The Pearl Jam-inspired 1991 overdrive pedal from British brand Funny Little Boxes has been a hit – affordable (£99) and versatile, it's a great choice for alt-rock tones in general, whether from the '90s or otherwise. Then another success followed with the Queens Of The Stone Age-inspired Skeleton Key. But there was supposed to be another pedal released before that – and we wondered what that was.
The answer is coming – the challenges FLB's Andy Llgunas faced developing FLB's third pedal seem to have been overcome because over on YouTube channel Let's Play All, Matt Webster – who works closely with Andy on R&D – has used the TBA pedal in a new Alice In Chains tutorial video. And it sounds great.
Matt's decision to use it on an Alice In Chains song lesson – the deep cut Died that was included on the band's 1999 Music Bank box set and is reportedly the last song AIC recorded with Layne Staley before his passing – suggests we're still in the '90s grunge wheelhouse with some kind of drive pedal. But this sounds heavier… chunkier than FLB's previous released, and with amp-like rich harmonics the brand is known for. We're intrigued.
"I can't show you the pedal because I'm using the FLB prototype coming soon," explains Matt in the video. And soon is the operative word here because Matt advises we all sign up to the Funny Little Boxes Mailing list to be the first to find out once the new pedal is announced.
In the meantime, FLB recently announced a Gold Sparkle edition of the 1991 pedal. And if you want to find out what the fuss is all about there, check out our review.
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