Hey it's Andy with ProGuitarShop and ToneReport.com and today we've got Thorpy's Chain Home on our radar. The Chain Home is a rebooted Vox Repeat Percussion tremolo, part of Adrian Thorpe's obsession with the marginal gains theory applied to classic stompboxes. The Chain Home starts with the original Repeat Percussion as a base, then outfits it with a ammo-case full of modern features. Because tremolo pedals are perceived as quiet, volume-sucking effects, the Chain Home contains a Boost control that keeps unity gain at a low 8 o'clock, utilizing a premium op-amp to deliver some wall-quaking boost tones. The onboard boost really fattens up your tone and entering clean boost mode is as simple as rolling the Depth control all the way back. The original's peaks were tamed somewhat so that they don't spike your amp with amplitude, and the Chain Home even utilizes a new-old-stock rare metal-can 2n2646 pulse generator transistor, the same magical piece that gave the Vox unit its distinct flavor. A Tone knob adds back in some fat low end that the original unit saps from your signal, which is another important cog in the boost machine as well. The Rate control of the Chain Home moved beyond the original's two speeds of fast and faster, providing a syrupy-slow rhythmic pulse as well as time-bending laser gun noises. The quality of other ThorpyFX builds is on full display within the Chain Home as well, featuring high-quality resistors, full WIMA capacitors and a Burr-Brown op-amp usually found in expensive hi-fi consoles and a gold-plated circuit board for unparalleled levels of quality throughout. And just like all ThorpyFX, the Chain Home is hand-made one at a time in England.
