of the Mayday prototype version 1 by Marco Giuseppe Di Marco:

Mayday played through Fender Twin Reverb amp by Marco:

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Jason Phelan, Canberra Australia:

17th March 2016: a short clip from Jason playing the ‘Save Me’ solo using a Brian May Super guitar, Fryer Treble Booster Super, Fryer Mayday overdrive and UK made Vox AC30 TB with Celestion Alnico Blue speakers fitted.

“G’day Greg, I just wanted to share this little 15 second clip, playing the solo from Save Me. (I am grinning from ear to ear). Your products are top notch and I couldn’t be happier! Regards, Jason”

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Craig Farley, UK:

7th March 2016: Craig is playing the CQ Red Special guitar, Fryer Treble Booster Super and Fryer Mayday pedal into the Brian May signature Vox AC30BM amp. Amp volume level is set very low.

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Peter Michalowski from Sweden:

3rd Dec 2015: soundcloud mp3 clip from Peter: ‘Somebody to Love’ solo passage using Vox Pathfinder amp

https://soundcloud.com/pemich/maydaysomebody

2nd Dec 2015: youtube clip from Peter, delays through 3 amps:

Peter is using an Andy Guyton Red Special guitar > Fryer Treble Booster Super > Fryer Mayday overdrive pedal > Splitter > TC G-Major 1 > 3 Vox Pathfinder 15W amps

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Danny Rodd from Mexico:

27th Nov 2015: latest guitar cam video from Danny Rodd playing live using Burns Red Special guitar > Treble Booster Touring > Mayday overdrive > Vox AC30 with blue speakers (hired from a tour company)

Danny’s comments:

‘Hey Greg! How r u? Yesterday I played on the tour again, and I played through an Ac30, the Mayday and the TB Touring… And finally I tasted that flavour using the AC30… I really loved the sound.

 Only using the normal channel.. And the sound was really big..

That legendary Brian May sound is there! With that combination! I really loved the sound!!

The place was full.. And the sound was really great too!’

9th Nov 2015: guitar cam video clip from Danny Rodd playing live using the Burns Red Special guitar > Treble Booster Touring > Mayday overdrive > Roland Jazz Chorus amp.

Danny’s comments: ‘Hey Greg look at this, I used the Mayday through a Roland Jazz Chorus amp and the sound was great! The place was sold out, the artist that I played with, Camilo Sesto, is the son of a very famous Spanish artist. The Mayday and Treble Booster Touring gave me more gain that I expected with the Roland amp, but it was easier to control than with the Fender Twin Reverb – that is a hard amp to control I didn’t like it. But the Roland is very AC30-like with these pedals and I liked the sound very much. And thanks, amazing pedals its a real pleasure to play with them, the managers and the team of the Artist loved the sound. and I have more tour dates end of this year and next year so I will have more videos for you.’

Danny Rodd jamming with friends at an outdoor function using Burns Red Special > TB Touring > Mayday overdrive > Vox Pathfinder 15R amp

‘Yes Blues” The Beatles:

‘Ive Got A Feeling’ The Beatles:

15th Sept 2015:

Danny Rodd is using the Treble Booster Touring pedal with Mayday overdrive/distortion and Vox Pathfinder 15R amp: Mayday pedal has Deacy sound ‘Distortion’ footswitch ON

3rd Sept 2015: Latest soundfile from Danny Rodd using the Mayday through the Vox Pathfinder 15R amp:

‘Hey Greg, take a listen to this! This clip is part of the experiments I made today! Hahaha Big sound at low levels!’

(On the above clip Danny has done the LED removal mod to the Pathfinder)

27th Aug 2015:

Some teaser soundfiles from Danny Rodd in Mexico, Danny is using a Burns Red Special guitar > TB Super treble booster > Mayday overdrive > Pathfinder 15R amplifier.

‘Love Of My Life’:

‘Winters Tale’:

‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ outro section:

Danny said that he will do some more soundfiles soon after he does the ‘LED removal mod’ to his Pathfinder which he expects will make the Pathfinder sound a little more AC30-like.

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Mark Reynolds from England:

14th Sept 2015: Mark Reynolds and Joe Pye play the TB Super and Mayday overdrive through the Vox Pathfinder 15R amp:

Deacy Amp setting: (Deacy sound ‘Distortion’ footswitch is engaged)

AC30 setting: (Deacy sound ‘Distortion’ footswitch is not engaged)

(Pathfinder ‘Boost’ button was pushed IN on both ‘AC30’ and ‘Deacy’ settings)

Extra quiet volume level playing for late at night etc:

Mark recommends that to reduce overall volume level to a whisper using the TB Super>Mayday>Pathfinder combination and keep the rich distorted rock sound, it is necessary to do the opposite to when using a Vox AC30:

• When using the Pathfinder amp, adjust the Pathfinder volume right down low and keep the Mayday output level knob at the usual position (approx 9 or 10 o’clock)
• When using the Vox AC30, keep its Normal Channel volume control at approx 1/4 and adjust the Mayday output level knob down to as low as you need for extra quiet playing.

3rd Sept 2015: Soundfiles and report from Mark:

https://soundcloud.com/markoz12/sets/fryer-mayday-pedal-test

Mark’s comments:

Hi Greg,
I have been enjoying your Mayday pedal very much.
I had tried the old Mayhem pedal many years back, which was a great pedal…and also had a neat Deacy setting, so this new pedal was quite interesting to try out to hear what the differences might be.

I use Marshall PB100 power brake attenuators with my AC30s. Although the PB100 is a fantastic attenuator (in my opinion) for gigging when it is set at 50% or more….but for playing on the lowest settings is not so good.
At those levels the PB100 is kind of fizzy and lacks a lot of character. It’s been OK to use but I have preferred to use a Pathfinder 15 with a treble booster rather than suffer the “unsavoury” sound of the lowest setting of the PB100 just to prevent the neighbours complaining!

So, it was a delight to try the Mayday and find that I can get a fantastic BM AC30 sound at very low volumes with your new Mayday and a treble booster.
I know this is a prototype but it works great!
You gave me some general settings to try but I tweaked them a little more to suit my ears.

So, how did this pedal work for me?

Superb! I used a Fryer Deluxe with the Mayday and with some tweaking, came up with what I felt was a perfect practice level tone for me.
The interesting thing was I was expecting the amp to sound a little fizzy and slightly distorted when I rolled the guitar volume off for that clean sparkly tone. I was very pleasantly surprised that it was a very clean tone and very bell like. No break up or distortion of any kind. A big plus!

The only difference I found between running my AC30s at full was that when I wanted a crunchy rhythm sound like the “Tie Your Mother Down” riff, I had to set the guitar volume a little higher. Normally I would be setting my volume control at about 1/3 of a turn for this tone but it was a little higher but below half. The full volume AC30 tends to drive itself with the sheer power so obviously a little more output from the guitar volume would help this low volume setting.
Anyway, I was able to achieve a great “TYMD” riff sound, even with that back pick twang……..great! No real complaints with this.
By altering the guitar volume either side of this crunchy setting I could easily get either that slightly crunchy clean edge (“Put Out The Fire” guitar intro) or a slightly more distorted and fuller rhythm tone (“I Want It All”)

The full guitar volume really lifts the guitar that stage further running over into that creamy saturation. I was able to get feedback sounds very easily. Basically I played around with the input level and the drive until it was giving me close to what I expect at full AC30 volume.
The very interesting thing for me was that the 1/4 turn volume setting of the AC30 I was using might still be a little too loud for general home practice….but…….by lowering the output level of the pedal you can reduce it to virtually nothing and still get that full blown tone…..and the feedback!
So even a flea would not be deafened!

The out of phase tone (neck and middle out of phase) seemed virtually unaffected by the settings of the Mayday that I had settled on. I was able to get that splutter and screech without it sounding square wave. More natural. I could always dial in a little treble on the amplifier if I feel the need to brighten it further.

Overall…..I am more inclined to use the Mayday instead of my Pathfinder for a great AC30 tone. I would imagine the pedal has enough versatility for any of the AC30 variants……and this will certainly be appealing to the Brian May fans. Every amp will be slightly different to mine and so it is a balance between the pedal settings and the amp settings to find the sweet spot.

The Deacy setting…….
This was interesting. I was wondering about how this might work as the AC30 is naturally quite deep sounding and using your initial suggested settings, I tweaked those settings a little more.
I was happy with what I was hearing. I added a little more drive to get the longer notes but I do know Brian uses his fingers more for this and not so much the amp. Even so, that is one technique which we all don’t have!
I think I can get even closer to the Deacy sounds with some more study of the pedal and further experimentation. I would like to get a little more of an edge to the notes but I was happy with the recording. I’ll get back to you once I have settled on, what I think feels right for me.

Compared to the Mayhem, this is a big leap forward. The AC30 sounds are far more refined and the Deacy option has improved too. I think that by the time I am used to the different settings and even the odd teak on the amp EQ I can get the Deacy setting even closer.

I have created some sound files for you and supplied you with a link to those. They were recorded with an SM57 through Protools. All recordings are as they were recorded. There has been no alterations, just saved as WAV files and uploaded to Soundcloud. The gear I used was the KZ Pro, Fryer Deluxe treble booster, Mayday pedal and AC30TBX Re-issue (Tan) with UK Celestion blue speakers.

I must apologise, but my AC30 developed a background hum sound during the recordings. This has nothing to do with your pedal, it is purely an amp issue but it doesn’t affect the tones I hear in the recordings.

I hope you enjoy them.

Regards,
Mark Reynolds